Juncker Warns Of Greek Default As Europe's Patience With Greece Runs Out
Following up on our report from this morning that according to former Greek defense minister, German submarine chief procurer, and not to mention Jenny Twenty repeat offender, Evangelos "Xanax" Venizelos, we learn that the god of Deus Ex Machinae is about to abandon Greece, after an announcement by that most magic unicorn-infatuated of bureaucrats, Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker made it clear that Greece is all but finished. As Reuters reports, "The possibility of a sovereign default by Greece cannot be ruled out, Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers from the single currency zone, said in a German magazine on Saturday." Translation: A Greek default on that €14.5 billion bond maturity D-day of March 20, is now inevitable. In an advance copy of comments to news weekly Der Spiegel, Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted as saying Greece could no longer expect solidarity from other euro zone members if it cannot implement reforms it has agreed. "If we were to establish that everything has gone wrong in Greece, there would be no new programme, and that would mean that in March they have to declare bankruptcy," he said. So after years of delaying the inevitable sovereign Lehman weekend, it is finally here. As a reminder, when Lehman filed, everyone, at least those in charge, thought the fall out could be contained. It couldn't, and the Fed had to step in with roughly $30 trillion in backstops, guarantees, and asset purchases. The same will happen this time.
Curiously, it was none other than Zero Hedge who said back in April of 2010, that Greece should just cut the cord and get on with it, because "Not only will a delay in defaulting do nothing for the economy except bleed it to death slowly, but ever more frequent risk flare episodes culminating in bank runs will intensify the deposit outflows and impair the banking system beyond repair (for depositors to keep their money in Greek banks, they need to be compensated for the risks: double digit rates sound about right), thus dooming any hope for an economic recovery." Funny how correct we were on that assessment, just two years ahead of the Eurozone's kleptocrats. On the other hand, having called Europe's bluff for as long as it did, is also an admirable development, if only instead of recycling the cash mooched out of Germany to pay European banks, it had been injected back into the economy and not into German submarines....
As for next steps, the only question now is what happens in that critical interval between February 29 when the second ECB 3-year LTRO takes place, and March 13, when the next FOMC statement is due, incidentally just after the BLS announce that all the labor numbers in the past few months were really just a joke, and the economic contraction is about to hit the US despite what those who believe that the market, and thus the economy, is really just a reflection of one month's seasonal labor adjustment.
And while in the past imminent deadlines were always promptly forgotten this time around, Greece may have boxed itself into a corner, having said earlier today that all must be set in under 24 hours or else the bailout is off the table. Alas, there will be no resolution tomorrow.
On the brink of bankruptcy, Greece must wrap up talks with foreign lenders on the bailout and quickly get political approval to ensure funds begin flowing in time for it to pay back 14.5 billion euros of bonds falling due in mid-March.
But negotiations with its 'troika' of international lenders have stumbled over their demands that include cutting labour costs by axing holiday bonuses and lowering the minimum wage - proposals strongly opposed by Greek political party leaders.
Some more from Reuters why tomorrow may be finally the day when the foreplay officially ends:
Euro zone finance ministers told Greece on Saturday it could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately-held debt until it guaranteed it would implement reforms needed to secure a second financing package from the euro zone and the IMF.
Euro zone ministers had hoped to meet on Monday to finalize the second Greek bailout, which has to be in place by mid-March if Athens is to avoid a chaotic default. But the meeting was postponed because of Greek reluctance to commit to reforms.
Instead, the ministers held a conference call on Saturday to take stock of progress on the second financing package, which euro zone leaders set at 130 billion euros back in October.
"There was a very clear message that was conveyed from all participants of the teleconference ... to the Greeks that enough is enough," one euro zone official said. "There is a great sense of frustration that they are dragging their feet.
"They should get their act together and start talking honestly, decisively and speedily with the Troika on the aspects of the programme that remain to be finalized - on fiscal and labor market reforms," the official said.
"There is a great sense of frustration with Minister Venizelos, who is very hard to get hold of because he is very busy campaigning for the leadership of (the Greek party) PASOK, so he is not available to meet with Troika members," the first official said.
"He is preparing his own political future, rather than the future of his country. People are seriously disgruntled about that and have conveyed this very clearly to him this afternoon," the official said.
"There is an increasing sense of frustration that why should we honour our part of the bargain, which we have in the past, while Greece does not seem to care that much, and has not delivered their part of the bargain," the official said.
Alas, if Venixanax is now unreachable, it pretty much seals the deal. Or lack thereof.
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Complete and total economic collapse bitches.
Canned hamz in the backyard bitchez!!!!
Oh shit, signed on on the wrong avatar.
My bad....
you got the new spelling wrong too, gotz to keep up with the times...
PMs, guns, and lembas bread!
Cram, for you.
In a recent Puplava interview, Ralph Acampora waxed on about how "Greece was priced into the markets." I left an email message to Puplava saying that "Lehman was priced into the markets too." That really worked out well, eh? Greece should flip off Europe 100% and move on. Selling assets is for junkies. They need to sober up, but without Europe stuck on their backs.
Greeks, debt, riots, idle unemployed horny youth, and ouzo. It's gonna be one hell of a year.
Everything is good for Mr. Puplava's market... the Leading Economic Indicators told him so.
But some problems later in the year..
at least he he gets great interviews and likes gold.
.
I used to listen to the FS newshour but decided reading is more efficient. Besides two things annoy me now:
1) J-Pup is no longer in the studio. It sounds like he's in his boat (he probably actually is) sending in comments. Sounds a bit forced. Either do the show in the studio or just go sailing!
2) His son has a very inappropriate and outright annoying voice for radio. He sounds like a teenager. This is a classic example of daddy helping his son.
Another great example of this is Aaron Spelling who brought in his very ugly daughter Tori. She would never have made it otherwise.
Lets hope they make it official this time. Wife and I been waiting over two years to schedule that half price vacation to the Greek Isles. Was thinking it might never come.
Hurry up! How much for my radio, man?
i don't know about anyone else, but i just want to dive for the foxhole everytime i see junckers name...and yes i know the real one was junkers...for the historically handicapped see ju87....ju88 etc
You can really start to panic when they introduce the new head of the IMF, Herr Stuka.
Doomsday Preppers National Geographic (Part 1-3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUM0TOkNALg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLX-Remh7Aw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpGFHOqIi5A
Wouldn't you like to be a prepper too?
Looks like there a lot of that going around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O3165E69-I&feature=player_embedded#!
I like how the woman in Phoenix is preparing for hyperinflation and worried about keeping a low profile, yet chooses to be featured on a television program.
the bushobama administration, reality television, the (certainly possible) world envisioned by "preppers", ....
making the acceptance of the inevitability of death easier. silver linings.
/rhythmic slapping sounds
It is my understanding that the ECB and IMF now collectively hold most of the Greek debt.
A default hits THEM more even than the banks.
Europe can't tolerate this. They'll have to invade and confiscate assets.
Market relief rally after Greek default, bitches.
Is that like makeup sex? Or an anger fuck?
Reality. Recently a sneak preview was given, when a Greek deal was supposed to be at hand. An acute market-orgasm broke loose. The markets are dying for a Greek default. Otherwise the Total Collapse would have happened by now, because for sure Greece cannot pay back its debts.
I think you are correct, for very short trades, sell on the rumor, buy on the news.
Let's see.. when will be the next banking holiday in Greece?
If at 138 times you dont suceed, setup a conference for 139.
The boy who cried 'wolf' would be envious to be able to con people so many times.
All those people wanted the con, believed the con, and lived the con. It's how Bernie Madoff was able to operate his ponzi for so many years before it collapsed.
What about Hungary?
http://news.yahoo.com/hungary-seeks-15-20-billion-euro-imf-eu-121926484....
Hungary is seeking an international credit line of 15 to 20 billion ($20 to $26.3 billion) euros, the secretary of state heading the prime minister's office, Mihaly Varga, was quoted on Saturday as saying.
And don't count on China...
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Wen_says_China_has_no_intention_to_buy...
Wen says China has no intention to 'buy Europe'
And Russia is planning the biggest military buildup since the Soviet Union...
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20120202/171099357.html
Russia will start producing six submarines and one aircraft carrier annually starting in 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday.
“By 2013, production capacity [at Russian shipyards] will allow us to build six submarines and an aircraft carrier every year,”
As a result, the production output will surpass that of the Soviet era when Russia built an average of five submarines annually, he said.
Now that you mention it, I am getting hungary. I think I have a half of a turkey hoagie in the fridge. Be back in a bit.
You forgot to metion that Israel is going to attack Iran witihin a few months.
Trolls have been saying that for the last....60 years.
More like 33 years.
... because the first Cold War didn't bring us close enough to annihilation, now we get another one.
Life is all about second chances.
Yeah, THIS time there really IS going to be a default...this isth theriuth sththuff Beavis!!!
A Drama
A Drachma
A dram of Dramamine.
Drama yo Mama!
-Obama
Die Empire Die!!
Di, Opus Di!
Get em' LH!!!
You meant "Die, Opus Dei" right LH?
I wonder - did Blankfein read Da Vinci Code before the infamous "God's work" speech?
Scenario Two involves a meltdown in Greece-- riots, protests and strikes reach a point where Greece becomes ungovernable, with the government unable to do anything to help the situation. Should this type of scenario play out, I look for the Greek Army to throw out the (incompetent) civilian government. The military only handed over power back to the civilians in the early 1980's. It could easily happen again. At this point, there begins a chain reaction: depositors will immediately empty out any money they have in Greek banks-- if the Army allowed them to even open for business
http://themeanoldinvestor.blogspot.com/2011/05/day-greece-collapses.html
That would be neat.
Iceland is sending consultants to advise on how to get er done.
Maybe a new type of Club Med..."Fire and Ice". You get to visit either location and pick your own crisis crash pad. Fully stocked and 24/7 entertainment.
Then take a dip in the icy - volcanic heated waters...or go to the Greek Isles for a dip.
It could be a very tantalizing business...post-Euro.
Get what done! Greece is the problem. Greece itself can't pay the piper. Totally different than Iceland.
I think he was referring to luring the piper into a dark alley, beating him mercilessly, hanging him from a lamp post in front of Parliament, and slicing him open from throat to sack to the amusement of on-lookers as he flails about momentarily while his guts plop to the pavement.
Conrad read my mind in the most delightful way.
Nice imagery!
You sound like Jack of East End, but he had a preference for floozies; misogynists are as bad as bankers 'cos they love the wrong end of the bloody "stick it in the gut" for the same reasons : hubristic, uber-alles, immune to sheeple sentiment.
I'd hate to become like them, tempting though it be to rip open a pot belly full of fiat hot air, in the alleys of power of shitty City, magical square mile of Her royal highness of Windsor; not Whitechapel. Here's to the women who mother these monsters, so ordinary that they be like you and me. Until you look at their bank acounts!
Doesn't matter. The goal is to be like Iceland.
Greece today: Any town USA this year....go buy some <64 US dimes.
Kowalsky,
All the Greek army needs is a powerful American cabal to back it up.
I think somebody in Washington wants Greece to pay the American banks.
Somebody get Timmie on the fone.
Let's flipping do this already and get it over with. I'm tired of waiting and ready to rebuild a better world.
Yeah, crisis fatigue...
It's tempting to think that way, but I prefer to enjoy another day of central air and heating, another day of satellite TV, and another day to buy in bulk at the Big Box Store.
There'll be plenty of "starting over" to go around soon enough.
I hope the stock market crashes.
Stock market depends on one factor only:
Whether the Plunge Protection Team= Primary Dealers have run out of money or not.
Nothing else matters.
Timing is everything...and SuperBowl Distractions.
Stock market never will crash again. Ben will print like crazy to keep it inflated ...and keep banks going ...and keep the government going.
I fully expect 20,000 DOW and $20 trillion US govt debt, and it'll keep on going.
But food and fuel and other necessities wil be double (or triple) what they are now as the dollar lives out its last days.
Is it not amazing? The whole world masturbating on the stock exchange performance, desperately trying not to look the other way of cataclysmic failure, bank runs, riots and war. Fuck, how stupid can they be?
May the crash be deafening.
HFT and QE do not allow for crashing.
The model now, as always, is to fools suckers into putting their money in
so that the next bunch of MFs can steal it.
Pure larceny. There is no stock market. no capitalism. just debt.
There would be a good possibility of that if we had a stock market instead of a policy tool. This market won't go down until either war with Iran starts or the 2012 elections are over.
es 1500 territory will be the beginning of the end
I hate to say it but I agree...
There will be one dumbfoundedly shocking rally before the knockout punch comes in from left field...
The BLS bullshit was just the start of things...
the december ltro killed what little market honesty there was...back door european qe bullshit...
the loser now may be later to win...for the times they are a changing...
Good grief! This is like Groundhounds Day....deja vu. Just default already!
Finally.
The bastards have had a long time to prepare & ensure their positioning post upheavel.
Cunts the lot of them.
Hope you guys & girls are prepared.
Prepare?
Canny Greek kleptocrats, leaders of a country that has defaulted on numerous occasions - is it six or seven? -- are simply taking the money as long as they can scam it out of the northern tier and then walk, as planned, er prepared for, all along.
Ponzi Unit, your name says it all.
you would expect honesty, from Greece, in such conditions as we live in today?
The guy on Keiser's Edge yesterday says the real moral hazard is that,
when everybody sees that theft goes unpunished, they'll just start stealing too.
the police cutbacks will mean insufficient deterent, and all hell breaks loose.
This has been going on so long, I don't even care anymore. But, if volatility increases, I'm all for it. Screw it all.
"A Greek default on that €14.5 billion bond maturity D-day of March 20, is now inevitable."
I have 20 clams says they start stealing retiree funds and other loose change from the couch's before we are anywhere near a default. Ive been riding this train long enough to know there is never, and I do mean never, a D-Day in the happy go lucky world of debt and default.
Having said that Green Bay has a better chance of winning the Super Bowl tomorrow than Greece not defaulting but only just slightly.
A false flag has an equal chance. I'm not going to the Super Bowl. Anyone notice if short interest shot up on Friday?
Jubilee you fucking squid bitchez!!! You get nothing but a steaming pile of Greek shit for your criminal actions.
Greeks! Grab your criminal officials and throw em in jail.
"If we were to establish that everything has gone wrong in [Greece>Portugal>Italy>France>Germany>UK>US>China>Russia>Africa>South America>Everywhere Else], there would be no new programme, and that would mean that in March they have to declare bankruptcy,"
its a Con-tag-ion!
new program is "rat on a stick" a little bit gamey, but that would be a good night.
(or)
Caaaaaannnnnn-kicking!
(oh, the dilemma!)
Don't count on a default yet. The Greeks are some wiley sons of bitches. There is no default until March 20th. And even then, the Greeks will find a way to extend the due date. The best part of the quotes is that they just don't care. I love it. Maybe they are not playing the game anymore because they knew all along they would not pay and are now, even them, getting a guilty conscience. They've defaulted before, they will default again. I must say, today I am Greek, even though I really Irish American.
al they need is a good greek wedding come march 19th. invite the entire eu.....do the extended ceremony, the dance line and the uzo. and that should get them to march 28, if not later...providing they break out the jordan almonds at the right time;
I hate to say it but I agree with this assessment as well...
It's the same MFing thing as the GD "Supercommittee" (remember that bullshit)? How many DEBT CEILINGS have we passed since then...
"the can" bounces merrily along down the street... Time to embrace the horror!
And your Avatar is Chinese. Cover all bases Irish, the only way to go. Are we not all Greeks in someway?
who's got guilt, tao400?
everybody's being scammed, if they're not scamming.
your real wages and mine have fallen for 30 years, while bosses have been
lining their pockets and arbitraging your neighbour.
You're all invited to the party if Greece defaults on 20 March, where Greeks will open...
pandora's box.
The porn industry is already working on this one.
'Evangelos "Xanax" Venizelos'....
To those who dont know allow me to explain xanax, the anxiolytic medication.
i was introduced to it by a friend of mine.
Xanax is the latest uprade of valium... mogadon... the mothers little helper of the 1970's.
a benzodiazapine of pure quality which hits you with a clear punch of velvetty greyness.
its basically an upgrade when flying economy.
i took my usual elephantine dose when flying pan pacific thro LAX to vegas. Cant remember the journey and arrived with only a faint mist which cleared with 5 vodka red bulls.
Just sayin'
Your eloquency capabilities and not xanaxed.
time for another gyro
ooooooooooooooooooooooooopa
Here we are two years later in the same fucking place. "Greek default any day now". I'm not bashing you Tyler. It's just getting old waiting for them to finally come to the same conclusion that the rest of the world already knows.
And Calipornia still has a chance to Smokem. Go Moon Beam Go.
There would be no need for containment if central banks/governments quit bailing each other out. The necessary rates to attract real investors wpuld enforce discipline much earlier. Most governments ( like ours) will raid pension and retirement funds of their own country. If they default most of the pain will be felt in the defualting country...as it should.
Using central banks makes the innocent pay for the guilty, e.g., foreign taxpayers.