More Talk of Greece Exiting the European Union after Not Meeting Austerity Benchmarks

An analyst for UBS succinctly described the Euro Zone as the Hotel California, a song by The Eagles in the 1970s. The song lyrics describe the hotel as a place where "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave." That description seems to be appropriate for the nations like Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain who are struggling to maintain their benchmark deficit reduction goals in order to maintain their inclusion in the European Union.

Unfortunately for Greece - and for all of the members of the Euro Zone, there is not structure in place for a country to leave the Euro, or to even be expelled from the Euro. Because of the common currency and the financial inter-dependence of all the nations of the Euro, if Greece were to exit, the strain would almost certainly force nations like Italy, Spain and the others to follow suit. That would essentially destroy the Euro Zone and its fragile economy and currency. And ultimately, that might be the best thing for the global economy.

The Euro Zone is essentially a loosely connected United States of Europe, except that it contains entire nations with deep historical and cultural foundations that make them much less connected then the United States of America, for example. As a result, there is much less true unity among the nations of the Euro. Their initial union was one borne of a desire for more financial and economic clout in trying to compete with the U.S. and China for global market share.

Now that the global economy is struggling, the Euro's weaknesses have been exposed and the entire experiment is facing a serious crisis. Because of inherent flaws in the structure of the Euro Zone, there is no real incentive for Greece - or any other member nation - to enforce the types of hard-line austerity measures required to get their deficit problems under control. In a matter of speaking, the weaker, poorer countries have nothing to lose in the game - their economies have essentially crumbled already.

If the big players like Germany and France decide to let them fail, it will be Germany and France who bear the financial brunt of Greece's exit from the Euro - but by continuing to carry them, the future consequences could be far greater.

USPS to cut workforce, benefits

The U.S. Postal Service is looking to cut its workforce and change employee benefits in an attempt to cap a financial crisis, officials say.

However, to meet its goal, the USPS would have to circumvent union contracts that prohibit layoffs by petitioning Congress, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

In a letter to employees, the postal service said "we will be insolvent next month due to significant declines in mail volume and retiree health benefit prefunding costs imposed by Congress."

USPS needs to let go of 120,000 employees, 20 percent of its workforce, by 2015, in addition to 100,000 expected leave through regular attrition in coming years. The agency is also looking to drop from the federal health and retirement plans that cover federal employees and create its own benefit program for postal workers.

In a draft of the proposal to be sent to Congress, the postal service says "asking Congress to eliminate the layoff protections in our collective bargaining agreements is an extraordinary request by the Postal Service, and we do not make this request lightly. However, exceptional circumstances require exceptional remedies.

"The Postal Service is facing dire economic challenges that threaten its very existence. . . . If the Postal Service was a private sector business, it would have filed for bankruptcy and utilized the reorganization process to restructure its labor agreements to reflect the new financial reality."

American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey said, "The APWU will vehemently oppose any attempt to destroy the collective bargaining rights of postal employees or tamper with our recently-negotiated contract -- whether by postal management or members of Congress."

Fredric V. Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers said: "The issues of layoff protection and health benefits are specifically covered by our contract. ... The Congress of the United States does not engage in contract negotiations with unions and we do not believe they are about to do so."

Six die in Karachi violence

Ethnic and targeted killings claimed six more lives in violence-ravaged Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and its main port and financial capital, police said.

The victims in the overnight drive-by shootings and other acts of violence in different parts of the city included activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan's Daily Times reported.

The violence comes as Muslims have been observing Ramadan, the holy month-long fasting period.

Karachi, which has a population of 18 million people belonging to various ethnic and other groups, has been hit by ethnic, political and target killings for more than four years. Various measures taken by authorities have failed to bring peace to the city, further damaging Pakistan's fragile economy and adding to its other problems related to fighting terrorism and militant violence.

Some reports say at least 300 people have died in the latest round of killing in the city which began last month.

The federal government has offered rewards for those providing information and other details of those involved in the killings. It has also given police powers to paramilitary forces deployed in the city.

The violence has largely involved supporters of the Urdu-speaking Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party representing mostly the ethnic Pashtuns.

Until recently the MQM, which is mostly made up of immigrants from India, has been the main force in Karachi and its politics. However, it role now is under challenge from the Pashtuns.

Authorities say local underworld dons and their supporters also have been involved in the city's violence.