EU Makes Greece 'An Offer They Can't Refuse': Agree To A Deal By Sunday Or Go Bankrupt - By Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/eu-makes-greece-an-offer-they-cant-refuse-agree-to-a-deal-by-sunday-or-go-bankrupt
It looks like we aren't going to have to wait much longer to see if Greece remains part of the eurozone or not. Instead of softening their demands in the wake of the Greek referendum, European leaders have given the Greek government an ultimatum. On Tuesday night, EU officials gave Greece a deadline of Thursday to submit a new proposal and a deadline of Sunday for agreeing to a deal. If a deal is not reached on Sunday, all aid to Greece will be cut off and the nation will be faced with financial oblivion and a forced exit from the common currency. But Angela Merkel has already made it abundantly clear that any new deal will not include a debt haircut - one of the key things that the Greek government wanted. If a deal is actually made, it is almost certainly going to look very much like what Greece's creditors have been offering all along. Needless to say, this is precisely what the Greek people just voted against, but the pressure on Greek leadership is immense at this point. In essence, they are being given "an offer they can't refuse". So will the Greek government buckle under this mobster-like intimidation?
First, let's watch what happens on Wednesday and Thursday. The Greeks are being told that they better submit a "workable proposal" by the end of the day on Thursday or else. The following comes from a BBC report...
The eurozone has given Greece until Thursday to present new proposals to secure a deal with creditors, and has called a full EU summit for Sunday.
European Council President Donald Tusk said this was now the "most critical moment in the history of the eurozone".
"The final deadline ends this week," he said after emergency talks in Brussels.
If a proposal that is "workable" is submitted by the end of the day on Thursday, then it will be submitted for consideration to a special summit of all 28 members of the EU on Sunday. If an agreement is not reached by the end of the day on Sunday, then EU officials have said that they are ready to move on to Plan B.
It had been expected that the Greek government would submit something new on Tuesday, but apparently that did not happen. The following comes from the Daily Mail...
European stock markets plunged suddenly into the red this afternoon as the war of words between Greece and its eurozone partners blew up again today and Greek banks watched their cash reserves disappear.
Greek negotiators were accused of arriving at crunch talks without any new proposals as a European Central Bank funding shutdown left the country's crippled banks with just enough cash to remain solvent for a day or two.
Ahead of a 'last chance saloon' summit for Greece to persuade its creditors to resume bailout talks, Greek officials insisted to Reuters news agency that they had submitted new credit proposals to eurozone partners.
But eurozone counterparts denied that they constituted a new plan.
At this point, the two sides cannot even agree on whether a "new plan" was proposed or not.
What hope is there that a comprehensive agreement can be reached within the next couple of days?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel certainly does not sound optimistic...
"We have only a few days left to find a solution," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters late Tuesday after euro-area leaders met in Brussels. She conceded that she is "not especially optimistic."
Sunday now looms as the climax of a five-year battle to contain Greece's debts, potentially splintering a currency that was meant to be unbreakable and throwing more than half a century of European economic and political integration into reverse.
"We have a Grexit scenario prepared in detail," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said, using the shorthand for expulsion from the now 19-nation currency area.
For years, European officials have been kicking the can down the road.
But now it sounds like they are determined to end things one way or another.
In fact, European Union President Donald Tusk told reporters that "the final deadline ends this week"...
The stark reality is that we have only five days left to find the ultimate agreement. Until now, I have avoided talking about deadlines. But tonight I have to say loud and clear that the final deadline ends this week.
All of us are responsible for the crisis and all of us have a responsibility to resolve it.
That sounds quite ominous.
But even more chilling is something else that he said...
"Our inability to find agreement may lead to the bankruptcy of Greece and the insolvency of its banking system," European Union President Donald Tusk said. "If someone has any illusions that it will not be so, they are naive."
Wow.
And Tusk is right. If there is no deal, the Greek government will go bankrupt and the Greek banking system will totally collapse.
But it will also mean financial disaster for the rest of Europe as well. In just the past few days, we have gotten to see a small preview of what might be coming as turmoil has erupted in European financial markets.
If there is a "Grexit", European stocks will crash, European bond yields will go crazy, major banks all over Europe will be shaken, and the euro will drop like a rock.
And there are some that even believe that a "Grexit" could actually be "the beginning of the end" for the common currency. For example, just consider what French economist Thomas Piketty recently told CNBC...
European leaders need to take a more "realistic" outlook on Greece and yield ground on debt forgiveness, French economist Thomas Piketty said Tuesday.
He contended that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken a hypocritical stance, as the German economy was given more flexibility with debt reductions after World War II. Without concessions that allow Athens to invest in infrastructure and economic growth, Greece could leave the euro zone-the so-called Grexit-and start "the beginning of the end" for the common currency, Piketty said.
"We have to get away from this very ideological approach and get to an agreement," the "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" author said in a CNBC "Closing Bell" interview.
Without a doubt, this is going to be a very interesting week.
Did you notice that Greece's creditors are not rushing to offer the Greeks a new deal in the wake of the stunning referendum result on Sunday? In fact, it is being reported that the initial reaction to the "no" vote from top European politicians was "a thunderous silence". Needless to say, the European elite were not pleased by how the Greek people voted, but they still have all of the leverage. In particular, it is the Germans that are holding all of the cards. If the Germans want to cave in and give the Greeks the kind of deal that they desire, everyone else would follow suit. And if the Germans want to maintain a hard line with Greece, they can block any deal from happening all by themselves. So in the final analysis, this is really an economic test of wills between Germany and Greece, and time is on Germany's side. Germany doesn't have to offer anything new. The Germans can just sit back and wait for the Greek government to default on their debts, for Greek banks to totally run out of cash and for civil unrest to erupt in Greek cities as the economy grinds to a standstill.
In ancient times, if a conquering army came up against a walled city that was quite formidable, often a decision would be made to conduct a siege. Instead of attacking a heavily defended city directly and taking heavy casualties, it was often much more cost effective to simply surround the city from a safe distance and starve the inhabitants into submission.
In a sense, that is exactly what the Germans appear to want to do to the Greeks. Without more cash, the Greek government cannot pay their bills. Without more cash, Greek banks are going to start collapsing left and right. Without more cash, the Greek economy is going to completely and utterly collapse.
So yes, the Greeks voted for change, but the Germans still hold the purse strings.
And right now the Germans do not sound like they are in any mood to compromise. The following comes from a Reuters report that was published on Monday...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy said Athens had wrecked any hope of compromise with its euro zone partners by overwhelmingly rejecting further austerity.
Merkel and French President Francois Hollande conferred by telephone and will meet in Paris on Monday afternoon to seek a joint response. Responding to their call, European Council President Donald Tusk announced that euro zone leaders would meet in Brussels on Tuesday evening (1600 GMT).
German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, leader of Merkel's centre-left Social Democratic junior coalition partner, said it was hard to conceive of fresh negotiations on lending more billions to Athens after Greeks voted against more austerity.
Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had "torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise," Gabriel told the Tagesspiegel daily.
In addition, Angela Merkel's office released a statement on Monday that placed the onus on making a new proposal to end this crisis on the Greek government...
"It is up to Greece to make something of this. We are waiting to see which proposals the Greek government makes to its European partners," the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's leading austerity advocate, said in a statement.
Just because the Greek people want the Germans to give them a very favorable deal does not mean that the Germans will be inclined to do so. The Germans know that whatever they do with the Greeks will set a precedent for the rest of the financially-troubled nations all across Europe. If Greece gets a free lunch, then Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and France will expect the same kind of treatment...
Angelos Chryssogelos, an expert on Greek politics at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said the strength of Sunday's mandate handed to Tsipras means it will be almost impossible for the prime minister's leftist Syriza party to make a deal with European creditors.
"The Europeans made it pretty clear where they stand, and they have been consistent," Chryssogelos said, adding that the creditors also are unlikely to back down. "Right now, voters across the eurozone largely support the tough stance taken by the eurozone."
Chryssogelos said Greek voters may have underestimated the resolve of the creditors to reach an accord on their terms. "If someone is seen getting preferential treatment, then someone else will want that treatment," he said, referring to other eurozone debtors such as Ireland and Portugal.
And remember, there is a very important Spanish election coming up in December.
If Syriza comes out as the big winner in this crisis, it will empower similar movements in Spain and all over the rest of the continent.
So look for Greece's creditors to tighten the screws over the coming days. In fact, we already saw a bit of screw tightening on Monday when the ECB announced that Greek banks would not be receiving additional emergency assistance...
In a move sure to increase pressure on Greece's flailing banks, the European Central Bank on Monday decided not to expand an emergency assistance program, raising fears that Greece could soon go completely bankrupt.
The move put a swift crimp on Greek leaders' jubilation after winning a landslide endorsement from their citizens to reject Europe's austerity demands and seek a new bailout bargain. Now they must seek a bargain before the money runs out within days, which would likely force them off the euro.
Basically we are watching a very high stakes game of chicken play out. And as the cash dwindles, economic activity in Greece is slowly grinding to a halt. The following comes from the Washington Post...
The dwindling cash is sucking the life out of everything from coffee shops to taxis, as anxious Greeks economize amid fears for the future. Greek leaders also banned transfers of money abroad, meaning that very little can now be imported into the country.
Printing plants are warning that they may run out of paper to print newspapers by the end of the week. Butchers say that stocks of imported meat are dwindling.
Some are even projecting that we could see civil unrest erupt in Greece in about "48 hours" once the ATM machines run out of cash...
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras probably has 48 hours to resolve a standoff with creditors before civil unrest breaks out and ATMs run out of cash, hedge fund Balyasny Asset Management said.
Yes, the Greek people exhibited great resolve in voting against the demands of the creditors on Sunday.
But how long can they endure this economic siege?
It is inevitable that a breaking point will come. Either the Greek government will give in, or the Greeks will leave the euro and start to transition back to the drachma.
If we do see a "Grexit", and many analysts believe that one is coming, it could set off a chain of events that could cause immense financial pain all over the planet. There are tens of trillions of dollars of derivatives that are tied to European bond yields, European interest rates, etc. The following is an excerpt from a piece authored by Phoenix Capital Research that explains what kind of jeopardy we could potentially be facing...
The global derivatives market is roughly $700 trillion in size. That's over TEN TIMES the world's GDP. And sovereign bonds... including even bonds from bankrupt countries such as Greece... are one of, if not the primary collateral underlying all of these trades.
Greece is not the real issue for Europe. The entire Greek debt market is about ?345 billion in size. So we're not talking about a massive amount of collateral... though the turmoil this country has caused in the last three years gives a sense of the importance of the issue.
Spain, by comparison has over ?1.0 trillion in debt outstanding... and Italy has ?2.6 trillion. These bonds are backstopping tens of trillions of Euros' worth of derivatives trades. A haircut on them would trigger systemic failure in Europe.
If Greece gets a "haircut" on their debt, other European nations would want the same and that would cause massive chaos in the derivatives markets.
But if Greece does not get a deal and ends up leaving the eurozone, that will cause bond yields to go crazy all over Europe and that would also cause tremendous chaos in the derivatives markets.
So much depends on keeping this system of legalized gambling that we call "derivatives trading" stable. We have allowed the global derivatives bubble to become many times larger than the GDP of the entire planet, and in the end we will pay a great price for this foolishness.
Every pyramid scheme eventually collapses, and this one will too.
But the difference with this pyramid scheme is that it is going to take the entire global financial system down with it.
The result of the referendum in Greece is a great victory for freedom, but it is also threatens to unleash unprecedented economic chaos all across Europe. With almost all of the votes counted, it is being reported that approximately 61 percent of Greeks have voted "no" and only about 39 percent of Greeks have voted "yes". This is a much larger margin of victory for the "no" side than almost everyone was anticipating, and it represents a stunning rejection of European austerity. Massive celebrations have erupted on the streets of Athens and other major Greek cities, but the euphoria may not last long. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is promising that Greece will be able to stay in the euro, but that gives EU bureaucrats and the IMF a tremendous amount of power, because at this point the Greek government is flat broke. Without more money from the EU and the IMF, the Greek government will not be able to pay its bills and virtually all Greek banks will inevitably collapse. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe is about to experience a tremendous amount of pain as financial markets respond to the results of this referendum. The euro is already plummeting, and most analysts expect European bond yields to soar and European stocks to drop substantially when trading opens on Monday morning.
Personally, I love the fact that the Greek people decided not to buckle under the pressure being imposed on them by the EU and the IMF. But amidst all of the celebration, the cold, hard reality of the matter is that your options are extremely limited when you are out of money.
How is the Greek government going to pay its bills without any money?
How are the insolvent Greek banks going to operate without any money?
How is the Greek economy going to function without any money?
Now that the Greek people have overwhelmingly rejected the demands of the creditors, it will be very interesting to see what the EU and the IMF do. Prior to the referendum, European leaders were insisting that a "no" vote would put an end to negotiations and would force Greece to leave the euro.
Now that the results are in, are they going to change their tune? Because the ball is definitely in their court...
"This does two things: it legitimizes the stance of the Greek government and it leaves the ball in Europe's court," ANZ Bank analysts said in a note.
"Europe either folds or Greece goes bankrupt; over to you Merkel."
So would they actually let Greece go bankrupt?
It is going to be fascinating to watch what happens over the next few days. Right now, Greek banks are on life support. If the European Central Bank decides to pull the plug, they would essentially destroy the entire Greek banking system. The only thing that can keep Greek banks alive and kicking is more intervention from the ECB. The following comes from the New York Times...
Now that Greek voters have said no to the economic demands of its international creditors, the fate of the country's struggling banks is in the hands of the European Central Bank.
Greece's banks, closed since last Monday because they are perilously low on cash, have been kept alive in recent weeks by emergency loans from the European Central Bank. On Monday, the central bank's policy makers plan to convene to determine how much longer they are willing to prop up the Greek banks, now that the country has essentially said no to the unpopular dictates of the other eurozone countries.
Of much greater concern to the rest of the world is how financial markets are going to respond to all of this. As I write this article, things already appear to be unraveling. The following comes from CNBC...
Germany's Dax is indicated sharply lower from Friday's close at around 4 percent, while the euro was down 2 percent against the yen as the news emerged. U.S. stocks are expected to open around 1 percent lower Monday, according to recent stock futures data.
What could be most important for those worried about contagion from the Greek crisis is how Portuguese, Spanish and Italian government bonds perform in Monday morning trade.
If these peripheral euro zone countries, often lumped in with Greece, suffer a sharp spike in yields, this could cause alarm about whether Greece leaving the currency might cause further contagion to other weaker euro zone economies.
This could potentially become a "trigger event" that unleashes a wave of financial panic all over Europe. And once financial panic begins, it is very difficult to end.
If the EU and the IMF want to avoid a crisis, they could just give in to the new Greek government. But that would be politically risky for certain high profile European leaders. For instance, Angela Merkel would face a huge backlash back home if she conceded to the new Greek government now. And other German leaders are already calling the referendum result a "disaster"...
German politicians branded the result a 'disaster', with the country's economy minister Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar accusing Tsipras of 'tearing down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise'.
He added: 'Tsipras and his government are leading the Greek people on a path of bitter abandonment and hopelessness.'
And the president of the European Parliament, a German, told a German radio station over the weekend that a "no" vote would almost certainly mean that the Greeks will be forced out of the euro...
"If after the referendum, the majority is a 'no,' they will have to introduce another currency because the euro will no longer be available for a means of payment," Martin Schulz, European Parliament president, said on German radio.
That is pretty strong language, eh?
Here is yet another quote from Schulz...
"Without new money, salaries won't be paid, the health system will stop functioning, the power network and public transport will break down, and they won't be able to import vital goods because nobody can pay," he said.
So at this point it is all up to the EU and the IMF, and in particular the focus will be on the Germans.
What will they decide to do?
Will they give in, or will they force the Greeks to leave the euro?
If the Greeks do transition from the euro to a new currency, it will be a process that takes months (if not longer). You just can't change ATMs, computer systems, cash registers, etc. overnight. So a move to the drachma would not be as simple as many are suggesting...
British firms like De La Rue, which prints 150 currencies worldwide, are believed to have been contacted with a view to providing such services.
It's done in great secrecy to prevent currency speculation. The other big problem is the logistical challenges of switching a currency. All ATMs, computers and other machinery of commerce that bears the euro symbol will have to be adjusted. It could, and would, take months.
And if Greece does leave, it will be a massive shock for global financial markets. Faith in the European project will be shattered, the euro will drop like a rock, bond yields all over the continent will rise to unsustainable levels and major banks all over Europe will fail.
I think that the following quote from Romano Prodi sums things up quite well...
Romano Prodi, former chief of the European Commission and Italy's ex-premier, said it is the EU's own survival that is now at stake as the botched handling of the Greek crisis escalates into a catastrophe. "If the EU cannot resolve a small problem the size of Greece, what is the point of Europe?"
Meanwhile, we should all keep in mind that a financial crisis has already erupted over in Asia as well. Chinese stocks have lost 30 percent of their value in just the last three weeks. In fact, the amount of "paper wealth" wiped out in China over the past three weeks is approximately equivalent to "10 times Greece's gross domestic product"...
A dizzying three-week plunge in Chinese equities has wiped out $2.36 trillion in market value - equivalent to about 10 times Greece's gross domestic product last year.
The great financial collapse of 2015 is well underway, and it should be a very interesting week for global markets.
But no matter what happens this week, we all need to keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
A "perfect storm" is on the way, and we all need to get prepared for it while we still can.
It looks like we aren't going to have to wait much longer to see if Greece remains part of the eurozone or not. Instead of softening their demands in the wake of the Greek referendum, European leaders have given the Greek government an ultimatum. On Tuesday night, EU officials gave Greece a deadline of Thursday to submit a new proposal and a deadline of Sunday for agreeing to a deal. If a deal is not reached on Sunday, all aid to Greece will be cut off and the nation will be faced with financial oblivion and a forced exit from the common currency. But Angela Merkel has already made it abundantly clear that any new deal will not include a debt haircut - one of the key things that the Greek government wanted. If a deal is actually made, it is almost certainly going to look very much like what Greece's creditors have been offering all along. Needless to say, this is precisely what the Greek people just voted against, but the pressure on Greek leadership is immense at this point. In essence, they are being given "an offer they can't refuse". So will the Greek government buckle under this mobster-like intimidation?
First, let's watch what happens on Wednesday and Thursday. The Greeks are being told that they better submit a "workable proposal" by the end of the day on Thursday or else. The following comes from a BBC report...
The eurozone has given Greece until Thursday to present new proposals to secure a deal with creditors, and has called a full EU summit for Sunday.
European Council President Donald Tusk said this was now the "most critical moment in the history of the eurozone".
"The final deadline ends this week," he said after emergency talks in Brussels.
If a proposal that is "workable" is submitted by the end of the day on Thursday, then it will be submitted for consideration to a special summit of all 28 members of the EU on Sunday. If an agreement is not reached by the end of the day on Sunday, then EU officials have said that they are ready to move on to Plan B.
It had been expected that the Greek government would submit something new on Tuesday, but apparently that did not happen. The following comes from the Daily Mail...
European stock markets plunged suddenly into the red this afternoon as the war of words between Greece and its eurozone partners blew up again today and Greek banks watched their cash reserves disappear.
Greek negotiators were accused of arriving at crunch talks without any new proposals as a European Central Bank funding shutdown left the country's crippled banks with just enough cash to remain solvent for a day or two.
Ahead of a 'last chance saloon' summit for Greece to persuade its creditors to resume bailout talks, Greek officials insisted to Reuters news agency that they had submitted new credit proposals to eurozone partners.
But eurozone counterparts denied that they constituted a new plan.
At this point, the two sides cannot even agree on whether a "new plan" was proposed or not.
What hope is there that a comprehensive agreement can be reached within the next couple of days?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel certainly does not sound optimistic...
"We have only a few days left to find a solution," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters late Tuesday after euro-area leaders met in Brussels. She conceded that she is "not especially optimistic."
Sunday now looms as the climax of a five-year battle to contain Greece's debts, potentially splintering a currency that was meant to be unbreakable and throwing more than half a century of European economic and political integration into reverse.
"We have a Grexit scenario prepared in detail," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said, using the shorthand for expulsion from the now 19-nation currency area.
For years, European officials have been kicking the can down the road.
But now it sounds like they are determined to end things one way or another.
In fact, European Union President Donald Tusk told reporters that "the final deadline ends this week"...
The stark reality is that we have only five days left to find the ultimate agreement. Until now, I have avoided talking about deadlines. But tonight I have to say loud and clear that the final deadline ends this week.
All of us are responsible for the crisis and all of us have a responsibility to resolve it.
That sounds quite ominous.
But even more chilling is something else that he said...
"Our inability to find agreement may lead to the bankruptcy of Greece and the insolvency of its banking system," European Union President Donald Tusk said. "If someone has any illusions that it will not be so, they are naive."
Wow.
And Tusk is right. If there is no deal, the Greek government will go bankrupt and the Greek banking system will totally collapse.
But it will also mean financial disaster for the rest of Europe as well. In just the past few days, we have gotten to see a small preview of what might be coming as turmoil has erupted in European financial markets.
If there is a "Grexit", European stocks will crash, European bond yields will go crazy, major banks all over Europe will be shaken, and the euro will drop like a rock.
And there are some that even believe that a "Grexit" could actually be "the beginning of the end" for the common currency. For example, just consider what French economist Thomas Piketty recently told CNBC...
European leaders need to take a more "realistic" outlook on Greece and yield ground on debt forgiveness, French economist Thomas Piketty said Tuesday.
He contended that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken a hypocritical stance, as the German economy was given more flexibility with debt reductions after World War II. Without concessions that allow Athens to invest in infrastructure and economic growth, Greece could leave the euro zone-the so-called Grexit-and start "the beginning of the end" for the common currency, Piketty said.
"We have to get away from this very ideological approach and get to an agreement," the "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" author said in a CNBC "Closing Bell" interview.
Without a doubt, this is going to be a very interesting week.
The German Siege of Greece Begins (No, This Is Not A Repeat From 1941) - By Michael Snyder -
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-german-siege-of-greece-begins-no-this-is-not-a-repeat-from-1941 Did you notice that Greece's creditors are not rushing to offer the Greeks a new deal in the wake of the stunning referendum result on Sunday? In fact, it is being reported that the initial reaction to the "no" vote from top European politicians was "a thunderous silence". Needless to say, the European elite were not pleased by how the Greek people voted, but they still have all of the leverage. In particular, it is the Germans that are holding all of the cards. If the Germans want to cave in and give the Greeks the kind of deal that they desire, everyone else would follow suit. And if the Germans want to maintain a hard line with Greece, they can block any deal from happening all by themselves. So in the final analysis, this is really an economic test of wills between Germany and Greece, and time is on Germany's side. Germany doesn't have to offer anything new. The Germans can just sit back and wait for the Greek government to default on their debts, for Greek banks to totally run out of cash and for civil unrest to erupt in Greek cities as the economy grinds to a standstill.
In ancient times, if a conquering army came up against a walled city that was quite formidable, often a decision would be made to conduct a siege. Instead of attacking a heavily defended city directly and taking heavy casualties, it was often much more cost effective to simply surround the city from a safe distance and starve the inhabitants into submission.
In a sense, that is exactly what the Germans appear to want to do to the Greeks. Without more cash, the Greek government cannot pay their bills. Without more cash, Greek banks are going to start collapsing left and right. Without more cash, the Greek economy is going to completely and utterly collapse.
So yes, the Greeks voted for change, but the Germans still hold the purse strings.
And right now the Germans do not sound like they are in any mood to compromise. The following comes from a Reuters report that was published on Monday...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy said Athens had wrecked any hope of compromise with its euro zone partners by overwhelmingly rejecting further austerity.
Merkel and French President Francois Hollande conferred by telephone and will meet in Paris on Monday afternoon to seek a joint response. Responding to their call, European Council President Donald Tusk announced that euro zone leaders would meet in Brussels on Tuesday evening (1600 GMT).
German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, leader of Merkel's centre-left Social Democratic junior coalition partner, said it was hard to conceive of fresh negotiations on lending more billions to Athens after Greeks voted against more austerity.
Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had "torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise," Gabriel told the Tagesspiegel daily.
In addition, Angela Merkel's office released a statement on Monday that placed the onus on making a new proposal to end this crisis on the Greek government...
"It is up to Greece to make something of this. We are waiting to see which proposals the Greek government makes to its European partners," the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's leading austerity advocate, said in a statement.
Just because the Greek people want the Germans to give them a very favorable deal does not mean that the Germans will be inclined to do so. The Germans know that whatever they do with the Greeks will set a precedent for the rest of the financially-troubled nations all across Europe. If Greece gets a free lunch, then Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and France will expect the same kind of treatment...
Angelos Chryssogelos, an expert on Greek politics at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said the strength of Sunday's mandate handed to Tsipras means it will be almost impossible for the prime minister's leftist Syriza party to make a deal with European creditors.
"The Europeans made it pretty clear where they stand, and they have been consistent," Chryssogelos said, adding that the creditors also are unlikely to back down. "Right now, voters across the eurozone largely support the tough stance taken by the eurozone."
Chryssogelos said Greek voters may have underestimated the resolve of the creditors to reach an accord on their terms. "If someone is seen getting preferential treatment, then someone else will want that treatment," he said, referring to other eurozone debtors such as Ireland and Portugal.
And remember, there is a very important Spanish election coming up in December.
If Syriza comes out as the big winner in this crisis, it will empower similar movements in Spain and all over the rest of the continent.
So look for Greece's creditors to tighten the screws over the coming days. In fact, we already saw a bit of screw tightening on Monday when the ECB announced that Greek banks would not be receiving additional emergency assistance...
In a move sure to increase pressure on Greece's flailing banks, the European Central Bank on Monday decided not to expand an emergency assistance program, raising fears that Greece could soon go completely bankrupt.
The move put a swift crimp on Greek leaders' jubilation after winning a landslide endorsement from their citizens to reject Europe's austerity demands and seek a new bailout bargain. Now they must seek a bargain before the money runs out within days, which would likely force them off the euro.
Basically we are watching a very high stakes game of chicken play out. And as the cash dwindles, economic activity in Greece is slowly grinding to a halt. The following comes from the Washington Post...
The dwindling cash is sucking the life out of everything from coffee shops to taxis, as anxious Greeks economize amid fears for the future. Greek leaders also banned transfers of money abroad, meaning that very little can now be imported into the country.
Printing plants are warning that they may run out of paper to print newspapers by the end of the week. Butchers say that stocks of imported meat are dwindling.
Some are even projecting that we could see civil unrest erupt in Greece in about "48 hours" once the ATM machines run out of cash...
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras probably has 48 hours to resolve a standoff with creditors before civil unrest breaks out and ATMs run out of cash, hedge fund Balyasny Asset Management said.
Yes, the Greek people exhibited great resolve in voting against the demands of the creditors on Sunday.
But how long can they endure this economic siege?
It is inevitable that a breaking point will come. Either the Greek government will give in, or the Greeks will leave the euro and start to transition back to the drachma.
If we do see a "Grexit", and many analysts believe that one is coming, it could set off a chain of events that could cause immense financial pain all over the planet. There are tens of trillions of dollars of derivatives that are tied to European bond yields, European interest rates, etc. The following is an excerpt from a piece authored by Phoenix Capital Research that explains what kind of jeopardy we could potentially be facing...
The global derivatives market is roughly $700 trillion in size. That's over TEN TIMES the world's GDP. And sovereign bonds... including even bonds from bankrupt countries such as Greece... are one of, if not the primary collateral underlying all of these trades.
Greece is not the real issue for Europe. The entire Greek debt market is about ?345 billion in size. So we're not talking about a massive amount of collateral... though the turmoil this country has caused in the last three years gives a sense of the importance of the issue.
Spain, by comparison has over ?1.0 trillion in debt outstanding... and Italy has ?2.6 trillion. These bonds are backstopping tens of trillions of Euros' worth of derivatives trades. A haircut on them would trigger systemic failure in Europe.
If Greece gets a "haircut" on their debt, other European nations would want the same and that would cause massive chaos in the derivatives markets.
But if Greece does not get a deal and ends up leaving the eurozone, that will cause bond yields to go crazy all over Europe and that would also cause tremendous chaos in the derivatives markets.
So much depends on keeping this system of legalized gambling that we call "derivatives trading" stable. We have allowed the global derivatives bubble to become many times larger than the GDP of the entire planet, and in the end we will pay a great price for this foolishness.
Every pyramid scheme eventually collapses, and this one will too.
But the difference with this pyramid scheme is that it is going to take the entire global financial system down with it.
Greece Votes NO - Let The Chaos Begin... - By Michael Snyder -
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/greece-votes-no-let-the-chaos-begin The result of the referendum in Greece is a great victory for freedom, but it is also threatens to unleash unprecedented economic chaos all across Europe. With almost all of the votes counted, it is being reported that approximately 61 percent of Greeks have voted "no" and only about 39 percent of Greeks have voted "yes". This is a much larger margin of victory for the "no" side than almost everyone was anticipating, and it represents a stunning rejection of European austerity. Massive celebrations have erupted on the streets of Athens and other major Greek cities, but the euphoria may not last long. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is promising that Greece will be able to stay in the euro, but that gives EU bureaucrats and the IMF a tremendous amount of power, because at this point the Greek government is flat broke. Without more money from the EU and the IMF, the Greek government will not be able to pay its bills and virtually all Greek banks will inevitably collapse. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe is about to experience a tremendous amount of pain as financial markets respond to the results of this referendum. The euro is already plummeting, and most analysts expect European bond yields to soar and European stocks to drop substantially when trading opens on Monday morning.
Personally, I love the fact that the Greek people decided not to buckle under the pressure being imposed on them by the EU and the IMF. But amidst all of the celebration, the cold, hard reality of the matter is that your options are extremely limited when you are out of money.
How is the Greek government going to pay its bills without any money?
How are the insolvent Greek banks going to operate without any money?
How is the Greek economy going to function without any money?
Now that the Greek people have overwhelmingly rejected the demands of the creditors, it will be very interesting to see what the EU and the IMF do. Prior to the referendum, European leaders were insisting that a "no" vote would put an end to negotiations and would force Greece to leave the euro.
Now that the results are in, are they going to change their tune? Because the ball is definitely in their court...
"This does two things: it legitimizes the stance of the Greek government and it leaves the ball in Europe's court," ANZ Bank analysts said in a note.
"Europe either folds or Greece goes bankrupt; over to you Merkel."
So would they actually let Greece go bankrupt?
It is going to be fascinating to watch what happens over the next few days. Right now, Greek banks are on life support. If the European Central Bank decides to pull the plug, they would essentially destroy the entire Greek banking system. The only thing that can keep Greek banks alive and kicking is more intervention from the ECB. The following comes from the New York Times...
Now that Greek voters have said no to the economic demands of its international creditors, the fate of the country's struggling banks is in the hands of the European Central Bank.
Greece's banks, closed since last Monday because they are perilously low on cash, have been kept alive in recent weeks by emergency loans from the European Central Bank. On Monday, the central bank's policy makers plan to convene to determine how much longer they are willing to prop up the Greek banks, now that the country has essentially said no to the unpopular dictates of the other eurozone countries.
Of much greater concern to the rest of the world is how financial markets are going to respond to all of this. As I write this article, things already appear to be unraveling. The following comes from CNBC...
Germany's Dax is indicated sharply lower from Friday's close at around 4 percent, while the euro was down 2 percent against the yen as the news emerged. U.S. stocks are expected to open around 1 percent lower Monday, according to recent stock futures data.
What could be most important for those worried about contagion from the Greek crisis is how Portuguese, Spanish and Italian government bonds perform in Monday morning trade.
If these peripheral euro zone countries, often lumped in with Greece, suffer a sharp spike in yields, this could cause alarm about whether Greece leaving the currency might cause further contagion to other weaker euro zone economies.
This could potentially become a "trigger event" that unleashes a wave of financial panic all over Europe. And once financial panic begins, it is very difficult to end.
If the EU and the IMF want to avoid a crisis, they could just give in to the new Greek government. But that would be politically risky for certain high profile European leaders. For instance, Angela Merkel would face a huge backlash back home if she conceded to the new Greek government now. And other German leaders are already calling the referendum result a "disaster"...
German politicians branded the result a 'disaster', with the country's economy minister Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar accusing Tsipras of 'tearing down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise'.
He added: 'Tsipras and his government are leading the Greek people on a path of bitter abandonment and hopelessness.'
And the president of the European Parliament, a German, told a German radio station over the weekend that a "no" vote would almost certainly mean that the Greeks will be forced out of the euro...
"If after the referendum, the majority is a 'no,' they will have to introduce another currency because the euro will no longer be available for a means of payment," Martin Schulz, European Parliament president, said on German radio.
That is pretty strong language, eh?
Here is yet another quote from Schulz...
"Without new money, salaries won't be paid, the health system will stop functioning, the power network and public transport will break down, and they won't be able to import vital goods because nobody can pay," he said.
So at this point it is all up to the EU and the IMF, and in particular the focus will be on the Germans.
What will they decide to do?
Will they give in, or will they force the Greeks to leave the euro?
If the Greeks do transition from the euro to a new currency, it will be a process that takes months (if not longer). You just can't change ATMs, computer systems, cash registers, etc. overnight. So a move to the drachma would not be as simple as many are suggesting...
British firms like De La Rue, which prints 150 currencies worldwide, are believed to have been contacted with a view to providing such services.
It's done in great secrecy to prevent currency speculation. The other big problem is the logistical challenges of switching a currency. All ATMs, computers and other machinery of commerce that bears the euro symbol will have to be adjusted. It could, and would, take months.
And if Greece does leave, it will be a massive shock for global financial markets. Faith in the European project will be shattered, the euro will drop like a rock, bond yields all over the continent will rise to unsustainable levels and major banks all over Europe will fail.
I think that the following quote from Romano Prodi sums things up quite well...
Romano Prodi, former chief of the European Commission and Italy's ex-premier, said it is the EU's own survival that is now at stake as the botched handling of the Greek crisis escalates into a catastrophe. "If the EU cannot resolve a small problem the size of Greece, what is the point of Europe?"
Meanwhile, we should all keep in mind that a financial crisis has already erupted over in Asia as well. Chinese stocks have lost 30 percent of their value in just the last three weeks. In fact, the amount of "paper wealth" wiped out in China over the past three weeks is approximately equivalent to "10 times Greece's gross domestic product"...
A dizzying three-week plunge in Chinese equities has wiped out $2.36 trillion in market value - equivalent to about 10 times Greece's gross domestic product last year.
The great financial collapse of 2015 is well underway, and it should be a very interesting week for global markets.
But no matter what happens this week, we all need to keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
A "perfect storm" is on the way, and we all need to get prepared for it while we still can.
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