• Greece faces further hurdles after passing additional austerity measures required for the second tranche in bailout funding due next month. Euro zone finance ministers meet Wednesday to sign off on the cuts, Greek citizens are still rioting, government re-shuffling is in order, talks with private sector debt holders need to be resolved, etc., etc. From Reuters News.
• U.S. President Obama’s 2013 budget will be released today. The outlines for the document show that the administration is not ready to make significant cuts to reign in the deficit in the short run, which is expected to run just over $900B next year. In this election year all difficult budgetary decisions are pushed off, which sets up a contentious battle in congress with Republicans. More gridlock. From Reuters News.
• The deadline to submit comment on the Volcker rule as part the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul in the U.S. is today. The complex rule bans proprietary trading by banks, and has faced a torrent of complaints from the financial services firms. The author of the rule is expected to file an argument in its defense. All manner of financial services firms have filed comments decrying the rule. There will be some impassioned arguments readily available to, hopefully, lend some clarity to the rule. From the Wall Street Journal.