Some reading for Nigel Farage before Sky News this morning!

As leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage MEP should be doing his utmost to inform the people of the UK of the economic annihalation the nation now potentially faces due to its disastrous entanglement with the EU! This morning in reviewing the Sunday newspapers on Sky News,  he will hopefully not fall back on his normal ploy of  self-deprecating, vapid self-promotion, matters are far too grave for that!

An article that might arm him with some facts on Greece is linked here it is titled
"The Eight Hundred Pound Greek Gorilla Enters The Room" from Tyler Durden on Zero Hedge and written by Mark J Grant, author of Out of the Box and onto Wall Street.

Even the lamentably awful UK Sunday press must have something covering Greece to give Nigel an opening!

Hopefully he might mention Portugal too, see my posts below.

BBC ignorance in full form

The BBC interviewer on the video/radio report on Greece's default, linked here, amusingly seeks solace in that had Greece not been in the EU irt would have defaulted long ago and at greater cost for the private investors. Happily the moronic half-wit is quickly corrected by the interviewee from Legal & General who points out that the cost to private sector sovereign bond holders is at the high end 73 to 80 per-cent losses of recent international defaults!

The BBC as a long term recipient of funds from the EU, perhaps a cause of its complete and utter bias, need not worry itself about the fate of those who have lent their OWN money to the sickening construct that is the EU - the two organisations are a perfect match in that neither of them have any money of their own, hence their complete economic incompetence and spendthrift ways when it comes to own their employees comforts!

A Primer on the Euro Breakup

The report from Variant Perception is a recommended read and is available from the Acting Man web site.

UPDATE 22/2/12 1010 GMT. We recommend you visit the Variant Perception blog as follows:

http://blog.variantperception.com/

The paper stresses that the breakup of a currency block is not that unusual and gives much historical background and charts. Its conclusion, for those not wishing to delve too deeply into complicated economics (such as myself,) may be found on page 50 of the pdf file. The sub-heading to the report's main title, which was also used for the headline to this post, is tellingly:

Default, Exit and Devaluation as the Optimal Solution

Deutsche Welle debates default by deceit.

A complicated series of different ruses are debated in this latest offering from the German state broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, while seeking to avoid a credit event, or paying out on the CDS purchased to protect investors from the event that the article discusses provoking.

A surreal experience to read.

It gives a fascinating insight into the murky minds of those supposedly responsible for our money!

Get set to book your cheap holiday in Greece!

At last some cheery news to post on this so far doom laden weekend. Mary Ellen Synon, advises in her blog, in the Daily Mail, to get ready to book your cheap holiday to Greece once the moment of default finally arrives, read it from here.

Who will now pay for any second Greek Bailout?

The timing of the announcement that there is no real money available for Greece, just before the US markets were closing for a three day weekend, seems at one with the whole tone of underlying dishonesty which surrounds the EU project.

The fact the news was delivered by Mme Lagarde in Berlin somehow adds even mor piquancy.

The Wall Street Journal report is here.

Update on EU/Greece as NY rises for the day

Mention of the bridging loan for Greece and doubts about the viability of the new package for that country are well summarised by FXCruch, linked here.

No news on what the Troika are up to in Lisbon is yet available.

Rumours of Germany engineering Greek default now on CNBC

The internet has been buzzing with rumours surrounding the Greek default situation. CNBC first tweeted that the meeting of the Euro Group Finance Ministers, for tomorrow, has been converted to a conference call - and now circulates this report. The following is a taste:

It may be that Germany has seen the danger of a domino effect of debt reduction and is trying to avoid that.

Venizelos to present incomplete cuts package to Euro Group in Brussels!

The Irish Times as usual provides some good coverage on the dismemberment of Greece with this linked report on the Greek finance minister's planned trip to Brussels today.

Ekathimerini makes its headline the fact that the Troika are not requiring the €300 million of extra cuts to necessarily come from pensions, (as indicated in my first post of today from a German source,) merely that such an amount must be found somewhere. They have been given fifteen days to make a commitment to such further cuts, such commiment as for all those previously given, of course having no possibility of ever being met.  Read here

Now the Euro Group Finance Ministers, will presumably be summoned to Brussels to meet Mr Venizelos, under the Chairmanship of the ever more ridiculous (and increasingly appropriately named,) Jean-Claude Juncker, where they will supposedly commit zillions more of their taxpayer's funds to Greece, to allow Merkozy to reume their deranged electioneering in France in a grotesque pretence that something a teeny bit credible was actually underway.

Greece - "like wading through treacle".

Alistair Darling, when UK Chancellor of the Exchequer used the above description about a G7 meeting way back in April 2010, as quoted in his book; now laughingly titled "Back from the Brink," I quote from page 297:

"The purpose of the meeting was to try and persuade the eurozone members to put in place a rescue package for Greece. It was like wading through treacle. Everyone was agreed that something had to be done. But there was no agreement as to what. Christine Lagarde was especially insistent that the Germans had to act. Unfortunately Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister could not be there for health reasons.His top civil servant was, but he could not agree to anything in the absence of his minister."

Almost two full years later and the situation today remains the same. The EU has put in place a system of non-democratic, non-accountable governance that is crippling the former sovereign countries of Europe and threatening the world economy, and nobody, anywhere, seems prepared to do anything about it. Like the reported slaughter this afternoon from Homs in Syria, the leadership of the West seems perfectly content to do nothing as long as they can endlessly attend one meeting after another, with no concern whatsoever for what is actually taking place in the world, or even worse - what occurs in their own former nation states!

Minimum wages and private pay cuts demanded in Greece

Sunday afternoon talks continued as the EU pushes Greece to the wall, ekathimerini's report is linked here, from which comes these quotes:

The leaders of the three parties in Greece’s coalition government began last-ditch talks with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos at about 3.30 p.m. on Sunday as they try to agree on a package of reforms that would secure further funding from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund.
Earlier, Papademos, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Labor Minister Giorgos Koutroumanis met with troika representatives. The lenders’ demands for the minimum wage to be lowered and private sector salaries to be cut drastically in a bid to boost Greece’s competitiveness are proving major stumbling blocks to achieving agreement on a new bailout package.

Update 1745 GMT: Read about the penniless shepherd who owes the Greek State 10.8 million euros, from Jakarta linked here:

Stelios Parasyris, 65, is deemed to owe the Greek state nearly 10.8 million euros ($14 million) after allegedly pocketing tax refunds using false documents 17 years ago, Ethnos daily reported.


At the time, he had gained 30 million drachmas, the equivalent of 88,000 euros.


Parasyris, who now lives in a hut and has a flock of 50 sheep, told the daily he has paid his dues “three times over” but state fines and years of compounded interest have driven his debt to astronomical levels.


“If the others on the list are as poor as me, I don’t see a future for this country,” the father of five told Ethnos.

Europe's Mess - Half-time Superbowl reading for Americans.

The guide is simple, brief and clear as can be. Its conclusion, although not stated, must be that all EU citizens have been shafted by the EU?

Like the Giants perhaps? Go Pats!

Greece has only 24 hours

After marathon meetings with creditors, Athens is at the 'razor's edge' over bailout negotiations. The Greek finance minister has said the country only has 24 hours to come up with a deal lest the country go bankrupt.

Deutsche Welle linked here.

 

Greece - Party Leaders meeting deferred from Saturday to Sunday

Ekathimerini has the report, linked here.

A meeting between Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the leaders of the three parties that make up his coalition government has been moved from Saturday to Sunday, a few hours before the Greek premier is due to meet his European Union counterparts in Brussels.

Elsewhere several reports from the USA state that the EU has rejected the German proposal to take over the running of Greece, for example this report from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, linked here. However the source appears to be Olli Rehn the EU Commissioner for the economy and monetary affairs, who has proved consistently behind the curve and ill informed on developments in the EU's ever growing financial crisis.

If the proposal has been tabled by Germany, the harsh reality of the EU today is that it can only be amended or withdrawn by Germany!

Update 1650 GMT Talks on the Haircut and Bond Rollover broke up without agreement read here.

Euro Group Finance Ministers reject Greek Private Haircut Final Offer.

The BBC is reporting, (Radio 4 O8OO am news bulletin,) that the best and final offer made by private bondholders of a haircut and rollover into new debt has been rejected by the Euro Group Finance Minister meeting last night in Brussels.

Update: A report on this from the Telegraph is here.

What Euro Group Finance Ministers are deciding tonight.

The following is from Acting Man blog, which I have found extremely accurate over the past weeks, the full report is linked here:

It is clear that the private sector creditors have now arrived at the 'take it or leave it' point. If their most recent offer is again rejected, then there won't be a 'voluntary' deal. This would put Greece into default (instead of a merely 'temporary' default) and this is the crux of the whole song and dance over pretending that the debt exchange is 'voluntary'. Once Greece is officially in default, the public sector lenders such as the ECB and the IMF can no longer credibly maintain that the Greek debt they hold is worth its face value.

Greek talks collapse - Portugal next in EU line of defence against defaults?

Well my earlier post that the IIF negotiators had left Athens has proved correct and recriminations are starting all around, here, here and here.

The Economist suggests we must now turn our attention to Portugal, after the Greek farce, can we really be bothered, when the outcome seems so inevitable and the reactions so tardy? Deja EU!

Daily Mail notices Greece is still in crisis.

The much mocked Daily Mail is certainly doing better then most of the UK's thoroughly wretched and virtually worthless mainstream media in running this report!

EU recalls €424 million "sometime" then "immediately" sends €380 million emergency funds

The EU Commission is clearly out of control. EurActiv reports here today, that €425 million in illegal farm subsidies must eventually be repaid by Greece, while tweeting it is immediately forwarding €380 million in emergency funds to a Greek bank:

EC temporarily approved, under #EU state aid rules, a €380 million capital injection into Piraeus Bank

How can the EU Commission grant emergency aid to a Greek Bank when there are so many other active aid packages coming from various sources, many tied in with the EU institutions? Where is this money from and who exactly will be liable?

Greek haircuts, eurocrat's lies and bi-brain-celled innocents!

Part of a posting from an Acting Man post seems best quoted to end a day where  the signs of imminent collapse appeared on every side, only to be ignored by the professionals employed to report on such events: 

Meanwhile, the Greek debt restructuring talks (the allegedly 'voluntary' reduction in the claims of private sector bondholders by 50% or more) continue to drag on with no end in sight yet. If this debt exchange can not be effected in time, a hard default will become inevitable.

Mind, we happen to believe that Greece should actually allow a hard default to occur unless the public sector lenders also agree to a 'haircut'. Nowhere is the problem of suddenly subordinating unsecured debtors more vividly demonstrated as in the case of Greece. The decision of the eurocracy to create two distinct species of creditors with vastly different rights – the 'troika' of IMF, EU and ECB on the one hand, and private sector lenders to Greece on the other hand -  has contributed greatly to the intensification of the sovereign debt crisis in 2011.

After all, given that the eurocrats have broken every single promise they have made w.r.t. Greece since 2010, their latest promise that the Greek case will definitely remain a 'one off' is no longer believed by anyone calling more than two brain cells his own. This has thoroughly sabotaged the chances of other stricken sovereign debtors to return to the markets for their financing needs.

Allegedly, 'progress has been made' in recent days in the debt exchange talks, but one Spanish hedge fund walked out of the talks a week earlier and so far all reports of 'progress' have turned out to have been hot air. In related news, it has been rumored that 'Germany is studying the imposition of an even bigger haircut on private sector lenders'.

“Germany's government declined to comment on a report that it may push for creditors to accept bigger losses on Greek debt than previously agreed upon, saying only that talks on lowering Greece's debt level may end soon.

Germany is studying a proposal to write down 75 percent of Greek government bonds held by private creditors as part of a planned debt swap to ensure greater debt sustainability, Greek news website Euro2day.gr reported today, without citing anyone.”

 

(emphasis added)

Since the 'troika' will not accept any haircuts on its Greek credit claims, it is obvious that the private sector haircut will do next to nothing to alleviate Greece's debt problem. Hence the constant pushing for even bigger concessions. It evidently hasn't dawned on the eurocrats yet that market participants don't like being played for fools by politicians. They seem not to have realized that with every broken promise they are worsening the situation of the remaining sovereign euro-land debtors.