It's All Greek To Me

[Sonny]

Trigger Will Be Pulled On Greece If They Don't Vote for Austerity: Strategist 16 May 2012

• David Roche, president & global strategist at Independent Strategy, told CNBC, "Nobody is going to give the Greeks a penny until they put a government in place which implements austerity. The losers of that will be Greece; you are already seeing deposit flight once you get into deposit flight your banks run out of liquidity."
  
  
  
  

[Catbird]

I'm seeing this comment all over Twitter. I'm looking for more in Greek media to see if this was actually said or it it's just another rumor.

"#greece Syriza officials announce they will save the country through seizing private savings accounts/opening vaults etc"

Polling data released today show that Syriza has gained quite a bit of support and would get about 22% of the vote if it were held today. Part of that increasing popularity may be due to this:

"Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras said yesterday he demanded the caretaker government freeze the implementation of wage and pension cuts and other austerity measures until the elections are held and a new government is formed. He also called for all state asset sales to be immediately frozen and said Europe must reexamine its policy of austerity and acknowledge it has failed."

Source: SFGate

[Sonny]

Greece's anti-bailout SYRIZA leftists lead in poll - Yahoo! News

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Not bailing out their banks seems to have worked well for Iceland.
I don't know if it was a fluke, a one of?
But If it works as well for Greece would it start an avalanche?
Can't even imagine what the fallout from the derivatives would be. Good by Banks.?

[Catbird]

The Telegraph:

"Fitch warns of mass eurozone downgrades as frontrunner to lead Greece rails at 'barbaric' austerity

All eurozone countries face downgrades to their debt ratings if the risk of a Greek exit rises following next month's elections, a leading credit agency warned last night.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's sovereign rating to CCC from B- and sounded a wider alert for the rest of the currency bloc. It said it would put the entire zone on downgrade watch if after June 17's poll, "Fitch assesses that the risk of a Greek exit from European Monetary Union is probable in the near term."

Also, The Guardian is doing an excellent daily live blog of the situation, including info on how this is impacting all Euro members. It's pretty informative.

[Sonny]

Telegraph writes: Europe admits Greece exit preparation

Brussels is preparing plans for Greece to quit the euro, a senior official has revealed, as analysts warned that the country’s exit would cost European taxpayers at least €225bn (£180bn).

European Union trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said that both the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) were working behind the scenes on contingency plans for a break-up.

“Today there are in the European Central Bank, as well as in the Commission, services working on emergency scenarios if Greece shouldn’t make it. A Greek exit does not mean the end of the euro, as some claim,” he said.

Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...eparation.html

[Ross]

I imagine they will try to organize awful exit conditions for
Greece so that the other PIIGS will be reluctant to follow
then out the door .

[Sysiphus]

Originally Posted by Ross

I imagine they will try to organize awful exit conditions for
Greece so that the other PIIGS will be reluctant to follow
then out the door .

Doubtful as the remaining PIIGS would have to approve them, and I don't think they will. In a perfect world, Greece's departure would bolster the Euro. But, most punters will assume (correctly) that the others will not be far behind. I don't think a Euro that is really just four or five countries will survive very long. The weaker of the remaining countries (probably France and Belgium) will not want to have competition from weak-currencied non-euro economies.

[Ross]

IMO .....

Doubtful as the remaining PIIGS would have to approve them, and I don't think they will.

For the Greeks to exit and be seen living happily ever after
would be dangerous to EU unity so the Greeks must suffer .
I do not see how the PIIGS can prevent punishment of
Greece given their impoverished and dependent relationship
to the ECB and IMF .




The ECB and IMF know that if Greece leaves it will be
deadly serious in terms of losses ( approx $400 Billion )
and if other PIIGS leave it will be financially catastrophic .

However a departure may unfold very quickly now because
fear of the event is destabilizing financial markets . It is
probably too late to stop a financial wrecking ball going
through Europe but presumably they will try .

To work the Greeks must exit quickly , quietly and preferably alongside
some form of distraction ( Iran scale ) so that the
consequent disruption and massive money printing to save
European banks goes relatively unnoticed .

To what extent you can actually cover $400B of losses without
raising eyebrows or that mega wealthy entities and purse holders
will agree I do not know . Personally I think the flow on
contagion will be terminal whatever they do .

All of the above assumes TPTB will act in a manner consistent
with their sad track record of extend and pretend.

[vince08]

http://www.lombardidigital.com/lcpa-...sdate=05192012

[Catbird]

Very interesting article about how the Greek people view the situation.

Reuter's:

Solemn warnings from abroad that Athens cannot stay in the euro while rejecting the terms attached to the billions offered to pull Greece out of its financial hole are widely disbelieved in a land that considers itself the envy of foreigners.

However bad their prospects, many Greeks seem to think that since money to bail them out was found in the past, it will be found again, whatever politicians say.

Nor do they believe that Europe will simply cast them loose, despite growing signs that Greece is heading for the exit from the single currency and towards the economic and social catastrophe that would follow.

[sandyd]

Wow, they just don't think it can happen, so won't be ready when it does.

wow...

[Ross]

Houses plunging , so will every other Greek asset until the
Carpet Baggers move in .



I must confess for a man who believes we may be heading towards a
mini-ice age the thought of a cheap Greek villa has some appeal.

Then again living among the fighting starving natives might be a serious negative.

.

[Oric]

Originally Posted by Ross

Houses plunging , so will every other Greek asset until the
Carpet Baggers move in .



I must confess for a man who believes we may be heading towards a
mini-ice age the thought of a cheap Greek villa has some appeal.

Then again living among the fighting starving natives might be a serious negative.

.

We TBM'ers are ready for the last case already

[Ross]

The Greek Stock Exchange is down 35% since March 22 .


Source ZH .





Oric ... It is easier for you . Turks enslaved the Greeks for hundreds of
years where as Australian men are still learning how it is done from our wives.


.

[Oric]

Greece cancels Schengen Visa for Turks visiting Aegean Islands ...

Ross : You are calling us "Not Men" ?

[Oric]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...lagarde-greeks

[Ross]

The left-wing as personified by Hollande are as usual wanting to ignore
financial reality and play on peoples heart strings however the hard heads
will have none of it and realize that to get away with treating Greece
harshly they must demonize the Greeks.

Hence we find Christine Lagarde and Jürgen Fitschen et al
making statements of the kind listed below .

said she has more sympathy for children deprived of decent schooling in sub-Saharan Africa than for many of those facing poverty in Athens.

Lagarde insists it is payback time for Greece

Lagarde replies: "I think more of the little kids from a school in a little village in Niger who get teaching two hours a day, sharing one chair for three of them, and who are very keen to get an education. I have them in my mind all the time. Because I think they need even more help than the people in Athens."

"Do you know what? As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax."

"I think they should also help themselves collectively." Asked how, she replies: "By all paying their tax."

Asked if she is essentially saying to the Greeks and others in Europe that they have had a nice time and it is now payback time, she responds: "That's right."

Jürgen Fitschen, joint head of Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche, described Greece as "a failed state … a corrupt state".

Source ...the prior link posted by Oric .


So at the end of the day it all boils down to the eternal battle between
left and right .

[Oric]

Greece can only do good to itself by leaving the Euro and swallowing the austerity pill. We have had worse economical crisis in 1994 and 2001 but still we came back, Our Greek neighbours can do the same.

[Pablo Escobar]

Greece may implode this week.

The good news, is that it should implode to get better.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/newedg...te-sell-orders

Can't wait for my big fat greek holiday next year!

[Samen]

I hope it implodes, the more money we push in the longer they suffer as the bankers steal.

[penguinzee]

Somehow, I think the banksters WANT to keep the crisis going, to funnel more money into all their pet ponzi schemes... they don't give a rat's ass about anyone else, especially a small country like Greece...

I agree, it's time Greece just faced the music, and in turn, forces the rest of us to face the music (including the banksters)... it ain't gonna be fun, but putting it off is just going to make it worse... especially for the banksters, who will wind up being invited to some neck-tie parties...

Franc (penguinzee)

[Oric]

It seems the blackmails on Greece do work. Pro Austerity/EU parties led by Nea Demokratia rise up to coaltion forming vote levels. This tirade will go on for another 2 years ...

[Oric]

Greek burglars cash in as savers flee banks

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Features.../19794401.html

[leistb]

European firms planning for Greek unrest and Euro exit.

[Sysiphus]

Originally Posted by penguinzee

Somehow, I think the banksters WANT to keep the crisis going, to funnel more money into all their pet ponzi schemes... they don't give a rat's ass about anyone else, especially a small country like Greece...

I agree, it's time Greece just faced the music, and in turn, forces the rest of us to face the music (including the banksters)... it ain't gonna be fun, but putting it off is just going to make it worse... especially for the banksters, who will wind up being invited to some neck-tie parties...

Franc (penguinzee)

I agree. Kinda how the cops secretly love the Black Bloc crowd. Makes negotiations easier when the union contract comes up for renewal.