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More Greek Platitudes As IMF Faces Shortfall and Deflects Back to ECB
In speeches by 'Andsome George Papandreou and Evangelos 'Creosote' Venizelos today, the state of Greek, and for that matter global, economic challenges seemed to swing from dire to soluble to dismal within a few small sound-bites. Noting, via Bloomberg, that Greece faces 'huge challenges' and the 'end to the global financial crisis appears more distant', G-Pap admitted (somewhat intriguingly) that there is an urgent need to shield EU members from the crises but was then followed up by his wing-man finance minister who whined that Greece is not the Euro-area's central problem and that the problem of sovereign debt in Euro-area is significant. What was most comforting was Venizelos' expectation that the IMF will extend Greek loan maturities while at the same time BBC News is reporting a growing concern that the IMF will not have enough money to bail out larger European countries if the crisis should spread. It is neither a case of IF or WHEN! It is now, and while this weekend has been marked by a litany of statements, corrections, and re-statements indicating left-hands not knowing what right-hands are doing, we suspect that the simple application of game-theoretical first-mover-advantage is weighing heavy on many politicians (especially Portuguese and German). Just to put one final coffin in the nail of co-operation, IMF's Borges then notes his expectation of the ECB and EFSF as the solution for Europe, once again deflecting, denying, and de-risking?
Notable headlines from G-Pap, via Bloomberg:
*PAPANDREOU SAYS MUCH REMAINS TO BE DONE IN GREECE
*PAPANDREOU: URGENT NEED TO SHIELD EU MEMBERS FROM CRISES
...then followed up with some details from Venizelos (via Bloomberg):
*VENIZELOS: PROBLEM OF SOVEREIGN DEBT IN EURO AREA `SIGNIFICANT'
*VENIZELOS: TARGET TO CUT PUBIC SECTOR JOBS NECESSARY
*VENIZELOS: SMALLER STATE IS `EXISTENTIAL' FOR GREECE
*VENIZELOS: GREEK BANKS `INTEGRAL' PART OF EUROPE SYSTEM - hhmm?
and here are the kickers...
*VENIZELOS: GREECE NEEDS NEW INVESTMENTS
*VENIZELOS: GREECE NEEDS FOREIGN INVESTMENT
*VENIZELOS: GREECE HAS WILLINGNESS TO RECAPITALIZE BANKS
*VENIZELOS: `ABSOLOUTLY NECESSARY TO WIN THIS WAR'
*VENIZELOS SAYS IMF EXPECTED TO EXTEND GREEK LOAN MATURITIES
as we note this story (from BBC News):
IMF warns on funding levels if crisis worsens
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned it may not have enough money to bail out larger eurozone countries if the debt crisis were to spread.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde says the global lender can meet its current obligations but this could change if the crisis worsens.
Publicly, world leaders have said there is "no plan" for a Greek default.
But reports suggest leaders are working on a plan to allow Greece to default on its debts and remain in the euro.
Meanwhile, Antonio Borges, the head of the IMF's European department, has urged the ECB to play a bigger role in fighting the crisis.
"It is very important that we see a combination of the ECB and the EFSF," said Mr Borges.
"The ECB is the only agent that can really scare the markets."
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...and here I thought it would be a rather boring week with no big acton until mid-October...this week might indeed be interesting.
"firewalls" around Greece Ireland and Portugal...clearly meant to try to keep Spain and Italy alfloat and the French from rioting....what I'm waiting on is the German people getting fed up...because when they get mad...they really throw down.
It's like watching a bad game of tennis, except they are playing with our balls.
More like "musical chairs" except that when the music stops, there won't be any chairs.
They were just pretending there were chairs from the very beginning. Didn't you get the memo?
There is no spoon.
A combination of the EFSF and ECB!
HAHAHAHAHA
Print at will and bailout at will.
Like I said, time for this FIAT to hit reset.
They are just confused. They have no clue what to do to fix it and are scrambling but also trying to ensure the movie portrays them as trying all they could
If they can't kick the can further they can at least kick it laterally into somebody else's yard.
They know exactly what to do. Default. But they won't.
First thought: Just trying to figure out what combination of WORDS will work. I wonder how many of them do snap polling pre/post each statement?
the yet to be created EFSF, mind you
you mean the ESM, the fully grown, hunchbacked mutant cranking up the presses
They cannot do anything without running the printing presses. Nothing. The debts in the Eurozone, and I am not just talking about the PIIGS here are too large to be repaid. And if you include the unfunded liabilities over the next decade, the situation is hopeless. They will eventualy print, but pretend they are not.
Not that the US is any better.
I dont get it. IMF, WB, the Fed running out of money. Really! Who is doing the audits to keep everything honest? Is there a central clearing house for any of this shit?
If they obfuscate a thousand times and hide the truth under a Niagra Falls of lies, they will go back later and say...yes, we told the truth....then scold you for being wet.
Why they want to scare the markets? Is it the cornerstone of their economic model? To scare people? Really?
Here Comes Global QE3! Pandora's Box Renamed Bernanke's Box
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com
Given that The Fed is montoring all blogs, perhaps I shouldn't post such heresay!
I think we should do the opposite. Every day have the Fed Thread, and unload on them. I would love to see what comes at their end, after their analytics process it. The word cloud with central word 'Fuck'?
So. Who's the enemy again?
The People.
It is the Keynesian Voodoo Economics at its best.
Amen.
September 29 : vote in the german parliament about EFSF.
Merkel could get the boot up her arse.
Confirmation of the state of mind of the Status Quo. We will NOT fix anything ever until this ponzi collapses under it's own weight. We will resort to money printing and additional debt creation but we will NOT even try to fix anything.
I"m wondering if they are waffling back and forth to create more uncertainty and more anxiety to push the markets even lower before announcing a massive bailout in order to inflict the maximum amount of pain on the bears.
Or maybe these guys are just plain stupid and have no clue.
Tough call.
They are waffling back and forth because THEY ARE STUPID. Would we be in this mess if they were not stupid? They have been that stupid for over 30 years.
In ages past precious metals always provided a safe haven in turbulent times, surviving beyond fiat currency failures ..a real durable store of value. However this is not so in the modern digital age of instant transactions, market complexity in finance has closed this emergency exit for the common man.
Recent metal volatility more than proves this to be true.
Also the amount of ZH's who have gone and sold their physical this weekend only acts as further confirmation..
LIKE MY FUCKING ARSE!!
If TPTB get metal prices down to pennies they will still not sell THE ABOVE ARGUMENTS ..
as long as PM's exist they will always adopt their traditional role in the absence of better candidates. PM importance has a real permanant inverse relation to perceived honesty and transparency in the financial system..
react accordingly, BTFD, UNTIL THE CURRENT system HAS SELD DESTRUCTED and time for reset has come
A bunch of cooks are a room with a single exit. The sound of sirens wails outside. They ae sitting around a table showing brave faces and looking from one to another. Just who will run for the exit first?
The Greek parliament should man up and kick that Papandreou out of office.
Awesome.. I wonder how many Algos are already going like:
Bad. Good. Bad. Bad. EXCELLENT! No - WTF? Good. Bad. WAIT-A-MINU...
***division by zero - core dumped (no space left) - %%%SYSTEM-FUBAR-KTHXBAI