Greece debt crisis: Tsipras announces bailout referendum

Government buck passing at it's best.

He has a mandate from the people not to extend austerity measures that will further shrink pensions AND to keep Greece in the Eurozone. His creditor overlords have stated that if he doesn't accept measures that cut pensions further he will be in default and likely removed from the Eurozone. The banks are now dictating government policy. There is no buck to pass.

The banks should have been dictating Greek policy since 1974.


No, the reality is that Tsipras will pass it on to the people.

If they vote to stay, then he can cut and cut and cut, and well, the people voted for it.

If they vote no, then he can blame EVERYTHING bad that happens in Greece for the next
100 years on that bitch hitler Merkle and her qabal of EU bankers.

And letting such a complicated issue go to a vote after 8 days is really dangerous, there
won't be time to really explain the problems, never mind have a decent debate about it.

Bad monetary policy could certainly be viewed as the reason that Greece found itself in economic crisis, but the reasons that they have been so slow to recover should certainly lie with the banks themselves since they have been the ones dictating monetary policy since May 2010 when they forced the initial set of austerity measures during the first bailout package.

I don't really blame the Greeks for being sceptical. After all, they have been following the measures set by the bankers to a tee and are tremendously worse off then they were when the bankers took control of their decisions.

Part of the problem has to do with sharing a currency with a group of countries that vary so greatly in their economic strength. If Canada, for example, experienced a similar crisis, our currency would be devalued making our exports cheaper and in turn, stimulating our growth through increased exported products.

Using the Euro doesn't allow for this correction to occur in Greece. Instead, there is an artificial devaluation through lower wages which keeps their economy depressed and slows the rate of recovery. If the idea of the Eurozone was to offer some kind of economic security, it is about as failed an experiment that one could think of.

business paper called it a ponzi scheme. In return for lending money to pay previous debts, impose ever more severe austerity on Greece, which makes sure their economy never recovers so they have to borrow more money to pay for the money they just borrowed. At some point this will all blow up. Better to do it in an orderly, planned fashion than pushing the inevitable further down the road.

Tsipras called a referendum for July 5.
That's a couple days AFTER the official deadline of Tuesday to make a deal or basically default to the IMF.

The international creditors had offered Athens a five-month, 12billion euro extension of the rescue plan, but said it must agree to the reform proposal this weekend in order to avoid defaulting.


Greeks asked for an extension to decide, it just got refused.

The bank run has started in Greece.

Panic stalling at its worst. They want the Greek people to vote on a proposal that won't exist anymore by the time of the vote. Greece is in situation made famous by the Clash:

If they stay there will be trouble, but if they go there will be double.

The opening of Monday's European markets should be interesting.

Can't blame the Greeks for not taking the further loan to pay back the last loan while being forced to keep their economy spiraling ever further down the drain. Might as well get it over with.

Wonder if Tsipras will make clear to his people what voting no means. If he does, they should go for it and bite the bullet.

Greeks Line Up at Banks and Drain ATMs as Tsipras Calls Vote


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I really feel like the enormity of this decision is being downplayed so as to not create investor panic, but I think Monday is not going to be a good day for markets.

Years ago, maybe you would be right.

The markets have had time to plan for this, and the ECB has money
prepared to prop up the Euro.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33305019

Greece banks to stay closed on Monday, Piraeus Bank chief says, after emergency meeting in Athens


No surprise.


Athens Stock Exchange won't open either.

So, that pretty much guarantees a haircut coming.

The Euro is already down 155 basis points against the US$.