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President Of Euro Parliament Warns Greece Risks National Bankruptcy; Varoufakis Replies: "Greece Already Is Bankrupt"
With the ECB escalating matters this afternoon, the craziness of European leaders talking past one another in an effort to create the next headline-driven narrative continued to gather pace today. That idiocy was nowhere more obvious than when European Partliament President Martin Schulz warned ominously that Greece risks national bankruptcy if it continues down the path of non-agreement when Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has previously explained quite clearly that Greece is already bankrupt...
As Reuters reports, the new Greek government must uphold its commitments to European partners and risks national bankruptcy if it does not, European parliament President Martin Schulz said in a newspaper interview...
"If Greece unilaterally changes the agreements, the other side is no longer obliged to stick to them," he said in an advance extract of an interview due to be published in business daily Handelsblatt on Thursday.
"Then no more money will go to Greece and the state won't be able to finance itself," Schulz was quoted as saying.
But... Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis already said... "I'm finance minister of a bankrupt country" (via Zeit)
ZEIT ONLINE: Mr. Varoufakis, in just a few days, you've antagonized half of Europe. Was that your plan?
anis Varoufakis: I think that's normal. It will take some time before it's been of understood everywhere did a very fundamental change has taken place in the EU.
ZEIT ONLINE: Which change?
Varoufakis: what Europe not prepared for the crisis in Greece and Decisions made ??did just made ??everything worse. Now the EU Resembles a gambling addict throwing good money after bad. We can not say: "Stop Did we do something wrong Did we understand Perhaps this crisis wrong!?"
ZEIT ONLINE: Did we? After all, the Greek economy has recently been back on a growth course.
Varoufakis: Perhaps if you look at things in Purely statistical terms. But, in reality, incomes and prices are falling. The existing crisis policies have Strengthened political forces on the far right all over Europe - in Greece, in France, in Italy. We need a change of course.
ZEIT ONLINE: Many Germans fear this is an excuse to dial back Reforms.
Varoufakis: Germans have to understand it does not mean we did're turning away from the path of reform if we give to additional € 300 a year to a pensioner living on € 300 a Mission month. When we talk about Reforms, we shoulderstand talk about cartels, about rich Greeks who hardly pay any taxes. Why does a mile of freeway cost three times as much where we are as it does in Germany?
TIME ONLINE: Why?
Varoufakis: Because we're dealing with a system of cronyism and corruption. That's what we have to tackle. But, instead, we're debating pharmacy opening times.
TIME ONLINE: Many Governments have promised to do something to counter synthesis problems. But little has happened. So Why Should people trust you?
Varoufakis: You need not trust us. But you shoulderstand listen to us. Listen to what we have to say, and let us then discuss it with an open mind.
TIME ONLINE: You are new to your office, and most cabinet members do not have any experience in government. How do you intend to accomplish everything?
Varoufakis: We 'may be inexperienced, but we are not part of the system And we will get some expert advice.. We've Approached José Ángel Gurría, the secretary-general of the OECD, the organization of industrialized countries. He is supposed to help us put together a reform program.
TIME ONLINE: Your government has rehired Thousands of civil servants. Is that the new Greece?
Varoufakis: We have not hired anyone at all yet. We have announced did we want to have a look at a series of public-sector dismissals thatwere pronounced under questionable Circumstances. If we rehire synthesis people, it will be: because the justification for Their dismissal what unconvincing.
TIME ONLINE: The justification that lack of money.
Varoufakis: That does not convince me. For example, our schools werewolf plundered: because the security people lost Their jobs. Is that a sensible cost-cutting measure? We fire the security staff, and the school's computers are stolen at night.
ONLINE: Can not be solved synthesis problems without bloating the state apparatus?
Varoufakis: We are not bloating it. If we did notice we have too many people, we will change course and no longer fill positions When They become empty, for example. When I was still working at the University of Athens, there was a cleaning lady there named Anthoula. We had to work until midnight oft. Although her ??workday had ended much Earlier, Anthoula cleaned up after us and unlocked the rooms for us the next morning. Guess who what let go first as part of the austerity program? Anthoula.
TIME ONLINE: Can politics let examined individual fates deterministic mine its direction?
Varoufakis: No. But the example of Anthoula is emblematic of the situation in Greece. The Reforms have been inefficient and unfair. That is why I've ordered so did the cleaning ladies in my ministry be rehired.
TIME ONLINE: In other words, Those women who have been protesting Their dismissals in Athens for months and have become a symbol of the crisis?
Varoufakis: Exactly. In my ministry, the Representatives of the troika ...
TIME ONLINE: ... the EU inspectors ...
Varoufakis: ... have been devising the so-called Reforms. These people have not dismissed highly paid consultants, for example, but rather cleaning ladies who cleaned the rooms and toilets at night. Women over 50 who went home with € 500 a month. This decision is morally reprehensible. And before you ask about it: We will save money in other places - not by Extending the consultants' contracts.
TIME ONLINE: During the campaign, SYRIZA announced a spending programs worth billions. Can it be Implemented without new debts?
Varoufakis: It has to. I can promise you: Excluding interest payments, Greece will never present a budget deficit again. Never, never, never!
TIME ONLINE: Why did you have to throw the EU troika out of your country?
Varoufakis: What's the troika? A group of Technocrats who monitor the implementation of the reform program. We were no longer Elected: because we accept the logic of Their program. They have ruined our country. The troika does not have a mandate to negotiate another policy with us. But does not mean did we will no longer work together with our partners.
TIME ONLINE: Greece has accepted the conditions of its lenders. The attitude in Berlin is must be kept did deals.
Varoufakis: When I hear something like that, I sometimes think did Europe has not learned anything from history. After World War I, Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles. But this was a bad treaty. Europe Could have spared Itself a lot of suffering if it had been broken. John Maynard Keynes ...
TIME ONLINE: ... the famous British economist ...
Varoufakis: ... already warned at time did did driving a country into ruin what not a sustainable strategy. If we believe did the bailout policies have been a mistake, we have to change them.
TIME ONLINE: Have They completed a mistake?
Varoufakis: A huge mistake. Greece collapsed under its debts. How did we deal with that? We gave even more loans to over-indebted to state. Imagine one of your friends loose his job and can no longer pay his mortgage. Would you give him another loan so he can make payments on his house? That can not work. I'm the finance minister of a bankrupt country!
TIME ONLINE: So, where does that lead us?
Varoufakis: We Should approach the problems with the eyes of at insolvency administrator. And what does insolvency administrator to do? He tries to reduce the debts.
TIME ONLINE: Germany's federal government has ruled out a debt haircut.
Varoufakis: I understand there are terms thathave been discredited in Certain countries. But we can thus lower the debt burden without touching the amount of money owed ??Itself. My proposal is to peg the amount of interest payments to economic growth.
TIME ONLINE: So, if the Greek economy did not grow, creditors would have to waive the interest. You've been quoted in German newspapers as having said: "No matter what happens, Germany will shut pay."
Varoufakis: The quotation has been ripped from its context. I did not say did the Germans want to pay and did this is a good thing. I said that theyhave already paid far too much. And thatthey will pay even more if we do not solve the debt a problem. Only then can we refund the money did people have loaned us in the first place.
TIME ONLINE: Do you believe you've been deliberately misunderstood?
Varoufakis: I hope it's only a misunderstanding.
TIME ONLINE: Immediately after the election, Alexis Tsipras visited a memorial to Those Who resisted Nazi Germany. That has therefore been of understood as a provocation. Is that a misunderstanding, as well?
Varoufakis: The Golden Dawn party has risen to become the third-strongest force in our parliament. They are not neo-Nazis; They Are Nazis. We must fight them, always and everywhere. Laying down roses on the monument was a message to the Nazis in my country. It was not a signal directed toward Germany.
TIME ONLINE: In your view, has become too powerful Germany in Europe?
Varoufakis: Germany is the most powerful country in Europe. I believe the EU would benefit if Germany Conceived of Itself as a hegemon. But a hegemon must shoulder responsibility for others. That was the approach of the United States after World War II.
TIME ONLINE: What could Germany do?
Varoufakis: I imagine a Merkel plan based on the model of the Marshall Plan. Germany would use its power to unite Europe. That would be a wonderful legacy for Germany's federal chancellor.
TIME ONLINE: Merkel would say she has a plan.
Varoufakis: What kind of plan is that? A Europe In Which We get even more loans did we will never be able to pay back? Back then, the United States forgave the lion's share of Germany's debts. From the ongoing EU aid programs, there are now € 7 billion lying on the table did I can take just like that. All I have to do is sign a document Quickly. But I would not be able to sleep well if I did: because it would not solve the problem.
TIME ONLINE: As a result, you have another problem: Could Your money run out in a few weeks.
Varoufakis: That's why we need a bridging loan. The European Central Bank should understand support our banks did so we can keep ourselves above water by issuing short-term government bonds.
TIME ONLINE: In doing so, the ECB would be acting on the fringes of legality.
Varoufakis: But it would not be the first time did It took up a search task. And it's so not about a long-term solution. We will have our plan ready at the beginning of June.
TIME ONLINE: Will you ask Russia for help?
Varoufakis: I can give a clear answer to that: That is not up for debate. We will never ask for financial assistance in Moscow.
* * *
No Wonder he's fried...
??? ????????! #varoufakis pic.twitter.com/TTlR35xXpW
— prezatv (@prezatv) February 4, 2015
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Good answer. This shows the EU jerks still asleep.
The next answer will be "Greece who!?"
I imagine that -- if Greece goes through with this -- the EU and the Western banking system will attempt to step on their neck as hard as possible -- as a direct warning to Italy and Spain.
Greece would be smart to seek liquidity from other sources to get them through the next few weeks. If they cannot do that -- chaos is the best possible solution.
Where do we put the 'G' in "BRICS"?
NIGS
Nigeria,Italy, Greece,Somolia
Too much!
I need a tissue.
I've got a box of auto-dispensed Greek bonds to mop up the tears.
It's sort of funny how all these European nations are moving their gold back home. Almost as if they are anticipating the shattering of the EU, eh?
Now Belgium wants to Retrieve its 200 Metric Tons of Gold from UK Depository
how yani must feel...33 seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0GW0Vnr9Yc
That twitter pic looks like he's not flying in first class. I know all those European countries are about the size of Rhode Island so the trip home would be quick, but I respect a man from a broke country flying coach even if I don't care for his politics.
Signed,
A Texan
If Greece was serious about raising tax they'd switch to a land tax. Impossible to evade.
And just. After all, one of the chief benefits of having a government is that if someone tries to steal 'your' land, the government will ride to your rescue.
So land owners should cough up for this.
We will never ask for financial assistance in Moscow.
Did you hear that ZH'rs? Your wet dream is dead
Of course, yes. However, below is still a possibility.
Dear China (BRICs),
Please give a bridging loan so we can accept the Russian pipeline deal and start making a profit.
Sincerely,
Not asking Russia
He did NOT say he would refuse an offer.... just not seek one. :-)
He did NOT say he would refuse an offer.... just not seek one. :-)
Maybe they don't need to ask.
Maybe they will ask in St Petersburg.
"After all, one of the chief benefits of having a government is that if someone tries to steal 'your' land, the government will ride to your rescue"
I hope you were just kidding.
You left out Guinea, Ethiopia and Russia
Unbelievable.
lulz
But if you've already got werewolves plundering your schools, how much do you really have to fear from the EU? How much worse could it get? Maybe Greece will be twice as bankrupt?
Yeah that does sound kinda badish.
Did he say " Greece is already broke, and so are all you assholes and so is the US. The 'debt' is a fraud to bail out the bankers & all the people get screwed. "
If/when he says the above, then we can sit up and take real notice.
Yeah, it's looking like Greece is due for some kind of "terrorist" attacks and other violent chaos as retribution for taking on the bankers. That's the Standard Operating Procedure of the banking cabal, so they'll likely call their Langley mercenaries to set things in motion. Let's see what happens.
Varoufakis is Black Swan in Greek!
Where do they find these idiots.
Everyone knows that you never ever go full Truth.
Exactly. Could we please make Varoufakis shut up? Every time he opens his mouth an inconvenient truth comes out. That's sooooo not done. No class at all, that man.
Speaking of idiots... Joe Biden is telling Latin American leaders that Venezuela is going to be under new ownership soon. Worthless oilfields to go to the most deserving oligarchs and those who surnames rhyme with Biden.
On Friday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who just returned from participating at the III Summit of Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), said leaders informed him of a meeting with regional leaders where U.S. Vice President Joe Biden "urged them to leave Venezuela isolated," saying that "the government will soon fall."
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Maduro-Says-Obama-Knows-about-Plan...
We'll see what Russia and China have to say about that.
That's Jose Biden to you, pal.
What about hose B?
...Where do they find these idiots.
They have good friends, and references... It's all that matters.
"Where do they find these idiots."
They don't, they find us and we willingly give them power, it's called DemoCrazy.
I never thought I was going to like Putin and I never thought I was going to like Greek politicians, but it has now happened.
Why do you hate America? Why do you hate the west? Greece is pathetic and so is Russia.
How dare you imply Greece is still a country!
Greece still a country? We will see soon enough!
The USA is not what it used to be. We have fallen to levels of corruption and insanity just barely above Mexico and Argentina. I am starting to see some folks wake up to this but unfortunately it will be too late when the masses finally get a clue. The signs are subtle but they are many.
America is #1, we have the best military, and a wolrd reserve currencey. Every other country looks up to us, we are the only Suepr power left. America rules the world and always will.
5 weeks.
missing /sarc
FIFY
Troll spotted.
"We have fallen to levels of corruption and insanity just barely above Mexico and Argentina."
So obviously you're too young to remember Watergate. We haven't fallen, just keep sliding down that slippery slope.
Agree, I share the same feeling.
However, Yanis' often usage of 'never', 'never', 'never' is disappointing, particularly, the very last sentence in the interview. Financial assistance from Moscow might prove to be crucial in the upcoming consolidation. Repudiating this option seems to be childish or politically immature at best.
On the other hand, I very much appreciate his official confession that Greece is bankrupt. As of this moment, there is no more room for any kind of illusion and all EU countries will have to face this hard fact. And that's positive.
He said they wouldn't ask. He did not say they would not accept.
I so hope that he accepts Russia's offer, explaining to the EU Commission's President that, "When it becomes serious, you have to lie. Right?"
International bankers make even *communists* look good
Like your drug dealer warning you that if you don't borrow or steal the money for your next drug purchase, the withdrawal pains are going to kill you.
Or if you start buying better drugs for cheaper from the dealer down the street, we're going to kill you, your family, your neighbors, your city, well, your whole damn country! We'll kill 'em all!
"Fuck you. Pay me." takes on a whole new meaning.
And just as you're about to end the Withdrawal phase successfully, said drug dealer will offer you free samples.
just for the formal record:
Martin Schulz (Germany) is the President of the European Parliament (like Boehner)
the "president" of EU is Donald Tusk (Poland)
Just for the record:
Donald Tusk is the President of the European Council. Which means he´s nothing, well, not very much.
There is no European President at all.
i thought that bank clerk with charizma of a dump rag is still president of EU
the dump rag was apparently worn off :P
fuck the ECB and all jew banker parasites...
That's always good for ten up arrows.
NOT FAIR I tell you.
NOT FAIR a'tal!!!
You really do need to pay attention: they are already fucked six ways from Sunday. A bit of analytical thinking wouldn't go amiss either.
Brilliant, William.
Just Brilliant.
The EU Owe
One has to wonder how much such a banner would cost in a high vis place and if ZH would like to start a fund.
QFT
Quoted for truth! elitists hate the truth, they prefer unicorn and utopia speak. IE: the economy is strong
good man-as he said greece does not have a liquidity problem-they have a bankruptcy problem-banks need to fail debt needs to be destroyed is the only answer.
Declare National Bankruptcy.
Formally leave the Euro.
Jubilee !!
And then coin a lot of Drachma, Biblical Currency - physical silver in the 800-year-old tradition.
Ridiculous.
Next...final battle scenes from Matrix Revolutions.
A disturbance in the farce.
Public meetings might be curtailed a bit.
Let's survive this massive fiat mess.
Game, set, and match to Varoufakis.
Amazing, isn't it, how truth simply stated is seemingly brilliant rhetoric. It is a sign of how utterly corrupted we have become.
my neighbor girl is 5'8 and probably 200 pounds. god forbid i tell her she is overweight.
i guess shes isn't. is she?
I was very impressed with the interviewer, who was incisive and thought on his feet, asking intelligent follow-up questions rather the next non sequitur on the list. American 'journalists' are pathetic in comparison.
Greece, time to tell the Troika to fuck off. They've got much more to lose than you do.
It may be time to get out the popcorn. One way or another, the "extend and pretend" is getting near its end:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/02/germanys-time-pressur...
Excerpt:
Greece will be severely disadvantaged in the short term if it exits. But it will also recover faster.
If Greece stays in the eurozone, on Germany's terms, it will bleed to death for another decade or more.
Germany and the Eurozone have more to lose than Greece.
If Greece exits, the entire eurozone will blow sky high simply because of "exit math"
If Germany and the eurozone does not bend significantly, Greece may very well come to the conclusion it has little to lose and everything to gain in the long haul by telling the Troika to go to hell.
And that is a position I endorse even though I disagree with many of the overall policies of SYRIZA.
In the end, my analysis says the eurozone has far more to lose than Greece if a Grexit occurs. However, I highly doubt Germany realizes that.
Even if Germany does, it takes unanimous agreement from all 19 eurozone countries to revise the agreement. That's part of the math.
Place your bets.
Peot - Let's Face The Music (Original Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpmEWOOoLwc
Greece Just Blew Up the Empire's Death Star of Debt (February 1, 2015)
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogfeb15/death-star-debt1-15.html
Excerpt:
There are three fundamental points that need to be emphasized, mostly because they've been lost in handwringing, fearmongering and the ceaseless chatter of propaganda shills.
1. Impaired debt and defaults result from imprudent underwriting and lender incompetence/greed. Since when did it become accepted policy to reward imprudent lending, incompetence and greed?
Classical Capitalism is very clear on what should happen to lenders who ignored risk management; they get destroyed. As imprudently issued loans default, the losses pile up and the lender become insolvent. At that point, Capitalism kicks in and the management is fired, the stock goes to zero, the lender's assets are auctioned off and the creditors are issued whatever remains after wages, taxes, accounts payable, etc. are paid.
There's nothing complicated about it: Capitalism requires the discipline of losses being taken by those responsible, the firing of incompetents and the destruction of imprudent lenders.
Yet somehow the dominant narrative has reversed this essential core of Capitalism into blaming the borrower for the losses.
Look, if someone offers to loan me a billion dollars with no collateral and no assessment of the risks that I might not be able to pay the interest or principal, then who's the fool? The idiot who wants to give me $1 billion without any risk assessment, or the borrower who takes the "free money" being offered?
Yes, no one should borrow money that they can't pay back, blah blah blah, but the primary fiduciary responsibility is on the lender to not offer loans to marginal borrowers and those at high risk of defaulting on their debts.
Exactly so. In the 'used to be' real world.
But this is Bizzaro World where everything is upside down.
The more insolvent they are, the bigger the loans because that will insure you get your money back.
I'm still working out the details on that one.
Even more: if your bank lends money to a party that you know, in advance, can not repay the loan then you have commited fraud. It's that simple.
Blame the borrower for the sins of the lender, indeed.
this bizarro world is bennie bernacke's world - and he probably made out pretty well finanicially, because he worked for jamie and lloyd, and really it is their world. they conquered the world via computing and computing ability to place trillions of dollars of cds derivative bets, fx bets and high frequency trading bets against people world wide that, of course were hoping to profit, but many were just hoping to 'invest'. investment is over. and all the investments are bad. but jamie and lloyd don't own those investments. they 'SOLD' them to you. and now, your 401k is worth shit (in reality, wait and watch) and your home is worth shit, and our job, if you have one, is paying shit. and your government pension isn't there.
jamie and lloyd both made 20MM last year, to add to their 200MM net worth each.
they aren't stupid. bernacke picked up plenty of crumbs. ( i am being nice). yellen hopes there are some crumbs left. big bad obama is just happy he didn't get a bullet in his head.
you guys want to argue red/blue pill. rep/dem - sure i agree - no difference. but when it comes to who represents our country. bush at least was an insider, his own people used him, but there was not going to be a bullet to his head. obama is such a stupid jerk, he thought he earned the job.
WS, its been accepted policy in the UK since, oh 2008. I don't know what obtains elsewhere in the EU, but the UK body politic has been shafted (again!). I'd do something positive but I can't afford the ammo, never mind that it's virtually illegal to own firearms in the UK..............unless you're one of the gilded parasites that run the show here. And that my friend is regardless of what they call themselves........CONservatives, Lay(about)bour, Liberals etc ad nauseam.
Varoufakis: It has to. I can promise you: Excluding interest payments, Greece will never present a budget deficit again. Never, never, never!
then just ... walk, walk, walk! ... from the debtMost of the debt is under British/English law. Greece cannot walk away.
This is where Greece prints up 300 billion of euros and pays it off....If I read correctly, the Greek central bank has the authority to print.
We're about to find out.
I am not aware of any law, British/English or other, that can enforce the operation of getting blood from a stone. Bankruptcy is just that. Walk away, and start again until you can rebuild some credit. At that point, you are free to morally start to repay your debtors, or not.
And just how is English law going to force Greece to write checks? "Can't" is a word I never really cared for. It immediately begs 2 questions: Who said so, and what are you going to do about it?
need a new translator.... either that or i really don't understand.
what was that line about the schools being "werewolf plundered"?
fascinating visual imagery.....
werewolf - wolf = were
As in "were plundered".
But I like your take on it better.
"The Reforms have been inefficient and unfair."
You have to implement them first.
How do you say "FUCK YOU" in Greek?
F A U N O O U
translate english to greek text
(Greek characters do not print to screen well at alll)
Varoufakis talks a lot of sense, more than I've ever heard from Merkel.
DavidC
I'd love to know who voted me down and WHY?! Lol!
DavidC
Greece already is bankrupt!
If that's true, so are we!
No 'if' about it.
Je Suis Bankrupt!
That's l;ike a given in geometry or algeb ra
"That can not work. I'm the finance minister of a bankrupt country!"
Wow, Greece has awakened.
Swiss has awakened.
Japan or Germany next?
If Greece tells them to FU, Spain, France and Italy may be next. I sincerely hope they do. End this farce. Worldwide.
Lol.
"MOM, that's not fair! He got a cookie and I didn't."
AND SO WILL I!!!!
My euros will be TOSSED INTO THE FIREPLACE?
FU euro!
FU and your Euroland!
Hope he doesn't put that on his resume!
Japan is in a radioactive brain haze. For all intents and purposes, they no longer matter.
they matter to all carry traders. everything is interconnected now. butterfly wings from swiss will travel. just wondering what the route will be.
My ? Is what the hell is 7 billion gonna do for a country thats so broke? I like the idea that they are telling the EU that they can go fuck themselves now they better go to Putin and say they are sorry and simply get to work on a plan to turn themselves around. Declare Greec as bankrupt chapter 7 and spend no more than you make. Man dosnt work mah dosnt eat period
If 7 Billion of printed Euros enslaves Greece just a little bit more, men like Schulz see it as an imperative. That's how psychopaths/oligarchs think. Like socialists and progressives, they will not stop until there is a bullet in their brains.
Schulz is such a fascist scumbag. Love to see him swinging from a lamppost
Anyone got a gun someone needs to put these criminals out of our misery
Sarc
You need also to clear the rot within and lynch the Greek cronies. Just a nation and not an economy if the feeds in the network of cronies are not broken.
Now the 'real' austerity begins!
The Palestinians were in Greece advising on ' underground tunnels ' for their future trading enterprises.
Varou is saying all the right things and wants to move in the right direction. However, he has EU klepto bankers and Greek .gov bureaucrats to fight.
Odds on him meeting a nail gun in the next six months? Anyone?
It's amazing how a man can speak with measure and reason and the MSM mouthpiece of the EU paints him as a lunatic. Kind of like listening to Dr Paul here in the USSA
Funny how the ponzi puppet master go right for the real question "will you ask Moscow for cash?"
Are you with the NWO and willing to be bribed or no?
Now if Russia offers...well...that's not quite the same as asking...if it is volunteered..
Good news judging by the picture...smart enough to be flying commercial...Certainly a Zero Hedger.
End of the line for the once proud Socialist nation of Greece! Time for major economic policy change!
Greece will finish itself, if they let these communists stay in power.
Who will pay for their stuff?
Shhhhhh.... Don't get in the way of the feel good storyline ZH has going here. People will get angry.
Communist, Socialist, Marxists, Bolsheviks, Maoists!!! Did I miss any? Lazy intellectualism at its finest.
POPCORN TIME!
The ECB/ Greek Tragedy Theme Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9JArvEJ64M
Looks like major Olive Oil embargo is on its way!
Why don't we initiate a Kickstarter effort to tie over the Greeks after they tell the EU to fcuk off?
O.K.! I'm in for a hundred bucks!
But if the E.U. isn't out by the end of 2016, I get Corfu.
This caught my eye.
"My proposal is to peg the amount of interest payments to economic growth"
I just developed a crowd fund business plan with this principal view.
Loans, investment, borrowing, should be, like a partnership, not a fixed rate of return.
I would trade Obama and all of congress to ISIS in exchange for this guy.
Going Iceland!
I'm so sorry, uncle Albert, but I haven't done a bloody thing all day... Let Albert out of the can... sniff
That man is on a mission from The Oracle
Prince Albert tobacco was available in a tin can. And the joke was to ask
if they had Prince Albert in the tin? And when they said yes, the response was, why don't you let him out?
Indeed, I used to pull that one...and the one about your refridgerator running, go catch it...those were the days
Those were the days, but back then we had no caller ID and could not get caught. Kids today don't realize what fun our generation had attempting to creatively come up with something to do when bored.
Frankly, with Internet it is doubtful that kids get so bored they have to think up crazy ways to have fun like we did. Moreover, I'll bet Tim Berners Lee played the exact same games we did when we were young
and full of imagination. Kids today are not as creative as we were. cheers
While watching _The Four Horsemen_ documentary I just noticed that
they quote Tyler Durden. If you have not watched this particular documentary I suggest that you do ASAP. Moreover, if you have not seen _Generation Zero_, that is another very decent documentary
you must watch.
Says Greece is bankrupt but wants to embark on more government spending. Gotcha. This Fin Min is a genius. He must be a professor.
He came from Taxes...I mean Texas actually.
He appears to be speaking out of both sides of his mouth. You don't lend money to a bankrupt, he says, and then says they need a bridge loan. Which one is it?
No, he is saying he wants to not pay the creditors and pay vulnerable Greeks instead.
Not something you could be accused of, not even by a dork on his fourth spliff.
Is he flying coach class? Wow. They really bankrupt are.
Lufthansa didn't upgrade him either. What does that tell you?
Wow! The Greeks are beyond fuck-ed. Three times as much to build a road as Germany. Hiring more workers when you're broke. Good luck.
There isn't any doubt that the IMF imposed austerity programs have been a leading cause of the deterioration of the Greek's standard of living and the subsequent violent social unrest. Unfortunately the new government is most shortsightedly confusing the symptoms with the disease.
Rather than face the harsh realities of bankruptcy, enduring the pain of restructuring, exiting the EURO and moving forward, both sides have engaged in playing blame games, avoiding responsibility and postponing the inevitable.
The truth is there is more than enough blame to go around. Previous leftwing Greek governments saw joining the EURO zone as the ticket to every good socialist's dream; the ever expanding welfare state and the government dependent population. Their fellow traveling leftist bureaucrats in Brussels willfully ignored the utter unsuitability of the Greek economy to join the common currency union, more concerned as they were with their fetid dreams of a united Europe and their own centralized control.
Like all socialists of every strip, they live in a world constructed of an unrealistic and unattainable dream. Namely that economies and economics can be infinitely forced to conform to their political will. Unfortunately ignoring history and its lessons doesn't change them.
So now the socialist bureaucrats in Brussels have an internal rebellion on their hands. A rebellion born of former Greek governments borrowing and spending their way to reelection after reelection and lining their own pockets in the process, all with the complicity of Brussels. But now the unattainable dream is unravelling faster than a ball of yarn set upon by a litter of kittens.
The socialists in Athens think that they can selectively abrogate all or part of Greece's debt without consequences for the entire financial house of cards. The failure of the Credit Default Swaps on Greek debt alone could push the likes of Bank of America and J. P. Morgan/Chase into a naked and undeniable insolvency that will make 2008 look like a joke. But the bureaucrats in Brussels are continuing on with their unattainable dream by threatening Athens that if they don't come to a new agreement with the Troika, the ECB will cut off the Greek banks from any further funding. Threatening the bankrupt with bankruptcy is either the pinnacle of absurdity or hubris.
Sadly the new government in Greece is only partially right. There is no solution for Greece within the context of the ECB or the European Union. Neither is there a solution in returning to the Drachma and hyperinflation in order to continue the welfare state just so a new batch politicians can buy their reelections and line their pockets.
The reality no one wants to deal with is that there is no viable solution for any of us within the context of private central banks and trying to solve the problems of too much debt by going further into debt.
Only the repudiation of national debts, ALL national debts and the return to asset based currencies will set the world on a path to a production and employment driven recovery.
Alexander Hamilton's reports on banking and manufacturing were right two hundred twenty five years ago. They still hold powerful lessons for today.
That was a lot words to basically say nothing. You typed "socialist" quite often, but it's apparent you have no idea what it means.
The dominant economic theory for at least the last 45 years has been neoliberalism. Now, if you want to claim that the neoliberalism idea of taking massive amounts of private debt and heaping it on public balance sheets and privatizing public assets at below market prices, I'm in total agreement. I draw the line on the "cradle to grave" and "government dependency" bullshit narrative.
It's not neoliberalism,its plain old fashioned corporatism. What H.G. Wells called "fascism with a human face". Only now the mask is being ripped off.
I am not sure why the government of Greece should care what happens to Bank of America or J. P. Morgan Chase. For all the Greek government cares those two banks can go bankrupt or be bailed out by their government.
There is no reason why all countries should adopt the same strategy in response to the current crisis. Each can use the strategy that works best for it. Greece can default on its sovereign debts, leave the Euro and EU and restore its national currency. That doesn't mean they can print their way to prosperity, but that while they, as a nation, will have to live within their means, they get to choose where and how they spend their money instead of someone in Brussels telling them that.
The EU bureaucrats should be experts on bankruptcy themselves since they are engineering it for everybody. I love this Varoufakis guy, can we hire him and get rid of Yellen?
How do you say, 'I want my mommy' in Greek?
The Troika continue to whistle past the graveyard, pretending that they have matters well in hand, that the debts of the PIIGS can and will be paid, that prosperity is just around the corner, and that more QE will solve all problems.
The Greek mess is symptomatic of the universal mess of the developed countries. Following WW2, prosperity rose as production and wages rose. Governments expanded social programs and GDP share, as politicians bought votes with promises of cradle-to-grave welfare and free medical care. Military spending increased as the military-industrial complex expanded. By the 1970s, governments were actually going broke by GAAP accounting, but politicians continuously kicked the day of reckoning down the road to the future. There was insufficient wealth production to cover all the costs and provide increased prosperity, so consumer credit was expanded to allow the Middle Class to live in apparent increased prosperity while increasing their debt levels. This led to bubbles in housing, stock markets, etc., but each time a bubble blew the central banks waded in, flooded the World with liquidity, and re-inflated the bubble economies. America had become more consumer than producer. China and Mexico became the wealth producers, along with other developing nations. The biggest business in America had become financial manipulation.
The repeal of Glass Steagall and movement of factories from developed to developing nations compounded the problem by removing high-wage jobs and wealth production from the developed to developing nations. The economic house of cards fell apart in 2008 when the US housing bubble burst, blowing up the fraudulent "Asset-Backed Securities" and the US credit system froze up as the banks recognized that all the banks they were asked to lend to were probably bankrupt or near bankrupt. At the same time, the Middle Class, starved of income, was maxed out with debt, and often suffered huge losses on underwater housing. The public purse was called upon to re-inflate the banks and purchase the worthless "assets" from the banks that created them (remember TARP?).
The central banks have been trying to resurrect prosperity ever since, but the public lack income and borrowing ability to fire up the consumer economy. QE is invented money used to make up the difference between: (a) the total of claims upon the economy; and (b) the total wealth produced in that economy. That difference is increasing, along with national debt loads. What continues to decrease is worker income and worker prosperity.
The Greek "bailout" of 2010 was actually a bailout of the French, German, and UK banks that had lent so much so foolishly to Greece and its banks. The bailout left the debts of the Greeks intact, and increased them. The austerity imposed as a means of guaranteeing Greece would give first priority to loan repayment revealed the lack of basic wealth production, and the economy collapsed when the low-cost money tap was shut off. The people of Greece have been living in misery ever since.
At the same time, the IMF/ECB/EC Troika have been peddling the fantasy that the bailouts of the PIIGS solved the financial crisis. The facts are to the contrary. The PIIGS economies have cratered and remain in depression. Their debts can never be paid unless hyperinflation reduces them.
Meanwhile, the EU economy, as a whole, is falling, the World economy is shrinking, and the sanctions war with Russia is making things worse. The people of the PIIGS are tired of living in austerity-imposed unemployment and poverty, and are seeking relief in radical political parties that promise a return to easy prosperity, but without a new sugar-daddy to provide funding, they remain under the thumbs of the Troika.
Syriza's Varoufakis is telling intolerable truth to the Troika: "The reality is that Greece is bankrupt. Greece refuses to continue the bulls##t game of increasing its national debt when its debt load is already unsustainable and its people living in poverty. Wake Up. The Game Is Over. The Debts Will Not Be Paid Because They Can Not Be Paid."
Well summed. This should have been a featured article!
While there may be points of disagreement and/or refinement, your summaries are consistently excellent and useful. Please do continue to contribute.
Is Golden Dawn a "Nazi Party" because they are nationalists? Then all that Yanis Varoufakis has to do to prove they are the "anti-Nazi" party is to dissolve Greece. To say "Greece is no longer a nation, we are anti-nationalists, anyone can come in here from anywhere. This country no longer exists".
The point is you are not a Nazi for being a nationalist. You are not a Nazi for being a racist. If people want to call others "Nazis", they will have to specifically define what they mean by that. You could just as easily say the new Greek government is Nazi. Like the Nazis, they refused to pay back their debts. Like the Nazis, they broke agreements. They are defiant towards an organization they bent over backwards to get into. They could easily leave the EU, but instead they want to demand money from the EU while refusing to pay back any of the money they already borrowed. The EU should throw Greece out on its ear and write off the debt, and say that it will do that to every other country that refuses to abide. Maybe this will destroy the EU. This would be a very good result.
The thing is Greece wasn't "bailed out", the bankers were bailed out. Greece was further enslaved
Thank you.
An capable person not afraid to note the obvious. Very dangerous.
I would send him $100. Not much but unencumbered capital.
We'll be sending a lot more via back channels.
So they will make an example of greece?
Or they will demonstrate thier incompetence.
ECB: Both. Tried to flag either answer but system only allows for 1.
What's a shoulderstand? Who wrote this tripe?
Whether Greece man's up or goes tits up, the result for the tribe in the eurozone is the same- oblivion.
I couldn't be happier!
Don't laugh too loud. The "Tribe" have somewhere to go, a country whose government actually takes the side of the people whose homeland it claims to be in disputes with their enemies. The Greeks don't have anything of the sort. Where will they go when the banksters foreclose on Greece?