On October 22, we alone asked a very relevant question, which apparently nobody was able to answer:
Does anyone in Europe realize that a Greek distressed debt buyback is yet another event of default?
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 22, 2012 [6]
Well, one entity did. S&P.
- GREECE CUT TO SD FROM CCC BY S&P
- S&P CUTS GREECE'S LONG-TERM DEBT RATING TO 'SELECTIVE DEFAULT'
SD, by the way, stands for Selective Default. At least the acronym is not Selective Transitory Default: that would really summarize the situation.
In other words, Greece is technically default, and why? To make sure a few hedge funds have a great year and get paid on the Greek bonds at double their cost from 4 months ago. The Greek people just get a t-shirt that says "Third Point made a killing, and all i got was this louse Selective Default."
But the best news is that Goldman's European central bank branch is now delighted to accept defaulted, whether selectively or unselectively, Greek bonds as full faith and credit collateral of that multi-colored European currency.