Video: Stuxnet - Anatomy of a Computer Virus

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

Photo: Greek PM Papandreou IMF 'Employee of the Year' Banner

As seen outside the Greek parliament, some protesters roasting Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, the Minnesota-born 'socialist convert to spartan economics'.

Bloomberg has a great history of the Eurozone debt fiasco.

Video: Jim Grant - 'We Traded the Gold Standard for the PhD Standard'

Interview with Jim Grant on Bernanke's press conference today, the coming of QE3, and why the Federal Reserve should "be run by someone with a degree in unintended consequences" after the break.

Top Holders of Greek Government Debt

European Debt Mexican Standoff: Why Greece Holds All the Cards

A no-win scenario?

Markets are signalling that tonight's vote of confidence for the government of Greek Socialist leader George Papandreou will pass.

If that happens (I don't take anything for granted in the Eurozone kabuki theatre these days) then the next step in this Greek tragedy will come next week when a package of austerity measures is put to a vote before the Greek parliament.

The new austerity measures include spending cuts, tax increases and the sale of government assets. If the Greeks don't pass these measures then the EU and IMF have threatened to not release new funds to Greece (whether they would carry through on this threat is an open question). Without these new funds Greece will run out of cash next month and default.

The Greek Bargaining Position

While a Greek default would perhaps be bad in the short-run for Greece, it would be far, far worse for the Eurozone and rest of the world. Given the risks of financial contagion and a pan-European, if not global, banking crisis that a Greek default could trigger, the Greeks find themselves in a relatively strong negotiating position. And the Greeks, the EU, the ECB, and IMF all know this.

Continue reading at Seeking Alpha here.

London's Mayor Says Greece Should Leave the Euro

(click to enlarge)

London Mayor Boris Johnson's article in The Telegraph encouraging Greece to abandon the euro:

We are all still kidding ourselves that the moment of reversal can be avoided. All the other governments of Europe, including, alas, the Coalition, are pretending that Greece can remain in the euro. If only the EU finance ministers can just have a bit more lunch in Brussels; if only Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel can hammer out another plan to reschedule the Greek debt; if only UK taxpayers can stump up a bit more for the bail-out fund - then somehow the Heath Robinson contraption is supposed to limp another few miles further on down the road with the Greeks bubblegummed to the roof. 

All we need is for Athens to sack a few thousand more public sector workers, lop a few billions more off their pensions, chop more benefits, collect more taxes, and perhaps the problem will go away. If the Greeks would only change their national character, and suddenly discover a Scandinavian faith in government combined with German habits of industry and thrift - then, or so we are told, the catastrophe could be averted. 

All it would take, say the European elites, is for the government of George Papandreou to discover a crazed Thatcherite zeal that inspires them to sell every Greek asset from the Port of Piraeus to Olympic Airways to the remaining marbles of the Parthenon. That should do it, they say. That should keep the show on the road. Will it work? I have to say I now doubt that very much indeed.For years, European governments have been saying that it would be insane and inconceivable for a country to leave the euro. But this second option is now all but inevitable, and the sooner it happens the better. 

Full editorial can be found here.

Economist Tyler Cowen writes here on the mechanics of how a Greek transition out of the euro could take place.

Video: Ray Kurzweil on Bill Mahrer

Real Time With Bill Maher: Overtime - Episode... by HBO

Video: Ray Kurzweil on Jimmy Kimmel

Counting Down the Return of Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

On sabbatical since March, the chronicler par excellence of the sovereign debt crisis returns in a few days, perhaps just in time for default chaos.

He can be a bit hyperbolic, but I confess to having missed his hyperbole and often (though not always) prescient calls.

Video: Bitcoin Flash Crash

More from Ars Technica, which claims this was due to a hacked exchange.

The Economist also has a new piece on Bitcoin looking at the economics behind the digital currency. The story leader:

MILTON FRIEDMAN famously called for the abolition of the Federal Reserve, which he thought ought to be replaced by an automated system that would increase the money supply at a predetermined rate and so keep a lid on inflation. A virtual version of this now exists.

 Here is an earlier wonkish technical description of how it works.