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Greek coalition braces for debt showdown as Germany rattles sabre
UK Telegraph ^ | January 26, 2015 | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Posted on 01/27/2015 6:51:02 AM PST by C19fan

The new Greece of Alexis Tsipras will run out of money by early March. It will then face a series of escalating crunch points that will end in default and a return to the drachma unless it can reach a deal with EU creditors. Greece must repay €3.4bn to the International Monetary Fund in February and March. Tax revenues have collapsed as Greeks preempt what they hope will be a repeal of austerity taxes. “There is only €1.9bn left in the cash kitty, and the government has spending costs of $2.5bn coming up. Somebody needs to lend the country money soon,” said Megan Greene, from Manulife Asset Management. The Greek media reports that capital flight last week reached €10bn as it became the clear that the amalgam of Maoists, ex-Leninists and radical socialists known as Syriza would win the election. Barclays estimates the outflow at €20bn since early December, roughly 12pc of GDP.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Germany; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: albania; alexistsipras; austerity; bulgaria; euro; europeanunion; germany; greece; macedonia; syriza; turkey
If history is any guide when the Germans rattle sabres they are not bluffing. Hee, hee.
1 posted on 01/27/2015 6:51:02 AM PST by C19fan
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To: C19fan

Gee, I wonder what would happen if I announced that beginning April 1, I will no longer be paying any of my debts, and at the same time placed a request for new loans?


2 posted on 01/27/2015 6:56:02 AM PST by norwaypinesavage (The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones)
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To: C19fan

Syriza’s program always held a strong dose of political fantasy.

Greece needs EU bailouts and without them the country would collapse. It can barely pay its bills right now.

Of course it can unilaterally scrap austerity and try to get by without international help but the pain maybe more than the Greeks are willing to bear.

Right now, its shaping up to be a game of political chicken between Athens and Brussels.


3 posted on 01/27/2015 6:58:22 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: C19fan

Eject them from the EU - let them eat drachmae.


4 posted on 01/27/2015 7:00:04 AM PST by struggle
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To: norwaypinesavage

Well if the Greeks refuse to pay and the next EU tranche doesn’t arrive, they’re going to be insolvent.

Syriza will simply not have the money to pay for its election promises.

Which I suspect suits the Germans just fine. Greece can go fly a kite.


5 posted on 01/27/2015 7:00:36 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: C19fan

A Greek government meeting.....

“Well, we basically have two choices. We can knuckle-down and produce something the rest of the world wants to buy, or we can get drunk. Which will it be?”

“Opa! Opa! Opa! Who wants to see me dance?”


6 posted on 01/27/2015 7:17:44 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: C19fan

Greece needs to bail out of the EU. Better all around.


7 posted on 01/27/2015 7:21:46 AM PST by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
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To: C19fan

If Greece goes into receivership, maybe Germany will take over their bureaucracy and run it with Germans.

Not as bizarre as it sounds on the surface, as in the time of the Czars in Russia, this is what they did, import Germans as bureaucrats. Lenin tried to abolish the German bureaucracy, and Russia came to a standstill, so he had to hire the Germans back.

Imagine the shock in Greece when they suddenly had bureaucrats who refused to be corrupted with bribes; as well as a serious crackdown on tax cheats?


8 posted on 01/27/2015 7:24:36 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
imagine the shock in Greece when they suddenly had bureaucrats who refused to be corrupted with bribes; as well as a serious crackdown on tax cheats?

They will collapse all over again.

9 posted on 01/27/2015 7:41:46 AM PST by spokeshave (He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people,)
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To: spokeshave

Yes, but with Germans at the helm, it will at least be an *orderly* collapse.


10 posted on 01/27/2015 8:50:28 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: C19fan
“There is only €1.9bn left in the cash kitty, and the government has spending costs of $2.5bn coming up. Somebody needs to lend the country money soon,” said Megan Greene...

Enter ISIS, stage left.

11 posted on 01/27/2015 9:24:24 AM PST by Boiler Plate ("Why be difficult, when with just a little more work, you can be impossible" Mom)
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