Posted on 05/15/2012 9:26:43 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Foreign holders of €422bn of Greek debt were warned to brace themselves for "killer losses" as coalition talks in Athens collapsed, threatening Greece's future in the eurozone.
The euro tumbled to a four-month low and European stock markets dropped as political leaders and economists warned that the next round of elections called in Athens amounted to a vote on Greek membership of the euro
“What’s at stake isn’t just the next Greek government,” said Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister. “What’s at stake is the Greek people’s commitment to Europe and the euro.”
“A second vote means Greece is edging closer to the point where it’s inevitable they have to exit the euro,” Fredrik Erixon, head of the European Centre for International
Political Economy in Brussels, said. “No other course of events is now likely.”
As the Greek president, Karolos Papoulias, admitted defeat on coalition talks, Alexis Tsipras, leader of the radical Left-wing Syriza party which is leading the Greek polls, said he couldn’t “guarantee” the country would stay in the euro.
“We ask that our country remain in the euro without the catastrophic policy of austerity and we have the solidarity of Europe,” he said. “I can’t guarantee that the euro area itself and the euro will be united and exist.”
French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking together for the first time on the day of President Hollande’s inauguration, said they wanted Greece in the euro but stressed that it had to stick to the agreed austerity.
However, they hinted at other compromises. President Hollande confirmed he would seek to “renegotiate” the region’s fiscal pact to boost growth – saying that everything from eurobonds, funding, and competitiveness should be considered.
“We have to allow Greece to find solutions [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
From left to right: President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, one of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker and the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in the wheelchair, the German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble.
ping
Gee, isn’t socialism a wonderful thing.
My take on these international monetary crises is a little more contrarian than the standard hype we hear from Wall St.
If the Greeks were smart they’d do what Iceland did and tell the world bankers who hold their debt to get lost. They’ll pay a big price for their reckless debt but they’ll regain what they lost and that is sovereignty. I’d wager that the central banks of other EU countries and US Fed will come to their aid before they actually leave.
I’m not saying it is right but these international treaties and agreements such as WTO, IMF, and international obligations through our Fed Reserve, that our own USA politicians have signed, steals the sovereignty and rights of us citizens.
The world financiers and corporations want their hooks in and have all countries with weakened sovereign rights and Constitutions through treaties and multi-lateral agreements where citizens lose their rights and power. Our founders warned us about entanglements.
Countries need to be self sufficient and look after their own and be accountable only to their own.
If Greece does leave the EU I will predict that their country will face a significant short term crisis but they will recover just as Iceland did.
All over the world: from Bernie Madoff, to Greece, to “Carbon Credits” - people are being ruined and their wealth is being destroyed. Often done casually by the people in charge.
It’s just amazing to me. Don’t people kill for money? You’d think someone would stop these socialist destroyers.
Countries need to be self sufficient and look after their own and be accountable only to their own."
"Their own" vote themselves the treasury, vote against taxes to pay, vote for politicians to borrow instead of tax.
States have the ability to confiscate all property. Who can blame anyone for protecting their property in advance of confiscation?
yittbos
Greece doesn’t want sovereignty (see their resistance to austerity); they want to be subsidized by someone else.
Iceland wasn’t as extavagant with their spending as Greece was, and would probably be fine if the rest of the world disappeared beneath the sea.
That is identical to any bugetary "cutting" that occurs in our own country!!!
You watch what happens again as Boehner and the Republicans, including the newly elected Tea Party candidates try to act like they are confronting the pathetic excuse for a POTUS on the debt limit increase.
Just like the last 2 or 3 episodes, nothing of substance was cut and the debt limit was expanded anyway!!!
We have no room to snicker at the Greeks or any other nation while overlooking our own flinching Republican and Democrat politicians. If they actually gave a damn about this nation and weren't so centered on their own re-election we might have some statesman-like fiscal certainty instead of this bogus faked process being repeated without end!!!
gitmos
Search CNBC’s “Largest Debtor Nations” slideshow and loose your cookies after looking at the numbers, especially per capita.
The EU fiasco reveals astonishing delusion on the part of the common mice who simply have no concept of where all the free shit they demand comes from and vote for politicians who roll their eyes, laugh to themselves, and promise them more “free shit” in order to get elected. The voters in Greece (and France) are no different than the bums, deadbeats, and parasites who comprise the Democrat party “base” here in America. And like old Europe’s scum, it is only a matter of time before America’s socialist politicians (the Democrats) also have to admit that they’ve run out of other people’s money.
Yep.
Keep a careful eye on any retirement money that may be exposed. The minute you smell the DC scum attempt to get their filthy paws on private retirement accounts - - it will be a subtle, "camel's nose under the tent" piece of legislation - - get it out, take the penalty, bury it in the backyard (metaphorically speaking), and hunker down.
Guns, ammo, explosives, gold, fertile land, big dogs.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/30308959/The_World_s_Biggest_Debtor_Nations
Heh - that was already in one of my tabs as I was writing a “parents response” to my daughter’s FDR homework assignment. If you don’t see me posting for awhile it probably means I am spending some time at camp getting “re-educated”.
Actually it is VERY scary to read the paper she was assigned - a policy wonk to Obama outlining why FDR’s policies did not go FAR ENOUGH (!!) and led to the Great Depression lasting longer than it should have. (Not enough stimulus, not enough increase in the debt, and not enough devaluation of the dollar. This from a current policy adviser to Obama! Her name is Dr. Romer, paper dated March 9, 2009)
And they've had how many years to prepare for this?
It sounds like, once again, they have bet on the bailout. And that's what happens when you remove moral hazard as a way of maintaining market sanity. You get a lot more insanity.
Good point.
Thanks; I believe that is why many Germans would just as soon see Greece leave the European currency. They are incompatible cultures in terms of sharing a currency, with Germans paying a price for Greek entitlements.
One harkens back to the days of 2008 in Colorado where soon-to-be Emporer Obama was adored by nearly 100,000 subjects surrounded by the Greek Columns, a controversy for sure, but perhaps now an omen.
As Emporer Obama strives haltingly towards his re-coronation, the “Greek Columns” of today aren’t the majestic pillars of 2008. The ‘columns’ are lines of Greeks outside their banks - hurrying to remove their Euros before the big government of Greece collapses.
Greece? It surely doesn’t have any impact here does it?
I can only say this. The problems that beset Greece exist here also, only on a more massive scale, but hidden by the sheer number and strength of the working, tax-paying citizens who still have hope - a different kind of hope than Obama’s.
However, Obama has had nearly 4 years to exacerbate the cancer growing in this country, incubated by liberals for decades. How much longer it holds together depends on whether blacks here forget their racism, liberals cede to some common sense, and whether the government, specifically the Department of Justice does not tamper with the election. Additionally, some truthful objectivity from the MSM would serve this country better. the list of what’s needed seems impossible given Obama’s tenacity and penchant for disregarding the law.
There’s an old saying, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” When it goes, they all go. They can’t hold a country of 300 million people under their thumb.
You're right - it's worse here. California will be our tipping point...
Will the Stimulus Work? Reasons to Doubt the Romer-Bernstein Spending Multiplier Estimates
"Unfortunately, we find substantially smaller government spending multipliers than those used by Romer and Bernstein. For example, the multiplier associated with a permanent increase in government spending by the end of 2010 lies between 0.5 and 0.6. In other words, government spending does not induce additional private spending but instead quickly crowds out private consumption and investment.And from Romer's own paper here on P.67, Figure 14, a 1% tax increase knocks consumption down by 2% and investment down by 12%. Except for a brief spike in exports (assuming the rest of the world isn't in recession or depression), everything goes down - durables, non-durables, services... everything.
So, that's what ObaMao should propose - a tax increase to depress demand and spread the pain...?
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