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The whole idea of a common currency for countries as diverse as those in Europe are is insane.

If not allowed to fail the fallout becomes worse when it happens. The seeds have been sown and is inevitable.

From the link: Puerto Rico's governor recently confirmed that he had considered having his government seek permission from the U.S. Congress to declare bankruptcy amid a nearly decade-long economic slump. His administration is currently pushing for the right for Puerto Rico's public agencies to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 9. Neither the agencies nor the island's government can file for bankruptcy under current U.S. rules.

It was the nexus of these events that led to the crisis now facing Greece and the EU.

Nomi Prins, formerly of GS has spoken specifically on this nexus and how the events unfolded. While employed there, she noted how there was no acceptance of any discussion of these kinds of schemes that were cheating people or nations of the EU, because that would require a level of human connection that is non-existent in day to day investment banking.

As Yanis Varoukafis, the current finance minister of Greece correctly points out, "it is not so much that GS and the other TBTF/TBTJ banks are ruling the world, but rather are the greater parasites that are threatening to stop the world from rebalancing itself and recovering some sense of control over their democratic future."

The bottom line, imv, is that Greece borrowed in foreign currencies/bonds, as the exchange rates became unfavorable via institutional fraud in FOREX markets and central bank interventions in the global bond markets, their debt rose to levels they are unable to repay. After Goldman helped exchange the foreign bond debt for a faltering Euro, their debt problem was exacerbated even further.

You can try to put it all on Greece, but that flies in the face of the facts as they have now been documented.

You would be hard pressed to find any nation that hasn't suffered a big financial hit bordering on insolvency.

I admire Iceland, the only nation to jail bankers over these shenanigans. All nations would be wise to do likewise.

I hope this situation ends the political career of their Marxist PM Alexis Tsipras and his whole party. The guy is either ignorant, irresponsible beyond belief, or a flat out liar, possibly all 3.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11707092/Greece-threatens-top-court-action-to-block-Grexit.html

Giving credibility to the finance minister of Greece on anything financial is crazy. Greece borrowed billions to pay for their cradle to grave welfare state. Then they borrowed more. Then more yet.

When told they might have to forego some of the goodies their government had promised, the people of Greece rioted in protest. The Greek government refused to cut back on their social giveaways.

Yet now we're supposed to feel sorry for Greece because the lenders have finally said, "No more!"

Really?

No one is asking you to feel sorry for Greece.

The lenders are not saying "No more". They are adamant that Greek restructure the repayments with additional bailouts, rather than default as you have recommended, to remain in the EU.

Varoukafis suggests default as well. The best outcome would be to let the banking institutions that structured the deals take the losses.

That won't happen in the case of GS. They will profit as they are hedged against a default. In all those deals, Greece finance ministers at the time agreed to pay GS for any of their losses or risk associated with the deals.

It was all perfectly legal, as former squid employees are the lobbying parties that write their own banking regulations. No conflict there, eh?

"The lenders are not saying "No more". They are adamant that Greek restructure the repayments with additional bailouts, rather than default as you have recommended, to remain in the EU."

That's correct. But it still means, "no more" if Greece balks.

It's also crazy for the lenders to lend them even more money (which they also won't repay) in hopes they'll repay the existing loans. It's like buying a drunk a case of whiskey in hopes he'll stop drinking.

"Birthplace of democracy wants to vote against math."

As far as I'm concerned, depositors (savers) should be exempt from bail-ins, but what is wrong is now right and perfectly legal in the EU as well. As for the pension funds and others who purchased the CDO's at GS recommendation and from which GS will/has profited as those funds experience losses, I am on the fence.

It is exactly correct that Greece cannot repay. Futher loans to pay the existing ones is an incredibly stupid idea and that is also the position of Varoukafis.

Those bumper sticker slogans like that of Burge are an avoidance of the detailed ethos failures involved.

On the other hand anyone who expects a municipality (majority ran by Dems/Rino's) to actually pay should have their head examined, municipalities word fluctuates as the wind blows.

If you loan to a deadbeat, you get what you deserve.

If you help the deadbeats finances look better than they actually are, then package those deals for resale and "hedge" them (short them) so you profit upon their failure, you deserve the scorn thrust upon you.

Pretty simple. Liars, helping liars and the honest and trustworthy pick up the tab.

These practices have been and continue to be legitimized. They are an abomination and won't end well.

Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, several others.... all are teetering on the edge. They must be sighing relief to have the attention off of them for a while.

Ahh..., for the power of creating money out of thin air. Selling it to governments in the form of debt upon their subjects. When the subjects cannot pay, then what?

It will all unravel, as all Ponzi schemes eventually do, it's just a matter of time. Slow at first, then all at once. Those not prepared will find themselves in those same ATM lines seen in Greece.

Extremely interesting history being played out and we get to watch. We'll be told many tales and what to think along the way.

Following Detroit's forced bankruptcy, thanks to responsible and conservative governance since, Detroit is undergoing an economic revival.

Interesting, since we're all Greeks today.

Global corporatocracy has no borders.

As a share of the tax burden, avg. Greek citizens debt is only 28K compared to 61K in the US.

The chickens will come home to roost.

It give it substantially less than a 50/50 chance.

It will be interesting to watch how long the Ponzi scheme can continue. Much longer than any of us can imagine, I suspect. "Faith and Trust" in the schemers being what it is.

""Tsipras gets backing from...Fidel Castro He needs all the friends he can get right now, so this missive from the Cuban leader Fidel Castro will have bought a smile to Mr Tsipras's face we imagine. Castro wrote to his counterpart today congratulating him on last night's referendum vote, saying Cuba has learnt the 'art & science of politics' from Greece. Greek bravery "has won admiration across Latin America" accpording to Twitter's Spanis/Greek linguists.""

I haven't commented on Tsipras. If you are implying we are in agreement that a No vote was probably a good thing, well, I can't do much about that and I'm not alone in that regard.

Like I posted previously, I doubt a Y or N vote makes much difference. This global debt crisis will run it's course regardless. It is my thinking that the debt piled up by governments is so great, none will honor their obligations w/o draconian financial measures and stripping freedoms from their citizenry. There are decades, if not centuries of examples to draw such a conclusion.

As it turns out so far, Greeks won't get off scott free. The ECB's have announced today that 27% of all Greek bank deposits will be bailed-in. Meanwhile, Greek banks remained closed. The ECB's could seize all Greek deposits and it still won't settle their debt.

You seem to be supporting the idea that bankruptcies should not be allowed. You do understand how that line of thinking has contributed to the current global debt crisis, don't you?

The first step to solving a problem is admitting there is one.

The bottom line to me. The EU is and was a bad idea for sovereign nations, yet we follow the same path.

Krugman: Greece Did Right Thing in Voting No on Debt Deal

Where were you when Krugman supported QE and the rest of the Keynesian fairy tales that pushed the US into unprecedented debt levels.

Krugman is all over the board. If you take the other side of all of his positions, you'll be all over the board as well.

Next you'll be telling us Ron Paul is a socialist along with all his paulbot ball takers and such.