Friday, June 17, 2011

So How're Things in Greece?

The Greek 2-year bond is now paying around 25%. That should be a clue; but here's the quick-and-dirty synopsis from Mish:

Greece did not meet the IMF's criteria for more aid
  1. The Greek government is collapsing
  2. The Greek prime minister threatened to resign
  3. An emergence meeting of the Greek Parliament could not gather support for more austerity measures
  4. An emergency meeting of EU ministers produced "no results". The EU has no consensus about what to do
  5. Two-year interest rates in Greece topped 30%
  6. Germany wants bond holders to take a haircut, France does not
  7. Greek unions are on strike
  8. Riots and violence have escalated
  9. Credit default swaps are pricing in an 80% chance of default
Other than that, the weather's beautiful.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's the question no one is asking: While we understand why people in Greece don't like austerity any more than people anywhere else in the world, no one has summarized the Greece budget (least-wise as I've seen it) to see how much of the current crisis is real current spending and income versus what portion is accumulated debt to the world bankster cabal?

If a significant fraction of austerity is due to accumulated debt, screw 'em, just
void the debt and go on cash-basis accounting, operating the country within its current income.

Bankers need to have a dose of reality and choke on their bad loans

Dad29 said...

All I've heard is that about 30% of the GDP over there is Gummint spending.

Yup, the banks should take a haircut.

But remember this: the immediate cause of the Depression was NOT some US problem. The immediate cause was the failure of the Austrian Kreditanstalt Bank.

Then the dominos began to fall.

Anonymous said...

Heard an interesting piece on WPR the other day.
If you think Greece/Wisconsin are bad...check it out and listen to what's happening in Mozambique!

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/06/16/pm-in-mozambique-subsidy-curbs-spark-worries/

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

The unrest in Greece is our future if we do not get this under control now. And Madison should be a wake-up. The riots which will ensue when entitlements run out in this country will burn it down.

J. Strupp said...

We have our own currency. We are not Greece.

There is no evidence that we will ever be Greece. This is simply saying things just to say them.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

Sure Struppster. Nothing to see here.

Let's see here....taking away a small portion of the gravy train from unionized public sector workers got us "peaceful" (unless you were a Republican member of the State Senate) protests. Whaddaya think we are going to see when the money runs out and the government is forced to deal with entitlements?

J. Strupp said...

How do you run out of money if you print your own currency?

People still just can't understand this concept.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

So, that little debt thingy we have going with China doesn't exist, eh?

It really doesn't matter that it's all "funny money". It is based in something - that "something" being GDP. The way I understand it (and it is most certainly voodoo economics) is the closer the debt gets to GDP, the more the dollar must be inflated to offset the lack of overseas buying power. Eventually, the dollar becomes worthless. (See "Zimbabwe")

Domestically, it's easier. There is no money other than what is earned. It only has value because you will take it from me for something of intrinsic value. It is a finite resource. Once you take all I have, I can't give you more.

Now,combine the foreign and domestic parts and it becomes a bit more complicated. But in the end, there will be no money.

Dad29 said...

....or, perhaps, there will be no "value" to the money.

The fallacy of fiat money is exactly that: it's "fiat." It is worth whatever someone will give you for it, whether oil, wheat, copper, cattle...

It's not a question of having cash; never was. It's a question of value.