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Germany "Not Concerned" As The Cradle Of Democracy Rocks The Autocrats And Kleptocrats

Tyler Durden's picture




 

With Greek CDS surging to near post-bailout highs (and short-end bond yields back above 11%), it appears the market is anxious of the endgame as tomorrow's 3rd and final 'snap-election'-saving vote looms. Following Samaras fearmongering yesterday, it appears Germany is starting to fear the worst (and play down its effect), as Merkel's bloc states "the prospect of a Greek sovereign default is no longer a concern for euro member countries and financial markets," adding "hope that Greece’s international partners would pay if the country’s policymakers refuse to carry out necessary reforms is misplaced." However, as Bruno de Landevoisin notes, "what is at stake is none other than the prosperity of the common man pitted against the privilege of concentrated power."

 

 

As Bloomberg reports, Germany appears to see the writing on the wall...

Hans Michelbach, a senior lawmaker from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Union bloc in parliament, says prospect of a Greek sovereign default is no longer a concern for euro member countries and financial markets because banks have got rid of their Greek bond holdings.

 

Any hope that Greece’s international partners would pay if the country’s policymakers refuse to carry out necessary reforms is misplaced, Michelbach says in e-mailed statement.

 

Greek people would be the main victims of a default

 

Says Greece should further privatize its public sector

*  *  *

But we leave it to Bruno de Landevoisin to explain the broader implications of tomorrow's vote and the inevitable endgame...

On the old continent, this December 29th, a succinct political showdown is scheduled to take place which may well become a defining moment for our entirely unsettled new millenium.  What is at stake is none other than the prosperity of the common man pitted against the privilege of concentrated power.  Lamentably, this deliberate dogmatic divide has relentlessly defined human civilization for the ages.

What is at hand isn’t so much about lofty ideals.  It’s not about Socialism.  It’s not about Capitalism.  It’s not about Communism.  It’s not about being a progressive, a conservative or a liberal. It’s not about left vs right.  Forget all those dumbed down dichotomies.  It’s much more fundamental than all of that.  Quite simply, it’s about People vs. Power, that’s it, nothing more.  Those that have and wield institutional power, and those that do not.  It’s as elementary and base as that I’m afraid.

Take a good look around, I defy you to point to a single socioeconomic construct in our supposedly enlightened and advanced society of today which is not essentially determined by that crude polarizing characterization.  Whether it be our bought and paid for Political Class, our rapacious Banking Sector, our completely captured Regulators, our entitled Multinational Corporations, our entrenched Governmental Agencies, our marauding Military Industrial Complex, our fleecing Healthcare Providers, our muzzled Free Press, our hijacked Justice System, or our grossly overpaid CEOs, Athletes, and Entertainers, they all have one thing in common, and I assure you that it’s not the common good that they share.  What they seek above all else is to expand existing institutional dominion and their own privileges within it.

Sad to say, but at the end of the day, perhaps dog eat dog is what we humans are really best at, and the only state of being we’re actually capable of.   Maybe all those exalted ideals of enlightened forms of governance are just a load of crap to make us feel better about ourselves.   Judging by the overt self seeking avarice that dictates the pace of just about everything these days, it sure seems that way.

The odd thing about all of this, especially for our nation, is that America was actually born out of a revolt against the oppressive power of institutional entitlement.   Does the following ring a bell:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The founding fathers certainly understood the suffocating and stifling nature of undue privilege.  Thank God they had the enlightened foresight to realize that liberating men, not subjugating them, was the most effective way to both govern and grow a nation, not to mention the righteous and moral thing to do.  We’re not talking about mandating equality here, we are talking about demanding the liberty and opportunity for each of us to strive to become equals to the most admired and successful among us, should we so choose.

The Age of Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, awoke Western civilization to the advancement and empowerment of the individual over the authority of the State, which was central to our founding fathers’ declaration.   This powerful liberating social-political philosophy of their times traces its roots all the way back to the ancient Greek philosophers that roamed the halls of the Acropolis pictured above. The likes of Plato, Socrates and Aristotle insisted that society should be ruled by merritt.   In his most famous work The Republic,  Plato makes this clear.

Interestingly, in his most famous work, The Republic, Plato critiques democracy, condemns tyranny, and proposes a three tiered merit based structure of society, with workers, guardians and philosophers, in an equal relationship, where no innocents would ever be put to death again, citing the philosophers’ relentless love of truth and knowledge of the forms or ideals, concern for general welfare and lack of propertied interest as causes for their being suited to govern.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_philosophy#Western_philosophy

“In a democracy,” the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, “there is, first, that most splendid of virtues, equality before the law.” Cleisthenes’ demokratia abolished the political distinctions between the Athenian aristocrats, who had long monopolized the political decision making process, and the middle and working class people who made up the army & the navy.  This obviously did not yet included slave labor, but clearly the foundations for self governance were established, and the seeds of equality of opportunity were certainly planted by the ancient Greeks.

Having laid out the above narrative, let’s get back to the crucial showdown about to take place on the 29th of this December, 2014.   As you may know, today Modern Greece is in the midst of a parliamentary procedure to elect a new president.  As a parliamentary democracy, the President of Greece, much like the Queen of England, plays mostly a ceremonial role as the figurehead of State.   It is the Prime Minister and Parliament that actually govern the State’s affairs.  So why is this important you ask?

Well, here’s the deal. To be elected president, the proposed nominee must receive a supermajority of votes from the parliament, and should the current governing coalition fail to achieve the required number of votes, it is promptly dissolved and national elections are immediately held to elect a new government.   Moreover, it is widely believed that the next ruling coalition to be voted in would likely be controlled by the popular SYRIZA party led by a new Prime Minister in Alexis Tsipras.

greek election polling

 

I’ll be perfectly blunt here.  The current Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras of the New Democracy party, is exactly who the Autocrats and financial Kleptocrats in Brussels want to work with.   I’ll be equally blunt here again.  Mr. Tsipras of the Syriza party is their worst nightmare.  We’ll get back to this shortly, as first we must wade through some procedural parliamentary protocol to get you up to date.

Thus far, two separate votes have taken place to elect the new Greek Presidential nominee, Stavros Dimas, who has been put forward by Prime Minister Samaras and is favored by Brussels.  During the first round, which took place on December 17th, he received 160 votes, well short of the required 200 supermajority threshold required.   The December 23rd second round also fell short of the 200 needed with 168 votes, but here’s the catch, when it comes down to a final 3rd round, which is now the case here, the supermajority tally required drops down to only 180 votes out the 300 member Parliament.   So, to make a long story short, on December 29th, the current Samaras led Government needs 12 additional votes to stay in power.

The European establishment, as reflected by the 30% drop in the Athens Composite Index, is certainly not encouraged by these developments.  Infact, Jean-Claude Juncker, the sitting president of the EU Commission, the man who once categorically stated that when things get serious you have to lie, has instead decided to make, a not so subtle, direct threat to the Greek people.

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the EU Commission, stated during a debatethat he does not want Syriza to assume power in Greece. “I think that the Greeks […] know very well what a wrong election result would mean for Greece and the Eurozone.”

Apparently, Mr. Junker feels the EU’s own institutional interests should take precedence in determining the outcome of the Greek presidential elections over the Sovereignty of Greece itself.   Last I checked, the European Union was an association of Sovereign member States, not an official body presiding over internal domestic national elections.  Should the people of Greece decide they want a new government in Parliament to represent their objectives and aspirations, that’s entirely their prerogative, not Junker’s.

To add some additional insight, below is a brief profile on the EU establishment’s preferred candidate for the Greek presidency.  Wikipedia brings you Stavros Dimas:

In 1968 he began working as a lawyer for a firm on Wall Street, moving to the World Bank the following year, where he worked on investments in Africa and the Middle East.[1] In 1975 he returned to Greece to take up the post of deputy governor of the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank(ETVA), while also being a member of the committee preparing Greek accession to the EEC.[1]

 

Dimas served briefly in the Prodi Commission. He was appointed European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs in March 2004, taking over the role from the previous Greek Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou. A major focus of his work during this time involved making it more difficult for states to opt out of the Working Time Directive. The Greek government nominated Dimas for the incomingBarroso Commission which took office on 22 November 2004.

Sound familiar, yet another technocratic global banker background, who would have guessed it?  Clearly, should Greece want to reconsider its current fiscal relationship with Brussels and the European int’l banking community by dismissing their current government, that’s entirely within their rights as a sovereign nation.  Junker’s EU can certainly refuse any newly proposed solutions or initiatives put forth, and the int’l banks can decide not to play ball, but what they can not do is force the Greek people to choose a hand picked negotiating partner, that’s for the people to decide, which is exactly what is taking place at the moment.

For the record, most objective observers agree that the dictated debt regime combined with the strict austerity measures which were imposed on Greece by the TROIKA (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund), shortly after the global debt crisis had metastasized from its initial epicenter during the US Subprime meltdown debacle, has now created an entirely untenable situation for the Greek people. However, the EU doesn’t want you to understand this, they are too busy orchestrating a smear campaign painting any opposition to their self serving plans as a radical Marxism.

The fact of the matter is that you can only effectively restructure debt if their is enough income to service that debt at a reduced rate of interest, period.  If the income side of the equation is not there, simply adding more to the debt load, no matter what the terms, will get you nowhere. Extending and pretending is precisely what got the int’l financiers in all this trouble to begin with.  Let’s face it, you don’t solve a debt crisis with more debt, especially when you can’t pay off your existing obligations to begin with.

Below are general points of contention for renegotiation which Syriza wants to reopen with the TROIKA.  Sure doesn’t sounds like something Trotsky would draft.   It reads more like a resolution by existing shareholders of a corporation (in this case the Greek people) to put in place new management and restructure with creditors.   In fact, it actually offers to give the EU more explicit control of the Greek banking system itself moving forward.  Hardly seems radical or revolutionary to me?   See for yourself:

Negotiating Stance with the Troika: Reconstruction of the Banking Sector and Debt Relief

Reconstruction of Greece’s banking sector

Offer to pass ownership and direct managerial control of Greek banks requiring recapitalisation to the ESM under certain conditions (see below). Such a transfer of ownership (i.e. common shares) and management will entail disbanding the GFSF (the Greek Financial Facility) and passing all its, newly acquired assets, onto its parent the ESM-EFSF, together with the responsibility for future recapitalisation phases. The conditions under which the Greek government will consent to this transfer include:

  • No existing member of the Board of these banks must be retained.
  • New Boards to be appointed by the ECB, in association with the ESM-EFSF and the European Commission; possibly under advisement from the European Banking Authority.
  • The new Boards will replace top management and proceed with bank mergers and resolutions as required and under the supervision of the ECB.
  • All depositors to be protected in full, whether guaranteed and not, during the period of insolvency and resolution, with a “deep insolvency” insurance fund funded by the ESM.
  • Remaining shareholders and subordinated bondholders are not protected.
  • Eventually, the shares of the reconstituted banks are to be sold back to the Eurozone private sector at a profit to the ESM-EFSF.
  • ESM-EFSF investments for the purpose of recapitalisation of Greek banks not to count as part of the Greek national debt.

Re-negotiation of loan repayments re. Bailouts Mk1 and Mk2

  • Invite the troika to negotiate a schedule of repayment for past loans that is tied to the growth rate of the Greek economy. This way the troika acquires a stake in Greek stabilization and growth.
  • Use the profits of the ECB from the SMP program (up to €14 billion so far), and of the Greek Central Bank from the ELA program, to establish a Solidarity Fund to provide food relief, through a food stamps program, and minimal electricity security for eligible Greek citizens and legal residents.

Moreover, there can be little doubt that the predatory international banking institutions was clearly complicit, along with the disgracefully corrupt Greek politicians (many who still hold office) and high ranking government officials, as well as most of the Ionian elites at the highest levels of society in the near total abrogation of their financial responsibilities to their country.  They completely failed the common man in this regard, who understandably counted on them for proper sustainable fiscal governance.

Simply put, the provincial woman on the streets of Athens pushing her Gyro cart up the steep hills of Kolonaki is certainly less responsible for the lamentable state of affairs her beloved country finds itself in, then those whom should have clearly known better.  Along with the privilege of leadership comes responsibility.  Yet, today she is the one being asked to bare the brunt of the terribly onerous predicament her Nation is suffering through.  Meanwhile, the bankers get more free Euros, and no one is buying her Gyros.

The EZ bankers need to promptly step up to the plate here, by offer greater forbearance for their own egregious culpability in this Greek tragedy.  After all, if you are going to demand harsh self sacrifice from the bottom and middle of slice of society, you best show the example at the top, particularly if you want peace on the streets.  It is simply unacceptable to force feed the lion’s share of the sovereigns’ financial resources through the EFSF/ESM/OMT bailout mechanisms in order to desperately ressistate what are essentially failed EU banking procedures & a broken EZ monetary regime.

The entire EU financial system has to be soundly restructured, and realistically reconfigured for the long haul, as a monetary union without a corresponding fiscal union is an abomination.   Finally, it is the people of the Eurozone who must have the final say on how that is to be done, for in the end, they are the ones footing the bill, not the floundering self serving bankers and bumbling self seeking technocrats.  Either the Europeans create a an actual Fiscal Union to go along with their Monetary Union, or they dismantle and abandon this grand experiment abomination.  Can’t have it both ways.

The Eurozone’s monetary system which the Eurocrats were in such a rush to put forth was most certainly structurally off base from the outset.   Anecdotally, all one had to do was visit sublime Greece, as I did in the Summers of 2009 & 2010, and notice the excessive number of brand new yellow BMW & Mercedes taxis on the streets of Athens to realise something had been too good to be true.  Unwittingly, the exporting nation’s multinational banks had accelerated the flow of cheap money into the periphery States to such a degree that they had over stimulated the consumption of imported durable goods from abroad, which created destabilizing capital flows and unsustainable trade imbalances.  Economies which grow dependent upon excessive debt financing always end up creating precarious misallocations of capital.   We may well be about to find that out ourselves, right here in the good old USA.

The Greek people understand all of this more and more with each passing day.   They are turning to Alexis Tsipras, not because he’s a radical Socialist as the establishment and captured media would have you believe, but rather because he simply better represents the only viable hope and aspirations of the common man on the streets of Athens.  I have recently read nearly 50 articles in the western press covering the current tenuous situation in Greece, every single one of them branded Tsipras as a very dangerous “Radical”.  You would think that Lenin himself had come back from the dead to dismantle the EU’s Tsarist autocracy and execute a few top European Commission members.  Talk about dirty tricks, cheap scare tactics and disingenuous obfuscation.  Just exactly what is it that they are all so afraid of here?

The following passage below was written by one of our esteemed contributors, Yanis Varoufakis, who just happens to be a close advisor to Alexis Tsipras.  He’s a professor of Economics at the University of Athens, and Visiting Professor Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University  of Texas Austin, USA.  Yanis is clearly in the thick of it, and knows of which he speaks.  Listen up.

SYRIZA, a growing political party in Greece, is an acronym that stands for “Coalition of the Radical Left.”

 

For Americans, the idea that a party on the radical left could gain power is unthinkable, and it was for Greeks, too—until very recently. But the harsh austerity measures that the European Union imposed on Greece after its economic collapse have created extreme conditions in Greece: six in ten young people are unemployed, wages and pensions have been cut, national income has fallen by one quarter.

 

Europe is currently caught in a negative feedback loop, from which the established political process is unable to escape. For three years now, an endless stream of spending cuts and tax hikes has dominated the Greek Parliament’s agenda. A SYRIZA win may be the jolt that Europe needs: a victory by a pro-European party committed to keeping the country both in the Eurozone and in the European Union, but a party that, importantly, because of its radical disposition, is prepared to open up the conversation at the level of the European Council so that, at long last, European leaders address the problems they have been ignoring over the past five years. Back in June, in a New York Times op-ed, James K. Galbraith and I alleged that “SYRIZA may be Europe’s best hope,” and six months later this still holds true.

At the end of the day, is enlightened civilization about protecting the interests of institutions, or about creating institutions that protect the interest of people?  You tell me.  Let the Greeks decide!  Just as our founding fathers threw off the yolk of our regal oppressors, so does Tsipras seek to throw off the straight jacket stranglehold imposed on them by the odious oligarchs and their financial technocrats in Brussels. Furthermore, Tsipras isn’t even calling for their overthrow, he’s simply demanding a more realistic approach to the situation at hand.   What’s the problem with that Mr. Junker?   Is it about people or only about institutional privilege for you sir?  Will you be nefariously working to circumvent the sovereign vote by offering parliament members bribes in Syntagma square, is that what you have been reduced to?

As for me, I would be more than happy to see the cradle of democracy put the imperial autocrats and financial kleptocrats in their place, teaching them a thing or two about enlightened self governance.  Perhaps the ascent of Alexis Tsipras simply reflects the frustration of the everyday common man on the street, who’s completely fed up with these self seeking oligarchs and their self interested banking elites that keep offering up the same poison pill to cure a lethal debt epidemic that they themselves were central to spreading in the first place.  It’s high time somebody wakes up these all knowing, self important, self serving, bogus bureaucrats………………Opa!

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Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:15 | 5599400 El Oregonian
El Oregonian's picture

Oh, just slap some virgin olive oil on those open wounded inner-parts.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:17 | 5599413 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

I heard Forbes is buying Greek islands....

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:09 | 5599542 Haus-Targaryen
Haus-Targaryen's picture

If the Greeks have the Eier (balls) to actually blow the system up --

I will be ecstatic. I hope that Putin uses this opportunity take finish off the Ukies.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 23:40 | 5600617 MontgomeryScott
MontgomeryScott's picture

The love-child of Der Furher and Eva Braun (Agela Merkel; via proxies) ist NICHT 'concerned'; not concerned AT ALL, in fact.

Her step-father TRIED to warn about the inevitable collapse of the communist/democratic mergers, but, NO!

MAXIMUM VELOCITY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwc0shJ2aYc

(the downarrows are from those who don't fathom the irony and haven't understood the situation)

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 03:52 | 5600860 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

you are cheering for someone to "blow up" "the system"

problem is... which system? a system of what? as long as you are vague about what is wrong, you are just wishing for more suffering

like your wish for more conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 3'000 dead so far. imo enough to call it an utter waste

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 05:41 | 5600907 Haus-Targaryen
Haus-Targaryen's picture

Blow up the EMZ and then the world financial system.

International debt structuring ... How does it work?

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 06:34 | 5600915 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

yes, blow up the world financial system. fine. and then? you still have not outlined what you wish for... afterwards

I'll make a simple example: debt serfdom

It's easy for europeans to sneer at the current American practice to allow the young to pile up student debt to the tune of 200-300k. We just forbid such things. On the other side, we have in general socialist university systems (and socialist health care systems), so there is no need for the young to pile up debt that isn't even defaultable, another thing we... forbid

this American student debt thing is quintessentially a product of... freedom. Europe hasn't that problem because of... regulation and socialist state spending

which is better? a question of politics. America likes freedom and war spending, Europe likes regulations and socialist edu/health state spending

financial systems are the very first thing that comes back online. economies are always in need of credit and debit. entrepreneurship needs debit and credit, and so trade

do you want to forbid people to lend each other, period? do you want to forbid sovereigns to borrow? if yes... how? they have an army to back their police, remember?

of course, perhaps it's religious, and you ask for Apocalypse for the sake of Apocalypse? btw, "how does it work"? the IMF. though China is setting up it's own IMF, remember?

and this again has little to do with the EMZ, but it's still a red rag for you. I'm sorry, but don't you realize that you are part of the problem? by the way you think those things ought to be solved? for all it's faults, the EUR is behaving as gold would do, particularly in Greece. do you have the impression that Greece would be in any way better off if we had gold as an international currency?

childlike, you ask for something to break. meanwhile, you are probably stacking more then it would be healthy for your portfolio. and then you leave at that. you are the perfect product of "the" system you abhor, including your request for more conflict in Ukraine, which is wonderful music to the ears of the weapon dealers of this world

Greek recorded history has some hundreds of debt jubilees to show off (mainly because of the high number of polities doing it at the same time). the recurring theme was that all personal debt was written off. all, except commercial and sovereign debt. as in the old debt jubilees in Mesopotamia. do you know why? because they had similar problems, but knew that debt does not equal debt. there are healthy debt arrangements and there are unhealthy debt arrangements, and a lot of people that don't discern between the two, and bundle it up in one simple political stance about it

if you don't analyze your own stance, you won't ever understand what part of that stance is part of the very problem you would like to get rid off, by blowing things to smithereens, and making Dr. Krugman proud of all the broken glass this results into

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 06:50 | 5600932 Haus-Targaryen
Haus-Targaryen's picture

So thus, the Greeks should accept their position as slaves living in almost 3rd world conditions -- for the good of the "experiment."

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 07:34 | 5600959 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

you see? your stance is one huge bundle of everything. debt is bad, freedom is good. I stated nothing about what Greeks should do

meanwhile, "the experiment" has very little to do with the current Greek situation. if Greece would default straight or through Drachma revaluation now, before it has balanced it's budget for good... well, it would have to take up dollar loans

further, I find it a bit rich that you call Greeks "as in a position of slaves living in almost 3rd world conditions". I thought all southerners were a bit iffy, in your eyes. Have you ever travelled in Greece? Come on, aren't you asking Greeks to "break things, for the breaking of things sake?". You switch too fast between contempt for them and championing them, imho

Greece is on board of an "experiment". That "experiment" is based on truthful statements, intra-european sovereign diplomacy and balanced budgets. It's their choice to stay on board or not

don't put the whole thing as if they could go back to the Drachma and enjoy the plenties of the first world without ever paying back anything, then this is not the option offered by anyone

a corrupt government series, helped by the Squid, put Greece on the path already taken several times by countries like Argentina. Your policies would cement that path for another two generations... and you don't even realize it. as I said, your very stance is part of the problem, which has deep cultural roots

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:32 | 5599441 Arius
Arius's picture
On democracy a quote from Louis Brandeis comes to mind: "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Yes, greece is taking it as oregonian puts it above, however, everyone will take it too ... from the sound of it soon ... well, lets be optimistic and hope all will be okay and let greece go its own way.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 23:42 | 5600622 tplink
tplink's picture

my neighbor's step-mother makes $68 hourly on the laptop . She has been out of work for 10 months but last month her pay check was $15196 just working on the laptop for a few hours. try here... www.works3.com

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:07 | 5599384 noben
noben's picture

I wouldn't be concerned either:  The Greeks will take it, and take it, and take it -- like real Greek men.

They do not have "The 300", so anything goes.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:12 | 5599393 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

When socialist policies fail, the people will always demand even more socialist redistribution polices. The reason they are where they are is because NO ONE wants to face the reality of actually having to pay for your meal or going hungry. Now its too late to revert to conservative policies that might have at one time prevented this, and anyone who tries will find their head on a pike.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:17 | 5599410 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

People don't understand finance but they do remember promises - pensions and sugar plums dance in their heads....

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:20 | 5599420 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

They will remember a lie and hold people to them much more so than the truth. Lies are always so much better than the truth.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:38 | 5599461 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

Americans are too fat to get off their couches let alone remember the difference between a lie and truth.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:56 | 5599506 Arius
Arius's picture

however, there is functioning system in this country ... in greece i doubt people trust their politicians very much, and they know their vote will not make the slightest difference.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:03 | 5599524 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

America has a function political system?  Not with Diebold voting machines rigging the votes!

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 19:35 | 5599959 Omen IV
Omen IV's picture

it wasnt about Socialism in Greece it was about massive fraud and stealing by the elites in power passing favors among themselves and buying things like submarines form the Germans --- submarines?????

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:13 | 5599402 PontifexMaximus
PontifexMaximus's picture

Again snd again, eho the hell cares about Greece in Europe? Ask the GS and the Blackrocks and cons. where to invest. They have the full garantee of Draghi. Move along.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:13 | 5599404 madjakk
madjakk's picture

Is this a paid promotion of Bruno de Landevoisin's blog?

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:14 | 5599405 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

So the Greek Central Bank is up a stream with no paddle and the stream is about to turn into a very steep waterfall.  Oh and Greece's canoe has a hole in it.  Well at least it will be entertaining to watch.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:24 | 5599430 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Yet, no matter how dire the coyote's circumstances, he always survives for the next episode. Any sense of reality, of consequence and accountability are so remote, its hard to take anything seriously anymore.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:34 | 5599443 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

Minsky moments and whatnot.

For example an investor might borrow funds to invest while the market is in an upswing. If the market drops slightly, leveraged assets might not cover the debts taken to acquire them. Soon after, lenders start calling in their loans. Speculative assets are hard to sell, so investors start selling less speculative ones to take care of the loans being called in. The sale of these investments causes an overall decline in the market. At this point, the market is in a Minsky moment. The demand for liquidity might even force the country's central bank to intervene.

So could this happen when Greek bonds rise past a sustainable point?  And how about them long oil calls?

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:16 | 5599411 alexmark2013
alexmark2013's picture

A new public security law in Spain is taking away people's right to speak out about the financial crisis

http://investmentwatchblog.com/a-new-public-security-law-in-spain-is-taking-away-peoples-right-to-speak-out-about-the-financial-crisis/

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:21 | 5599421 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

Remember when Spanish hookers refused to sex up bankers until they made loans to small businesses?  That was rad.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:38 | 5599462 Arius
Arius's picture

spaniards better get on with the program ... they just passed that law in France ... no questions asked

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:19 | 5599423 Joe A
Joe A's picture

The first bailout for Greece was not to bailout Greece at all but the German and French banks that made bad investments in Greece. That is what the Germans say when they say that "the prospect of a Greek sovereign default is no longer a concern for euro member countries and financial markets," because these countries and their banks got bailed out, not Greece. Greece was sacrificed to save the Euro. The Greek need to pay back the bailouts with interest. Austerity imposed by the EU, the ECB and the IMF has destroyed the Greek SME and has driven thousands into unemployment and 60% of Greek live below or on the poverty line.

The motto of the EU is "Alle Menschen werden Brüder" but some are more "Brüder" than others.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:26 | 5599438 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

So you're saying it's a set up!?  Hole eee shit!!

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:49 | 5599463 Joe A
Joe A's picture

When there was a EU top about the Eurocrisis, van Rompuy called Merkel, Sarkozy and Papandreou in his office just before the summit would begin. He outlined his plan to 'save Greece'. They made Papandreou an offer he could not refuse. Greece would get a bailout and Greece would reform. But this bailout went to international banks that made bad investments in Greece. Part of the deal was also that Greece with this bailout money would buy German and French military hardware (...). Papandreou was with his back against the wall but he had one last trick: when he got back to Greece he wanted to put the deal before a popular vote. Merkel, Sarkozy and others in the EU were furious and within a couple of days Papandreou was out. He was replaced by a ex Goldman Sachs man.

The rest is history. Although the Greek are for a large part to blame for their own mess, they currently get taxed left and right. 25% unemployment, 60% youth unemployment, thousands of SME are gone. Greece has now more foreign debt than they had when this crisis began. And 60% of them live in poverty.

It really would be a blamage for the EU if the founder of democracy would go into default and forced to leave the Euro. The apparent indifference of the Germans to this fact in my opinion says something about democratic content in Europe.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:59 | 5599519 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

Blamage for the EU? Why, elaborate? The Greeks are part of the EU only because the US forced the Europeans to make them a member in the 1980ies. And todays Greeks have nothing to do with those other guys called Greeks 2500 years ago, who some say they invented something called "democracy". But most likely just the word.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:09 | 5599543 Joe A
Joe A's picture

The modern Greek might not have much in common with the ancient ones but Greece is still considered the cradle of democracy even just for symbolic reasons. And since the EU considers itself a democracy (while there is little of it to prove) then losing a member is a defeat. Symbolically speaking it would be a blamage. Europa after all is a Greek word.

Or perhaps given the little democratic content in the EU perhaps it doesn't matter.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 09:48 | 5601188 nicxios
nicxios's picture

LOL @ The "US forced the Europeans to make them a member in the 1980ies.", and the rest of your post as well.

Just make shit up as you go along to fit everything into your worldview.

 

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:45 | 5599466 Arius
Arius's picture

@soul glow ... you seem to be very active in this thread ... que pasa amigo?  cant we even say our opinion anymore?

 

@Joe A ... take it easy my man, there is scenerio which will unfold like it or not ... looking at Dimas CV he is most probably working to undermine his candidancy.

 

Greece played a big part on the sudden discovery of Strauss - Khan prostitute's habits ... obviously he was not completely qued in on the interecacies ... will see where this will lead, but as the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:08 | 5599533 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

On a long enough timeline you're sure to run up against me ;)

And yes, there are many political motives at play, DSK's penis one of them.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:01 | 5599504 Joe A
Joe A's picture

From the perspective of Germany, France and others who had their banks exposed so much in Greece (and in Spain and Portugal) it is even understandable. This exposure was a big threat to the Euro. But the Euro was designed by politicians and not by economists. Economists would have built in safeguards that would have made it possible for countries to temporarily leave the Euro, sort out their shit and eventually come back. But the policitians made a mess of it and the thought was that if something happens then we will sort it out then. That 'something' was the financial crisis. The thought was also to put a good crisis not to waste and to push through ever tighter political and financial union in the EU.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:04 | 5599531 Arius
Arius's picture

"But the policitians made a mess of it"

 

my two cents, and only two ... for what is worth, i think all is according to plan.  the same like derivatives which were not or will be an accident.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:05 | 5599532 Arius
Arius's picture

"But the policitians made a mess of it"

 

my two cents, and only two ... for what is worth, i think all is according to plan.  the same like derivatives which were not or will be an accident.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:12 | 5599547 Joe A
Joe A's picture

I believe even the current president of the European Commission Juncker said something to that extent some time ago.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 04:07 | 5600873 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

"Economists would have built in safeguards that would have made it possible for countries to temporarily leave the Euro, sort out their shit and eventually come back"

there you have it. the problem is neither "economists" nor politicians. the problem is "the markets", who hate such things. note the CDSs

there is nothing that hinders Greece to default while keeping the use of the EUR... except the fact that Greeks are themselves still undecided if they want to default. Evidence: only SYRIZA talks about a restructuration of the Greek sovereign debt

meanwhile, "getting out, fix things and come back" is a tad more... upheaval then that. however you turn that turd, it's always about default, and the details are only about how much, and how

what is the current "load" on the Greek budget for debt service? below the "unsustainable" 25% mark? yes. why? ah, well, again, details: the refinancing manouver was at low rates

so numbers say that the current PM has a point by advocating to keep the situation on this course. but it's a Greek decision

note that the article cites Bruno de Landevoisin's appeal to tighter political and financial union as a solution. thanks, but no, thanks

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 09:09 | 5601093 Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig's picture

Bingo!

"Alle Menschen werden Brüder"

 

Should read: ""Alle Menschen werden Leibeigener."

 

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 09:08 | 5601094 Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig's picture

Bingo!

"Alle Menschen werden Brüder"

 

Should read: ""Alle Menschen werden Leibeigener."

 

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 10:15 | 5601269 Sauerkraut-Opinion
Sauerkraut-Opinion's picture

What do we Germans civils have in common with the no cleptocrates of "our" or French banks apart that we are paying now for the mess everywhere? Greece (sometimes) is only paying back their own bills caused by their own elected kleptocrates, social attitude (pension with 55, 400€/month for daily handwashing as an public transport-employee in Athen, 600(!), professions why to stop working with 55 or less (not only the steel worker but also the office employees of those companies), island of the oldest pension funded people of the world, islands of blinds as blind as all the Greek people who forgot lamenting when all this facts were well known 10 years ago...

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 10:51 | 5601385 Joe A
Joe A's picture

Oh dear, German sensitivities.

I wrote somewhere that the Greek were responsible for their own mess but German and French (and others) banks themselves were responsible for THEIR OWN MESS. They made bad investments knowing very well what was going on in Greece (and Spain and Portugal). Now, the Greek are paying for their mistakes but why should not the Germand and French banks? Why are they bailed out? Good capitalist doctrine dictates that you and you alone are responsible for your own bad decisions. So why does that apply to Greece but not to foreign banks?

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:28 | 5599440 BadKiTTy
BadKiTTy's picture

I would love to see the Greek people take back their country. 

I am afraid sadly that they wont.  They will choose instead to be slaves. 

K@

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:49 | 5599485 Arius
Arius's picture

like they have a choice.

 

tell me do you feel like you have a choice in this country besides throwing the rascals out and calling your congressman to overturn Obama care?

 

it is the same, just there you see it on TV and looks different

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 04:15 | 5600879 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

yes, they do have a choice. and this choice has consequences

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:39 | 5599465 hairball48
hairball48's picture

I'm going long  Greek donkey carts.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 18:49 | 5599827 HardlyZero
HardlyZero's picture

and...Japanese Rickshaw.

If they go modern materials, carbon composites, new age wheels, there might be a snap and pop on the markets.  This might be the new economy, in public powered transportation.  Durable.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:40 | 5599469 breadonwaters
breadonwaters's picture

A good article, and i'm hoping this may be the beginning of rational thinking in terms of the southern debt of the EU .......

 

Im apologize for changing the subjec t .....but i cannot believe the number of JIM RICHARD ads that i keep running into at various stacker site like ZH etc.   What the hell is going on?  Has anyone noticed besides myself?

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:41 | 5599475 breadonwaters
breadonwaters's picture

OOPS...its Jim RICKARDS ...

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 16:46 | 5599482 MrButtoMcFarty
MrButtoMcFarty's picture

Wake me up when some Statists and Banksters are getting shot in the face...

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:00 | 5599523 q99x2
q99x2's picture

dog eat dog

There are a lot of smart people that know that tech means the end of aristocracies. Be patient and prepared.


Sun, 12/28/2014 - 18:04 | 5599702 Amish Hacker
Amish Hacker's picture

Next time it won't be dog eat dog, it'll be the other way around.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:03 | 5599526 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

The Banks have run the table.

I think it really is that simple whatever any of us "feel." I can't explain it that's fer sure and it's not for lack of an after action review. You have to believe in absurdity which makes the "emotion chip" a problem.

So far so hilarious...

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 19:08 | 5599891 HardlyZero
HardlyZero's picture

Some old fashioned currency collapse (or serious commodity crash) will get the sled moving.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:06 | 5599534 Czar of Defenes...
Czar of Defenestration's picture

"The founding fathers certainly understood the suffocating and stifling nature of undue privilege."

Yeah, yeah...good little "libertarians/anarchists"...

...until they get all sanctimonious and decide that THEY are the arbiters of what UNDUE privilege is....

UP YOURS, hypocrites.  Useful Idiots, ONE AND ALL.

Are you SURE you idiots here aren't really named ROBESPIERRE?!?

Because, you really seem to THINK that way.

(reminds me of the stupid Leftists crying for "revolution!"...until it interferes with their Wi-Fi....)

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:04 | 5599535 himaroid
himaroid's picture

Seven, come eleven.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:08 | 5599536 macroeconomist
macroeconomist's picture

It's funny to watch how hard these illiterate commentators try to de-link the hegemony of the financial vultures over the rest of the society from the essential characteristics of capitalism itself. This is the nature of capitalism, and the only hope lies within the left (Syriza and Podemos). I know it's painful to see that only the left (those who call themselves socialists) defend those crushed by capitalism (oh I know, I know this is not capitalism. it is socialism!!!!) 

This is what you get when those with zero knowledge on philosophy and sociology think they can preach us on right and left..Propose even more right wing policies and Randian sociopathy and claim that this is not about right or left any more.

What do these morons think we are? Do they really think we will believe these fairytales?

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:07 | 5599539 Watson
Watson's picture

Only three things matter:
1. Merkel won her election;
2. Merkel would die rather than let her European-dream die;
3. The Greek numbers are within the capacity of German taxpayers.

So, if push comes to shove, Greece will receive _gifts_ (not loans) of German taxpayer money.
The Greeks do not seem to realise the power they have to extract German money.

This does not, of course, mean that the European-dream is safe.
It does mean that someone bigger than German taxpayer capacity has to fail in order to take the dream down.
Like France.

Watson

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 22:57 | 5600523 boodles
boodles's picture

I can understand Germany's initial support for the EU/currency -- they wanted to export to the European Southerners.  What I don't understand is why, after they tapped out their sales to the South, they still want to keep the EU going.

What does Germany get out of its membership in the EU now?

 

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 04:31 | 5600882 Watson
Watson's picture

In an economic sense, nothing much.

Germans seem to think that because of WW2/Hitler/etc., and despite the fact that
all the players in that unpleasantness are long dead, the current generation must pay
compensation to the defeated states.

Started with France, with Germany paying the bills for food mountains, now generalised through
EUR-zone countries that would be bankrupt without implicit German taxpayer guarantees.

Watson

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 04:47 | 5600892 garlll
garlll's picture

You are wrong, there are many things hidden that germany in this moment is fighting, greece to german is not a problem, france is, but small countries all together are a big problem.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:35 | 5599618 madjakk
madjakk's picture

That was a strange article revealing an even stranger psychology.

From your link...."The prospect of the first “radical leftwing” government assuming power in the EU is, I fear, only a remote possibility, not because Syriza’s policies do not attract sufficient support in Greece but because austerity in Europe is now clearly judged to be much more important than democracy"

whoa.....so let me get this straight....you borrow other peoples money until you are in debt up to your eyeballs, then you get your debtors to readjust your loan payments because of you cant afford the payments.....and then you bitch some more because you want to get out of paying them back at all?

"Austerity" is the end result of too much debt.....maybe the Greeks should've "democratically" lived within their own means.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 18:43 | 5599772 himaroid
himaroid's picture

WTF does logic have to do with it?

The socialist mofos should starve to death.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 19:20 | 5599923 HardlyZero
HardlyZero's picture

Democracy is the best way for the most people to maximize their lifestyle.  The oligarchs and aristocracy will always be working in the background to get their's too.  Eventually The Reset and collapse, and massive loss.  Everything in cycles while everyone keeps things rolling along until the next massive Reset.  WWI and WWII were epochs too.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 17:44 | 5599642 localizer
localizer's picture

So Samaras needs just 12 votes?! Surely that is something that will be arranged.. as per usual. They will not let Tsipras become the PM.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 18:11 | 5599695 Boogity
Boogity's picture

It's getting kind of crowded, damp, and smelly underneath Frau Merckel's big old Fourth Reich / EU hoop skirt causing the Greeks to consider coming outside for a breath of fresh air.   This is causing the Frau's NWO bankster pimps at Goldman-Sucks and the IMF to shit bricks at the thought that their two decade-long "Fleece the Sheeple" EU project may be dead in the water sooner rather than later as planned.

In the meantime, Vlad is partying and pounding down vodka and caviar while playing Buk missile attack with his nubile flexible gymnist babe squeeze.  Hell,  at the rate the Euroweenie house of cards is falling down, Vlad may only have to dial the gas valve back a half notch come February.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 18:14 | 5599720 itstippy
itstippy's picture

"... prospect of a Greek sovereign default is no longer a concern for euro member countries and financial markets because banks have got rid of their Greek bond holdings."

After all the haircuts, refinances, etc. that took place a year or two ago, who exactly does currently hold what's left of the toxic Greek bonds?  Someone's got them.  

And Greek Government Bonds have been selling right along at ridiculously low interest rates (unless you assume they are money-good thanks to Brussels).  Who's holding all that "new" Greek debt, if not European banks?

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 18:41 | 5599807 Eyeroller
Eyeroller's picture

This will end the same as the Scottish independence and Swiss gold referendums. 

Twelve Greek sell-outs (or more) will magically be found, the can will be kicked down the road, and the Greek people will continue to suffer. 

Oh yeah, almost forgot, the markets will rally on the 'good' news.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 19:58 | 5600039 Al Tinfoil
Al Tinfoil's picture

To make a rather long story shorter: 

1. The EU political dirigistes installed the Euro "common currency" as their next step in the political unification of Europe.  This was a development for political reasons, as a means of uniting the people of the various nations in thinking as Europeans first and not as citizens of their own countries.  Economists and financial experts were hardly consulted.

2.  Bankers looked upon the unified Euro zone as a tacit guarantee that the European Central Bank would guarantee all debts by all Euro zone governments, and started lending at the same rate to all Euro nations at basically the same rate they would charge to the most credit-worthy.

3. Politicians in the PIIGS gloried in promising social benefits and economic development funded by borrowed money.  Their voters lapped it up like hungry cats.  This all amounted to a credit-fueled political and economic drunken binge.  Greece even splurged on the Athens Olympics on borrowed money.  The bankers of Germany and France were only too happy to supply the money like booze sellers sell champagne for a party.

4. France and (especially) Germany liked the Euro system because it made it easy to sell their wares to the PIIGS who now could buy with the money they could borrow at low interest rates.  German industries and French farmers made piles of money from sales to the PIIGS- mostly recycled money lent to the PIIGS by French and German banks.

5.  In the USA, the Federal Reserve accelerated monetary expansion via low interest rates, from about 1990 on, to the point that central bank interest rates are now Zero (ZIRP), to keep the great financial house of cards/Ponzi Scheme going.  The Clinton Administration in the US completed Financial Deregulation (begun under Reagan) by cancelling Glass-Steagall, legalizing Citibank and sending Wall Street on its financialization binge that ended with the collapse of 2008.  Central banks then doubled down on monetary expansion to plaster over the financial collapse by pushing down interest rates and printing more money.

6. In 2009-2010, Europe caught the contagion from the US meltdown and it became all too clear that the PIIGS could never pay off the money they had borrowed as Euro members. Bankers in France and Germany panicked and called on Merkel, the EC commissioners Barroso and Von Rumpot ("the Honchos") to save the banks.  The Honchos forced the Greeks to accept a "bailout" of their debt by the "Troika" - the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Union (IMF, ECB and EU).  The "bailout" money went to the French and German banks in exchange for the Greek bonds they were holding.  The bonds went to the IMF and ECB, and have now been passed off to sucker "investors".  The Greek people still owe the money and are expected to pay off the bonds, with interest.  Ditto in the rest of the PIIGS except for Iceland, where the government said to the bankers: "You created the mess, you own it."  

7.  Austerity was imposed on the Greeks to prevent the government from spending money on social programs, medical care, etc., and thus to ensure that more of the Greek government budget would be applied to paying off the bonds.  Ditto in Spain, Portugal, and Ireland.

8.  The people do not like austerity.  They don't like sleeping on the streets and having no jobs or medical care.  Good thing they are so undernourished or they would be more effective in rioting. But they tend to vote for politicians that promise to repudiate austerity and debt repayment.  

9. In the attempt to sell the idea that the EU economy has been "recovering" from the 2009-2010 meltdown, the ECB and EU nation central banks have adopted ZIRP (and even NIRP - negative interest rates on bank deposits), and bond buyers have bought into the financial fairy tales by bidding up new bond issues in the Club Med countries and pushing down interest rates on their sovereign bond issues to ridiculously low rates (as if there were absolutely no chance of default or haircuts).  

10.  Now that the risk of "Grexit" reappears, the Germans say there is now no risk to German banks from a Greek default.  Why?  Because the German banks have sold off their Greek bonds to greater fools.  OTHER SUCKERS NOW HOLD THE RISKY GREEK BONDS.  

11.  The EU has not recovered from the 2009-2010 recession, and is sliding further into depression.  A Grexit or bond default may still shake the European financial world and New York and London's City may catch the contagion this time, so everyone is trying to whistle past the graveyard.  

12.  The sanctions/counter-sanctions game between the US/EU and Russia is a very risky game for the EU since it cuts the EU off from (what was) its fastest-growing export market, and Russian firms still owe many $Billions to Western financial institutions.  Russia is also the supplier of about 30% of the oil and natural gas used by the EU, and those supplies might suffer major disruptions if the Ukraine pipelines were disrupted or if Russia cut off supplies in response to an escalation of the financial war against Russia.  The EU has no quick way to replace natural gas supplies from Russia.  If Russia feigns a "hiccup" (a hint that it will default on payments on debts to Western financial institutions and cut off gas and oil exports to the EU), expect Wall Street, London City, Juncker, and the ECB to have nervous breakdowns.  What strategy would the EU leaders adopt then?  Depends.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 21:11 | 5600277 Prober
Prober's picture

EXCELLENT !!!

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 01:29 | 5600749 julian_n
julian_n's picture

PIIGS = Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain.

 

Iceland isn't in it - or the EU - which is why they were able to do their own thing without Troika interferrance.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 20:21 | 5600104 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

"the prospect of a Greek sovereign default is no longer a concern for euro member countries and financial markets"

Translation from NewSpeak: EZ and markets are scared shitless.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 20:33 | 5600145 MaxThrust
MaxThrust's picture

It's interesting to read comments about this article but it's tiring to read through all the idiotic comments.

I'm loosing interest in ZeroHedge

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 22:29 | 5600459 himaroid
himaroid's picture

Maybe it would help if you made more/better contributions also.

You gotta bring some ass to get some ass.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 21:25 | 5600312 Richard Whitney
Richard Whitney's picture

A fiscal union must result in loss of sovereignty. Specifically, loss of a seat at world bodies, starting with the U.N.. That, or North Carolina and the other 49 states get seats, take your pick.

Regarding austerity, how is that measured? I only know the case in Denmark, based on the last numbers I have seen, and where they claim there has been 'austerity'. There, government expenditures have grown 26+% since the financial crisis, faster than inflation. That cannot be austerity.

 

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 10:16 | 5601261 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Austerity in Greece?

I wonder about this too. What if Greece is like Wall Street and their bankers are creating money out of thin air... say at a ratio of Assets to Money 1:40.

Do Greek Bankers & European Bankers Create Derivatives?

Yes, we know London is the place to go for the loosest Rules on Rehypothication.

Do Investment bankers Create Money out of thin air in the USA & Western Europe? I have no reason to think differently. So the Privileges and Benefits flow to the highest Class... while they screw up the sovereignty, government, regulations, pensions, wages, and total economy.

Are you a King or are you a Worker?

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 22:36 | 5600474 trader1
trader1's picture

just a coincidence.

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ferry-in-greece-is-being-evacuated-after-fir...

 

Rescue Under Way for Hundreds on Burning Ferry Off Greek Coast Gale-Force Winds, Heavy Rain Complicate Effort
Mon, 12/29/2014 - 10:24 | 5600525 Sauerkraut-Opinion
Sauerkraut-Opinion's picture

Deep inside the heart nearly every Greek is a banker.
The rich and the poor in Greece  are still agreeing on the fact that paying taxes is an evitable malady.
And I don't know where the imagination and expectation is coming from that greek salaries, pensions and public funded wealth should be significantly higher than in Slovakia or Lithuania funding them.

Most people in Greece seem not aware about the fact that olive oil, tax-free rental of deckchairs and taxi-monopolism is not a good base to lament.

Sun, 12/28/2014 - 23:51 | 5600652 jonjon831983
jonjon831983's picture

Didn't the cradle of democracy have tiered citizenship and slaves to keep things going? I mean, times were hard and everybody did it... but... yea.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 09:48 | 5601185 Bdelande
Bdelande's picture

Yet another who apparently does't understand English:

"This obviously did not yet included slave labor, but clearly the foundations for self governance were established, and the seeds of equality of opportunity were certainly planted by the ancient Greeks"

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 09:55 | 5601202 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

I read in my links above that there were Voting Citizens, Citizens, and Slaves. So like 3 Classes of Citizens 5,000 years ago.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 01:26 | 5600745 julian_n
julian_n's picture

It wont happen.  They only need to find 12 corrupt MPs and bribe them to vote the right way and the problem is averted until 2016 by which time TPTB will have had time to rearrange things.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 03:58 | 5600865 MEFOBILLS
MEFOBILLS's picture

The authors of zero hedge so often get it wrong.

Here is a rule of economics that seems to be not known:  

NEVER LET Y0UR DEBTS POINT OUTSIDE OF YOUR LEGAL SYSTEM.

In the case of Greece, their debts were outside of their sovereignty.  THEIR DEBTS WERE IN EUROS, yet they issued sovereign bonds to obtain credit Euros.

Here is a statement, which indicates the author doesn't understand money:

Unwittingly, the exporting nation’s multinational banks had accelerated the flow of cheap money into the periphery States to such a degree that they had over stimulated the consumption of imported durable goods from abroad, which created destabilizing capital flows and unsustainable trade imbalances.  Economies which grow dependent upon excessive debt financing always end up creating precarious misallocations of capital.   We may well be about to find that out ourselves, right here in the good old USA.

 

The multinational "banks" were French, English, and German for the most part.  Germany in particular would have trade imbalance, and hence that sucked in EUROS.

The PIIGS would roll over their bonds and foreign banks, making the usury go exponential  OK.  Read it again.

A country like Greece is not all of a sudden going to become mercantile and export goods at an exponential to then pay off rapidly accelerating debt instruments.  It is an impossibility made impossible by a corrupt money system that uses usury and games to harness populations.

If the Sovereign Country has their own money, they simply erase the damn debts off of the books.  Why the hell do countries give up their money power, to then become subordinate to foreign money powers.  These money powers are international in outlook and don't give a damn about the country typically.  They will harvest a country or put it into war, or debts, or whatever whim they may have.

Greece and the other piigs though that Europe was still a post ww2 liberal democracy.  They thought wrong.  It is a money power construct now, the same concepts that destroyed Rome and have been with us since 3000 years ago and the roaming tribes of aipiru.  

 

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 09:44 | 5601159 Bdelande
Bdelande's picture

?????

The Exporting Nations' banks were the German, French and English multinational banks bubba. That's the whole point here. If you have trouble with english, there is a picture of Mercedes Taxis lined up in Piraeus, just for you Sonny.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 09:50 | 5601191 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Good Post. John Perkins makes similar points about how the IMF & WB are used. I always say a real "Bail-Out" for a country with too much debt would be either Free Money, Coordinated Write Off of Debts, or Very Low Interest Rate Loan that pays off specific older debt and provides longer pay off period. Clearly a loan to Greece at 9% is not a Bailout.

I see Laws written in stone in Mesopotamia that are at least 5,000 years old that become the basis for Jewish Laws and which mention value of slave, chattel, payment for loss of virgin or killing of slave, repayment in Shekels or bushels of crops... contracts.

I think the system you mention is much older that 5,000 years.

- 5000 years of laws written in stone, we still can't get this straight since Power & Money corrupts the laws.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Ur-Nammu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi

Akkadian is an extinct east Semitic language spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language,[3] it used the cuneiform writing system, which was originally used to write ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate. The language was named after the city of Akkad by linguists, a major center of Semitic Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire (ca. 2334–2154 BC), although the language itself predates the founding of Akkad by many centuries.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 10:50 | 5601126 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Junker (German: Junker, Dutch: Jonkheer) is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German Juncherre, meaning "young nobleman"[1] or otherwise "young lord" (derivation of jung and Herr).

And there is this. If ever there was an example of Devolution... It must be Greece who we seem to hold as a great free society, open, democratic, schools of philosophy, Logic, and great education.

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