Greece

Reminder: Austerity Doesn't Work! (and vid)

http://rt.com/programs/big-picture/reminder-austerity-work-thom/

"Thom talks with economist Richard Wolff about the endless economic problems facing Greece and whether their economic devastation is heading to the US.." (This segment is about 31:00 min in )

Hedge Funds Speculate on Greek Default

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/mar2012/gree-m08.shtml

"...What is already clear, however, is that three and a half years after the Wall Street crash the most aggressive sectors of speculative finance capital have been able to significantly expand their activities and influence. Furthermore, the global financial system, far from having been stabilized by massive injections of public funds, is inexorably heading toward an even deeper crisis.."

..here's more on the default.

Financial organisations declare Greece to be in default

Immediately after Greece struck a deal with its creditors late Thursday night, European Union officials hailed the agreement as an important step toward alleviating the European debt crisis. French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared that the Greek problem was settled and added that a “page in the financial crisis is turning.”

A closer look at the deal reached Thursday, however, reveals it to be a further step in shifting the burden of the financial crisis onto the public purse, i.e., the taxpayers, while deepening the agony of the population in Greece and Europe as a whole.

Just a few hours after the agreement had been finalised, following frantic haggling between international financial organisations and the Greek government, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), comprising 15 global banks and investment funds, announced that the deal involved a so-called “credit event.” The ISDA argued that Greece had forced nearly 10 percent of its creditors to accept a haircut on their bond holdings by invoking so-called collective action clauses, resulting in a default on its debts.

This means those hedge funds and banks that insured against a Greek default by means of credit default swaps (CDS) are eligible for payment. The payout of CDS due to the default of a euro country sets a precedent that is expected to drive up interest payments on the sovereign debt of larger European economies such as Spain and Italy. The announcement by the ISDA was followed by statements from the rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch concurring that the Greek debt swap represented a default.

Far from warding off insolvency, Thursday’s deal represents a significant step towards the official bankruptcy of Greece....

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29707

Geithner Turfed Out by EU Bankers March 13 (A podcast interview with renegade economist Michael Hudson)

At about 11:33 into the interview Hudson explains what happened, in layman's terms and he's good at it,  at a meeting between EU bankers and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner at the beginning of March. All in all it sounds like Obama will be screwing U.S. taxpayers to pay EU bankers for the insurance they bought from Wall St casino banks to cover Greek debt defaults. In Hudson's terms, they told Geithner to Get the hell out of here, you bastard. And it sounds like more of the same ongoing financial warfare between Obama's real constituents on Wall Street and EU banksters. Goldman Sachs is a crime gang. Bank of America is a crime gang. And EU bankers are even more the fascists.

Go to hell!

I just read this post by a well-known Greek blogger, Kartesios. I decided to translate it (the link to the original post is here). The illustration is by Manos Symeonakis and I decided to add it here with the text below. It’s dedicated to those who believe that the recent haircut saved Greece from bankruptcy. I don’t know about the economy and the banks, but the society and the welfare state (what?) is already bankrupt. Here you go with Kartesios’ post:

...........

I haven’t been writing for the past couple of days because I thought I’d get over it, I’ll calm down and won’t swear. I hoped that if I start writing I won’t be moved, I won’t cry like an idiot. But apparently this is not possible.

It’s not possible because it’s not something that I was told of but something that I lived. He was looking me straight in the eyes and telling me “I’m gonna sell my kidney, mate, but I’ll save her”. He was angry and decided about it. I knew he meant it.....

For A Reorientation of Greece

http://currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=1724

"Mr Papandreou had already begun his conspiracy against the Greek people since the summer of 2009 when he met secretly with Strauss-Kahn, with the objective of driving Greece under the domination of the IMF. The information concerning this was released by the former President of the IMF himself.

FOr the situation to reach that end, the country's real financial status had to be distorted, so that foreign Banks would become nervous and raise the loan interest rates to prohibitive figures. What followed was the systematic campaign by Mr Papandreou and the Ministry of Finance throughout Europe that lasted 5 months, during which they tried to persuade the foreigners that Greece was a Titanic about to sink.

After each of their declarations the interest rates increased, so that it became impossible for us to borrow any more, giving IMF and the European Bank the appearance of being our salvation, when in reality it was the beginning of our death..."

Indirectly related to Greece, Portugal's parliment has revoked four public holidays in an effort to help revive the country's ailing economy.  They are now down to twelve public holidays.

No matter what happens next in Greece, the Greeks are in for a very long period of substantially lower living standards. 

Philip of Greece should offer to help them out in his birth country. I hope all his loyal subjects in Greece remember Phil for abandoning them like this. Tsk tsk.

I was jesting. He should buy himself a real name. I read that Phil once spent some time in Greece during his days as a dashing young man. Some girls on the beach asked him what his name is, and he replied: Philip of Greece. They couldn't believe someone would not have a proper surname and that his fake name was silly. I don't imagine he uses that handle anymore. I think he just goes by Phil.

Bacchus wrote:

Not a true story but does sound charming.  His surname was mountbattern.

Yeah old Phil was a real charmer with the ladies apparently.  And like your previous claims to fact, Mountbatten is another fake name adopted by a family of frauds.

Bacchus wrote:

Regardless of how you may feel about them, that is his surname. He was never without a surname.

So why doesn't Charlie have the same surname as his dad and Phil's former Uncle Dickie, Leggy Mountbatten? It's pretty odd if you ask me. I still think it's a fake name.

I'm thinking of changing my legal name to Fidel Fifi Inigo Trixibelle Racer Maximillio Steven Mo cuishle Nobody THE Krrrraken-nuh! Harald Bufo Adada Bazaark of the North.  

The superrich can't afford actual military occupations anymore. Vietnam was the first indication of that. And so now they want to be able to conquer countries with a Trojan horse named marauding international capital. I think the Greeks saw it coming, though. 

Greece is set to go to the polls again after days of coalition talks failed to produce agreement on a new government, says the leader of the Socialist Pasok party, Evangelos Venizelos.

A final round of talks on Tuesday morning broke up without a deal.

In elections on 6 May, a majority of Greek voters backed parties opposed to austerity plans demanded by the EU and IMF in return for two bailouts.

The Greek president will appoint a caretaker government on Wednesday.

President Karolos Papoulias will meet all political leaders at 13:00 (10:00 GMT) on Wednesday to put in place an interim government until the new vote, which is expected to take place on 10 or 17 June.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18076757

Brian Topp:

Understanding the crisis in Greece

This particular piece is running only in his Rabble blog, not also in the Globe.

Quote:

Canadians owe the people of Greece our solidarity in the face of this overwhelming crisis. A large Greek-Canadian community is living its consequences through their families. We also owe ourselves a detailed understanding of all of this. So that we can bear it in mind the next time a populist politician tells us that taxes can be cut easily, spending can be increased easily, and the budget can be balanced easily -- a formula we have been experimenting with recently in our modest Canadian way. Look how that is working out for Greece.

This also sets in motion the spin-off of capital flight across Southern Europe. Regular folks do not have large amounts in financial institutions. Other than the paranoid among them, they'll wait to get cash and/or move their euros out of the country. But people with any means know that if [when] the crisis continues, there will be currency controls. So they start moving now when the controls are still relaxed.

NDPP wrote:

Half of Greek Cops Go Ultra-Nationalist At Elections

http://rt.com/news/greek-police-vote-nazis-350/

"More than half of all police officers in Greece voted for the far-right ultra nationalist party Golden Dawn - described by many as neo-Nazi - in the elections on May 6. This gave them a record 7 percent of the vote, securing 21 seats in parliament. It campaigned heavily on an anti-immigrant platform using the slogan 'So we can rid this land of filth'. The unprecedented rise of the far right has already caused alarm in the country.."

Not saying we're going to see some kind of far-right coup in Greece, I really, really don't think Nazis can take power in any western country.

But that can't be good.

If you were in Greece and had some money in the bank, would you be pulling your euros out now?

Greece and the Global Crisis of Capitalism

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/pers-m17.shtml

"Global financial institutions have a $536 billion exposure to Greek debt, but the Institute of International Finance estimates the true global cost of a Greek exit to be closer to $1.2 trillion, entailing 'killer' losses. Wirtschaft Woche magazine says an exit would cost eurozone governments alone $300 Billion. More importantly, a Greek exit will inevitably hasten the collapse of much bigger economies that are teetering on the brink such as Spain, Portugal or Italy.."

1st Prize for Understatement:

Quote:

 

"There is, of course, no panic, but there is fear that could develop into panic. [The central bank governor] also said that the strength of banks is very weak at the moment," President Papoulias said.

The only question is WHEN the banks collapse, and what precisely happens after.

Greeks will take everything they can get out of the banks.

1.] They dont want anything in the banks when they collapse [even if you get your money, there is a delay].

2.] Looking slightly further down the road.... they want cash [or deposits outside Greece] for when Greece pulls out or is ejected from the euro.

So, "panic" does not apply to something that is totally predictable.

abnormal wrote:

YOU racked up the debt. ...YOU were happy to go on an unsustainable spending spree once you'd been admitted to the Eurozone.

What did Greeksbuy with their spending spree? They printed a lot of IOU's which was not money spent by Greeks but which were given to Euro banks and the one percent. Goldman Sachs and other banks were the ones who sold them debt fraudulently and without ensuring the Greeks could even pay it back. In America it's called fraudulent conveyance. In Europe it's not legal since formation of the ECB. 

Greeks don't have to pay if they don't want to. They weren't allowed to have a referendum on bailing out the banks because the bankers and finance industry know that oligarchy would lose out to democracy.