Greece Draws The Line As Unity Government Leaders Refuse To Cede To Further Troika Austerity Demands
It appears that Greece will not even have to wait until the dreaded March 20 funding D-Day. As was earlier reported, Greek PM Lucas Papademos may resign if he is unable to persuade his coalition unity government to agree to further Troika demands for additional austerity. It now appears that there will be no agreement, and thus the primary demand from the Troika for further cash disbursement will not be met. The FT reports: "All three party leaders in Greece’s teetering national unity government have opposed new austerity measures demanded by international lenders, forcing eurozone finance ministers to postpone approval of a new €130bn bail-out and moving the country closer to a full-blown default. Representatives of the so-called “troika” – the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – have demanded further cuts in government jobs and severe reductions in Greek salaries, including an immediate 25 per cent cut in the €750 minimum monthly wage, before agreeing the new rescue. But representatives of all three coalition partners, including centre-left Pasok of former prime minister George Papandreou and the centre-right New Democracy of likely successor Antonis Samaras, said they were unwilling to back the government layoffs." Now we have been here before, and as a reminder the last time Greece threatened to pull out of Europe with the G-Pap referendum threat back in the fall, G-Pap was promptly replaced with the Trilateral Commission member and former ECB Vice President, Lucas Papademos. The problem is that for him to obtain power, he needed to form a coalition government. Well, that now appears to be in tatters, as not one party is willing to break to the Greeks that the minimum wage of €750 will be cut even further. The question is who will blink first this time, as it is quite likely that neither the Troika nor Greece want an out of control default. Unless, of course, this was Germany's plan B to the imposition of a Greek commissar all along...
More from the FT:
In addition, a Greek government official said the EU and IMF negotiators rejected a counter-proposal that would have frozen Greek wages for three years and cut social security contributions by 10 per cent.
Without approval of the new bail-out within a matter of days, Athens is at risk of defaulting on a €14.5bn bond that comes due on March 20. Many eurozone officials fear such a default could reignite panic in European bond markets, pushing Italy and Spain back into danger.
The standoff in Athens has angered officials in eurozone creditor countries, particularly in those that have retained their triple A credit ratings and will be leant on most heavily to provide new Greek aid.
Finance ministers from the four remaining triple As – Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg – met in Berlin on Friday where they agreed that Athens must move quickly or they would withhold assistance.
“We want no further delays,” Jan Kees de Jager, the Dutch finance minister, said after the meeting.
Eurozone finance ministers had hoped to meet on Monday in Brussels to sign off on the new bail-out, but officials cancelled the gathering on Friday. Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister who serves as chairman of the group, issued a statement saying only that the meeting “may be scheduled later in the week”.
Kathimerini with the pre-story:
Papademos is expected to meet PASOK’s George Papandreou, New Democracy’s Antonis Samaras and Giorgos Karatzaferis of the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) on Saturday. The three politicians will have to agree on measures that will satisfy Greece’s lenders and pave the way for a new bailout.
However, a number of sticking points remain. One of the main issues on which the party leaders are finding it difficult to agree is the private sector wage reductions that are being demanded by the troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Sources told Kathimerini that the troika is demanding that the minimum wage of 751 euros per month (gross) be reduced and that labor costs in the private sector drop by 25 percent in a bid to help Greece regain competitiveness.
Labor unions and employers wrote to Papademos on Friday to inform him that they cannot agree on a wage cut.
Papademos needs the agreement of the political leaders so the prospect of Greece receiving a new bailout can be discussed at the meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Monday.
Greece will have to set out the measures it plans to take over the next two years to reform its economy and create a primary budget surplus as well as the framework for the debt restructuring agreement with its bondholders.
Skai TV and radio reported on Friday that should the leaders fail to agree a deal, Papademos will tender his resignation on Monday.
And so on. To say that by now the market may well surge, however briefly, out of pure delight that Greece has finally defaulted, may not be a stretch. Of course, the "however briefly" period will shortly thereafter end, leaving Europe with few things to look forward to aside from complete disintegration of the union and its currency. But at least US banks will be fully insulated to that "contingency" which is increasingly looking like a "certainty."
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Refuse to lose, bitchez!
So will they default.. Credit default swaps. Bank contagion vs insanity. Who will win?
insanity is the sensible choice.
War it is, then!
completely unrelated, but tfmetals has been down for a while now
Let the GREEKS pay for it if they want all these benefits.
otherwise, fuckem
You have to admire the fucking balls on these people though. So out of touch.
Dear Greece, your credit is already fucked. If the ECB wants to pour money down a drain, FUCK EM, sign the austerity package, wait 3 months, and do whatever the hell you want. Teach the Troika how sick it is to be a bad borrower.
Meanwhile, via the Twilight Zone:
02-03 14:48: Greek government official says talks with Troika going well
Since yesterday afternoon.
"But first lets ring fence those banks" Germany/France.
Zombie bank mark to pixie dust vs. hedge fund CDS, bitchez! It all goes down this weekend.
Hat tip, Tyler!
I hope you're right 'cause I added 50% to my short positions today.
Even if there is some kind of bullshit agreement by Monday, people should sell the news.
But, but, but, we have green shoots, look at the employment picture!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPfmMwLsXw
NotApplicable ''War it is, then!'' LMAO! $700+ Trillion bouncing ball just became the Greek Snowball in Hell.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4184694,00.html
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/iran-warns-world-of-coming-great-event/
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-4184286,00.html
http://www.wnd.com/2012/01/iran-preparing-now-for-armageddon/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-is-prepared-to-launch-terrorist-attacks-in-us-intelligence-report-finds/2012/01/30/gIQACwGweQ_story.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost
http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/petrus-four.htm
...time to take a vacation from the city.
It hasn't to be war, in Barcelona they are starting by refusing to pay public transport for a first!
Vote Cthulu 2012!
Greece!! We stand united with you, light that fire and let's get this party started!!
Could it be that Greece becomes the center of the re- birth of civilization?
I am going to have a Gyro today in a show of solidarity.
I'll take the other side of that bet. Greece becomes the center of the birth of financial neofeudalism.
The only fire I see is the 1st Annual Bankers and Bureaucrats Greek Asset Auction Firesale. Bargain-basement prices! Everything must go! We're gonna party like its 999.
Greece: "Can I have some Lubrication please kind sir?" Germany: "No Lube for you!"
Our stock market is in it's own little world, it truly is. When Greece goes, it will cascade into Europe and even into the US.
Greece: Molon Labe ... our drachmas .... bitchez!!!
Why the fuck is this news?
The SuperBowl pregame shit has not started yet.
Nice... Sunday at half-time the performer will break the news right after the performance.
Nah, it will be a scrolling text feed at the bottom during the half-time show.
But seriously, they want to cut minimum wage from around $1000 per month down to around $750 per month? How many hours for that many dollars? What are rent rates like there? Holy crap, at those levels I don't think I could afford to work, might as well go live in the mountains.
auf Wiedersehen, Griechenland
Nein, Nein, Nein. Es ist, "Alle Ihre Akropolis gehort uns"
Ja, Sehr gut! Unsere Panzer haben jetzt ein Platz zu sommern!!!
I'm so confused and dazed. I can't take any more.
Someone please pass the blue pill
These Kleptos are breaking my will
I need to return
And try to unlearn
The shit that keeps giving me chills!
Yardbirds: Dazed and Confused: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58mQvW0ROag&feature=related
HAHAHAHAHHA
But the USA "created" 243k jobs in January so everything is fine.
Everything's good.. there's a football game on this weekend.
Party hardy.
Sugar VAT, bitchez. Tax at will.
Fatigue, complacency, and then will come the shock to the system. And it won't be Greece. That will be glossed over. It'll be something "unexpected". Like WW3 as that is really the way to get out of this economic mess with "everyone" on board. Iran/Israel? China/Krzkstan? Russia/Germany? US/Syria? Occupied/gated communities? What do you think?
Bullish
from folks at LaRouche:
LAROUCHEPAC:
Greek Archbishop: Troika's Policies Are Destroying Greek Nation February 3, 2012 • 9:25AMIn an extraordinary move, Archbishop Ieronymos, Greece's highest religious authority, today issued an impassioned denunciation of the austerity policies being forced on Greece by the EU-ECB-IMF Troika. The Archbishop, who up until now has only issued guarded statements in an attempt to avoid controversy, openly stated that these policies are destroying the Greek nation and Greek people.
"Homelessness and even hunger — phenomena seen during the [Second World] war — have reached nightmare levels. ... A sense of patience among Greeks is running out, giving way to a sense of anger, and the danger of a social explosion can no longer be ignored," Ieronymos wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. The Archbishop went on, today, that "pensions were cut, while day laborers are in despair and insecurity has found a nest inside every single Greek household....
"It seems clear now that our homeland's drama will not finish here but may take on new, uncontrollable dimensions," he wrote. "We must all understand the feeling of insecurity, desperation and depression in every Greek home. This, unfortunately, is continuing to cause suicide among those who can no longer stand the drama in their family and the suffering of their children.
"There are, at the moment, demands for even tougher, more painful, and even more unfair measures along the same ineffective and unsuccessful lines as in our recent past. There are demands for even bigger doses of a medicine which is proving deadly. ... And what is likely to follow are more painful, more unjust measures in the same hopeless and unsuccessful course of our recent past.
"There are demands for commitments that do not solve the problem but only put off temporarily the foretold death of our economy. Meanwhile, they put our national sovereignty up for collateral. They mortgage our wealth, but also the wealth we could obtain from our land and seas. They mortgage freedom, democracy, and national dignity."
How the fuck do Greek bankers and pols sleep at night.
well, i don't know how they do it there but here in the states they do it together.
Indeed!
Drugs from GS.
Armed guards?
With a lot of security details on the grounds.
Archbishop Ieronymos, screw the banksters, save your county and people.
Congrats Greece, your highest religious stooge is a delusional socialist demagogue. Just like all your other leaders. And your people too.
Sic transit gloria Graeciae.
trolololololo much?
How so?
then let the greeks WORK instead of lounging around in cafes collecting their government paychecks!
If Greece doesn't like the euro, let them see how much better their credit is on the drachma which they printed to oblivion repeatedly.
This is a deadbeat nation.
flag as junk
flag you as a fuckin moron.
The notion that the greeks should work? HELL NO, right? They should lounge around collecting government paychecks paid for by someone else.
WTF is the matter with you?
They need a black leadership council & caucus...
Unsterilized, of course, and preferably direct from Africa, so that they can gape in wonder at the Greek water systems and rolling wheels, never having invented nor used any such things themselves, naturally, being the obvious low IQ, sexually ravenous "failed race" that they are.
Wow, just wow... you guys never fail to amaze me with the depths you can plumb
Wow, just wow --- the cluelessness of many of you guys, and your thick-headed inability to recognize satire and the tongue-in-cheek mocking of a previous poster's offensive statements, never fails to amaze me.
wait...you were mocking me by making true statements? GFD you are stupid.
Go help your "failed races", LOL.
Didn't realise it was sarcasm.
since you're on it, why didn't blacks have the wheel? whitey stole it from them?
If they switch to Drachmas at a value of around 10 drachmas to the dollar, and the prices are the same as here, but in Drachmas, I for one am totally going on vacation there. $10 hotel rooms, $2 meals, $0.50 for beer and wine ... that'd stimulate their economy a bit, I reckon. They won't be able to import anything, but that's better for trade deficits anyways.
Market to surge on sovereign insolvency, default, and economic collapse, bitchez!
Now you're starting to get it...
...just look at GM today.
I'd rather not.
Short at your own peril, I'm sure there are bail-outs for that depending on who you know.
Why is anyone still dicking around with these lazy bums and banker crooks? Simple, default, let the banker bond-holders take it Greek style and get it over with!
Did France surrender to Germany again yet??
Pending. Still issuing rubber rifles (won't scratch when dropped).
Yes! Trigger them fuckin' CDS's and let the fireworks begin.
Take that Globalist/Collectivist/Eugenic NWO pigs...I mean, technocrats.
there is absolutely zero chance of the CDS's being triggered. the bankers will not let that happen.
Well, ultimately that will be decided by the Greeks and not the Unelected
"Technocrats". And it now appears they have made up their mind.
You obviously haven't been paying attention. The banks that sold the CDS are the ones who sit on the ISDA commitee and determine if something is a Credit Event or not.
So if your bank had to pay out $100 Trillion dollars if a Greek default is considered a credit event, would you vote yes, it is a credit event, or vote no, they voluntarily chose not to pay, so it is not an event?
Keep in mind, your bonus relies on a "no" vote. Your base pay is $100,000 and if you get the bonus, it is $10 million.
Again, it is not about accounting at that point. 100% os Zero is still Zero.
If they declare this I a non - triggering event, the scam will be revealed.
Just because these fools declare something does not make it so, come on now son.
Your a funny guy, you expect this piddly nation to take down the worldwide ponzi as a result o f the CDS triggering, ha.. Yeah that contract, law, custom will be rolled up real tight and stuffed up whomever complains. You need to pay attention son, their ain't no law high enough to indict, no ocean deep enough to drown this ponzi.
Yes, I do see your point, and I agree that this monster ponzi takes bigger turds than Greece, however you are thinking in a linear fashion.
This problem is SO big, that very small changes can have HUGE ramifications, it's called chaos theory, and you should check it out.
Inflation? deflation? Dollar correlating with Gold one day, then not. Bullish rallies on Hope of a Greek default? Yeah, go ahead and apply logic to this.
You think these Globalist Sociopaths, I mean , Technocrats ever forecasted their precious little Euro being on the verge of collapse? I am thinking their Hubris got in the way of them seeing this problem.
For proof of my latest point, I Give you the Honorable Mr. Corzine.
I have posted this before.
Greece is waiting for Portugal, Ireland or Spain to go first. Greece can be contained for longer, but when the others are about to explode, there are not enough digits in the ECB's or Bernanke's computers to handle this.
War is coming and it ain't gonna be pretty, no matter who you are. The US is the last mega power who allows citizens to carry guns. All of you should rely on the good old boys to get enough of this nonsence and rid the US and the rest of the world from the rotten corrupt politicians, banksters, globalist, pretentious limouzine liberals and the like.
You have been warned.
There will be no drastic changes unless there are drastic steps taken by the people themselves. No white knights arround anywhere. Vamos
CJS, we agree more than disagree. Chaos / black swan theory is certainly a concern and noted. My point is the counterpoint, Corzine is not in jail the rule of law failed the US completely. As an aside, I would like one bammy licker to give me an example of civil / criminal law failing us in another presidency quite as spectacularly as in this administration.
In these times to have him (corzine) free is the biggest clearest sign that there is no rule of law, just the rule of connected men. Yes they are all psycho, but they are well connected psychopaths beyond our reach for now..
You mean Sarko being pegged by Merkel? 'Probably already happened. You don't want to see the videos.
This Greek debt negotiations issue - you gotta know the Greeks mentality and you will realize there will be a deal at the end. It's just their nature to bargain and bluff and be slippery till the last possible second and beyond. But that's just my opinion.
That can happen in the land of Odysseus, but the politicians who will sell the Greek people down the river, will not survive to explain why they did it.
Vamos Griegos
:))) excellent reference to Odysseus and not another ancient Greek!!!!!!
Thank you! That character just strengthens my point!
Portugal is watching...
I guess they don't follow ZH...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/portugal-reenters-bailout-radar-traders-re...
Didn't G-Pap threaten to resign too. How'd that work out...
GS couldn't find a
volunteer.
"of the so-called "troika"--- EuroSatan, EuroChairSatan and InternationalMoneychangerSatan.......
It looks to me that they feel markets are properly conditioned to Greek default, and they want it. The focus will shift to Portugal now. Delevaraging proceeds as it supposed to.
it's already priced in...or...bullish...I forget which.
Kratos coming soon ....
To earth's remotest limit we come, to the Scythian land, an untrodden solitude. And now, Hephaestus, yours is the charge to observe the mandates laid upon you by the Father—to clamp this miscreant upon the high craggy rocks in shackles of binding adamant that cannot be broken. For your own flower, flashing fire, source of all arts, he has purloined and bestowed upon mortal creatures. Such is his offence; for this he is bound to make requital to the gods, so that he may learn to bear with the sovereignty of Zeus and cease his man-loving ways.
I guess the option is either 563 Euros a month or 563 drachmas.
The exchange rate is gonna be a bitch...
That said, once they are firewalled and unable to issue debt because of the 95% haircut on their outstanding bonds, they actually stand a chance of restarting, once the riots, arson, looting, gang rape and beheading phase of the chaos passes.
You guys still don't get it.
There is no restart.
They burn 400,000 barrels of brent priced oil per day. That adds up to 5% of GDP sent out of the country each year.
No one can endure that and succeed.
There is no fix for these problems. They are forever. Society devolves forever to zero now.