For the Greek people, it appears this tragedy has been going on longer than it took Odysseus reach home after the fall of Troy, but looking at the above tweets, it is looking like that we are approaching the end phase of Grexit. Last night, the Greek Prime Minister indicated he would resign if the Greek’s voted yes in Sunday’s referendum.
Comments
Lol.
Alexis Tsipras: [to himself: thinking] "Earth and water"?
[He unsheathes and points his sword at the Messenger's throat]
EU Messenger: Madman! You're a madman!
Alexis Tsipras: Earth and water? You'll find plenty of both down there.[referring to the well]
EU Messenger: No man, German or Greek, no man threatens a messenger!
Alexis Tsipras: You bring the ashes and ruins of conquered economies to Athens' city steps. You insult my wife. You threaten my people with slavery and death! Oh, I've chosen my words carefully, Bankster. Perhaps you should have done the same!
EU Messenger: This is blasphemy! This is madness!
Alexis Tsipras: Madness...? This is SYRIZA!
[He kicks the EU messenger down the well]
Does that mean it'll be chucked out the euro tomorrow?
I'm not convinced.
A thrace-saving deal may be possible.
(I must stop)
In other words, a goddam mess, pretty much the worst of all the bad options on offer.
"The Greek finance ministry will reportedly allow 1,000 Greek bank branches to open, but only for use by pensioners who do not have debit cards, that's according to Ta Nea, a Greek website. It says the branches will be open from Wednesday until Friday, and pensioners will be limited to withdrawals of €120 this week. "
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-33284560
I guess this doesn't count a "reopening" for the purposes of the above bet?
Clearly, it isn't quite that simple. No one wants to pull the trigger unless and until there's absolutely no alternative.
This is why the AEP story about the Greek preparing a legal challenge to being kicked out of the Euro is so much guff; it will be the Greek government which puts the gun in its mouth and pulls the trigger.
OTOH there has to be a real chance many Greek banks will never open their doors again. But, as Homer said in the Odyssey :
"Why cover the same ground again? ... It goes against my grain to repeat a tale told once, and told so clearly.”
Of course if the reports of a last-minute deal are right, then maybe they'll avert Grexit even now. They've certainly left it a bit late...
Absolutely zero chance of Grexit, the EU cannot allow it to happen.
He's suddenly keeping his options open in case of NO.
Would the IMF wait a week?
Frankly, most of the 75 finalists are head and shoulders better than anything I've seen on X-Factor.
For anyone interested, it's a series on ITVBe [the rest of the programming is mostly reality stuff aimed at a female audience].
If he recommends NO and the people vote YES then his position is clearly untenable and he would have to go. Either SYRIZA comes up with someone else that thinks they can live with it to run the country, or the government resigns and the old government and their cronies steps back in and accepts the deal. If its a NO, then Tsipras will feel he has been vindicated and will formally pull the plug on the Euro.
If it's No, I can't see any possible alternative to a de facto Grexit, probably with some aid payments from the other EU countries to mitigate the worst of the humanitarian crisis which will ensue.
If it's a Yes, then it's a right mess. Presumably Tsipras will indeed resign, and new elections will probably have to be called. I expect the ECB and IMF will provide drip-feed support during the time it takes to get a sane government in place.
If the Greeks can't get a sane government in place, then I have no further suggestions.
As Robert has pointed out it will ultimately be their decision whether they wish to issue a new currency and change their laws to allow that. Until they make that decision they might claim to still be members of the EZ. How long they can defer that decision will depend upon how many euros remain in circulation in Greece but the economic damage in terms of interruption of trade etc is already incalculable.
These people are insane. Will the public sector wages be paid today? I doubt it.
I don't dare bet on anything to do with Greece, as everyone involved seems determined to use convoluted language to avoid certain terms or phrases.
Reports today that banks may be open Weds or Thurs to enable pensions to be collected, just another example of saying one thing but doing the opposite.
Superb eye candy in tight short shorts...
The fundamental problem is the eurozone membership can't be sustained but for ideological reasons no one is willing to address it, unfortunately the greeks have not voted for a government insane enough to leave the eurozone in an orderly manner so the crisis still goes on.
So the crisis goes on and on regardless of how many bailouts or reforms because they refuse to address the fundamental issue of currency, Greece suffers predominantly from a monetary crisis and no reform can address a severely overvalued currency.
And the crisis simply makes reformists unpopular because the reforms fail to deliver results since the currency issue is not resolved.
In short as Deng Xiaoping said "white cats, black cats, it doesn't matter as long as it catches mice" when it came to capitalism and communism, the reforms and the euro are white cats but don't catch mice.
Syriza proposes neither.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33326534
Merkel = Xerxes
Hence the crisis goes on and on.
Greece lacks a euroskeptic right.
Further rumours that his clothing has been specified as sackcloth and ashes only with no shoes are unconfirmed at this time.
But the rest of the world may decide they're just not playing and walk away from the table.
"Feck off............ we'll pay you at the end of the month .............. Maybe?"
I agree they could print a parallel currency (Euro IOUs) to pay pensions and state-sector salaries and suppliers to the public sector and use real Euros for their imports. I think this could go on for a long time until they eventually get their house in order. They will still be in the Eurozone (no legal mechanism for kicking them out) but printing their own money for internal use. This would be a good solution.
When they asked for a tip: did you tell them to leave the Euro?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae
The odds are currently 11/4 against an exit this year, and odds of 1/3 on them staying in the Eurozone. £350K has been bet so far.
The rules state:
"This market will be settled as 'Yes' if Greece has left the Eurozone and is using an alternative official currency other than the Eurozone's official currency by 31st December 2015. This market will be settled as 'No' if Greece has not left the Eurozone or is still using the Eurozone's currency as at 31st December 2015."
This is a little ambiguous as "Yes" requires Greece to be using an alternative official currency AND to have left the Eurozone. There isn't a clear definition of what "leaving the Eurozone" means so I'm a little nervous of betting in this market.
The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics."
Thomas Sowell
For the EU "project" economics has to fit the politics.
That's where they go worong.
http://www.cityam.com/219113/tories-host-open-primaries-2016-mayoral-election
AV threads galore.
Saw on the Sky ticker that the Greek government may issue a new two year proposal shortly. We'll see.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/chris-christie-announces-2016-presidential-campaign/story?id=32125633
Any Republicans not running for president?
Newsflash: eurozone finance ministers are going to speak in three and a half hours to discuss Greece’s request for a third bailout. - They are due to speak at 6pm BST, or 8pm Athens time.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem @J_Dijsselbloem
Extraordinary Eurogroup teleconference tonight 19:00 Brussels time to discuss official request of Greek government received this afternoon
3:30 PM - 30 Jun 2015
Mr Burnham also pledged, if he were to become prime minister, a guaranteed university place for young people apprenticeship at the end of their schooling career.
https://www.politicshome.com/education/articles/story/andy-burnham-i-would-end-private-schools-charitable-status
http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=4195#2100