Posted on 06/15/2015 9:40:38 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Greece and its creditors hardened their stances on Monday after the collapse of talks aimed at preventing a default and possible euro exit, prompting Germany's EU commissioner to say the time had come to prepare for a "state of emergency".
Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ignored pleas from European leaders to act fast. Instead he blamed creditors for Sunday's breakdown of the cash-for-reform talks, the biggest setback in long-running negotiations to unlock aid for Greece.
Athens now has just two weeks to find a way out of the impasse before it faces a 1.6 billion euro repayment due to the International Monetary Fund, potentially leaving it out of cash, unable to borrow and dangling on the edge of the currency area.
Germany and other creditor nations demanded that Athens come to its senses and offer new proposals.
"It won't work that Greece sets the terms and says 'everyone has to dance to our tune'. Greece needs to get back to reality," Volker Kauder, parliamentary floor leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, told ARD television.
Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt said the euro zone's credibility would be damaged and radical forces in other countries emboldened if past accords with Greece were changed.
The European Commission said it would only resume mediation efforts if Greece put forward new proposals, while the Greek government spokesman said Athens was sticking to its rejection of wage and pension cuts and higher taxes on basic goods.
"We have largely exhausted our limits," spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said. Tsipras' office said Greece was ready to restart talks at any time and was waiting for an invitation.
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
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If the EU wants to have any credibility, they need to make an example out of Greece.
Greece’s financial problems came to the fore after a clerk in Athens saw a satellite photograph of Athens. The clerk noticed all the backyard swimming pools. You have to buy a permit in Athens to put in a swimming pool. No one had been buying the permits.
So, the Greeks in Athens had the money to pay for backyard swimming pools, but they refused to buy the city permits.
Let them eat their swimming pools.
Why does it take an international crisis conference to handle this? They won’t address the real issue, which is that the Greek Welfare State spends a huge amount more than it takes in and has been subsidizing its citizens’ lifestyles with borrowed money. This is like having an international conference with a heroin addict. The heroin addict wants more money to keep the addiction going and will beg, threaten, scream and cry to get it.
We are going to get to watch what happens when socialists finally run out of other people’s money.
It will be ugly, but instructive as well as very entertaining.
L
The common currency was a stupid idea. It made the producers pay the slackers. It was a transfer of wealth scheme -the left’s obsession.
I’ve got a bad feeling Greece will get a “loan” from the US to bail out the bailout; perhaps thru a special Federal Reserve action. They’ve bailed out foreign banks, why not bailout a whole country? Is it any surprise that rewarding bad fiscal behavior has resulted in more bad fiscal behavior?
The problem the EU has is that every member is Greece, just not as far down the debt road.
Europe has been an upside-down welfare state for a long time.
It is all going to collapse. Not just Greece.
Because she was a lady, should couldn’t just say that the EURO was an idiotic, stupid idea that will result in “bail out’s” for the weaker minded nations;
“But, in a scathing tone, Lady Thatcher insisted to me that a single currency was impossible. It would never work. “Every single fixed exchange rate has cracked in the end. We’re all at different levels of development of our economies. Some countries simply couldn’t live up to a single currency… We should each of us be proud to be separate countries cooperating together.”
The turmoil in European currency markets that fall of 1992 was proof for Thatcher that a united Europe was meant to crumble. And indeed her prophecy 21 years ago has been borne out lately. The grand experiment of a single monetary system, a single economic policy, working towards a common defense policy, even a common foreign policy meant to her that “80% of Britain’s economic decisions will be made in Brussels.” Actually, it has been more the need of the European Central Bank and Germany to prop up the staggering debt-laden economies of Greece, Spain, Italy, France and try to devise stability for Cyprus. Imagine having banks in Cyprus become an Achilles heel for Europe. Thatcher would have been furious.
And she doesn’t exactly look wrong in her worry over the prospect of German domination of Europe– though “domination” today means the helping hand of the giant strong economy of Europe. Thatcher was going to be damned if she made Britain subservient to Germany.”
And left vilified her for this kind of thinking...hhhhmmm, hind sight being 20/20, she was right, I guess we should have listened to her. At least she didn’t allow Brittan to get dragged into this “pipe dream.”
It’s an international conference of heroine addicts to address the problem of one of theirown who is in ICU.
All those hair dressers that retired with full pensions at age 50 will be throw fits in the street when that 50,000,000 drachma monthly check buys 2 or 3 olives.
Instructive to watch a service based progressive/socialist economy self-immolate.
“The common currency was a stupid idea. It made the producers pay the slackers. It was a transfer of wealth scheme -the left’s obsession.”
Yeah, the PIIGS were allowed to feed off of the productive parts of Europe, but now those producer countries have had it, paying for a bunch of layabouts. Kinda like the Blacks in this country who also need to be taken off the gravy train.
From a macro economic standpoint, Greece's default is but a pimple on an elephant's ass.
Dominoes...
5.56mm
The funny part is that the Greeks will demand MORE Socialism as the solution to their problems. Never fails.
When socialists - like the American Gov’t these days - run out of money, they never admit they are wrong.
They seize more.
I am rooting for Greece.
“From a macro economic standpoint, Greece’s default is but a pimple on an elephant’s ass.”
Greece presents two problems to the EU:
First, if they default, the leading banks of other nations - especially German - will be hurt.
Second, if they allow one nation to leave, there are at least three others lined up to do the same...
Greece is one of the three small horns written about in the Bible prophecy. In the prophecy, these horns are said to have been “uprooted.”
My take on this is that Greece will be “uprooted” - in other words, subjugated against its will. Two other debtor nations will suffer a similar fate - possibly including Portugal, Spain, and/or Italy.
The EU will not allow itself to be dissolved. Dissent will be crushed.
if they allow one nation to leave, there are at least three others lined up to do the same...
Interesting the word, "allow." Maybe 1861 will rhyme in 2015 for the Europeans?
5.56mm
Yep.
"One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary." - Ayn Rand
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