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Greece "Risks Bankruptcy" As Europe Rejects Varoufakis Payment Plan; Another Referendum Fiasco Ensues
There was one reaction by the Eurogroup following the (delayed) submission of the Greek 7-point reform proposal - which includes the brilliant idea to use foreign tourists as wired, part-time tax spies - in advance of the latest Monday finmin meeting: laughter.
Financial Times reports that the reaction from eurozone officials to the tourist plan was received with humor. They thought the proposal was hilarious and even laughed when they read it. “It’s quite hilarious, if it were not so tragic, that this is what a government in an industrialised country comes up with,” said one eurozone official involved in the talks.
There will be little laughter in cash-strapped Greece, however, if the Sunday Times is correct in its report that the "Eurogroup finance ministers are to reject radical reform proposals from Greece at a meeting in Brussels tomorrow."
The Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis will present a seven-point plan in a desperate attempt to unlock a €7.2bn (£5.2bn) cash injection — the final payment under a bailout plan agreed three years ago. According to a source close to the discussions, European officials believe Greece needs to do more “on the ground”.
As the Times concluded, Greece is hoping for a favorable response because unless the cash injection is approved, Greece faces a "full-scale default."
Unfortunately for Greece, moments ago Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung confirmed the bad news, when it said that the EU commission has rejected the Greek request for speedy aid payments, cites Valdis Dombrovskis, EU commissioner for the euro. The commissioner adds that the Varoufakis letter "lacks specific enough action plan and that the reform steps must be approved by Greek parliament and be implemented."
In other words, as we reported before, Greece is back to square minus one, where first Europe will send the dreaded Troika inspectors "on the ground" in Athens to catch up to everything they have missed in the months they have been absent and then, and only then, does Greece have any chance of even being seriously considered for more aid.
The problem is that this will come far too late to satisfy not only the upcoming IMF payments (as a reminder these are due as follows: €350 million on March 13, €580 million on March 16 and another €350 million on March 20), but now that Greece no longer has access to the various pension and social security funding "swaps" it may even be unable to rollover its next T-Bill maturity. Recall Greece has a total of €2 billion in debt-servicing payments, including T-bill redemptions and IMF obligations coming due on Friday.
In the absence of bailout funds, Tsipras said in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine that he planned to use short-term treasury bills to cover any cash shortfall in the coming weeks. The ability of Greek banks to buy these securities is constrained by a deposit outflow and the ECB’s refusal to accept more so-called T-bills as collateral for financing the country’s lenders.
ECB President Mario Draghi poured cold water on Greek lobbying for the government to be allowed to issue more short-term debt, and for Greek banks to be permitted to buy it.
“The ECB is a rules-based, not a political institution,” and can’t provide monetary financing to governments, either directly or indirectly, “when banks bring collateral in order to buy that debt,” Draghi said on Thursday.
So with its back against the wall, and with its funds lower than ever, Greece had no choice but to resort to warnings/threats that either Europe steps up or the government will directly to the people, with another referendum.
Which led to the latest "lost in translation" fiasco involving Greece (the latest of very many in the past few weeks), in which Italy’s Il Corriere della Sera quoted Varoufakis as saying Greece may call new elections, and hold referendum on the euro if European finance ministers reject reform proposals.
Greece, without any leverage left, was then quick to point out that it wasn't trying to give Europe merely another ultimatum, and a Greek government official said in e-mail to reporters that Varoufakis "never said that referendum would be held on country’s euro membership." Instead, the referendum would be on the government's policy. As Bloomberg adds, "Varoufakis never said or meant that the country’s membership in the euro area would be the subject of a hypothetical referendum in his interview with Corriere, the country’s finance ministry said in an e-mailed statement. Implementation an agreement extending the country’s bailout loans proceeds normally, and Greece will repay all financial obligations on time and in full, the ministry said."
With what money? Quote the NYT:
Jens Bastian, a financial consultant based in Athens and a former member of the European Commission’s task force on Greece, [said] “The situation is dire, and this government is finding out in real time how difficult it is to meet its multiple obligations,” he said. “It tells you something about the sheer level of desperation they face to identify any funding resources wherever they can pinch pennies.”
Former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who is now head of the main opposition party, said a referendum would be "a very bad development" and allow the government to shrug off its responsibilities.
The now much-diminished Greek Socialist PASOK party, also in the opposition to Tsipras' radical left alliance, said in a statement that Varoufakis's statement was "irresponsible, thoughtless and contradictory".
As for the semantics of the referendum, they all boil down to the same thing: Syriza would be asking the voters to resolve two contradictory ideals: either the Greeks concede to austerity, or they agree to exiting the Eurozone. Because for Greece there no longer is a compromise, middle ground.
Sadly, there is no money either.
“I can only say that we have money to pay salaries and pensions of public employees,” Varoufakis told Corriere. “For the rest we will see.”
Still, despite all the posturing and the return of quasi-threats on both sides, the fate of Greece may now be sealed:
ECB Governing Council member Luc Coene said some comments by the Greek government have left him wondering whether the country belongs in the European economic and monetary union.
“When I hear certain declarations of the Greek government, I ask myself: ‘what are they still doing in this mechanism?’” he is quoted as saying in an interview with Belgian newspaper Le Soir.
Right about now, as the Greek deposit flight is almost certain to resume on this latest escalation in rhetoric is set to resume, Greeks are likely asking themselves the same question.
As for Syriza, its days may indeed be numbered if the following graffiti are indicative of the rapidly shifting popular mood, whose brief infatuation with the new ultra-left and "reformist" government is now only a distant memory.
Slogans written by anarchists on the walls of #Syriza's office.
"Fascist cunts"
"Death to #Syrizanel"
via @antireport pic.twitter.com/HDUwjP6jf2
— The Greek Analyst (@GreekAnalyst) March 8, 2015
And if indeed Syriza's days are numbered, is the neo-nazi Golden Dawn up next to rule the battered Eurozone member?
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Fuck the banksters.
They get immunity from prosecution for securities fraud, market manipulation and money laundering and then demand fealty?
We get zirp, inflation, money printing and shit currency. Sounds like we are getting buttfucked, if you ask me.
We need a black swan event, like Germany aligning with Russia.
Worse things could happen. That alliance might have prevented WW1. And WWII. Could WW3 be the 'charm'?
That alliance didn't prevent WWII. Just ask Poland.
the FED started WW2 - END OF STORY
total proxy cunts events with no ballz, greek stay in euro, end of story.
give reel infos. not scams we all know YEARS in advance.
Greece "industrialised country"??? Laughing my ass off!
Greece: the Neverending Strory
Where's ZH on this bombshell???
Andrew Maguire – Who Smashed Gold Today And Why As HSBC Shocks Clients By Closing All London Gold Vaults!http://kingworldnews.com/andrew-maguire-smashed-gold-today-hsbc-shocks-clients-closing-london-gold-vaults/
And Gerald Celente's comments on this huge news:
Celente – Why The Closing Of London Gold Vaults Will Shake The World!http://kingworldnews.com/celente-closing-london-gold-vaults-will-shake-world/
If HSBC is closing all gold vaults and they're the custodians of the GLD fund then WTF is going on? Are they taking back all their gold? Was there even any gold there in the first place or has it been dried up by China so they're closing shop and strating up with the new physical PM's exchanges opening in Shanghai?
No doubt the Tylers are doing their own verified (by other sources) story.
KWN has a reputation,putting it mildly, for exaggeration and hyperbole.
They rarely engage brain before mouth.
Drama queens. And parasites.
Nobrainer
Greece "industrialised country"???
Actually the are, just not as big as some. They are one of the largest stone & marble exporters as well as olive oil exports.
Is that irony?
"An industrialised country comes up with,” ??
The sneaky sods! when did this happen?
Oh! Now I get it, you are being sarcastic about the Olives/Oil, Tourism...
Is this good for American Stocks? That's the only question that matters. Just ask Charlie (Chuck) Schumer.
It's all Bullshit!!! Everything is good for American stocks. No matter how bad.
That alliance existed DURING WWII until one bloodthirsty dictator backstabbed the other...
Stalin attacking Finland told Hitler what to expect from him.
And the Red Army's performance in Finland convinced him he could win.
And while you,re at it ask them why they were mass murdering ethnic German civilians(which led to them being invaded) . Same script being run in Ukraine today with ethnic Russians in East Ukraine , Putin seems reluctant to fall into the same invade and rescue trap that Adolph did though ?
The Third Reich consigned the Ostlanders to their fate. This was a very powerful propaganda tool I might add.
Putin hasn't done that. He sees threats that don't exist and then attacks...thereby creating a very real threat. Sounds like the USA's War on Terror actually...
The Third Reich consigned the Ostlanders to their fate. This was a very powerful propaganda tool I might add.
Putin hasn't done that. He sees threats that don't exist and then attacks...thereby creating a very real threat. Sounds like the USA's War on Terror actually...
WWII was a consequence of WWI, not an independent event.
Indeed. An absolute continuation of World War 1 after a two decade cease fire.
Correct
it was an interbellum period
filled with 'Human Smoke'
Some of us are of the opinion that they were sub-humans.
without the Russians destroying the germans with our arms, I think the brits would have sued for peace. If they thought russia was solidly aligned with germany I dont think they would have wanted any part in a war germany. With good reason, they lasted what, six weeks on the continent?
I suspect less than 1% of the West outside of the countires concerned knows that the Soviets invaded Poland with Germany. I always wondered why Britain and France declared war on Germany but not the Soviet Union. The Jewish hand in the background I suspect.
This is an excellent point. Its something I've never thought about this.
The more I learn about how the system works and how it has worked -- the more I seeing the Anglo-American (British Empire with a new name) systematically destroying the world one country at a time since WWI, ca., 1913.
Excuse me but what the fuck does Khazaria have to do with Anglo-Saxon?
Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha
Bankers will never let Greece default. There's too many CDS payments at stake. Just ask John Corrazine.
Clearly. The only thing the Greeks have to lose is fear. Portugal, Spain, Italy, etc...are awaiting the starting gun. Let's do this.
CNTL - P is the only way out. Just follow the actions of role models. Tourists will still come to support the Bartender society.
Greeks are wise, they don't pay illegal property tax. They stay on their farms. The politicians took all the money. The Greeks are not going to enslave themselves because some Jew is crying over spilt milk and pretend Monopoly Money.
This will be the fourth time that Greece has gone bankrupt in the past 100 years. What risk? It's what they do. Any entity stupid enough to loan money to Greece deserves to lose it all. Never lend to Greece again. Let them make it on their own without "borrowing" then not paying back.
You mean its only one time ahead of the US right now ?
So this will blow over then .
Stop lending them, what? What is being lent to Greece and other nations are debt instruments. Remember that important point. That is how nations continue to be enslaved. I do agree with the notion of allowing countries to "make their own" and allow the chips to fall where the market dictates.
Anyone lending Greece money was acting without due diligence. The economic boom of post EU Greece was entirely fueled by low interest Euro loans made possible by EU interest rates and willingness of German and other EU banks to fund a consumer and social welfare boom in Greece. A once dirt poor nation suddenly was living an economic dream, all on borrowed money. Any banker who failed to know that at the time had no business being in their position. Germany encouraged loans to Greece, and Greece became a giant export market for Germany.
It has all turned to shit, just like it had to. So YES, fuck the banks, let them eat a total default of all Greek debt.
but Jack, if they banks have to face the music, there will be martial law, tanks on the streets. We need to pass this bailout bill to see what's in it?
Fuck the banksters
In an interview David Stockman said what was required to begin to clean up the mess was a super Glass-Steagall, not a bail out of the banks. Rather, a break up of the mega banks. His message is Dodd-Frank is a joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x76f98DXBw4#t=230
But, but, but Goldin Sacks said their accounts were kosher.
If Greece defaults and exits the Eurozone, they will have one of the strongest economies in Europe by 2018. Just ask the Icelanders
Affirmative. Once they stop playing the Usurous Counterfeiting Monopoly Game with the parasitic Jews.
But then what will the parasites do? How will they survive without a host?
Executive Order #165 Governor Jon S. Corzine
Establishes the New Jersey Eastern European-American Heritage Commission
I think Corzine might have Greek blood coursing through his veins.
Corzine is a lazy worthless parasitic Jew.
Greeks are Christians, honest hardworking.
Unfortunately they serve as host t the criminals.
Q. So who do you think benefits from the CDS?
A. The Banks!
Where did you learn your history?
Germany allied with Russia CAUSED the Second World War. Ever hear of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939?
Ever hear of France and Britain refusing to sign an anti Nazi alliance between the USSR, Poland, Britian and France, months before the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact? I see you like to start the wheel of history at the exact point of time to make your point seem to carry great weight. Run the clock back a few months and watch Poland and the West till the USSR that Germany was their problem and deal with it alone. Check your history, and stop using these cheap trick of selective dates, it makes your argument seem disingenuos at best, or a near lie at worst.
From what I have read Stalin was desperate not to tangle with Hitler and agreed to allow Germany to invade Poland as long as he did not invade USSR. After Hitler did invade USSR Stalin even had thoughts of surrender to avoid a war with Germany. Instead he decided to mobilize and the rest is history after Stalingrad.
National Geographic aired an excellent documentary yesterday: World War Two - The Apocalypse. Here's a link to it. There's at least six hours of original footage. Amazing. http://www.natgeotv.com/ca/world-war-ii-the-apocalypse/videos
NG is just more captured shite. Similar to PBS.
This is a joke and a BIG FAT LIE:
I'm sorry, which rules does ECB follow? Their own made-up bullshit rules just like the FED. They dream up whatever rhetoric suits them and literally invent "mechanisms" (or financial "tools") to kick the can down the road and have another day in a bankster paradise.
ECB is making politics in Europe and nobody else has anything to say anymore. That's a fact and the longer this doesn't get addressed, the worse it's going to get for ALL EUROPEANS.
FUCK THE ECB!
plus infinity-defines the whole fucking mess. my self proclamed war- us(u and i) vs them...
yea, do as i say not as i act. i say fuck you i'll do what is right...
Leave the Euro you Fucktards.... Enough with the cock sucking already. You look like delusional pascifists trying to put up with a collapsing currency. I fucking double dare you to leave.
Greece will be a hundred times better off if they print their own Euros.
Yanis is being made to look like a rookie when a referendum on staying in the Euro is exactly what the EU does not want. I think it is a smart move on his part. All of the EMU members do not want their people to vote on being apart of this madness. Especially Brussels.
37% of the voters voted for SYRIZA and yet over 70% of the Greeks want to remain in the Euro. If the Greeks want to keep the Euro they are going to pay the price or they can vote to leave the EMU and use Drachmas. The people now need to decide what they want. They will either bow to Brussels and adhere to the lies as they definitely not laws or rules stating the ECB cannot finace governments. What the hell is QE doing, buying government bonds from members. Sounds like financing governments to me.
SYRIZA puts this to a vote and then the people of Greece cannot piss and moan about austerity anymore or they can shed the shackles of the EMU and move on. Either way will be painful. I think it will be less painful if they leave. The ECB pain will go on for decades. I bet the Greeks vote to stay though as they want thre subsidies being apart of the EMU. Even with the austerity in place.
Exactly! The bankers are making up the rules as they go. There is no "policy". It's the worlds biggest farce. The funny part here is that the system is clearly insolvent yet these bankster asshats are literally pulling every rabbit out of every hat to try to make something work.
It is a pure comedy act. Draghi is lieing all the way into his grave.
All the while trading "derivatives" back and forth and charging each other fees which is simply:
ROBBING THE FUCKING BANK IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!
You said it: The elephant in the room. Credit Default Swaps. Notional value in trillions versus Banks writing the contracts' notional capital in billions.
Remember when the International Swaps and Deriviatives Association declared that creditors taking a 70% haircut in the first Greek restructuring was "not a credit event", and thus the notional trillions would not have to be paid.
That's what this ongoing charade is all about: keeping just enough debt and payments flowing from the Greek husk, that the Banking parasites don't have to pay out on all the phony insurance contracts they've written.
Do it, Greece. Stop playing politics and "Pull it". Detonate the Bank. You will not only save yourselves, but all the other victims of this international loansharking syndicate. Do it.
Tsipras and Varoufakus have no room to maneouver because Greece is down to its last few Euros and Greek banks are coping with bank runs only by borrowing more under the high-interest-rate ECB emergency liquidity fund, in which Greece's borrowing limit was raised recently by 5 Billion Euros (to 68.5 from 63.5 Billion, I believe) just to give them another week's worth of solvency. Witness the scramble by Varoufakus to drag a few hundred million Euros from Greek pension funds to meet an IMF payment this week. Syriza now must accept what the Troika will let them have, or go back to the Greek voters and seek a mandate to default and/or leave the Euro or EU. Syriza's original mandate was to get debt and austerity relief while staying in the Euro and EU.
At the same time, the IMF/ECB/EC Troika is in a tough spot. It is political dynamite for them to say they are advancing another bailout to Greece, or to ease the austerity rules that have helped to plunge Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland into depression. The Troika must maintain the illusion that the Greek (and PIIGS) problems have been solved by earlier bailouts and that the Troika's finances are in good shape.
To maintain faith in the EU and Euro, and to placate debt hawks like Germany's Schauble, the Troika has faced down Syriza's demands for debt relief and easing of austerity. At the same time, the Troika knows full well that the PIIGS debts to the Troika can never be paid - those debts may bear some interest payments, but forget about the principal ever being paid. Worse, the austerity rules that were supposed to gurarantee payment by prioritizing debt repayment in government budgets is making economic conditions worse and making defaults more likely.
An even bigger problem is that if Greece gets some slack, the anti-austerity politicians in the other PIIGS will be emboldened to demand the same, and anti-establishment political parties like Spains' Podemos will soar in credibility and popularity. This will further undermine confidence in the Euro and in the soundness of the EU financial system which is sitting upon so much in sovereign bonds issued by the PIIGS.
The more ludicrous element in all this is that the Troika's remedy is to continue to lend to Greece as long as Greece keeps up the pretence that it will pay all that has been advanced. It is increasingly obvious that Greece cannot meet payment schedules unless the Troika advances the payment funds to Greece. Extend and Pretend is the Troika's answer, nonsensical as it may be.
The demand for "reforms" by Greece is as much political cover for the Troika as it is a serious attempt to enable Greece's economy to recover and hence pay its debts.
But Super-Mario Draghi may ride to the rescue with his new QE funds, puffing up the account balances of the various EU states. That should delay the collapse of the Euro and the EU banking system for a while.
Good post. I thought QE in the EU was not going to buy any Greek bonds. I read that on ZH a few days back. This means the new QE will offer no hope to Greece.
Thanks for the compliment. True, Draghi is currently excluding Greek sovereign bonds from his QE program "at least until June" I have read. The ECB has also refused to allow Greek banks to borrow againt their holdings of Greek sovereign debt recently, forcing Greek banks to go to the higher-cost emergency liquidity fund. These positions by Draghi may be based upon sound financial principles, or may be another way to force Greece into line with Extend and Pretend.
But the Euro nations are harnessed together by the Fiscal Stability Treaty of 2012 (fully in force Arpril 1, 2014 - an appropriate date). Under the FST, all Euro-zone countries guarantee the debts of all others in proportion to the sizes of their economies. Thus, each time there is a bail-out of one EZ country, the others have to pitch in a share. Hence Shauble's screaming against more bail-outs.
Italy and France have not been able to meet the deficit-to-GDP ratio limits set down by the ECB, and have asked (and are receiving) some loosening of the limits (unlike Greece). But I expect Italy and France are looking forward to increased liquidity from Draghi's QE.
And then there is the recent problem of Austria refusing to continue to fund its black-hole "bad bank" and exposing itself and its province to default proceedings by bank bond-holders. It appears that more and more EZ members may require liquidity injections in the near future.
The Euro zone has gotten out of control a long time ago. Loan's Reforms. etc etc
It morphed into an asset strip, whether that was the plan from day one who knows. Where I think we are know with Greece is simply the finger of blame.Do they jump or wait to be pushed. If it does happen and they are forced out, now that is where the real trouble starts. Curious to know % of people who believe that REFORMS will sort this out, players and spectators. Problem with the world is people just don't think any more.
A few years from now the only thing that will be keeping the ECB alive is a swap line from the Fed.
I'm sorry sir, I don't make the rules, I only think them up and write them down.
There will be no immunity in the end when the people have had enough. Problem is we ar not enough close guess was important enough for a trile
There will be no immunity in the end when the people have had enough. Problem is we ar not enough close double post wtf
There will be no immunity in the end when the people have had enough. Problem is we ar not enough close
Fuck the banksters, fuck the Troika and fuck the euro.
Just exit, Greece. Better late than never. Take your dignity back.
Please stop nothing is going to happen it's just bullshit.
"Yanis Varoufakis will present a seven-point plan in a desperate attempt to unlock a €7.2bn (£5.2bn) cash injection"
Didn't take that fucker long to simply toss his coat of authenticity and openly become just another EU teatsucking govt asshole.
More controlled opposition for the zombies.
He talked a good game to the public, once in power he was zombified after just a couple meetings with teh ECB. Now he talks like every other EU asshole, lets "unlock more emergency loans".
Yes, Greece is fucked, they have no money to pay civil servants. When government checks fail to arrive, the cities will burn!
"...When government checks fail to arrive, the cities will burn!"
And a government that can no longer borrow to pay for those checks will also end up char-broiled. Debt does matter. Now, who wants to tell Krugy and the rest of his nit-wit band of intellectual fellow travelers that they are wrong? Of course, they would argue the opposite while no doubt trying to escape out the back door, so perhaps muzzles, cuffs, and incarceration are better considered for these fools. One has to ask, how else did we arrive here, but by the philosophies and idealogies that were promoted by idiots.
The intelligentsia all over the world, not just Greece, fell lock, stock, and barrel for the economic version of perpetual motion. Oh, the humanity! and what will, if any, remain of it.
Bwaaaa-ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
oh fuck are there any men in greece. jesus h . fucking default say f u to the euro and get the fuck on with it. cut all the fucking bullshit and just fucking do it
Yes, but their mouths are all full of cum.
You're assuming that Syriza ever had any intention of leaving the EU. The Greek voters were sold a bill of goods that things would be different if Syriza replaced the previous set of goniffs that ran Greece. They were, of course, naive.
To be fair to the Greek voters, they swallowed the same lies that Americans did in 2008 when Americans voted for someone who they thought would be better than the pond scum that made up the previous administration. The Yanks were equally wrong, and made the same mistake that the Greeks did: they thought that there was a possibility for hope and change.
The burning desire for hope & change works the same in any country. It always results in change ... change for the worse.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Both sides of this little passion play are wrong and it all comes down to how the EU and its montery system was put together, Greece is incapable of fixing their problem and the EU is trying to make bad worse, this won't end well.
We need more data of the Iceland solution.
Greece needs to try that. The solutions on the table will not work and should not work. Something else is required.
Yes Iceland did get their shit together, but only because they were FORCED to reform their banking sector. They actually did everything humanly possible to take any loan that was thrown at them after the SHTF. They would have crawled over broken glass to to accept any loan available. However, their finances were that bad that no bank could justify lending to them. They were FORCED into reform, not willingly chosing it, like so many like to trumpet.
It would be great if Greece were forced into default or even better, default on their own accord, however I fear this is all theatre and Greece will never be allowed to default as the derivative liability would be banking endgame. Taking free money and considerable bribes is always much easier than wearing a default.
"Greece is incapable of fixing their problem..."
Not true. They're quite capable of fixing it. Simply turn their Greek pockets inside out and say, "we cant pay; therefore, we wont pay." Then arrest any EU, ECB, or other Brussells types who set foot on Greek soil.
The fact that the current people "in charge" in Athens wont do this, speaks volumes. Perhaps as soon as this week, their hands will be forced by circumstance however.
At this point, whenever Greece is mentioned, I hear Benny Hill music in the background.
Laughed at in Brussels; spit upon in Athens, oh how the hollow victors have fallen...
Or, "How I went from hero to zero in 60 days".
Yanus VaryFukus
Don't fergit, people, these guys are your very favorite socialists in action.
The favorite tactic of TPTB is to co-opt the opposition leaders. They can usually be bought by something. Failing that, get an insider to pretend to lead the opposition. Once the count is in, the mask is slowly taken off, apparently under duress to avoid too large a negative reaction from the suckered voters.
Greece orginally risked bankruptcy when they took on the debt. Not now that they are trying to reorganize that debt.
Quite frankly, the bankers could care less if Greece went bankrupt. This is all a game. Why? Because if Greece goes bankrupt, even if the debt is removed, Greece still has to find financing that the bankers control (and by bankers, I mean the central bankers such as the EU). That means higher interest rates just like a person would have to pay if they filed personal bankruptcy.
And while most of you want to blame those outside central bankers, let me remind you that it is the Greek government and Greek banks that approve those loans on the backs of Greek serfs.
But, Greece has an option that might actually work: Default, leave the EU, and print its own government-issued currency. This cuts the banksters out of the equation altogether.
The Greek problem is that they cannot really declare default against another STATE or the EU Financial entities.
A country can screw and confiscate private enterprises and get away with it.
However when it comes to another government, that government can just confiscate any debtor property outside the country by decree. The Greeks need to borrow to purchase outside resources - food, energy - from somewhere else. Everything would be COD and nobody will take Drachma. Once it is paid for by greece it could be siezed to repay the defaults.
I believe the Russians have already said that they would be happy to do business with Greece. I suspect the Chinese would do likewise. Cutting off Greece from Euro trade is an empty threat.
Greek government officials and pensioners have already realized that it is far better to get paid in Euros than in Dreck-mas and thus they will fight to the end to keep this system going.
Exactly. If they were ready to pull the trigger on Grexit they would have. They're negotiating - poorly as it happens. It will be their ruin, as the ECB has decided Greece is small enough to take to the wall. If this was Italy it would have been papered over - literally - months ago.
There's a lesson here for Italy and Spain. Don't sell your gold, and don't negotiate in public while your bank deposits are evaporating. Pull the trigger and redenominate everything while the money is still in your banks.
Yep. Way past time to burn this motherfucker down. Get on with it.
One of the propositions of EPAM (United Peoples Front)
And one of its prominent members is, Dimitris Kazakis.
Kazakis has been exluded from all the Big Media as is one of the few Most Dangerous Voices against the System.
"..if Greece goes bankrupt, even if the debt is removed, Greece still has to find financing."
Yes, but w/repudiation, their budget shrinks by more than half. Should be manageable w/even Greek-style tax compliance.
"...the Greek government and Greek banks that approve those loans on the backs of Greek serfs." True, translation: this is odious debt. It has no more import than it would if someone forges my name to a loan document.
Can Greece please do the right thing, plunge the Ponzi shitter and finally flush this filthy €urodollah down the sewer of the so-called Western "capitalist" system. We all know the Potemkin Village idiot banksters are raving loony maniacs and if Greece doesn't do it then the dumb Teutons have Anglozionazi orders to march into Ukrop land and get on with WW3.
As far as Mutti is concerned "Third time lucky!"
D E F A U L T
I hope Greece has been using the last month to set up the new printing presses for the drachma.
More theater by Tsipras and Yanis Varoufakis to divert the attention of the Greeks, while they are assisting foreign bankers to position themselves to pillage all Greeks have.
Islamic State,aka.ISIS backed Chechnya rebels now in Eastern Ukraine to be pouring into Europe through Greece,once she all goes dead broke?Is this an American funded plan?
Clipped from wrisley.com
SEARCHING FOR THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH.
"The expression "unvarnished truth" appeared in a column by one of the gazillion commentators on the Internet and it caused me to wonder where it came from. Who coined the phrase? Emerson? Ruskin? Shelley? I looked it up.
"The credit goes to Euripides, the Greek tragic dramatist who lived from 485 to 405 B.C. Reference to truth being plain and unvarnished appears in his 411 B.C. play The Phoenissae."
"He was aptly expressing the unvarnished truth when he observed that wealth has great power. It did then and does now, except it was measured differently more than 2,400 years ago. Today we count paper promises as actual wealth and list countless IOUs as part of our net wealth. They hadn't stumbled into that neat trick in Euripides's day. Actual wealth and anticipated wealth were two different things." UNVARNISHED TRUTH
Our staff curmudgeon penned this in 2007 in an effort to show that not much has changed in more than two millennia. He further quotes Euripides as writing "There are three classes of citizens.,The first are the rich, who are indolent yet always crave more. The second are the poor, who have nothing, hate the rich, and are easily led by demagogues. Between the two extremes lie those who make the state secure and uphold the laws." (420 B.C.)
So - - what's new?
What's changed is the ability of the CB's to force "debt wealth" to become "reality"
After the first domino we are all eating feral housecats.
NYC has the bonus of easily available rat protein. Will the sidewalk vendors need a permit to sell rat on a stick?
Help me out here - is breaking the legs of all Greeks a bullish indicator?
War has always been the health both of the state and the banks. The need to carpet-bomb Athens will provide an excuse to print money and actually get it circulating---and there will be fortunes to be made putting Greece together afterwards.
So, sad to say, yes, it will be.
"this is what the government in an industrialized country comes up with..."
Greece? An "industrialized" country? Are you kidding?
They were able to borrow hand-over-fist at German interest rates for 10 years, spent it all and now they are flat broke.
"Industrializing" had nothing to do with it.
>> They were able to borrow hand-over-fist at German interest rates for 10 years, spent it all ...
It's not like they spent it on the people. They spent it on paying usurious interest on money that had been stolen.
Time to default on all debts, NOT leave the Eurozone, live without loans on current income alone and start using multiple currencies. Like Zimbabwe does. If they don't have a national currency then it can't be attacked. Moratorium on evictions for unpaid rent or mortgages on personal homes, increased real estate taxes on non-residential property.
default
That translation of graffiti is wrong. It actually says, don't rumb me off else your rents will go up
I have a feeling this is going to start unwinding Europe. The contagion will spread all over the globe. The question is does collapse preempt WWIII, or WWIII blamed for the collapse.
If the far left (marxists) won't solve your problems, try the far right (fascists)? Or why not try the middle road... save, invest and expell the shylock usurious, banksters.
I notice throughout the last few years up and down machinations there is no mention of the Greek military, who are also government employees.one can't really do much unless that faction is kept happy ..much like Egypt. With severe enough civil breakdowns and absence of money who is most capable of of using them to either keep the current regime or rearrange the faces we see on the soap boxes.
Naturally. The credible threat of a coup is how the banksters have kept Athens in line.
I presume the leaders of Greek military are nothing but fat cats today unwilling to move. The country is armed to the teeth and could probably subdue Germany by swift military action if it wanted at least if some ISIS mercenaries would be hired. But there is nothing to expect from Athens unless the two bad boys should decide they have enough and call a referendum on the EURO. That is the very one thing that scares Bruxelles shitless
Yanis Varoufakis will be back to video game playing in a few months.
The generally socialist governments of the EU are not going to let a more radical socialist show them up.
All of the socialist entitlement plans, US > EU > Greece< are being shown as certain to default on either the promises or the liabilities.
Assume Greek default. What is domino effect with Spain, Italy and Portugal as well as pending financial bankruptcy of Ukraine---without industrialized East Ukraine, Kiev is toast. Also let us not forget EU growth expected by Wall St. derivatives geniuses and impact of Russian sanctions on European trade. Price of energy is also a big unknown which will impact Russian economy if oil remains low sparking a deflationary trade cycle. As far as gas is concerned, any supply disruption from a frustrated Russia would trigger a European depression immediatly with little expectation Draghi printing would help much. We are playing with fire---Greece is only a burning ember ready to ignite an all out trade war fueled by Washington stupidity.
>>> Greece is only a burning ember ready to ignite an all out trade war fueled by Washington stupidity.
It's not stupidity, it's cupidity.
Washington stirring up wars, including trade wars, is entirely intentional.
Reasonable but: The domino is imminent with Spain being the next stone falling in autumn this year when Podemos is likely going to be elected. Ukraine is a special case: it is non-EU and non-NATO country which is torn into pieces upon instructions of the US. Russia is less effected by the low oil prices than generally assumed because its pumping cost are quite low. Russia would never ever interrupt the gas supply and destroy their business model - at least not until they big pipeline to China is operational. The EU is already in depression if you abstract from fudged figures and therefore there are no benefits for Russia other than destroying the remnants of a big client.
Syriza may well have outlived its usefulness in record time. No way in hell is anyone who means business about sticking up for Greece getting power in Athens while Brussels has anything to do with it. Not Golden Dawn, not anyone.
Next step: direct rule from Brussels. NATO boots on the ground if anyone has a problem with that.
Greece is the country with the world's largest merchant shipping fleet.
Perhaps it is time to nationalize it.
That wouldn't work. Ships are not like islands. They can simply sail off and do as they please.
Great idea. Since the BDI shows that everyone is losing money in shipping, the Greek government can take on additional humongous operating losses and borrow the money from Brazil or South Africa to pay for them.
this... is...sooooo....sad... to...watch
Not really. Default is inevitable and that's an entirely good thing. It's really just a parlour game now of picking the exact timing.
We are heading into several years' worth of cascading government defaults, worldwide.
Where was the fucking Bankster laughter when Britain and others decided to estimate prostitution and illegal drugs sales cash flow in order to up their reported GDP so they could circumvent the debt-to-GDP cap imposed by the EMU?
Assholes. Their day is coming.
Greece is in a horrendous depression, and combined with austerity the people may be ready for real revolution and turn to the East (SCO, BRICS)
This could be the beginning of the last act of the 'indispensable and exceptional' neoliberal order.
No one would be happier than the EU to see China, Russia, et al. step in and provide financing to the Greeks.
But of course Russia is already draining its fx reserves in a desperate effort to keep its currency from dropping through the floor and China is frantically hunting for people with money to buy its stuff before it implodes and triggers a revolution of its own. So I"m guessing that Greece will get a lot of sympathy from these people but no actual dinero.
Scrabble players help me with this:
BRICSG
GRIBCS
SCRIBG
CRIBGS
Can I buy a vowel please?
Add an A for Austria as it stops paying to support its HYPO bad bank bailout, triggering guarantees by the Austrian federal government (for 1 Billion Euros) and one province (Carinthia, for 10 Billion Euros). Carinthia cannot pay, so count on default.
Perhaps BRICSAG. OR APIIGS.
As I have always said, Watch Austria. They will be the game changers.
Austria has bailed on bailing out Hypo Bank. No more money for bond holders. If Carinthia guaranteed your bond, get your money from them, until they slide into bankrupcy. Senior Bond Holders.will.not.be.Guaranteed.
Be interesting to see if the likes of Wheelchair Wolfgang and Bail-In Dieseldoom exercise the same level of sympathy for Austria going tits-up as they have done for Greece...
History certainly has a sense of irony, doesn't she? Austria is where the principal wave of bank failures in the early 30s got rolling w/the collapse of Credit Anstalt.
Is Greece going to default?
If the EU would allow Greece to issue an own currency the EURO will go belly-up in less than 12 month
Greece is bankrupt. Almost all nations are.
One day the actually proceedings will commence.
Only after that, can I become positive about our economic future. My one hope is that the Goldman Sachs of the world and their like minded brethren will be put to trial and the honest people that they've caused so much harm can have a good go at them. (I mean, a behind the wood shed kinda go.)
That is right but you have to cut off the head of the snake first. That is the FED. If you don't do that the banksters will never be hold accountable
Greece need only an excuse to default completely . But first of all will try to pretend that everything was done to try to avoid it .
If the EU will not agree with what is proposed , Greece can organize a referendum to get a mandate from the public . AT that point the EU will try to use heavy handed threats against the government . The EU is scared stiff of the will of the people , which is mighty strange for an Organization that pretends to be democratic ! ah,ah,ah,
The Greek people have not woken up to the fact that there is no point in hanging on the deck of a sinking ship called EuroTitanic . Soon or later other countries will be forced out too .. The PIIGS have national debts impossible to repay ...... that's the price to pay when the central bank criminals are in charge ...... Every year the debt of each country grows ..
Beautiful system !!!!!! Fantastic ! So now the zionist Draghi will print 1,1 trillion of Euro toilet paper to buy bonds that nobody wants , but he could not print 342 billions of toilet paper for DEBT FORGIVENESS , the only thing that shoudl be done to resolve the situation with the PIIGS . All of this has a lot to do with the rules of the EU . If avery country in the EU , every year was GIVEN 3 % of the budget as compensation for having given up printing their own currency , this disaster would not have happened .
Greece does not risk bankruptcy as it is already _BANKRUPT_ and could NOT possibly be any more bankrupt than this. The EU is DEAD, defunct, and a dead horse. One can kick a dead horse all you want, but the fact remains that the horse is dead and will not stand on its feet once again. Greece is
BANKRUPT, FINISHED, DEAD-IN-THE WATER.
FUCK Greece, and FUCK the European Union, and FUCK Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and FUCK all Democrats & Republicans
the World over.
PLEASE nuke the FUCKERS and send them all back to the dark ages where they FUCKING belong, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!!!!
Fuckin A!
What can I say that Hendry can't say better as he debates the EU Elites, represented by Stiglitz, some 5 YEARS AGO. Back then they had a new government (with MOAR Transparency (per Stiglitz)). The only worry was that "Moral Hazard was out the window". AFAIK the only Moral to this story is that it turns into all Hazard in the end, and Morals zum Teufel gehen, pardon my German.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAAnV-AolTI
Somehow Hugh Hendry, ZhD, appears to have a wonderfully timeless quality to his observations.
all this greece scam is just a fancy decoy while usa is raping ukrain for ressources fighting russia.
when war will occur for that matter, talking about grexit will be simply like 2 whore talking about the meteo.
So are they declaring banrupttcy AFTER they robbed pensions to pay the Troika?
Tsirpussy and Whatthefuckis are dumber than I thought
Next....
The one thing that emerges from these machinations is that the EU has decided to not worry about a Grexit. If it happens, it happens, and there isn't much they can do to stop it-- other than make it so disastrously painful to the exiters that other nations will think long and hard before climbing on board the Greeks choo-choo train.
No more Mr. Nice Bureaucrat.
Obviously, the Greeks are not interested in prosecuting the former "corrupt" government, banksters, or GS principals who raped Greece.
FUCK THEM.
Prosecution takes ages and there is no time