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Euro-Area Banks Tap ECB for Record Amount of Three-Year Cash

The European Central Bank (ECB) has provided a further 530bn euros ($713bn) of low-interest loans to 800 banks across the European Union.

(BLOOMBERG) London - The Frankfurt-based ECB said today it will lend 800 financial institutions 529.5 billion euros ($712.2 billion) for 1,092 days. Economists predicted an allotment of 470 billion euros, according to the median of 28 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. In the ECB's first three-year operation in December, 523 banks borrowed 489 billion euros.

"The astonishing number this time is the number of banks participating, which signals that a lot more small banks looked for the money and it is likely they will pass it on to the economy," said Laurent Fransolet, head of fixed income strategy Barclays Capital in London, who estimates about 300 billion euros of the total is new lending. "So the impact may be bigger than with the first one."

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ETHIC

Spain, A Perfect Political Graveyard Of Old Left And Right

If the Left is increasingly fighting to preserve hard-won social victories, and the Right wants change, what does the traditional Left-Right division mean anymore?

Poster of the PSOE ripped off on a wall in Madrid, Spain.

Torn posters of the PSOE for the May 28 elections, in Madrid, Spain.

Víctor Lapuente

-Analysis-

MADRID — It has long been said that the Left is more prone to rifts because its aim is to free people from all forms of exploitation. But now, it is the right which deals with the most infighting. Are they now the ones who want the most change, even if that change is made through cuts?

Take architects for example. Some debate about what to build on an empty plot of land, while others discuss how to preserve a building worn down by time. Finding a solution for the latter seems to be faster. Deciding what to create is harder than deciding what to preserve.

That is why, according to popular wisdom and analysis, the Left experiences more divisions than the Right.

Progressive politicians have a positive goal, while conservatives have a negative one. The Left wants to create a new world, and this opens up endless questions. Do we nationalize banks and certain industries? Do we design a social security system, or a Universal Basic Income? Do we cap prices on certain areas, such as rental housing, or do we let the market take its course and then assist the most affected sectors? The God of progress offers infinite paths.

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