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Poor Athens; The Gods Flee Mt. Olympus
Via Mark J. Grant, author of Out of the Box,
“Look now how mortals are blaming the gods, for they say that evils come from us, but in fact they themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies.”
-Homer
When asked, and oh so many times, how I thought that Greece would play out, I have always offered the same answer. “They will continue to beg, they will say anything, do anything, until the money stops and then they will proclaim Greece for the Greeks and revolt.” The Greeks only assume the mantle of serfdom to keep the pipeline of capital flowing. As an outsider I would say that they have damaged their national psyche in the process and caused undue pain for their citizens but it must seem simpler, to the elite of Greece, to beg rather than go back to work. The problem for Europe now is that the amount of money is so large and the pain will be so great that they wince at the consequences of their misbegotten strategy. Europe provided money, demanded austerity, and kept the charade in play far longer than good sense would dictate. This should have all been shut down years ago but the poorly performed play limped along as the benefactors wanted neither the shame of closing it down nor the financial loss that it will ultimately entail. Now, however, I would assert; the tragedy is about to end and the farce about to begin.
“What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.”
-Diogenes
The final act, so long in coming, is starting as a matter of necessity. In a real sense the recession on the Continent is causing it and demands from several major players that are converging in a final act of contrition directed at the gods of yore are quite close, closer than many think, to forcing what must be forced which is an end to the long running and ill performed jest. In fact the Greek word “tragoedia” actually means “goat-songs” and the old goats on the Continent are about to find themselves roasted on the spit.
Austria has said no more money. The Netherlands has said no more money. From several sources I have heard that it is now a losing cause in Berlin to wring more money from the Germanic coffers while the IMF has stated quite clearly that they will not fund unless someone besides them takes the hit. If you pay attention you will notice that the grand coalition of the IMF and the EU has reached the hard place in the road to Marathon while the sovereign nations in Europe are split along party lines of needing and those expected to provide for the needy and so the end is near. In the latest act of desperation the Greeks now want the ECB to extend the maturities of their debt and while Mr. Draghi may be singing “Save the World” for the Spanish and the Italians he has made it quite clear that no such Greek debt forgiveness will be happening within the corridors of the European Central Bank. The doors are closing down the long hallway in which Greece has run for more than two and one-half years now and the alms givers, seeing that not only has nothing has been done but that demands for money increase are finally turning a deaf ear to the pleas as their own coffers decrease.
“Ancient of days! August Athena! Where, where are thy men of might? Thy grand in soul? Gone--glimmering through the dream of things that were.”
-Lord Byron
Soon, quite soon, the Greeks will be forced back to their ancient traditions and the existence will be Spartan and the trials of Hercules will be enacted once again.
“Men shut their doors against a setting sun.”
-William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
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... but teach a man to print fish and he will print forever.
The Financial Dark Ages. Value of money is controlled like a King and his manor. The People need to control it to control their destiny. But the tragedy still needs to conclude.
Act 3 of the tragedy has begun. Greece and Spain have concluded their first two acts of the play. Cue Milan, Italy for Act 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tQ4ZWTFR6c&feature=g-all-u
Protugal will soon follow, then Ireland. The EU is so much fun.
That video depicts economic ignorance confronting state power.
Don't forget France
... but teach a man to print fish and he will print forever.
It's a picture....of a fish.
Eat it!
Don't eat it!! The ECB will loan you money against it.
So, this means Greece will get one more bailout, right?
As I've repeated for the last year or so, Greece has slid beyond the event horizon into a black hole of debt. Greece will have to do an Iceland, eventually. It'll be painful, but, it'll arise like the Phoenix from the ashes.
I totally agree with you. Greece needs to do an Iceland then Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Ireland needs to do the same. Show the fucking bankers you have a pair.
Actually it was the women of Iceland who threw out the men, blamed the bad debts on the men's testoterone and claimed the future for their ovaries. Maybe it's a pair of ovaries that they need.
well here is a story about a likely future for greece.
Indeed you have it right ...
In contrast to Mark Grant's repeated, and wrong, 'Germany etc. are not gonna pay ...' theme so popular on the ZH group-think
The fact is that Germany and everyone else is terrified of the German banks, insurers and pension funds blowing up out of contagion and fallout from their vulnerability to the massive Mediterranean debt on their books, which they acquired while pumping German etc. exports to the rest of the EU - even some ZH articles made this clear months ago
As Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reported last weekend, amid his superb coverage of the euro-crisis - Germans are ready to keep the game afloat regardless of Greece not honouring all those 'conditions':
« ... reports that Berlin is so worried that a Greek crisis would spin out of control that it is ready to back the next €31bn payment to Athens under its EU-IMF Troika rescue, despite failure to comply with the terms ... »
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9577617/Germany-told-...
Bingo! Although the next "bailout" might be designed explicitly to prevent bank contagion and leave Greece out of it entirely -- e.g. a German bank backstop, not a Greece backstop. It probably wouldn't be popular, but it would be less unpopular than continuing to ostensibly write checks to Greece.
all good except the theme of the day is that the PIIGS are the ones needing bailout. imagine the fallout if perception changes to "the germans need bailouts".
i can imagine an engame something like QE-EU. most americans are so out of it that such a thing could slip by unnoticed - again.
WASFS...
addicted to their own fiat debt poison now gone viral.
Either way, the big banks will bleed and die slowly or die suddenly. The numbers are too large to sustain for too long hoping for recovery.
Dear Greeks, please brake your bonds and pull an Iceland pronto.
It would seem odd that Merkel would be going to Athens Tuesday to tell Samaras no more or for Samaras to be calling Germany a friend of Greece if he was expecting bad news. OTOH as Testoterone Pit's post on Cyprus reveals just how much more of this shit can Europe's AAA's endure?
The fact is Germans will put up with anything, of course Germany will pay, and Germans will give you 100 excuses why it was necessary and proper and noble. The daily newsflow IS ALL POSTURING BULLSHIT.
You rock, Bank Guy. "Churnin' out that boogaloo!"
Don't stop. Give it all you got.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijiazWlawUY
According to "Mr.Panos" the Greeks have the Germans and frau schnitzel face Merkel right where they want em. Genius.
whats a few debt fiats amongst oligarchs who like the world to be slaves to the debt machine.
Fiat money has no meaning anymore.
.......teach a man to mow lawns and he can get a jawb in any city in this here U.S. of A!
Not for long.
http://tinyurl.com/gardineros
Those have been around for a long time. They're crap though because the batteries are expensive.
Holy shit that's funny.
Have they tried holding a Gyro summit yet?
Greece is like a gangrenous limb on Europe.
Just wrap paper over the limb.... and no one will know
..And Spain, and Portagul, and Italy, and...
Lets play a game of "Wack the Mole PIIGS" with a Bailout Hammer! Eventually even the WOPR learns "The only way to win the game is not play."
*WOPR - Computer in the Movie "WarGames" (1983)
Oh great Zeus abolish all thoes that will not give us the money we need to keep our countries leaders pockets full of cash so we can party forever!
Are we still talking about Greece? November 6th Obummer re-elected. November 7th Greece defaults.
Damn, you are right. I forgot I was sick and tired of talking about Greece, probably got distracted by that jobs report.
Keep our collective eyes on Greece comrades. This is where the pig-men kicked off. Doing the totalitarian tip-toe, takes some practice.
Lets see if our Greek brothers will pull these inhuman scumbags into the streets and kick the fuckers to death, live on RT or a mobile phone. When that happens, green light spells danger for the politicians who havent got a good fuck in them.
Come on Greece, the whole world is watching for the spirit of the 300. Give these parasites a good fucking hiding. They deserve no less.
It's pathetic to see the birth place of democracy begging like peasants.
Democracy is like two wolves and a sheep trying to decide what to have for dinner.
Doc,
It isnt just pathetic mate, do these swines not have a soul? How the hell can they pull a nation to her knees and do this to another human being? 11 million sacrificed on the altar of greed?
I really hope the Greeks kick the hell out of an IMF official on air. Only one catalyst starts the fire friend. Just one.
I agree...I can not begin to comprehend two things. The first is the kind of people who would do this to other people,and the second is the kind of people who allow it to happen.
But looking in the mirror I don't think we are much better.....
Doc,
Yes mate, how can one man do to another what these bastards are doing to the Greeks? These swines caused the problem in the first place, and then passed their filthy bets onto the people. It really is inhuman. The banks should be shut down, not the people.
No 25 year old Greek kid caused this, and that same 25 year old Greek kid is a debt servitude for the rest of his life so the banksters and the politicians can live large?
I dont think this will catch on, folk are waking up, and lets hope the stupid fuckers from the IMF have the good sense to piss off before the Greeks pull them into the streets and exact a justice long overdue.
What most of us may not know is the threats that are underlying Greek behavior. TPTB will do anything including war to preserve the status quo. Greece is very vulnerable due to its geographical location and the Aegian oil which they are not allowed to touch on their own.
I believe that the Greeks are playing a waiting game which will bring about the same result and are exercing restrained bravado.
Soon they will be kicked out without firing a shot.
Kudos on the succinct summary. That is the part that gets me the most. How do you have your labor devalued by 70% in 25 years and not notice? Chafes me, it does!
Before it became democracy it was house of Atreus, the prevailing strain over the ages; as today.
They invented democracy but rarely paracticed it.
They bequeathed it to us like all things free which are not in the heart of a scheming, scamming Oligarch.
Two wrongs cannot make a right. The attitude and systems of the Greeks coupled with the overkill austerity measures of the Europeans, are guaranteed to end in tragedy.
One day we will look back and wonder what the men of the TROIKA were thinking (if anything at all).
The Greeks have done their maths and they know that there is no escape from default and so we see bank deposits migrating.
Only the stupid Athens Stock Exchange seems to be enjoying a revival of sorts, but my guess this is just the momentum created by a herd mentality based on little research but great expectations.
Oh it's coming...and likely before the year end but NOT before 11/6. Unless Obammy totally loses control.
Obammy=control. WTF????
By the way, 11/6 is upside down and back the front for 911.
Who gives a shit. Greece is a pimple on an elephant's ass. And the elephant's ass is Europe.
Decades of entitlements and pilfering Africa - Europe is finally out of cash, out of time and out of credibility.
See ya never.
Just like no one cared about subprime mortgages.
This is Sparta bitches! Oh, that didn't end so well did it?
For the 300? No. But, what it did dow was piss off and unite the rest of the population. The invaders got their asses kicked. Greeks are slow to piss off. God help you when you do.
I once tagged a Greek guys Spanish girlfriend. When he found out, he got pissed and came looking for me. He lost the fight bad though.
Just sayin'. I up-voted you anyway, cuz it sounds good on paper.
I think it will be the other way around, the farce is about to end and the tradgedy will begin.
If all this shit flys apart, the war starts etc right after the election that will really be something.
CRAKKA-JAMMA? That's Racissssss!
Nah, they can't kick out Greece. They need their €20b contribution to ESM, 40% of which is due 22nd October. LOL!
The dominoe collapse of the Euro zone continues on its inevitable path. Now the Rothschild zionists are starting to see their plans for enslaving Europe come unraveled, hopefully the Greeks will start issuing their own money (sans banksters) and the secret that we can thrive if governments reclaim the right to issue their own money will be revealed for all...fingers crossed this marks the beginning of the end for the banksters.
I share your desires but I'm afraid they're gonna survive. They're like Alien and we have no Sigourney Weavers whatsoever.
We're all fucked up.
This being the situation in Greece, and Spain, etc. can anyone explain why the Euro is strong vs. $ ?
Everyone is trying to kill their own currency.
It could be that BS Bernanke is doing everything in his power to keep the dollar weak.
Prime minister Samaras just compared Greece to the Weimar Republic in the 20ies and he is right. The social cohesion of Greece is in danger...when will Brussels live up to this fact?
Greece will not be allowed to exit the euro or to default. A greek default will be like shooting a house of cards with a shotgun. It will be like Lehmanx100. They'll continue to get bailout after bailout and they know it. Sure, there will continue to be political posturing about no more bailouts, but they'll continue to kick the can as long as possible.
Poor Greece. They don't have no Obama phones neither!
Dumber than a bag of nails. Noone's been "giving" the Greeks "alms" of any description. Neither are they "bail-outs". These are loans. If they had actually given the Greeks anything (like New York does to Kentucky via Federal funding or London does to Wales) then the situation would be less ludicrous. As it is it's like the Greeks are paying off their credit card debt with their credit card. That's the short route to exponential indebtedness.
This article sheds no light on anything, despite the classical posturing.
"Draghi ... has made it quite clear that no such Greek debt forgiveness will be happening within the corridors of the European Central Bank."
I CALL BULLSHIT !!!! This will be strung out far longer than anyone thinks - years longer. Anyone who believes not is a fool.
It's like the Versailles treaties...the little man suffers, "Golden Dawn" is raising it's head and Brussels is insisting on rules...
Remember the 20ies
So, I take an IOU from the pile and put it in my pocket, turn around, clap my hands and switch the IOU to my other pocket.
The name on the IOU changes from Greece to EU solvent (sort of) countries taxpayers.
What's the big deal?
Dr. ECB is only putting another leech on the EU patient. Sure, it's getting a little crowded on there, but leeches perform miracles, so more must be better.
One of these days the patient will come roaring back to health. ><
When no one buys the bonds anymore and the ECB tries to monetise the lot, then your pockets aren't going to cut it as a paper repository.
Poor Germany, being suckered by the Southern periphery after trying to strong arm a banker's dream.
so, been reading ZH for months and this is my first post. serious request: can anybody point me to any credible commentary about this financial mess somehow being salvageable? though i subscribe to the ZH world-view, i feel like i need some more optimism in my life to feel confident in pursuing new career ventures
there must be somebody who believes that this mess is sustainable...!??
big ask, i know
Here is some optimism for you: "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero". So stop worrying
nice one
i guess i'm just looking for a long enough timeline to be able to afford to pack up my things, buy myself a farm, and be able to go to sleep on my bed of gold
There isnt one credible site/book/ philosophy which can claim to have 'the' answer because there isn't one problem. There's no number 42 answer.
The problem in the first instance is the difficulty in conceptualising the economic processes.
The existing order is not salvageable but humans are resourceful. Look how quickly Germany rebuilt an utterly destroyed economy afer the war.
My thoughts are that if there is one area that needs to be studied it is the opaqueness and distortions in the price discovery mechanisms. Wrong pricing, of everything including capital causes the misallocation of resources and ultimate penury for everyone. The right price would also incorporate neg. and pos. externalities
I like modernmystic for his wry insights http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/
Thanks guys for the responses, always down for some new reading
Will check out the blog and the book
Go and read "The web of Debt" by Ellen Brown. It explains what is going on and how to fix it. In a nutshell the people need to reclaim the right to issue money from the banksters, cancel most existing debt on the basis that it was issued without consideration and start issuing money linked to productivity without interest attached.