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"Horrified" Syriza Hardliners Back "Immediate" Greek Bank Nationalization, Euro Exit

Tyler Durden's picture




 

In “Democracy Under Fire: Troika Looks To Force Greek Political ‘Reshuffle’”, we took an in-depth look at the true motivation behind the hardline stance adopted by Greece’s creditors. In short, we’ve argued that the troika is determined to send a strong message to EMU member countries that threatening to expose the idea of euro indissolubility as fiction is not a viable bargaining strategy when it comes to extracting austerity concessions from Brussels. This became even more important after regional and municipal elections in Spain which betrayed growing resentment for the troika and strong support for Podemos, a progressive political movement that is, in many ways, ideologically aligned with Syriza. Here’s what we said last month:

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Syriza show will ultimately have to be canceled in Greece (or at least recast) if the country intends to find a long-term solution that allows for stable relations with European creditors although it may be time for Greeks to ask themselves if binding their fate to Europe is in their best interests given that some EU officials seem to be perfectly fine with inflicting untold economic pain upon everyday Greeks if it means usurping the ‘radical leftists.’ 

Less than a week later, Syriza hardliners called for a default to the IMF and a return to the drachma. The motion was defeated by just 20 votes, prompting us to contend that Greek PM Alexis Tsipras will need to ensure that any serious proposal presented to creditors is first cleared by Syriza’s more radical members because the only thing worse than capital controls and “Grimbo” (i.e. a slow motion train wreck) is the chaos that would ensure should Tsipras strike a deal with creditors only to see it fall apart in parliament amid raucous party infighting and the rapid disintegration of government.

Now, it appears as though EU officials aren’t the only ones drawing up plans for capital controls and Grexit because as The Telegraph reports, the far-left faction within Syriza is ready to transition back to the drachma. Here’s more:

The radical wing of Greece's Syriza party is to table plans over coming days for an Icelandic-style default and a nationalisation of the Greek banking system, deeming it pointless to continue talks with Europe's creditor powers.

 

Syriza sources say measures being drafted include capital controls and the establishment of a sovereign central bank able to stand behind a new financial system. While some form of dual currency might be possible in theory, such a structure would be incompatible with euro membership and would imply a rapid return to the drachma.

 

The confidential plans were circulating over the weekend and have the backing of 30 MPs from the Aristeri Platforma or 'Left Platform', as well as other hard-line groupings in Syriza's spectrum. It is understood that the nationalist ANEL party in the ruling coalition is also willing to force a rupture with creditors, if need be.

 

"This goes well beyond the Left Platform. We are talking serious numbers," said one Syriza MP involved in the draft.

 

"We are all horrified by the idea of surrender, and we will not allow ourselves to be throttled to death by European monetary union," he told the Telegraph.

 

Syriza's Left Platform has studied the Icelandic model, extolled as a success story by the International Monetary Fund itself.

 

"The Greek banks must be nationalised immediately, along with the creation of a bad bank. There may have to be some restrictions on cash withdrawals," said one Syriza MP.

 

"The banks will go ape-s*** of course. We are aware that there will be a lot of lawsuits but at the end of the day we are a sovereign power," he said.

 

Syriza has a strong ideological motive to strike at the financial elites. They view the banks as the nerve centre of an entrenched oligarchy that has run the country for more than half a century as a family business. Forcing these institutions into bankruptcy provides cover for a socio-political purge, best understood as a revolution.

 

Iceland is a tempting model for Greece, but the parallel can be pushed too far. The Nordic country seized control of its three big banks - Glitnir, Kaupthing, and Landsbanki - when the crisis span out of control in late 2008.

As a reminder, this year Iceland will become the first European country that hit crisis in 2008 to beat its pre-crisis peak of economic output. In spite of its total 180-degree treatment of nefarious bankers, the banking system, and the people of its nation when compared to America (or The UK), Iceland has proved that there is a different (better) option that western dogma would suggest: imprisoning the bankers and letting the banks go bust. Here's what happened next:

In any event, it's also becoming clear that Tsipras is indeed limited by party hardliners in terms of what he can propose to EU creditors, and while Syriza claims this is evidence of party unity, it more likely represents the fact that the PM is stuck between allowing Greece to exit the euro or facing a severe political backlash in the event he comes to parliament with a draft proposal that includes concessions on pensions and the VAT. Here's The Telegraph again:

The creditors argue that 'Grexit' would be suicidal for Greece. They have been negotiating on the assumption that Syriza must be bluffing, and will ultimately capitulate. Little thought has gone into possibility that key figures in Athens may be thinking along entirely different lines.

 

Tasos Koronaki, the party secretary, said on Sunday that attempts to split the party will fail. "The government will not enter into any agreement that is not accepted by the parliamentary group. We are more united than ever," he said.

 

Mr Tsipras faces a critical choice. If he accepts creditor demands, he may lose a large bloc of his own party and have to rely on the establishment parties to push the deal through the Greek parliament.

 

Such a course of action would render him a Greek version of Britain's Ramsey MacDonald, the Labour prime minister in the 1930s who enforced austerity and became the socialist figurehead of a Conservative national government.

 

MacDonald never overcame the accusations of betrayal by the Labour movement. He died a broken man.

One is reminded of the demonstrations staged last week by members of the Communist-affiliated PAME union who displayed a banner depicting Tsipras alongside his two predecessors with the phrase “We have bled enough, we have paid enough.” The implication was that Tsipras is nothing more than a pandering technocrat, a characterization the PM is keen to dispel. 

Ultimately then, Tsipras must decide how he wants history to remember his tenure as Prime Minister. Either he will be the leader who allowed Greece to crash out of the euro on its way to a redomination-driven economic collapse, or he will go down as the fiery advocate for change who caved under pressure and allowed the troika to stamp out democracy in the place where it was born.

*  *  *

Here's some bonus color from Barclays on possible political outcomes:

We have argued that the cost of a U-turn by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras – that is, accepting the Institutions’ terms of an agreement – is likely to be a divided party, including raising opposition from radical Syriza MPs and possibly from its junior coalition partner, the Independent Greeks. However, in our view, this is something that PM Tsipras could survive, politically. The chances of early elections would be high in this scenario, but the likelihood of Mr Tsipras to be re-elected seem fair, in our view, even without the more radical factions of Syriza.

Instead, under the alternative scenario of no deal with the Institutions, in all likelihood we believe Greek banks’ access to ELA funding could be frozen shortly after the end of the month when the programme expires, and bank controls to limit deposit outflows and transfers abroad would be required. In addition, this scenario would also mean a divided Syriza, with the more moderate members opposing the government´s decision not to reach a deal. We think a majority of Greeks would blame the government for the failure in the negotiations and the freezing of their deposits. In our view, PM Tsipras would be worse off in this scenario, and we think it is unlikely that the government would be able to survive it.

 

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Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:33 | 6203012 Latina Lover
Latina Lover's picture

Take advice from an arch Neocon Victoria Nudelman: fuck the EU.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:43 | 6203040 BlowsAgainstthe...
BlowsAgainsttheEmpire's picture

Everything gets better when you show bankers the door.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:49 | 6203061 Manthong
Manthong's picture

You are so polite.

I prefer this solution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq1zkT5mE8w

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:02 | 6203109 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

I'm afraid this is a trend that is just getting started...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:06 | 6203125 graneros
graneros's picture

Oh look another article on the "Grexit." What is this the 700th in the last hour? Get it through your brains folks The Greek people DO NOT WANT to go it on their own like Iceland. They WANT someone anyone to GIVE them money. Yes OK they'll call it a loan but what they mean is give me your money cause we don't want to do the things that are necessary to run our own economy or be bothered with things like paying back loans.

Now add the fact that the EU DOES NOT WANT to kick them out. If Greece goes the whole balliwick comes crashing down.  Which it will anyway but if they can get another 6 months of... yes can kicking, they will do it. The PTB in the EU know damn well once the first country gets kicked it is over. Once that first dominoe gets pushed, look out cause nothing will stop the inevitable clicking sound as each dominoe falls over in turn.

Bottom line Greece will get another "loan" and the world will be happy for 6 months or so at which time all this Bullshit starts up again. Count on it cause it can't work any other way. And by the way Russia will not save them.  Oh they may make some kind of deal giving them a ruble or two for bases and the like but no way will they treat them like a wild cat at the door begging for milk. There is quid pro quo when you deal with the Russians.  Like the mob you don't pay your bills on time your health will not be so good.

For all of you folks who keep asking for an armegeddon timeline I can't answer but I can tell you if I am wrong and the EU does kick Greece out then the clock will start at that point and you better seriously have a plan in place.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:30 | 6203184 DonutBoy
DonutBoy's picture

Yes - you are exactly right.  They will leave the Euro when they're kicked out, not before.  As is now obvious - they were never negotiating, just begging. 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:06 | 6203284 greenskeeper carl
greenskeeper carl's picture

I get it, the "iceland model" but Iceland is far from ideal. If you really want to limit(or eliminate) the power of bankers over your society, sound money is required. Money that cannot be conjured out of thin air on the whims of central planners. Iceland may have jailed the bankers, good for them, but they are still on a fiat currency controlled by the government. A gold standard keeps everyone honest. You must live within your means, and it cannot be created out of nothing. The abolishment of legal currency laws is also neccessary. An ounce of gold is an ounce of gold, and ounce of silver is an ounce of silver, rather it is an eagle, maple, APM, etc.

 

All greece is going to do is place themselves under the thumb of a different group of central planners who will stick it to the average citizens, every time, no matter what kind of promises their new socialist government makes.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:24 | 6203548 Bumpo
Bumpo's picture

These articles always end the same way:  With Greece crawling back to the EU. I think its all very wishful thinking on the part of 'The Powers That Be'.  Sounds like Greece has already moved on from the Troika's 'last offer'. Greece's debt is not longer Greece's problem. its YOUR PROBLEM now.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:28 | 6203557 strannick
strannick's picture

Russian cheap gas and manufacturing renaissance, or more getting butt f'ed by bankers. Should be obvious, but maybe they like it "Greek"

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 19:06 | 6203684 espirit
espirit's picture

Greece waited too long to follow the Icelandic model.

They owe their soul to the company store.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:25 | 6203942 Whoa Dammit
Whoa Dammit's picture

I just wish they would stop muttering around like effing Hamlet ("To be or not to be") and do something.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 00:00 | 6204476 TwoShortPlanks
TwoShortPlanks's picture

Off Topic Post TSP has formed a second company, merging older communications with modern. For those who are interested in diversifying into one of the next boom technologies, here's a chance. http://twoshortplanksunplugged.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/second-company-es...

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 00:53 | 6204546 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

I think Greece is going to get a golden shower. Or was than golden dawn?

A new beginning? An old ending?

What if Greece is made the first state under direct IMF/UN stewardship....just to show the rest of us how good that can be....for all of us.

Our bene violent overlords.....

Joke. Come september....not so funny....

meanwhile, this. Zero One>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqO8IxnHLUs

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 03:34 | 6204710 pretty bird
pretty bird's picture

The DOW's up, bitches.  Greece ain't going no place.  Deal with it.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 05:00 | 6204766 Shropshire Lad
Shropshire Lad's picture

The big difference in Iceland is that the government is controlled by the people.  A whole different ball-game, even with respect to their "fiat" currency.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:21 | 6203925 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

When polled, most Greeks say they prefer to stay in the Eu and keep the Euro. When confronted with leaving, they realize that with teh EU and IMF goes their only source of money. Greece's economy simply can't generate weath enough to pay for social services, pensions and health care. A Euro less Greece would have no capital and now way to get capital. It just proves, if you close down your economy in favor of EU imports, and then try and function on loans and book keeping tricks, you are fucked.

Bottom line, Greece has no plan or prospect for economic growth. In what way could Greece earn foreign exchange, or Euros except tourism and asset sales?

Nations with no economy, and all the social obligations of a European lifestyle, are never going to recover.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:54 | 6204013 conscious being
conscious being's picture

Ah Jack, tourism is a big big deal in Greece. If travel to Greece goes on sale via a new Drachma, people will be pouring in. Caveat assumes no major macro issue like world war or global economic collapse, but in that case they are f'd anyhow.

As I'm sure you know, Russia and Greece have a strong affinity. Greece is srategic real estate. At a crucial point in time, Russia offered support to Iceland. Of course they will, or already have to Greece.

No worries. Bring out the Drachma.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 23:11 | 6204371 Augustus
Augustus's picture

No need for a new Drachma to devalue.  Just lower the price in Euro.

Maybe just start using the devalued ruble to make things real cheap.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 01:34 | 6204617 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Greece is home to the Orthodox Church.

Russia too....

Many moves left in this game yet...

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 05:31 | 6204785 cephalo
cephalo's picture

I logged in only to state that you are one well informed individual. Orhtodoxy is the key to the future on this planet.

Cheers!

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 04:18 | 6204741 Condition 1SQ
Condition 1SQ's picture

If they're smart they'll leave the EU and turn Greece into the next budget Seychelles for reiting baby boomers.  If all you've got is pretty scenery and a great climate, well then whore it out if you absolutely have to keep your gubmint bennies.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:57 | 6204038 TheFutureReset
TheFutureReset's picture

@Jack, do you have a recent poll? The one I think you are talking about is several months old, and likely to be inaccurate now.

 

Greece's situation is not as bleak as you say. True, they don't have enough money to continue their government programs. Good. When these shocks happen the govt is forced to shrink. When regulations, red tape, and taxes are not enforced, entrepreneurship thrives, new businesses start, the economy can break the bonds of malinvestment.

Of course, they won't be able to survive as they are now, as you say, but the situation changes quickly when the govt doesn't have any money or source of capital. Granted there could be govt violence against their own people, but if the troops aren't getting paid, they usually find other, more productive things to do.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 23:15 | 6204381 Augustus
Augustus's picture

If Tzipass was smart enough to admit that they cannot maintain the government programs, and reduce them to a realistic level, there would be a deal with the Euro lenders already.

He's not that smart.  He won't reduce the programs.  Things are going to change very quickly when the ELA is cutoff by the ECB.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:31 | 6203191 HungryPorkChop
HungryPorkChop's picture

I agree and don't think that Greece is going anywhere just yet.  We need a few moar stawk rallies based off Greek mythology that everyting is o.k.  However, if they do exit then expect a few months of calm before the storm hits. 

Maybe the new Euro rally cry will be:  Gentlemen, start your printers.

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 19:22 | 6203745 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Sovereignty...lol...the second to last gasp of a scoundrel, the dipshit has zero concept of where "sovereignty" even comes from.

You know what the great thing is?

I now know that I'll live to see the day that all my ranting & ravings will come true. They want a cashless society, world fucking wide. No hard currency, no gold, no silver, no copper, no paper money, no checks, no "bad banks" only "good banks". They will come to us with one final plea:

"If you don't allow us to convert your savings into digits we control ALL OF THIS WILL COME CRASHING DOWN!!! No police, no firefighters, no 401k, no pensions...its all intertwined! Trust us. Your labor deposit will go into "credits" that you can access 24/7/365 with no fear of bank runs!"

And I'll be right here to say toldja so.

Fucking dumbass socialist pricks.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:34 | 6203864 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

I don't think they'll get the cashless society, and I don't think they really want it. It's the same reason I find A Brave New World a more disturbing dystopia than 1984. The former was infinitely malleable while the latter required total control.

Greece will default at some point, and more than likely they'll sell out to Vlad and Gazprom to protect Greek Oligarch assets. The Greek people getting a better shake will he purely ancillary. The game will go on and the money power that resides above any of the individual banking interests will have already bet accordingly. Rothschilds and Rockefellers FTW as usual. The dystopia isn't coming, it's already here. There will always be just enough political change, war and economic swings to make the sheeple think it's a dynamic system. In reality the real owners, of power money and land, never really change. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet types will come and go, but the entrenched money and political powers will remain. Negative totalitarianism is to much work and is impractical to the real ruling class. The Maos and Stalins of the world showed that all it does is bleed the world dry. But if you create the illusion of freedom and prosperity you can loot the proles forever. Sure the sadistic fucks would rather we all live in shacks, but better to let us have a little bit if it allows them to live in palaces in the sky and blow a million dollars on a weekend in Macau.

We're gonna turn a deflationary corner soon, and after 15 yeah of total rape, the middle class will rejoice at getting SOME semblance of purchasing power back. Meanwhile the real owners will get a chuckle as they insider info short every market and watch the specuvestor-thought-they-were-1%ers lose everything. I'm picturing something similar to the early 90's. TPTB won't give a shit about you using cash because they'll be turning their cash holdings into assets during the fire sale. First by inflation, then by deflation. Same as it ever was...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 22:14 | 6204237 TheFutureReset
TheFutureReset's picture

That is the belief that fueled the French Revolution. We are entering a similar period. There will be guiotines again. 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:04 | 6203876 Crawdaddy
Crawdaddy's picture

Whether we get to have a front row seat to cashless in our life time is not yet confirmed but the NWO monkeys are sure as shit trying to drive the world off the cliff in order to get there. Odds are high though, undoubtedly.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:13 | 6203908 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Props to you both for thinking outside the box.

They have to find "a way" to hide their own ill gotten wealth (or convince enough useful idiots theirs is safe inside too) from "confiscation".

Self interest is, fundamental to this ;-)

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:34 | 6203199 BraveSirRobin
BraveSirRobin's picture

Mathmatically, I do not see how Greece can pay off the debt. In time, default is enevitable. If the Russians and Chinese want to give the Greeks a bunch on money, they will end up lng it just like the Germans, French, and eveone elese wo have given Greeks money of the last couple of hundred years. Shysteing lenders is part of the Greek character. It's only the fool who lends them money. I takee opposite view here - they are not the victims. They could never have taken all that ney with any intention of ever paying it back.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:59 | 6203272 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

How the Greek can pay off their debt? Impose a one time 10% value tax on all assets in Greece and give the money to the creditors. It´s as easy as that.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:40 | 6203406 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

They have return to the drachma. They should nationalize the goldmine. Once you have worthless money the Bankers will be banging down the door to end to them.

Maybe not too many Greek Bankers of course...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:09 | 6203506 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

Greece can’t repay. That is the truth.

But Greece really doesn’t has any industry.

If you visit Greece, the only real economic activity is arround Athens and it’s not impressive at all.

So once out of Europe, Greece will be a 3rd world country for decades and they’ll soon turn into fascisme.

Their only chance was to stay in Europe as it’s their only source of income.

So.

Greece will bow. Even if they only get 1 million euro’s a year, it’s more then their taxation will ever bring in.

Greece doesn’t even has money to print new currency!!!!

And imagine how the people will react when the handouts stop.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:16 | 6203531 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

The Greeks have more than enough assets to sell to pay back their debt. They just don´t want to repay the debt they have. They are just crooks and pathetic deadbeats who love to steal and betray others.

 

Greece IS a third world country. Ever was and ever will. There´s no place for them in a union of first world countries. So kick them out.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:50 | 6203634 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

i knew that 50 years ago Wolfy. Living in Athens for three months was more than enough.

Afghanistan with mod cons I used to call it.

seems You Germans barely did any due diligence, more fool you.

Now eat your shit sandwich, and enjoy.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:15 | 6203910 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

Due diligence? Lol. The reason we have that Greek pimple at our asses was that our US empire overlords ordered it. But you are right there are too much brain dead German grecophiles around here too.

 

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 22:44 | 6204317 greenskeeper carl
greenskeeper carl's picture

ill try to keep this short....

almost every bit of money you gave to the greeks to 'bail their lazy asses out' went right back to your banks. You have been conned. Im not defending the greeks, they may well be lazy asses. But the money given to their govt during these bailout programs went into their treasury and right back out again, to douche bank, the IMF, and all the rest of the TBTF banks that loaded up on greek paper. So while you are being told that your money is going to pay the pensions of the lazy greeks, its really going to pay the bankers and speculators who bought up all that greek paper with the promise of EU QE before drahgi turned on the printer. Thats right, the vast majority of your bailout money came out of german taxpayer pockets, made a quick stop in greece, and then went right into your friendly neighborhood TBTF bank. You are paying for their record profits. All of this greek bailout BS is nothing but a roundabout bank bailout to keep them from becoming insolvent. and its being done at your expense.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 03:00 | 6204678 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

You just think you have a clue what is going on.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 03:07 | 6204684 skepsis101
skepsis101's picture

thank you.  I couldn't have said it shorter.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 03:08 | 6204685 skepsis101
skepsis101's picture

thank you. it couldn't have been said shorter or better!

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 09:44 | 6205236 BraveSirRobin
BraveSirRobin's picture

Hmmm..... Back out all the debt from their GDP and tell me what's left?

If they quit the Euro, Greece will be the cheapest vacation and retirement destination in Europe. That's all that will happen. Then on the back of this, people will start lendng them more money for airports, vacation villas, hotels, roads, resturaunts, etc., then the Greeks will steal most of it and default again in a number of years. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:52 | 6203250 walküre
walküre's picture

Have you asked any of them?

The Greek people DO NOT WANT to go it on their own like Iceland.

I read this everywhere and wonder, how does anyone really know what the Greeks want? They seem to be happy with how far Tsirpas has pushed the envelope.

Mass delusion is a powerful tool. Remember when Goebbels asked the hyped up Germans inside the Nazi rally if they wanted the "total war"? They all cheered "yes"!

Did the Germans really understand what that meant? Do Greeks really understand what any of this means anymore?

Do you understand it? I don't profess to know what the Greeks want!

There is NO upside. Every option is equally bad. Greeks are fucked one way or another. At least with a Grexit they have an opportunity to rebuild.

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 19:23 | 6203750 ross81
ross81's picture

just like all Republicans at the RNC would probably scream "yes" to bombing Iran, Russia & China...but they dont speak for all Americans, only the insane ones.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 02:22 | 6204658 Jaspergers
Jaspergers's picture

+1 

It's like saying that MOST americans wanted 8 years of bush followed by 8 years of obama...

The reason why MOST greeks want to kick the can is that MOST greeks are living hand to mouth (or worse) and won't survive what comes after a grexit even if, in the best case scenario, things only shut down for a couple months. It is difficult to think long term or think about sovereignty when you are hungry today (or tomorrow).

I live in greece and though I want a grexit and consider myself prepared for it, I know that it will get very ugly before it gets any better especially in Athens where ppl have forgotten how to live off the land.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:07 | 6203291 daveO
daveO's picture

Like, the western banking mafia is any better? http://redefininggod.com/

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:33 | 6203386 BigJim
BigJim's picture

Oh yeah, there's no 'quid pro quo' when you get favours/money from the West. They're just dying to help other less fortunate people!

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:12 | 6203459 snowlywhite
snowlywhite's picture

"Get it through your brains folks The Greek people DO NOT WANT to go it on their own like Iceland." - and how did you reach this brilliant conclusion?

 

because in some poll they asked them if they want to keep euro or not? Let's see: was the question formulated like "do you want to keep the euro if you have to do... and list here all the troika demands"? Or was it simply asking "do you want to keep the euro?". As those two things are veeery far from one other. And in the 1st case, I seriously doubt those wanting to stay in the euro would be anywhere near majority.

 

though God knows why I bother responding to someone that's so juvenile as in thinking in terms of "the whatever people"...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:31 | 6203579 ross81
ross81's picture

The Irish are another group that, like the Greeks, have been pounded with Euro propaganda day in day out for the past 20 odd years going back to the Maastricht Treaty (and before). It's at a stage where people have forgotten that life under the old European currencies was actually pretty good. The Irish Punt as an example was generally stable compared to other international currency. The Lira and the Drachma too suited the domesic economies of those countries. Nowadays though if you even suggested a return to the Punt around the dinner table, you will get strange looks, such is the power of Euro propaganda. And that propaganda of course extends beyond things like interest rates & currencies into issues such as the creation of a European Army.....you can see where this will ultimately lead.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:22 | 6204091 Crawdaddy
Crawdaddy's picture

The Irish have got their gay marriage so its all good now. At least the Rome controlled part of Ireland. Not sure about the rest but they will likely not be far behind.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 22:14 | 6204241 Moe Howard
Moe Howard's picture

Yep, the big problem was solved. Now for those pesky little financial ones....

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 01:17 | 6204589 Peribanu
Peribanu's picture

Remember that the Irish punt was de facto pegged to the British pound within a small range of variation of +- 10%. They never really had their own currency.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 01:24 | 6204591 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

For all of you folks who keep asking for an armegeddon timeline ...and the EU does kick Greece out then the clock will start at that point

 

First the clock has already started.

 

Second Greece is a sideshow...a distraction...

 

Finally how levered were the Douchebunk Derivative bets on Oil?

 

I figure at a conservative 15 to 1, the 60% Oil Price Decline cost Douchebunk $900 for every $100 in Oil which they had derivative bets on.

 

Now if that does not create an insolvent, undercapitalized and BANKRUPT Bunk then I just do not know what will.

 

Please pay attention to the sideshow so that you miss what is really going on.

 

As Douchebunk is the World's Largest Derivatives player it is not that hard to make the claim that some were held on Oil.

 

And as the average Derivative to Hard Good is levered at 15 To 1 then it is not that outrageous of a claim that Douchebunk's Derivative bets on Oil held the same leverage.

 

SIXTY PERCENT PRICE DECLINES HAVE DRAMATIC CONSEQUENCES, especially when leverage is involved.

 

The Western Banking System is TOAST.

 

And the cat is out of the bag. They have known this for awhile.

 

So Greece is being set up as the Political Fall Guy...and this is the sideshow made especially for you.

 

Cheers Wolferi...ENJOY YOUR AUSTERITY. I hope that EVERYONE STARVES TO DEATH for their support of FRAUD and CORRUPTION.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 03:41 | 6204722 Meremortal
Meremortal's picture

Heavy drugs you're on, man. Get away from them.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:07 | 6203500 Hitlery_4_Dictator
Hitlery_4_Dictator's picture

The Grexit - part 1: The never ending story

The Grexit part 2: It's Happening This Weekend.... For Reals This Time

The Grexit - part 3: The epic saga continues

The Grexit part 4: Germany Strikes Back

The Grexit - part 5: Greece pivots

The Grexit - part 6: Enter the IMF Dragon

The Gexit - part 7: Loan sharknado

The Grexit - part 8: the bankers dozen

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:32 | 6203583 Hitlery_4_Dictator
Hitlery_4_Dictator's picture

 

The Grexit - part 9: the bailout begins

The Grexit - part 10: atms the new frontier 

The Grexit - part 11: Drachma fever 

The Grexit - part 12: fiat wallpaper blues

 The Grexit - part 13: drackma park 

The Grexit - part 14: terminator euro II

The Grexit Returns: Raiders of the lost bailout

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:35 | 6203592 Hitlery_4_Dictator
Hitlery_4_Dictator's picture

The Grexit - part 15: pretty in pink slips

The Grexit - part 16: grumpy old bankers

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:16 | 6204081 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

The Grexit-part 17: its all greek to me

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:44 | 6204159 philosophers bone
philosophers bone's picture

The Grexit - Part 18 - My Big Fat Greek Bail-In

The Grexit - Part 19 - Hopelessly Devoted to EU

 

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 00:42 | 6204533 Money Boo Boo
Money Boo Boo's picture

The  Grexit - Part 20 thru 498 - Anal Assasins take Manhattan

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:50 | 6203064 two hoots
two hoots's picture

"...we will not allow ourselves to be throttled to death by European monetary union,"

We are the birth place of Democracy and as such we have carte blanchc to be irresponsible and not pay our debts.  The world owes us that, forever and we won't let them forget about it.  We will run documentaries on the History Channel to remind all, they owe us, like the others.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:51 | 6203075 BlowsAgainstthe...
BlowsAgainsttheEmpire's picture

And you're comment is apropos of . . . what?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:06 | 6203126 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

Much simpler than that:  we can't pay it back, no matter what we do.   You loaned us the money; evidently you thought we could pay it back, so we trusted your expert opinion, you being the experts.  Turns out you were wrong:  eat it.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:30 | 6203188 chubbar
chubbar's picture

Exactly. The bottom line is that regardless of what is proposed, without debt forgiveness, Greece can not recover. What fucking part of that is lost on the Troika? Any concessions, even ones that would never ever be passed by the Greek politicians won't work without a debt writeoff. Any debt writeoff would open the door for Spain and Italy. Game, set, match for the EU. They loaned too much money, period. GREXIT has to happen. Although another loan would postpone it, but not indefinitely.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:17 | 6203327 daveO
daveO's picture

Or foreclosure. Germans gotta retire somewhere!

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:34 | 6203388 TheGreatRecovery
TheGreatRecovery's picture

Lebensraum.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 23:35 | 6204420 El Crusty
El Crusty's picture

"Greece can not recover"

Greece actually can recover, but not without doing something drastic.

option 1- submit to troika demands. Greece eventually recovers after about 50 years but in the meantime they end up having to live like paupers.

option2- tell everone to eat a dick, leave the EU and revert back to a gold and silver backed Drachma. Greece recovers after just a few years and is much better off well into the future.

guess which one they end up choosing?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:36 | 6203358 Charlie M.
Charlie M.'s picture

Have u noticed the lending rate hikes of ALL the eurotrash countries the past few days? Theyre livening up... I think the storyline goes as follows:

Tsiprass AND Mutti let this all play out a little more so as to soften up their respective 'NEIN NEIN NEIN' problem children (prof. schauble and the left platform) as well as other eurotrash hardliners (Finland etc.). Once the shit starts hitting the fan they will serve up their Wunderful Zolution (which I suspect will be very similar to the Greek proposal with debt restructuring).  The masses will be praising their infinite wisdom Kim Jong Un-style for saving Eurolalaland and ze WORLD. Mutti will go down in history alongside Charlemagne and other great visionaries and Tsiprass will be voted into office for ze rest of his life.

Charlz.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:28 | 6203369 Lea
Lea's picture

"They loaned too much money, period. GREXIT has to happen. Although another loan would postpone it, but not indefinitely."

Not that simple. If Greece defaults and gets out of the euro, Deutsche Bank crashes. And if DB crashes, the world stock market can crash.

Standard &Poors are even already saying that should Greece miss its next IMF payment (which it will), it won't qualify as a default. Greece won't even be downgraded.

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:36 | 6203394 BigJim
BigJim's picture

It's not a default until the orange lady sings!

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:35 | 6203202 two hoots
two hoots's picture

But you know what this will do to your credit score?    Funny BTW! 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:28 | 6203575 TwoHoot
TwoHoot's picture

two hoots a newbie shill. Don't be confused.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 03:32 | 6204708 Model T
Model T's picture

What I really believe is that he'll get paid off; but I so hope I'm wrong. I'll have a party to celebrate if the Greeks opt for freedom; it'll be awkward, but they can do it.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:33 | 6203195 bbq on whitehou...
bbq on whitehouse lawn's picture

Taking on debt was part of the euro deal to help stabilise the euro. Greeks did their part so did Spain, Italy and others. Without that added debt the euro wouldn't have made it as a currency. Now comes time for those what benifited most from this new currency to pay for it.
Unless you want to join Japans little deflation party.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:27 | 6203569 TwoHoot
TwoHoot's picture

two hoots a newbie shill. Don't be confused.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:49 | 6203066 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

Wrong answer.  Correct answer:  Guillotine

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:50 | 6203068 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

Yeah, jump over the cliff, you Greek fuckers and get out of my union. If not ...

 

Throw those pathetic Greek deadbeats out of Europe already.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:53 | 6203080 BlowsAgainstthe...
BlowsAgainsttheEmpire's picture

Yes, agreed - and then let them be followed by the Irish, Portuguese, Italians and Spanish.  And after that, the party will really get started.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:03 | 6203111 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Get the fucking parasite bankster scum out of all our lives. 

They can't pay interest on savings nor keep their hands out of the till.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:46 | 6203238 ThroxxOfVron
ThroxxOfVron's picture

"Get the fucking parasite bankster scum out of all our lives. 

They can't pay interest on savings nor keep their hands out of the till. "

Not can't -WILL NOT.  The spread has never been higher.  The TBTF Banks are enjoying insane spreads/profit margins.

Chase can and does borrow at negative real interest rates and charge 12% and up up up for auto loans and credit cards.

Wells Fargo is making a fortune securitizing mortgages, taking the cheap GSE money, Taxpayer subsidized insurance, and kicking the shoddiest of them off to The FED which is still 're-investing' it's QE MBS vig...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 23:35 | 6203944 Crawdaddy
Crawdaddy's picture

For anyone born since 1971 (1913 or 1933 or 1871 or 463BC depending who you want to debate) this debt issue is simply a pretense for control. All bank loans are invented money that didn't exist before you asked them for the loan. The lender didn't reach into his pocket and loan it; the bank "printed" it and wished it into fake existence.

The banksters use fake money to control us. They use this dominance to talk smack in a tone of "good citizens are not freeloaders'  when in fact they are the ultimate freeloaders.

It is all fake. Banks do not lend their own money. One day enough people will wake up and know this and then we have a chance to change things.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:12 | 6203306 nicxios
nicxios's picture

Your union? Awwwe so cute! Can you count to potato too?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:48 | 6203429 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

Yep, my union. Not yours. Greeks just don´t belong to us.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:33 | 6203382 Lea
Lea's picture

Wolferl, I see your mom still hasn't yet bought you these high-heel shoes and the pink lipstick you wanted to go with your Nazi uniform. That's why you're still in a rotten mood.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:46 | 6203423 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

Your wrong, my mood is great. Those stupid Greeks just take care that my country flourishes like never before. And they do not even realize it. Now if we manage finally to throw them out of the EU the EU will be a really great place. If you are in that is.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 19:17 | 6203711 jarana
jarana's picture

Zoaz pikutara zure Europareko ideiekin.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:00 | 6203477 snowlywhite
snowlywhite's picture

if not what? you'll moan harder, or what?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:33 | 6203585 ross81
ross81's picture

your union, or your 1000 year Reich?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 19:39 | 6203807 Griffin
Griffin's picture

Greece is a sovereign democratic state, and those who are representing Greece should do what is best for Greece in the long term.  

If Greece decides to default, restructures the banking system and leave the euro, they will have a lot of people on their side.

 

 

 

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 03:28 | 6204705 Model T
Model T's picture

Me, for one. And I would hope the majority of Zero Hedgers. Greece managed to limp along with their serially devalued Drachma for the Twentieth Century,  they can do it again; with out all the aggro. from the Brussels fools and crooks.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:05 | 6203120 graneros
graneros's picture

Double post

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:50 | 6203246 post turtle saver
post turtle saver's picture

default and start over... like you should have done four years ago...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:46 | 6203053 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Progressive = Communist

Other than that, a solid piece.  They could have done it better five years ago, but so could everyone else.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:03 | 6203113 Augustus
Augustus's picture

Don't those other party members know of the meeting with Puutie in St. Petersburg?

This morning's article detailed how Puutie was intnet on writing big checks to solve problems for all communists.  Take the Puutie money, pay off the capitalist scoundrels, and just be happy Greeks that will answer to Russia.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:33 | 6203197 chubbar
chubbar's picture

That wouldn't be the plan in any event. Putin would tell them to default and exit the Euro. After that he, if he was going to do anything, would loan them money. In that way, he is actually helping to recapitalize Greece and not just paying off bankers. IMO

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:00 | 6203270 PhilofOz
PhilofOz's picture

You're a one-trick pony aren't you? Puutie this, Puutie that!! Like a scratched vinyl record, over and over!! Shut the fuck up!!

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:38 | 6203603 Augustus
Augustus's picture

Puutie has been portrayed as the Slavic Savior.  Despite his brain disorder, he should be able to conjur up the cash for the Greeks.  He certainly knows how to earn the oyalty of his trolls writing the nonsense for him on this web site.

Puutie ain't got the cash or credit to do anything for Greece.  Tzipass will get the bad news in St. Petersbug.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:12 | 6204071 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

shame that somebody with a brain disorder has to make fun of another with the same malady

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:11 | 6204069 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

...a brainless scratched record, at that

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:56 | 6203092 agent default
agent default's picture

Euro exit will certainly be followed by EU exit.  However Syriza hardliners might take an extra step and say fuck NATO.  Not sure how the US will like that, but don't be surprised if you see something similar to Ukraine there soon.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:40 | 6203403 BigJim
BigJim's picture

I think the Greeks are a relatively unified bunch. No major sectarian divisions for the Tribe to exploit.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:11 | 6203132 ThirteenthFloor
ThirteenthFloor's picture

Tsipras - Get the debt monkey off your back !

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 19:09 | 6203693 Hyjinx
Hyjinx's picture

Or: Ring up the credit card, declare bankruptcy and start over.  Nice.  Fuck the Greeks - they are the ones 110% responsible for their situation.  NO ONE held a gun to their head and said "borrow."  It just sucks for all those caught in the crossfire that weren't sucking on the Greek government tits.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 01:09 | 6204578 JustUsChickensHere
JustUsChickensHere's picture

Clearly you have not read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" .... there is a large chance that all kinds of leverage (aka extortion) techniques used to get the Greek govt of the day to "borrow". 

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 03:25 | 6204703 Model T
Model T's picture

Yes, indeed. If you can't believe a Neo-Con Zionist Crony Capitalist, who can you believe ?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:34 | 6203015 kowalli
kowalli's picture

they are wasting our time. DEFAULT...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:36 | 6203024 Senduko
Senduko's picture

I'l believe it when I see it. 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:49 | 6203065 overmedicatedun...
overmedicatedundersexed's picture

funny nothing in the American MSM about this..wonder why?

"As a reminder, this year Iceland will become the first European country that hit crisis in 2008 to beat its pre-crisis peak of economic output. In spite of its total 180-degree treatment of nefarious bankers, the banking system, and the people of its nation when compared to America (or The UK), Iceland has proved that there is a different (better) option that western dogma would suggest: imprisoning the bankers and letting the banks go bust." 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:42 | 6203219 DetectiveStern
DetectiveStern's picture

I'd vote for anyone who uses the the phrase "the banks will go ape-shit"

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:51 | 6203248 post turtle saver
post turtle saver's picture

because no one the US really gives a shit about this... we all have US dollars in our pockets, not Euros...

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 11:28 | 6205596 Greater Fool
Greater Fool's picture

Recovery from default is always easier when the UK and Netherlands foot the bill to bail out your banking system.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:42 | 6203036 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

That hope image looks vaguely familiar. I hope it works out better for you Greeks then it did for us in the U.S.S.R.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:44 | 6203047 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

Greek reshuffle is needed.

Syriza alliance with KKE.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:45 | 6203049 CHC
CHC's picture

Tell the EU to fuck off and take the rest of the day off. 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:45 | 6203050 suteibu
suteibu's picture

"We think a majority of Greeks would blame the government for the failure in the negotiations and the freezing of their deposits."

Change "think" to "hope" for accuracy.  Barclay's is trying to create the reality it desperately needs.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:55 | 6203262 ANestIOS
ANestIOS's picture

tell Barclays it's not happening...

SYRIZA elected and got the 4 month negotiation period during which kept their positions pretty much unchanged. Their waiting game was in order for a) the greek public to shift from strongly europhile to a more neutral and questioning stance (this has hapenned, latest poll had 50.2% wanting to comply with the demands of the "institutions" in order to stay in the eurozone) and b) to wake up the sensitivities of the european public opinion towards the plight of the ordinary greeks. SYRIZA rank and file members worked really hard and in an organised manner to achieve these, through continuous presence in the media (digital and traditional) and with continuous speeches and presentations to "live" audiences in greece and around europe.

The greek prime minister TODAY said that "the negotiation is just starting" - because the EU leadership has (at last) realised that failure will be as much theirs as the greeks and the consequences of failure, while really frightening for the greeks, are uncertain for the rulers who don't deal with uncertainty

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:14 | 6203312 nicxios
nicxios's picture

Those polls are garbage. Last few years polls in Greece have been notorious for getting it wrong.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:46 | 6203052 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Trump transcript...He nails every point with the truth ill give him that.

 

TRUMP: Wow. Whoa. That is some group of people. Thousands.

So nice, thank you very much. That’s really nice. Thank you. It’s great to be at Trump Tower. It’s great to be in a wonderful city, New York. And it’s an honor to have everybody here. This is beyond anybody’s expectations. There’s been no crowd like this.

And, I can tell, some of the candidates, they went in. They didn’t know the air-conditioner didn’t work. They sweated like dogs.

(LAUGHTER)

They didn’t know the room was too big, because they didn’t have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS? I don’t think it’s gonna happen.

(APPLAUSE)

Our country is in serious trouble. We don’t have victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we don’t have them. When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let’s say, China in a trade deal? They kill us. I beat China all the time. All the time.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We want Trump. We want Trump.

TRUMP: When did we beat Japan at anything? They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn’t exist, folks. They beat us all the time.

When do we beat Mexico at the border? They’re laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they’re killing us economically.

The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you. It’s true, and these are the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people.

It’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably — probably — from the Middle East. But we don’t know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don’t know what’s happening. And it’s got to stop and it’s got to stop fast.(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Islamic terrorism is eating up large portions of the Middle East. They’ve become rich. I’m in competition with them.

They just built a hotel in Syria. Can you believe this? They built a hotel. When I have to build a hotel, I pay interest. They don’t have to pay interest, because they took the oil that, when we left Iraq, I said we should’ve taken.

So now ISIS has the oil, and what they don’t have, Iran has. And in 19 — and I will tell you this, and I said it very strongly, years ago, I said — and I love the military, and I want to have the strongest military that we’ve ever had, and we need it more now than ever. But I said, “Don’t hit Iraq,” because you’re going to totally destabilize the Middle East. Iran is going to take over the Middle East, Iran and somebody else will get the oil, and it turned out that Iran is now taking over Iraq. Think of it. Iran is taking over Iraq, and they’re taking it over big league.

We spent $2 trillion in Iraq, $2 trillion. We lost thousands of lives, thousands in Iraq. We have wounded soldiers, who I love, I love — they’re great — all over the place, thousands and thousands of wounded soldiers.

And we have nothing. We can’t even go there. We have nothing. And every time we give Iraq equipment, the first time a bullet goes off in the air, they leave it.

Last week, I read 2,300 Humvees — these are big vehicles — were left behind for the enemy. 2,000? You would say maybe two, maybe four? 2,300 sophisticated vehicles, they ran, and the enemy took them.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We need Trump now.

TRUMP: You’re right.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We need Trump now.

TRUMP: Last quarter, it was just announced our gross domestic product — a sign of strength, right? But not for us. It was below zero. Whoever heard of this? It’s never below zero.

Our labor participation rate was the worst since 1978. But think of it, GDP below zero, horrible labor participation rate.

And our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don’t believe the 5.6. Don’t believe it.

That’s right. A lot of people up there can’t get jobs. They can’t get jobs, because there are no jobs, because China has our jobs and Mexico has our jobs. They all have jobs.

But the real number, the real number is anywhere from 18 to 19 and maybe even 21 percent, and nobody talks about it, because it’s a statistic that’s full of nonsense.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We want Trump now.

TRUMP: Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger by the way, and we as a country are getting weaker. Even our nuclear arsenal doesn’t work.

It came out recently they have equipment that is 30 years old. They don’t know if it worked. And I thought it was horrible when it was broadcast on television, because boy, does that send signals to Putin and all of the other people that look at us and they say, “That is a group of people, and that is a nation that truly has no clue. They don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We need Trump now.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We have a disaster called the big lie: Obamacare. Obamacare.

Yesterday, it came out that costs are going for people up 29, 39, 49, and even 55 percent, and deductibles are through the roof. You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high, it’s virtually useless. It’s virtually useless. It is a disaster.TRUMP: And remember the $5 billion Web site? $5 billion we spent on a Web site, and to this day it doesn’t work. A $5 billion Web site.

I have so many Web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a Web site. It costs me $3. $5 billion Web site.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: We want Trump. We want Trump. We want Trump. We want Trump.

TRUMP: Well, you need somebody, because politicians are all talk, no action. Nothing’s gonna get done. They will not bring us — believe me — to the promised land. They will not.

As an example, I’ve been on the circuit making speeches, and I hear my fellow Republicans. And they’re wonderful people. I like them. They all want me to support them. They don’t know how to bring it about. They come up to my office. I’m meeting with three of them in the next week. And they don’t know — “Are you running? Are you not running? Could we have your support? What do we do? How do we do it?”

I like them. And I hear their speeches. And they don’t talk jobs and they don’t talk China. When was the last time you heard China is killing us? They’re devaluing their currency to a level that you wouldn’t believe. It makes it impossible for our companies to compete, impossible. They’re killing us.

But you don’t hear that from anybody else. You don’t hear it from anybody else. And I watch the speeches.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: No more free (inaudible).

TRUMP: Thank you.

I watch the speeches of these people, and they say the sun will rise, the moon will set, all sorts of wonderful things will happen. And people are saying, “What’s going on? I just want a job. Just get me a job. I don’t need the rhetoric. I want a job.”

And that’s what’s happening. And it’s going to get worse, because remember, Obamacare really kicks in in ’16, 2016. Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him, I actually would say. I have the best courses in the world, so I’d say, you what, if he wants to — I have one right next to the White House, right on the Potomac. If he’d like to play, that’s fine.

(APPLAUSE)

In fact, I’d love him to leave early and play, that would be a very good thing.

(LAUGHTER)

But Obamacare kicks in in 2016. Really big league. It is going to be amazingly destructive. Doctors are quitting. I have a friend who’s a doctor, and he said to me the other day, “Donald, I never saw anything like it. I have more accountants than I have nurses. It’s a disaster. My patients are beside themselves. They had a plan that was good. They have no plan now.”

We have to repeal Obamacare, and it can be — and — and it can be replaced with something much better for everybody. Let it be for everybody. But much better and much less expensive for people and for the government. And we can do it.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump.

TRUMP: So I’ve watched the politicians. I’ve dealt with them all my life. If you can’t make a good deal with a politician, then there’s something wrong with you. You’re certainly not very good. And that’s what we have= representing us. They will never make America great again. They don’t even have a chance. They’re controlled fully — they’re controlled fully by the lobbyists, by the donors, and by the special interests, fully.

Yes, they control them. Hey, I have lobbyists. I have to tell you. I have lobbyists that can produce anything for me. They’re great. But you know what? it won’t happen. It won’t happen. Because we have to stop doing things for some people, but for this country, it’s destroying our country. We have to stop, and it has to stop now.

AUDIENCE: It needs Trump.

TRUMP: Now, our country needs — our country needs a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote “The Art of the Deal.”

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.

TRUMP: We need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing, can bring back our military, can take care of our vets. Our vets have been abandoned.

(APPLAUSE)

And we also need a cheerleader.

You know, when President Obama was elected, I said, “Well, the one thing, I think he’ll do well. I think he’ll be a great cheerleader for the country. I think he’d be a great spirit.”

He was vibrant. He was young. I really thought that he would be a great cheerleader.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: But not a leader.

TRUMP: He’s not a leader. That’s true. You’re right about that.

But he wasn’t a cheerleader. He’s actually a negative force. He’s been a negative force. He wasn’t a cheerleader; he was the opposite.

We need somebody that can take the brand of the United States and make it great again. It’s not great again.

(APPLAUSE)

We need — we need somebody — we need somebody that literally will take this country and make it great again. We can do that.

(APPLAUSE)

And, I will tell you, I love my life. I have a wonderful family. They’re saying, “Dad, you’re going to do something that’s going to be so tough.”

You know, all of my life, I’ve heard that a truly successful person, a really, really successful person and even modestly successful cannot run for public office. Just can’t happen. And yet that’s the kind of mindset that you need to make this country great again.

So ladies and gentlemen…

(APPLAUSE)

I am officially running…

(APPLAUSE)

… for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again.

(APPLAUSE)

It can happen. Our country has tremendous potential. We have tremendous people.

We have people that aren’t working. We have people that have no incentive to work. But they’re going to have incentive to work, because the greatest social program is a job. And they’ll be proud, and they’ll love it, and they’ll make much more than they would’ve ever made, and they’ll be — they’ll be doing so well, and we’re going to be thriving as a country, thriving. It can happen.

(APPLAUSE)

I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I tell you that.

(APPLAUSE)

I’ll bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places. I’ll bring back our jobs, and I’ll bring back our money.

Right now, think of this: We owe China $1.3 trillion. We owe Japan more than that. So they come in, they take our jobs, they take our money, and then they loan us back the money, and we pay them in interest, and then the dollar goes up so their deal’s even better.

How stupid are our leaders? How stupid are these politicians to allow this to happen? How stupid are they?

(APPLAUSE)

I’m going to tell you — thank you. I’m going to tell you a couple of stories about trade, because I’m totally against the trade bill for a number of reasons.

Number one, the people negotiating don’t have a clue. Our president doesn’t have a clue. He’s a bad negotiator.

He’s the one that did Bergdahl. We get Bergdahl, they get five killer terrorists that everybody wanted over there.

We get Bergdahl. We get a traitor. We get a no-good traitor, and they get the five people that they wanted for years, and those people are now back on the battlefield trying to kill us. That’s the negotiator we have.

Take a look at the deal he’s making with Iran. He makes that deal, Israel maybe won’t exist very long. It’s a disaster, and we have to protect Israel. But…

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, we do. Yes, we do.(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So we need people — I’m a free trader. But the problem with free trade is you need really talented people to negotiate for you. If you don’t have talented people, if you don’t have great leadership, if you don’t have people that know business, not just a political hack that got the job because he made a contribution to a campaign, which is the way all jobs, just about, are gotten, free trade terrible.

Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people, but we have people that are stupid. We have people that aren’t smart. And we have people that are controlled by special interests. And it’s just not going to work.

So, here’s a couple of stories happened recently. A friend of mine is a great manufacturer. And, you know, China comes over and they dump all their stuff, and I buy it. I buy it, because, frankly, I have an obligation to buy it, because they devalue their currency so brilliantly, they just did it recently, and nobody thought they could do it again.

But with all our problems with Russia, with all our problems with everything — everything, they got away with it again. And it’s impossible for our people here to compete.

So I want to tell you this story. A friend of mine who’s a great manufacturer, calls me up a few weeks ago. He’s very upset. I said, “What’s your problem?”

He said, “You know, I make great product.”

And I said, “I know. I know that because I buy the product.”

He said, “I can’t get it into China. They won’t accept it. I sent a boat over and they actually sent it back. They talked about environmental, they talked about all sorts of crap that had nothing to do with it.”

I said, “Oh, wait a minute, that’s terrible. Does anyone know this?”

He said, “Yeah, they do it all the time with other people.”

I said, “They send it back?”

“Yeah. So I finally got it over there and they charged me a big tariff. They’re not supposed to be doing that. I told them.”

Now, they do charge you tariff on trucks, when we send trucks and other things over there.

Ask Boeing BA +0.09%. They wanted Boeing’s secrets. They wanted their patents and all their secrets before they agreed to buy planes from Boeing.

Hey, I’m not saying they’re stupid. I like China. I sell apartments for — I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them? I own a big chunk of the Bank of America BAC +0.23% Building at 1290 Avenue of the Americas, that I got from China in a war. Very valuable.

I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower. I love China. People say, “Oh, you don’t like China?”

No, I love them. But their leaders are much smarter than our leaders, and we can’t sustain ourself with that. There’s too much — it’s like — it’s like take the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and have them play your high school football team. That’s the difference between China’s leaders and our leaders.

They are ripping us. We are rebuilding China. We’re rebuilding many countries. China, you go there now, roads, bridges, schools, you never saw anything like it. They have bridges that make the George Washington Bridge look like small potatoes. And they’re all over the place.

We have all the cards, but we don’t know how to use them. We don’t even know that we have the cards, because our leaders don’t understand the game. We could turn off that spigot by charging them tax until they behave properly.

Now they’re going militarily. They’re building a military island in the middle of the South China sea. A military island. Now, our country could never do that because we’d have to get environmental clearance, and the environmentalist wouldn’t let our country — we would never build in an ocean. They built it in about one year, this massive military port.

They’re building up their military to a point that is very scary. You have a problem with ISIS. You have a bigger problem with China.

And, in my opinion, the new China, believe it or not, in terms of trade, is Mexico.

So this man tells me about the manufacturing. I say, “That’s a terrible story. I hate to hear it.”

But I have another one, Ford.

So Mexico takes a company, a car company that was going to build in Tennessee, rips it out. Everybody thought the deal was dead. Reported it in the Wall Street Journal recently. Everybody thought it was a done deal. It’s going in and that’s going to be it, going into Tennessee. Great state, great people.TRUMP: All of a sudden, at the last moment, this big car manufacturer, foreign, announces they’re not going to Tennessee. They’re gonna spend their $1 billion in Mexico instead. Not good.

Now, Ford announces a few weeks ago that Ford is going to build a $2.5 billion car and truck and parts manufacturing plant in Mexico. $2.5 billion, it’s going to be one of the largest in the world. Ford. Good company.

So I announced that I’m running for president. I would…

(APPLAUSE)

… one of the early things I would do, probably before I even got in — and I wouldn’t even use — you know, I have — I know the smartest negotiators in the world. I know the good ones. I know the bad ones. I know the overrated ones.

You get a lot of them that are overrated. They’re not good. They think they are. They get good stories, because the newspapers get buffaloed (ph). But they’re not good.

But I know the negotiators in the world, and I put them one for each country. Believe me, folks. We will do very, very well, very, very well.

But I wouldn’t even waste my time with this one. I would call up the head of Ford, who I know. If I was president, I’d say, “Congratulations. I understand that you’re building a nice $2.5 billion car factory in Mexico and that you’re going to take your cars and sell them to the United States zero tax, just flow them across the border.”

And you say to yourself, “How does that help us,” right? “How does that help us? Where is that good”? It’s not.

So I would say, “Congratulations. That’s the good news. Let me give you the bad news. Every car and every truck and every part manufactured in this plant that comes across the border, we’re going to charge you a 35-percent tax, and that tax is going to be paid simultaneously with the transaction, and that’s it.

Now, here’s what is going to happen. If it’s not me in the position, it’s one of these politicians that we’re running against, you know, the 400 people that we’re (inaudible). And here’s what’s going to happen. They’re not so stupid. They know it’s not a good thing, and they may even be upset by it. But then they’re going to get a call from the donors or probably from the lobbyist for Ford and say, “You can’t do that to Ford, because Ford takes care of me and I take care of you, and you can’t do that to Ford.”

And guess what? No problem. They’re going to build in Mexico. They’re going to take away thousands of jobs. It’s very bad for us.

So under President Trump, here’s what would happen:

(APPLAUSE)

The head of Ford will call me back, I would say within an hour after I told them the bad news. But it could be he’d want to be cool, and he’ll wait until the next day. You know, they want to be a little cool.

And he’ll say, “Please, please, please.” He’ll beg for a little while, and I’ll say, “No interest.” Then he’ll call all sorts of political people, and I’ll say, “Sorry, fellas. No interest,” because I don’t need anybody’s money. It’s nice. I don’t need anybody’s money.

I’m using my own money. I’m not using the lobbyists. I’m not using donors. I don’t care. I’m really rich. I (inaudible).

(APPLAUSE)

And by the way, I’m not even saying that in a — that’s the kind of mindset, that’s the kind of thinking you need for this country.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Absolutely.

TRUMP: So — because we got to make the country rich.

It sounds crass. Somebody said, “Oh, that’s crass.” It’s not crass.

We got $18 trillion in debt. We got nothing but problems.

We got a military that needs equipment all over the place. We got nuclear weapons that are obsolete.

We’ve got nothing. We’ve got Social Security that’s going to be destroyed if somebody like me doesn’t bring money into the country. All these other people want to cut the hell out of it. I’m not going to cut it at all; I’m going to bring money in, and we’re going to save it.

(APPLAUSE)

But here’s what’s going to happen:

After I’m called by 30 friends of mine who contributed to different campaigns, after I’m called by all of the special interests and by the — the donors and by the lobbyists — and they have zero chance at convincing me, zero — I’ll get a call the next day from the head of Ford. He’ll say. “Please reconsider,” I’ll say no.

He’ll say, “Mr. President, we’ve decided to move the plant back to the United States, and we’re not going to build it in Mexico.” That’s it. They have no choice. They have no choice.

There are hundreds of things like that. I’ll give you another example.TRUMP: Saudi Arabia, they make $1 billion a day. $1 billion a day. I love the Saudis. Many are in this building. They make a billion dollars a day. Whenever they have problems, we send over the ships. We say “we’re gonna protect.” What are we doing? They’ve got nothing but money.

If the right person asked them, they’d pay a fortune. They wouldn’t be there except for us.

And believe me, you look at the border with Yemen. You remember Obama a year ago, Yemen was a great victory. Two weeks later, the place was blown up. Everybody got out — and they kept our equipment.

They always keep our equipment. We ought to send used equipment, right? They always keep our equipment. We ought to send some real junk, because, frankly, it would be — we ought to send our surplus. We’re always losing this gorgeous brand-new stuff.

But look at that border with Saudi Arabia. Do you really think that these people are interested in Yemen? Saudi Arabia without us is gone. They;re gone.

And I’m the one that made all of the right predictions about Iraq. You know, all of these politicians that I’m running against now — it’s so nice to say I’m running as opposed to if I run, if I run. I’m running.

(APPLAUSE)

But all of these politicians that I’m running against now, they’re trying to disassociate. I mean, you looked at Bush, it took him five days to answer the question on Iraq. He couldn’t answer the question. He didn’t know. I said, “Is he intelligent?”

Then I looked at Rubio. He was unable to answer the question, is Iraq a good thing or bad thing? He didn’t know. He couldn’t answer the question.

How are these people gonna lead us? How are we gonna — how are we gonna go back and make it great again? We can’t. They don’t have a clue. They can’t lead us. They can’t. They can’t even answer simple questions. It was terrible.

But Saudi Arabia is in big, big trouble. Now, thanks to fracking and other things, the oil is all over the place. And I used to say it, there are ships at sea, and this was during the worst crisis, that were loaded up with oil, and the cartel kept the price up, because, again, they were smarter than our leaders. They were smarter than our leaders.

There is so much wealth out there that can make our country so rich again, and therefore make it great again. Because we need money. We’re dying. We’re dying. We need money. We have to do it. And we need the right people.

So Ford will come back. They’ll all come back. And I will say this, this is going to be an election, in my opinion, that’s based on competence.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.

TRUMP: Somebody said — thank you, darlin’.

(APPLAUSE)

Somebody said to me the other day, a reporter, a very nice reporter, “But, Mr. Trump, you’re not a nice person.”

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We don’t need nice.

TRUMP: That’s true. But actually I am. I think I am a nice person. People that know me, like me. Does my family like me? I think so, right. Look at my family. I’m proud of my family.

(APPLAUSE)

By the way, speaking of my family, Melania, Barron, Kai, Donnie, Don, Vanessa, Tiffany, Evanka did a great job. Did she do a great job?

(APPLAUSE)

Great. Jared (ph), Laura and Eric, I’m very proud of my family. They’re a great family.

(APPLAUSE)

So the reporter said to me the other day, “But, Mr. Trump, you’re not a nice person. How can you get people to vote for you?”

I said, “I don’t know.” I said, “I think that number one, I am a nice person. I give a lot of money away to charities and other things. I think I’m actually a very nice person.”

But, I said, “This is going to be an election that’s based on competence, because people are tired of these nice people. And they’re tired of being ripped off by everybody in the world. And they’re tired of spending more money on education than any nation in the world per capita, than any nation in the world, and we are 26th in the world, 25 countries are better than us in education. And some of them are like third world countries. But we’re becoming a third word country, because of our infrastructure, our airports, our roads, everything. So one of the things I did, and I said, you know what I’ll do. I’ll do it. Because a lot of people said, “He’ll never run. Number one, he won’t want to give up his lifestyle.”

TRUMP: They’re right about that, but I’m doing it.

Number two, I’m a private company, so nobody knows what I’m worth. And the one thing is that when you run, you have to announce and certify to all sorts of governmental authorities your net worth.

So I said, “That’s OK.” I’m proud of my net worth. I’ve done an amazing job.

I started off — thank you — I started off in a small office with my father in Brooklyn and Queens, and my father said — and I love my father. I learned so much. He was a great negotiator. I learned so much just sitting at his feet playing with blocks listening to him negotiate with subcontractors. But I learned a lot.

But he used to say, “Donald, don’t go into Manhattan. That’s the big leagues. We don’t know anything about that. Don’t do it.”

I said, “I gotta go into Manhattan. I gotta build those big buildings. I gotta do it, Dad. I’ve gotta do it.”

And after four or five years in Brooklyn, I ventured into Manhattan and did a lot of great deals — the Grand Hyatt Hotel. I was responsible for the convention center on the west side. I did a lot of great deals, and I did them early and young. And now I’m building all over the world, and I love what I’m doing.

But they all said, a lot of the pundits on television, “Well, Donald will never run, and one of the main reasons is he’s private and he’s probably not as successful as everybody thinks.”

So I said to myself, you know, nobody’s ever going to know unless I run, because I’m really proud of my success. I really am.

(APPLAUSE)

I’ve employed — I’ve employed tens of thousands of people over my lifetime. That means medical. That means education. That means everything.

So a large accounting firm and my accountants have been working for months, because it’s big and complex, and they’ve put together a statement, a financial statement, just a summary. But everything will be filed eventually with the government, and we don’t extensions or anything. We’ll be filing it right on time. We don’t need anything.

(APPLAUSE)

And it was even reported incorrectly yesterday, because they said, “He had assets of $9 billion.” So I said (ph), “No, that’s the wrong number. That’s the wrong number. Not assets.”

So they put together this. And before I say it, I have to say this. I made it the old-fashioned way. It’s real estate. You know, it’s real estate.

It’s labor, and it’s unions good and some bad and lots of people that aren’t in unions, and it’s all over the place and building all over the world.

And I have assets — big accounting firm, one of the most highly respected — 9 billion 240 million dollars.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah.

TRUMP: And I have liabilities of about $500 million (ph). That’s long-term debt, very low interest rates.

In fact, one of the big banks came to me and said, “Donald, you don’t have enough borrowings. Could we loan you $4 billion”? I said, “I don’t need it. I don’t want it. And I’ve been there. I don’t want it.”

But in two seconds, they give me whatever I wanted. So I have a total net worth, and now with the increase, it’ll be well-over $10 billion. But here, a total net worth of — net worth, not assets, not — a net worth, after all debt, after all expenses, the greatest assets — Trump Tower, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, Bank of America building in San Francisco, 40 Wall Street, sometimes referred to as the Trump building right opposite the New York — many other places all over the world.

So the total is $8,737,540,00.

Now I’m not doing that…

(APPLAUSE)

I’m not doing that to brag, because you know what? I don’t have to brag. I don’t have to, believe it or not.

I’m doing that to say that that’s the kind of thinking our country needs. We need that thinking. We have the opposite thinking.

We have losers. We have losers. We have people that don’t have it. We have people that are morally corrupt. We have people that are selling this country down the drain.

So I put together this statement, and the only reason I’m telling you about it today is because we really do have to get going, because if we have another three or four years — you know, we’re at $8 trillion now. We’re soon going to be at $20 trillion.TRUMP: According to the economists — who I’m not big believers in, but, nevertheless, this is what they’re saying — that $24 trillion — we’re very close — that’s the point of no return. $24 trillion. We will be there soon. That’s when we become Greece. That’s when we become a country that’s unsalvageable. And we’re gonna be there very soon. We’re gonna be there very soon.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Make America strong.

TRUMP: So, just to sum up, I would do various things very quickly. I would repeal and replace the big lie, Obamacare.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively, I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.

TRUMP: Mark my words.

(APPLAUSE)

Nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump. Nobody.

(APPLAUSE)

I will find — within our military, I will find the General Patton or I will find General MacArthur, I will find the right guy. I will find the guy that’s going to take that military and make it really work. Nobody, nobody will be pushing us around.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. And we won’t be using a man like Secretary Kerry that has absolutely no concept of negotiation, who’s making a horrible and laughable deal, who’s just being tapped along as they make weapons right now, and then goes into a bicycle race at 72 years old, and falls and breaks his leg. I won’t be doing that. And I promise I will never be in a bicycle race. That I can tell you.

(APPLAUSE)

I will immediately terminate President Obama’s illegal executive order on immigration, immediately.

(APPLAUSE)

Fully support and back up the Second Amendment.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, it’s very interesting. Today I heard it. Through stupidity, in a very, very hard core prison, interestingly named Clinton, two vicious murderers, two vicious people escaped, and nobody knows where they are. And a woman was on television this morning, and she said, “You know, Mr. Trump,” and she was telling other people, and I actually called her, and she said, “You know, Mr. Trump, I always was against guns. I didn’t want guns. And now since this happened” — it’s up in the prison area — “my husband and I are finally in agreement, because he wanted the guns. We now have a gun on every table. We’re ready to start shooting.”

I said, “Very interesting.”

So protect the Second Amendment.

(APPLAUSE)

End — end Common Core. Common Core should — it is a disaster. Bush is totally in favor of Common Core. I don’t see how he can possibly get the nomination. He’s weak on immigration. He’s in favor of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can’t do it. We have to end — education has to be local.

Rebuild the country’s infrastructure.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah.

TRUMP: Nobody can do that like me. Believe me. It will be done on time, on budget, way below cost, way below what anyone ever thought.

I look at the roads being built all over the country, and I say I can build those things for one-third. What they do is unbelievable, how bad.

You know, we’re building on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Old Post Office, we’re converting it into one of the world’s great hotels. It’s gonna be the best hotel in Washington, D.C. We got it from the General Services Administration in Washington. The Obama administration. We got it. It was the most highly sought after — or one of them, but I think the most highly sought after project in the history of General Services. We got it. People were shocked, Trump got it.

Well, I got it for two reasons. Number one, we’re really good. Number two, we had a really good plan. And I’ll add in the third, we had a great financial statement. Because the General Services, who are terrific people, by the way, and talented people, they wanted to do a great job. And they wanted to make sure it got built.

TRUMP: So we have to rebuild our infrastructure, our bridges, our roadways, our airports. You come into La Guardia Airport, it’s like we’re in a third world country. You look at the patches and the 40-year-old floor. They throw down asphalt, and they throw.

You look at these airports, we are like a third world country. And I come in from China and I come in from Qatar and I come in from different places, and they have the most incredible airports in the world. You come to back to this country and you have LAX, disaster. You have all of these disastrous airports. We have to rebuild our infrastructure.

Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it.

(APPLAUSE)

Get rid of the fraud. Get rid of the waste and abuse, but save it. People have been paying it for years. And now many of these candidates want to cut it. You save it by making the United States, by making us rich again, by taking back all of the money that’s being lost.

Renegotiate our foreign trade deals.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Reduce our $18 trillion in debt, because, believe me, we’re in a bubble. We have artificially low interest rates. We have a stock market that, frankly, has been good to me, but I still hate to see what’s happening. We have a stock market that is so bloated.

Be careful of a bubble because what you’ve seen in the past might be small potatoes compared to what happens. So be very, very careful.

And strengthen our military and take care of our vets. So, so important.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Sadly, the American dream is dead.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Bring it back.

TRUMP: But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and we will make America great again.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:49 | 6203067 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

He is right about illegal immigration.

Fox News is shitting bricks.  That tells you he is a contender.  This could be fun.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:03 | 6203116 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

Stop spamming ZH threads. Provide a link if you have to.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:10 | 6203135 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

I hate to vote Ace#1 spammer Wolferl up.

But she is right in this case.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:24 | 6203173 Elliott Eldrich
Elliott Eldrich's picture

"That tells you he is a contender.  This could be fun."

Trump is not a contender in any meaningful sense of the word. Trump is, however, immensely entertaining. He is not someone I'd consider "Presidential Timber," but he is an excellent contender for the title of "greating living human punchline."

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:27 | 6203366 daveO
daveO's picture

It means the establishment(banksters) is intentionally throwing everyone in to dilute the field. 2016's establishment motto is 'Bush by plurality, one way or another'. If Hillary drops out, I see him leaving early, too. His job will be done at that point.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:27 | 6203566 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

Yep, the plan this time is too offer too many choices create chaos and confusion have one rise to the top near the end: the banker candidate, probably Rubio.  None of it matters any longer if your fooled by the circus stop by the welfare line and get your bread as well.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:06 | 6204056 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Presidential timber.... have we had any in the past 30 years?

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 00:18 | 6204502 post turtle saver
post turtle saver's picture

nope, we got kindling instead

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:06 | 6203124 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

He sounds a lot like a Neocon, and has a totally warped view of American foreign policy (Iraq, Syria, ISIS, etc...). 

I guarantee you that he supports the MIC, Wall Street banksters and the FED. In other words, he isn't going to change anything that really needs to be changed

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:02 | 6203485 Usurious
Usurious's picture

he does not understand 'Triffens Dilemma' (reserve curency) or how the petro dollar works

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:03 | 6204047 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

and dont forget Israel....

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:34 | 6203201 Manaze
Manaze's picture

Donald's candidacy is DOA.  The Scots said he was just an 'obnoxious bully' for what he tried to do to them in Scotland.  Woe be us all if he gets elected.  It would be worse than putting Arnold in the California governor's mansion. 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:44 | 6203228 illyia
illyia's picture

That post was ridiculously long. What were you thinking??

And, who the hell cares about stupid Trump?

Geez...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:14 | 6203311 walküre
walküre's picture

Sounds like he's the real deal. Definitely a few steps up from the Community Organizer. Trump would organize a community during his lunch break...

His biggest advantage is that he totally understands how China operates and he's saying publicly that he would at least try and defend the wealth in this country instead of giving up and surrendering to the Chinese.

He seems ambitious and ready to rock the establishment boat. If he rocks too hard, they will take him out behind the wood shed.

Nothing surprises me in America anymore.

Best of luck, Mr. Trump. You will need it.

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:35 | 6203391 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

You lost me at 'Trump'.

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:48 | 6203427 BigJim
BigJim's picture

In the UK a 'trump' is a euphemism for a fart.

Wed, 06/17/2015 - 00:02 | 6204480 El Crusty
El Crusty's picture

unfortunately thats the problem- his name.

any other buisnessman who said all the exact same shit would be getting all kinds of praise on here.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:47 | 6203057 swass
swass's picture

This whole issue is framed wrong by everyone. Simply put, the Greeks spent too much of other people's money and now the bill comes due. It is clear in a socialist dominated country that there is no free market solution to their problem. So that either leave them in the Euro as a debt slave and we go through this every year, much like the U.S. raising our borrowing limit, or they can just default now and spare everyone the agony of it all.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:13 | 6203142 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

The Greek people didn't spend it. The bankers stole it.

What the Greek people are guilty of is failing to imprison the bankers.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:16 | 6203318 walküre
walküre's picture

The money (before bailouts) was spent by Greeks. Not sure about the ordinary Greek but the Greek elite made out like bandits. They're untouchable to this date. Not even Syriza is touching them. What does that tell you?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:08 | 6203504 kowalli
kowalli's picture

The money (before bailouts) was spent by German and France banks in Greece, Greek people receive only 8bn euro

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 19:21 | 6203739 Hyjinx
Hyjinx's picture

Bullshit.  50% of the Greeks are employed by the government in do-nothing jobs or retiring at 45.  Many, many Greeks have been on the take everyone knew it was unsustainable and now the bill is due.  Sucks for everyone else and it will really suck when they have a new worthless currency and cannot even buy basic medicine.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 16:43 | 6203223 The Delicate Genius
The Delicate Genius's picture

The IMF and Goldman, inter alia, use absolutely fudged, Potemkin forecasts precisely to justify loans the Greeks never should have gotten.  Their entitlements were a black hole no one fully measured - on purpose.

 

So yes, the government spent the cash, but the IMF lent precisely to create this kind of debt spiral black hole.

 

And lets remember - what they lent was ink and paper, and they're asking the Greeks to basically make old people eat cat food and to sell off their nationally owned assets.

 

This is an IMF riot.  Don't blame the victim - the Greek people had really nothing to do with it.

 

also note how Russia restructured and gave haircuts and interest breaks to Cyprus...

 

and remember, they're th e'bad guys'

 

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:21 | 6203546 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

Kind of like in the USA when they do their budget projections based on 5% growth. Fuck you Paul Ryan

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:32 | 6203584 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

YES +1000 fuck you Paul Ryan; traitor.  Which big pharma company hiring you on as a Million Dollar consultant fresh out of CONgress?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:34 | 6203389 seataka
seataka's picture

 

The Greeks are doing to the EU Bankers what Vassilis Paleokostas did to a few industrialists.

Behold, Vassilis Paleokostas, the Robin Hood of Greece:

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/paleokostas.html

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:50 | 6203069 taketheredpill
taketheredpill's picture

 

 

Check out the portrayal of the ECB as Terrorists at the top of the PAME poster!

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:11 | 6203070 Superdave532
Superdave532's picture

What are you talking about? His legacy has already been written. He's just another politician who made promises that he couldn't possibly have believed were realistic. He promised another free lunch and that's all you need to say about him. 

Edit: any of you down votes want to chime in? Or just contribute anonymous idiocy? Explain how I'm wrong and I'll feel bad for calling you idiots. 

If he wanted any legacy or respect, he should have just left the Union from the start. These half measures are bullshit, and if he doesn't know that then he's a moron or worse. 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 19:19 | 6203722 itstippy
itstippy's picture

You got a +1 from me.

"He's just another politician who made promises that he couldn't possibly have believed were realistic."

ALL successful politicians for any office higher than local Registrar Of Deeds fit that mold.  It is the only way to get elected, because if you tell the truth you will be soundly beaten by the opposing candidate who is busy campaigning on utterly unrealistic promises.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:07 | 6204008 macroeconomist
macroeconomist's picture

Hmm, let's pose some questions for our genius commentator then:

1) What do you think Greece should do in the short run? 

2) Should Greece accept to reduce the 650Euros monthly pensions, and 600 Euros monthly minimum wages further in a country where the minimum rent is 400Euros/pcm and a tube ticket is 2 Euros? Would you like Greeks to live in such conditions for years to come? How much misery is enough for you?

3) Should Greece accept to increase VAT in a country already with 25% unemploment?

4)Should Greece increase price of electricity and further hit poorest part of the society?

5) Why should Greece not ask for a debt write off (at least partial) so that the damage is at least shared between the irresponsible greeks and irresponsible banks? Is this not a better solution than simply leaving in the very short run until the government can fix some things (particularly taxation of oligarchs)? Why should they not negotiate for this so that at least they have a few years to implement their policies?

6) If you thinks Greeks are asking for a free lunch, do you think those banks who lent to Greece can have a free lunch?

7) Why is it so hard to understand that what Greeks are asking for is help to industrialize the country by funds from EIB, and that is very natural considering the costs they have incurred due to the functioning of the monetary union since 2002, namely the massive deficits they had during the bubble in Southern Europe and Ireland? Why should the Greeks not ask for compensation for all the damage this has done(excessive deindustrialization for instance)? Don't you get that the excessive borrowing by the South is directly linked to the inappropriateness of ECB policy for the South since day one of EU? http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2011...

8) Have you ever bothered to read one page about the mechanics of currency unions? What is so stupid in asking for a fiscal union, which is essential for a monetary union to work? What is all this nonsense of "free lunch" then? Do all those past deficits which were the source of German surpluses not count as payment?

9) Don't you understand that all that demagogy around German taxpayers funding Greeks is utter bullshit, because ECB can simply write off the debt with newly created money? Do you understand that in the current environment where consumers and businesses are deleveraging in Europe and therefore destroying money, the creation of new money by ECB in this way has close to zero effect on german taxpayers, as it will not even devalue the currency? Even if it does, it may help take EU out of the deflationary spiral it is headed to due to the massive deleveraging.

10) How much does it hurt to see a socialist defending his people tooth and nail against the rentier cartel (not only banks, the whole financial sector and those working in that industry, which ironically includes more than half the commentators here)

 

 

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 21:38 | 6204131 Superdave532
Superdave532's picture

It seems you're the one that is trying to be the genius commentator. You could have stopped after the first question. All others are variations. 

What should Greece do in the short run? 

They should have left the EU the day after the elections. Tsipras promised both that they would stay in the euro and stop austerity. Why did they have austerity in the first place? Because they bankrupted their government and required money from other institutions, and austerity was a requirement to receive this cash. If they want the cash, they have to accept. If they don't want to accept, they don't get the cash. 

(Fucking) Simple as that. 

All this talk about letting democracy rule is ridiculous with the current situation. I would respect the hell out of them if they decided to abandon a futile course and Forge their own legacy. To take your lumps and move on for the better life your children would get is the most important sacrifice anyone can make.

But they decided to follow a man that said he could get them money without making sacrifices. Explain how that is not exactly as I described, a free lunch? Say what you want aboit the troika, but they made their conditions clear. No one forced them to follow them. 

So what should Greece do in the short run? Simple: take the money and continue this slow, painful death, or don't take it and actually be painfully free with at least the legitimate hope of a future. 

What's your idea, genius commentator? 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:55 | 6203091 TheRideNeverEnds
TheRideNeverEnds's picture

Why does anyone even care about Greece?  There are two potential outcomes.

 

1- print money and give it to Greece to pay its debts

 

2- print money and give it to Greeces debtors

 

I guess there is a third option, print money and give it to everyone but either way they will be printing moar money and the announcement of any resolution will be bullish therefore the market is undervalued and you should buy more stocks.  

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