Free Republic

Greece rocked by reports of secret plan to raid banks for drachma return Opposition demands answers after covert proposals attributed to Yanis Varoufakis and fellow ex-minister highlight deep split in Syriza party Staff and agencies Sunday 26 July 2015 19.39 BST Some members of Greece’s leftist-led government wanted to raid central bank reserves and hack taxpayer accounts to prepare a return to the drachma, according to reports that highlighted the chaos in the ruling Syriza party. It is not clear how seriously the government considered the plans, attributed to former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. Lafazanis...

Almost every option facing debt-drenched Greece is bad, but there is only one that will end this Greek tragedy for good. Let Greece go bankrupt. Then let this once-rich nation, hit the restart button to rebuild its economy. What I’m suggesting for Greece is what might be called the Detroit option. Put Greece under receivership and let these new authorities figure out how to manage the debt and decide who will take a haircut and how big. Pensioners, bondholders, welfare recipients, government workers, the International Monetary Fund, all will have to settle for less — maybe a lot less. It’s...

Sunday, Greeks should vote “no”!Hellenic voters are being asked whether they accept the terms offered by the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund to extend the bailout for Athens‘ troubled finances or give Prime Minister Tsipras a mandate to insist on a better deal.Those conditions include more cuts in government supported pensions, higher taxes and labor market reforms other European governments’ are often not inclined to accept in the conduct of their own affairs.Urging a Yes vote, European leaders and their supporters in private institutions claim more austerity would reinvigorate the Greek economy and permit Greeks to...

<p>Greece and its principal creditors—the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund—should acknowledge that Athens will never be able to repay the €131 billion it owes, write down its debt and let the Aegean nation exit the euro gracefully.</p>

On Thursday morning, we took an in-depth look at what the progression of events is likely to be in the event a cash-strapped, negotiation-weary Greece finally, for lack of will or for lack of options, fails to scrape together enough cash to pay its creditors. As BofAML notes, a missed IMF payment and/or failure to make interest payments to either the ECB or private creditors over the coming weeks would likely lead to default within 30 days, at which point "mark-to-fantasy" becomes mark-to-market and then "mark-to-default" in very short order. Although Greek officials came out midday with a “categorical” denial...

A recently translated ancient Egyptian tax receipt shows a bill that is (literally) heavier than any American taxpayer will pay this year — more than 220 lbs. (100 kilograms) of coins. Written in Greek on a piece of pottery, the receipt states that a person (the name is unreadable) and his friends paid a land-transfer tax that came to 75 "talents" (a unit of currency), with a 15-talent charge added on. The tax was paid in coins and was delivered to a public bank in a city called Diospolis Magna (also known as Luxor or Thebes). But just how much...

The recent indecisive Greek elections could be summed up by two general themes: Greeks want to stay in, and expect help from, the eurozone. But they still do not want to take the necessary medicine to stop borrowing billions of euros from northern Europeans, who want a radical Greek reform of the tax code, deregulation of labor laws, fiscal discipline, massive cuts in bureaucracy, and greater transparency -- all unlikely given Greek history and contemporary culture. So what lies in the future for Greece as it is slowly eased out of the euro zone and its civilization goes into reverse?...

Drachmageddon? Middle-class poverty. Feral Gangs. Neo-Nazis. Athens Waits For The Volcano To Explode By Robert Hardman 15 June 2012 Antonis Perris was a devoted son. When his elderly mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s four years ago, there was no question of putting her in a state facility. He would care for her at home in Athens and they would face the future together. But then things started getting very much worse. ‘The problem is that I was not prepared when the economic crisis hit and I do not have enough money in my account,’ wrote the 60-year-old unemployed musician. ‘My...

Staying in the eurozone will mean that the country will be lorded over by bankster operatives. They will provide enough money to keep the country alive, but they will also demand allegiance to their plans of "austerity", which will mean more cuts in government services, higher taxes and better tax collection methods. It won't be pleasant for anyone in Greece. ... But there is a better alternative . That alternative is for Greece to leave the eurozone and return to the drachma. Here's how this could be done in a way that could put Greece on its way to a...

Greece's two main parties are set for heavy losses in Sunday's (6 May) elections, with anti-bailout groups on the extreme left and right to enter parliament for the first time, raising again the prospect of an exit from the eurozone. Public anger at the austerity measures linked to the second, €130-billion-strong bailout package could translate into a new Parliament unable to form a ruling coalition and a new round of elections being called in the next months. Observers expect the ruling center-right New Democracy and the center-left Pasok parties to come in first and second, but it is unclear whether...

The tour operator TUI has sent a letter to Greek hoteliers (available BILDde) the hotel owner now be asked to sign a new contract in the event of a currency changeover. Greece Greece Papandreou wins confidence vote Premier Vortex around € Voting Greeks cabinet stands behind Premier Euro vote Papandreou Will we kidding? Euro-Greeks vote solve new crisis Questions about crises out of the Greek crisis - does it work? More about the euro crisis Euro-crisis ends? Greeks fawn at Angela MERKULES Greece chronicle of tragedy It states: "If the euro should not be the currency (...), TUI is entitled...

Government spokesman George Petalotis on Monday strenuously denied rumours speculating about a possible default by Greece and a return to the drachma. "We have recently become witnesses of various rumours about an alleged return to the drachma, alleged rescheduling of the debt, hybrid money systems and various other things that we are hearing for the first time," Petalotis said, adding that such groundless rumours could only create confusion and disorientation in Greek society as it tried to overcome the crisis. "Naturally, we categorically deny all these fanciful scenarios, wherever they may originate from and in whatever way they are disseminated...

HERE IN GREECE, a writer’s thoughts turn to antiquity. The past is everywhere, not only in the ruins of ancient temples, but in the road signs, billboards and Kellogg’s cereal boxes spelled out in Greece’s unique and beautiful 3,000-year-old alphabet. The social engineers of the European Union have not yet gotten around to eliminating this stubborn remnant of Greek identity, but give them time. As Hitler might have put it: One Volk! One Reich! One alphabet! Make Comments View Comments Printable Article E-mail Article Already, the Euro-commissars have persuaded Greece to abandon the drachma – the world’s oldest living currency,...

HERE IN GREECE, a writer’s thoughts turn to antiquity. The past is everywhere, not only in the ruins of ancient temples, but in the road signs, billboards and Kellogg’s cereal boxes spelled out in Greece’s unique and beautiful 3,000-year-old alphabet. The social engineers of the European Union have not yet gotten around to eliminating this stubborn remnant of Greek identity, but give them time. As Hitler might have put it: One Volk! One Reich! One alphabet! Already, the Euro-commissars have persuaded Greece to abandon the drachma – the world’s oldest living currency, used in the time of Pericles – in...