Greece To Close Banks, Impose Capital Controls Amid Looming Default
 

The market will be fun to watch tomorrow. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...ooming-default

Why any group of so called economists actually believed the EU could have a common currency but independent finance ministries is beyond comprehension.

The only surprising part is that it took this long for the whole fool's paradise to break down.

Looks like a bit of a drop yesterday, -350 pts. Today was up slightly. It's mostly the EU and the IMF that'll get a soaking from what I've heard.

The Frankfurt DAX closed down 3.56% yesterday and fell again today by 1.25%, so nearly 5% in two days.

I wonder if the Germans are cutting off their noses to spite their faces?
Seems shortsighted.

They have a lot to lose, in several respects.

It is almost a 24 hours 7 days topic in the news channels here for weeks and months. It is a classical Greek drama. The ordinary Greek citizen has to pay for what the two demi-monde POLITKASPER Zipras and Varoufakis have made a botch-up of.

Very sad and the worst case (currently rather unlikely) would be a civil war.

The whole austerity idea was a screw up in the face of a depression, but try and tell that to Angela.

Greece received 90 billions euros from Germany. Money that is gone forever, because Greece will never pay back. But we owe 476 billions Reichsmark (how much might that be in euros) to Greece caused by the WWII devastations, so this is okay.

Angela worked her butt off in order to find a solution for the debt crisis. Her austerity was and is a means that even she herself does not like - but exactly this austerity is what the Greek politicians actually needed and now her patience is at an end.

Chris when so many people become unemployed by austerity fewer taxes are paid in to the treasury - it is simply a race to the bottom - to see how quickly the government can go bankrupt. It would seem that Greece has arrived at that point,

Sure some reforms were needed and a left government might achieve some reforms, for example I wonder if Onasis ever paid income tax in his lifetime and I doubt his heirs are paying any today.

Sorry about the girls team.

It's also important to remember that the problems facing Greece have their origins not with Tsipras and Varoufakis but with a series of shady deals made with Goldman Sachs by previous governments that stretch back to 2002.

So if they exit the EU will Goldman Sachs take a hit? If so it could not happen to a more deserving lot.

Rob - the US girls did a good job!

What is your advise for our chancellor to improve the situation? She is ready now for new negotiations, she said today, despite her patience is at an end.

For sure Tsipras and Varoufakis did not start the crisis, but they did a lousy job in the last months and their demands on Brussels were more than one time impertinent.

Chris, I think part of the problem is that Varoufakis is a schreiendes Arschloch.

At some point the hardships of the repayment outweigh the hardships of default, for the Greeks.

At some point the hardships of concession outweigh the hardships of default, for the creditors.

I'm pretty sure there remains an area of overlap where neither would choose default--if they can find it and agree to it. But there may be too many players, and too many 'other considerations.' In a game of 'chicken' neither player intends to drive off the cliff, but that doesn't guarantee no one will....

Chris I have felt from the very beginning that the EU was a big mistake. The EU Bankers in Brussels control the value of the EU. All the EU members have their own treasury departments, that's an unmanageable situation. I know just how bloody difficult life is in such a situation. I live here in the US but the major part of our income is my Canadian pension. The Bank of Canada (and the price of oil) pretty much sets the value of the $CDN and right now we are taking a 15-16% cut in income - it is not pretty.

His EU counterpart is no prize.:)

I think the Greek pensioners have already reached that point where they cannot live on their pensions and the EU wants them cut even further, if you are going to starve anyway why do it so that the IMF can get its money?

He will be history pretty soon!

And the referendum next sunday is nothing but another bad Tsipras joke.

I watched a television report (ZDF channel, the most trustworthy one in Germany) yesterday and there was an old Greek man, a retired person. He said that he has nothing to eat anymore for already two days. Then he started to cry. Heartbreaking.

(My English is damned lousy currently. But I am suffering from a severe heatwave and my brain does not work properly anymore... sorry...)

Saw Angela on BBC news last evening, sure did not look like she had worked her butt off.

Haw!:D

The Nays Have It.

In other words the Greeks gave a big upturned middle finger to austerity.

Good for them!

I thought what they rejected was EU imposed "austerity", meaning they intend to make a go of it on their own?

Wouldn't that make Greece LESS of a drag on the European market?

Screw the Euro, the Greek central bank is not permitted to help the Greek banks unless Brussels gives it permission. It seems that to join the EU you have to surrender your sovereignty.

The conception seemed like a great idea. For people with money being able to have one currency.

But in practice unless the members see that all the partners are not equal and there will be those who need assistance. Doomed to failure. Like in the US not all states run a balanced budget. Need help from the rest of those who have a surplus. Do we stop giving money to the states that require funds? No we don't.



Barney