“Greece’s leaders stun Europe with escalating defiance
“Exit from the euro does not even enter into our plans,
Aren’t these contradictory? “
It is brinksmanship by SYRIZA, the new ruling party in Greece (an acronym for Coalition of the Radical Left, in Greek).
They are hoping to scare their creditors in Europe into writing off half their massive debt, suspending payments on the other half, and giving them big new loans to go on an Obama-like spending spree.
They are using the survival like the Euro as a hostage.
The Europeans have seen this coming for a few years, and are not as unprepared as they were a few years ago, but the new Greek Government are extremists.
It is a high stakes game of chicken which could drive Greece into Zimbabwe-like printing of their own currency, or send a shock through the banking system as 100 to 300 billion Euros in debt vaporizes from bank balance sheets.
Coming to areas of prolonged socialist overspending near you, if things don’t change.
My first thought.
This is extortion. Keep funding our socialist fantasy or we pull the Euro down around your ears.
“It is a high stakes game of chicken which could drive Greece into Zimbabwe-like printing of their own currency, or send a shock through the banking system as 100 to 300 billion Euros in debt vaporizes from bank balance sheets.”
That 100 to 300 billion Euros in debt in the banks’ balance sheet is bogus. The debt has already vaporized by any modicum of accounting system - they just refuse to accept reality.
The troika is lending Greece more money (increasing that debt) so they can repay the debt!! It’s like playing a Ponzi scheme on yourself.
The equivalent would be a broke, jobless homeowner who can’t pay the mortgage. The bank lends him more money each month so he can use it to pay the mortgage and so the bank can keep the mortgage in the book as good debt.
Utter insanity.