[Gunslingr3]

It’s wishful thinking from a Greek.

Germany still holds the cards. The treaty forbids (and requires a unanimity to alter - and Northern Europe is still solidly with the Germans which the author leaves out) eurobonds, and France has only turned to align with Club Med because their credit rating it heading down and they want to be able to use Germany’s credit card in the future too.

It’s looking more and more like Germany has decided cutting the Greeks loose is less expensive than keeping them on the German taxpayer’s tit forever.

Greece hasn’t faced any ‘austerity’, they’re been living beyond their means, and on the goodwill of northern Europe, for too long.

Their real ‘austerity’ will be felt when Merkel says the milk is all gone. Then Greeks who want to live on taxes, but pay no taxes, will have to choose.

[bruinbirdman]

"and France has only turned to align with Club Med because "<

Does anyone remember Sarkozy's Club Med efforts? Beyond EU countries, it included North Africa.

He even sent his wife over to seduce Ghadafi into the plan.

yitbos

[bruinbirdman]

"It’s looking more and more like Germany has decided cutting the Greeks loose . . . ."

Return of the Drachma means the end of the Euro Zone grand single currency, consolidated socialist experiment. They all know that no one would buy any euro denominated sovereign debt and EU is not ready to give up yet.

Look for EU and Greece, in the end, to compromise.

Look for EuroBonds, probably in 2013.

yitbos

[Olog-hai]

Greece got no free money. It’s all been loans. Things should have gotten better at least, yes? but they’re having their feet held to the fire with the demand that all the military hardware they've been buying as part of the deal has to be paid off first, before anything else within the country can be dealt with.

Remember, the EU runs by the social market economy by law—there is no alternative. They are utterly bigoted against what they call the “Anglo-Saxon economic model” and have been spreading the propaganda that it does not work—in spite of the clear facts being that the liberals in the Anglo-Saxon economies have abandoned the free market in favor of Marxist-influenced policies, and even social market-like economic policy.

Incidentally, I haven’t seen anyone’s opinion of the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact (note the second word), which obliges member states of the eurozone to keep their deficits within 3 percent of GDP. No eurozone member achieved this—and only Germany did it last year, and they didn’t practice the kind of austerity that other eurozone nations have been obliged to. I don’t see it lasting, myself, because even Germany’s economy is being dragged down. Watch for a rewrite. The euro was set up to cause a crisis anyhow.