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Fury in Germany after Greek referendum call
Reuters ^ | 11/1/2011 | Erik Kirschbaum and Noah Barkin

Posted on 11/01/2011 9:43:00 AM PDT by mojito

Germans expressed fury and frustration at Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's shock decision to call a referendum on the latest aid package, with some saying the gamble would push Greece out of the euro zone.

"You can't help thinking that they should be grateful as Europe is trying to help," said Konstanze Pilge, a 26-year old student, walking near the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin. "Now it looks like they are going to mess things up."

Papandreou dropped his bombshell on Monday evening, less than a week after European leaders agreed the outlines of a second bailout for Athens.

"It just goes to show once again what a huge mistake it was not to throw Greece out of the euro zone at the start," said Wolfgang Gerke, a banking professor and president of the Bavarian Financial Centre think tank.

Europe's paymaster Germany and its partners in the euro zone were taken by surprise by the announcement.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Germany; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: arabsocialism; corruption; economy; euro; europeanunion; germany; grease; greece; greeceistheword; iberianimpulse
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To: drbuzzard

part of the problem is:

the banks were complicit in inflating the value of the Greek bonds. They don’t want to be exposed to a perp walk.


41 posted on 11/01/2011 12:05:06 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Drill Thrawl

And they lose $40 for every $1 the Greeks default AND it could spread from there to other nations such as Portugal, Italy, etc.

Got it. Finally.


42 posted on 11/01/2011 12:05:57 PM PDT by Little Ray (FOR the best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: Fee

So, absorb the Greek bonds, and sink the banks holding the derivatives. Pay insurance on the depositors and tell the investors and stockholders, they’re out of luck.
Assuming, of course, they’re not your national banks...

This derivative thing is driving me nuts. I just can’t my head around it. We need to let the people playing these games go bankrupt.


43 posted on 11/01/2011 12:11:20 PM PDT by Little Ray (FOR the best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: TruthConquers

Hopefully the Greeks will tell the EU Nazi’s to stuff it as Iceland did.....the 3:00pm news is nothing but another pump and dump moment for the PE.


44 posted on 11/01/2011 12:14:44 PM PDT by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: drbuzzard

lets say the “Greeks are chucked out”, and then they tell the EU to go stuff themselves...

Then itally, prtugal, ireland, and spain also tell the EU (germans) to go stuff themselves. They have to in order to avoid be saddled with the now worthless greek debt.

The net result, for “chucking” is a worthless euro currency.

the EU will fall appart next. (all those do nothings in brussels will become unemployed)

This is now about the survivability of the EU. It is just happening within weeks instead of years.


45 posted on 11/01/2011 12:16:33 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: longtermmemmory

I bet the Chinese are not investing a single penny until this is cleared up either way.

If the Greeks get screwed, China buys all of Germany at a firesale price.


46 posted on 11/01/2011 12:22:48 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: longtermmemmory

>This is now about the survivability of the EU. It is just happening within weeks instead of years.

Considering how much fraud was perpetrated by member nations of the EU in terms of meeting the criteria for membership, I’d say the EU dying was inevitable. The Greek economy is a sorry joke propped up by loans. Throwing more loans into the hole isn’t going to help. That country essentially needs to crash and burn and then rebuild. It is likely that Portugal, Spain, and Italy need to do the same. The normal crash and burn from a radical devaluation isn’t an option because of the Euro, so pretty much the Euro has to go away.


47 posted on 11/01/2011 12:37:42 PM PDT by drbuzzard (different league)
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To: drbuzzard

Not just the Greek ecconomy.

Consider that France, the most productive nation of the EU, has an ecconomy that is in the bottom 20% of states of the USA.

The EU was built upon debt dedicated to socialism.
The EU was not built on assets dedicated to individual freedom.

The socialism of the EU is all about freebies as a collective obligation.

The no confidence vote is Nov 4th, the 5th of November will be veeeeery interesting.

BTW the battle of marathon is celebrating the 2501st aniversary this month...


48 posted on 11/01/2011 12:50:02 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: longtermmemmory

France is the most productive economy? I would have thought it was Germany.

By either overall GDP or GDP per capital Germany is superior:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita

Either way, they are all based on welfare states, which have the Ponzi scheme issue, especially with their demographic troubles.


49 posted on 11/01/2011 12:58:21 PM PDT by drbuzzard (different league)
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To: dfwgator

“They bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into....I say, ‘Let ‘em crash.’”

I was telling one of the kids at work about “Airplane.” He’d never seen it.

I feel so old.


50 posted on 11/01/2011 1:02:01 PM PDT by PLMerite (Shut the Beyotch Down! Burn, baby, burn!)
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To: drbuzzard
Considering how much fraud was perpetrated by member nations of the EU in terms of meeting the criteria for membership...
Kind of like all those home-loans-to-deadbeats pushed by Barney Frank and Maxine Waters.
51 posted on 11/01/2011 1:15:20 PM PDT by samtheman (Newt, can you refute... global warming? You really have to do that.)
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To: Drill Thrawl

Yes, but it is the Americans who hold the credit default swaps, which ‘insure’ Europeans against bond defaults.


52 posted on 11/01/2011 1:37:38 PM PDT by expatpat
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To: Army Air Corps
OK, here's the event tree (well, the probable one).

1) Greeks vote on bailout/loss of sovereignty..
....a) Yes. Greeks get EU/EMU funds, continue rioting ad hoc, Greek gov't seeks another bailout w/in 6 months. Fishwrapper steadies up, probably rallies somewhat for the VERY short term, then falls when Portugal/Italy step up to the trough.
....b) No. Greek govt falls, extensive civil unrest for foreseeable future, EU/EMU washes hands of Greece over French protests. Fishwrapper likely falls sharply, option IVs go crazily upward, Eurobond spreads widen dramatically.

EUR/USD and SP500/DJIA are correlated very near 1.0 these days, and this will continue for at least a couple of weeks past this silly referendum. If Papadoucheyou had a brain in his head, he'd take the money, pay off the parties that need to be bought, and get the hell out of Dodge...er, Greece...with his Swiss bank accounts and his hide intact. That he is not doing this is the most accurate possible gauge of the depths of his stupidity (never mind outright incompetence; he's demonstrated that for years and years...he's a socialist, remember?).

53 posted on 11/01/2011 2:35:19 PM PDT by SAJ (What is the next tagline some overweening mod will censor?)
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To: mojito; Charles Henrickson; martin_fierro

Ich bin ein Burnedlender


54 posted on 11/01/2011 3:24:44 PM PDT by mikrofon (Hail the Furor)
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To: mikrofon; mojito; Charles Henrickson; SunkenCiv
Socrates is a ΔeaΔbeat
Socrates is a man
∴ All men are ΔeaΔbeats
55 posted on 11/01/2011 4:54:38 PM PDT by martin_fierro (Sillygism)
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To: PLMerite
“They bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into....I say, ‘Let ‘em crash.’”

I was telling one of the kids at work about “Airplane.” He’d never seen it.

I feel so old.

It's ok, he probably wasn't even born when the movie was released. Wait, I'm not helping, am I?

56 posted on 11/01/2011 6:07:56 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: mojito

What suckers! They are mad that their traitors did not get away with shaking down their Treasury to bail out a foreign government and its banksters? Mindless idiots. They are going to get shaken down for Italy next. That way all of Europe can be made equally poor and enslaved to the globalists and the EU.


57 posted on 11/01/2011 6:13:32 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: martin_fierro; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; ...

Yer a-peein’ ping. Thanks martin_f.


58 posted on 11/03/2011 2:22:46 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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