Greece

Greece Heads Back to the Polls to Vote For…What?

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , ,

Here we go again. The Greek people are once again going to vote, today, Sunday September 20, for the people that will take their money. The only interesting thing about this election is how many seats Golden Dawn will get. When a political party is named like a Jew for Jesus would name a synagogue (a little bit too colorfully flamboyant), you know there are a bunch of people with emotional issues at the helm.

All politicians have that, but Golden Dawn is at least honest about their hatred of everyone. They are neo Nazis, and Yanis Varoufakis has called them actual Nazis. Here is their flag. Look familiar?

Golden DawnMaybe their leader will try to burn down the Greek Parliament, or attempt a coup in a beer hall. He’s already been in prison for murder.

When countries get squeezed financially, as Weimar did in the 1920’s, and as Greece is getting squeezed now, this is what gives rise to Nazism. It is no surprise that Golden Dawn is going to do well this election. Here’s what I wrote about it at 247WallSt.

The party that causes particular concern is the Neo-Nazi Gold Dawn party, which could take home 10% of the vote this time around. Former Greek Foreign Minister Yanis Varoufakis has even eschewed the term “neo-Nazi” to call Golden Dawn bona fide Nazis straight out, and the party seems very adamant about throwing out the third bailout deal and even EU membership. Usually this can be chalked up to rhetoric, as was apparent even with the extremely anti-bailout Syriza party. But when dealing with Nazis, all bets are off.

And yet, sadly enough, Golden Dawn’s actual positions on anything may not even matter. If Golden Dawn has a strong enough showing on Sunday to actually become the kingmaker, the dizzying historical twist of Germany funding a government that includes Nazis in its coalition may be too much for Europe to bear. What will Germany do then? Demand new elections again so German taxpayers won’t have to fund Golden Dawn?

Conservative Greek MP Fotini Pipili was quoted in The Guardian: “I am afraid. For the first time we have no idea what this election will bring. What we do know, however, is that Golden Dawn is going to do well, and for the serious minded that is a very worrying thing.”

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COINCIDENCE? The Greferendum Will Take Place on the Fast of 17 of Tamuz

rafifarber Eurozone Crisis , , ,

I looked at the calendar just now and noticed that the Greek Referendum, or the so-called Greferendum on Eurozone membership is going to take place on 18 Tamuz. The fast is postponed one day because the 17th of Tamuz falls out on Shabbat.

I also noticed that the 4th of July falls out on 17 Tamuz this year. The 17th of Tamuz marks the beginning of the ominous 3 weeks from 17 Tamuz to 9 Av, when Jews are advised to pretty much hunker down and don’t take any major risks. On 17 Tamuz, the walls of Jerusalem were breached, Moses broke the Tablets, Apostemos burnt the Torah, an idol was placed in the Beit HaMikdash, and the daily offering ceased.

I also noticed that last Friday, the day that Alexis Tsipras called off negotiations on the bailout and called for the Greferendum was the 9th of Tamuz, which is the original fast day that we now observe on the 17th of Tamuz.

This could all be nothing, but it could mean something. I guess we’ll find out in a few days. The financial world is hanging by a hair. And yes, I could be wrong.

IRONY of Ironies: Greece may not even have the money to hold a referendum!

rafifarber Economics, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

Zerohedge is reporting that FAZ, a German news agency, is reporting that the referendum may be moot simply because the Greeks have no money to logistically carry it out.

I can’t imagine that if the referendum actually happens, the Greek people will turn it down and say no to the deal. They’ll say yes. Losing access to their savings outright is too frightening for anyone. And I cannot imagine that if they say yes, the Troika will say, “Nope, sorry, you’re a week too late,” and cut the country loose. They’ll give them the money eventually and Grexit will be avoided.

BUT. If the referendum doesn’t actually happen in the first place because the Greek government is so bankrupt that it can’t even hold a referendum, then Grexit is entirely possible, and this is the end.

And it will be their fault too, because they have waited so long to actually ask their people.

So let’s sharpen it. If the referendum happens, collapse will be averted. If it doesn’t because they are so completely bankrupt, then this is the endgame.

Greece Defaults in Three Days, Global Collapse May Begin July 1

rafifarber Eurozone Crisis, The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

This will be the ultimate test for the global financial system to date, since the 2008 financial crisis. I turned on my computer Motzei Shabbos and it took me a few minutes to make sense of all the headlines. Apparently, what is happening is this.

Greece’s creditors want spending cuts, Greece says only tax hikes. That I already knew. Then the creditors, the “troika” or the “institutions” or whatever you want to call them, say “No, we’re serious, it’s either spending cuts or default.”

The official bailout expires June 30. Tsipras and Varoufakis said OK, we’ll do a referendum to see if the people want spending cuts or default. Tsipras and Varoufakis ask for a few weeks extension to the official bailout program which expires June 30, because they cannot organize a referendum by then.

And the troika says no, no extension.

So the referendum is meaningless.

Therefore, Greece will default for (nearly) certain on June 30. Now, here’s the interesting part. If the global financial system is as unstable as I believe it is, there will be a bond attack in Spain and Italy. If that bond attack is not quelled within a week, it will spread to Portugal and Ireland. Or it could be Portugal and Ireland first and then Spain and Italy. Point is, there will be a bond attack somewhere and interest rates will skyrocket for some Eurozone country deeply in debt.

If that is not quelled by massive money printing the likes of which have never been seen, you’ll start to see the carnage cross oceans.

Basically, it comes down to this. If the global financial system can withstand the first few weeks of this default, then there will be no global financial meltdown. If it can last the first 2 weeks, then collapse is another 10 years away. If in the next two (maybe three) weeks we see interest rates skyrocketing globally, then this is the end of the current global monetary system. I honestly don’t know. But everyone knows what I’m rooting for.

Let’s see what happens. And prey for the Greek people. No matter what happens globally, they are going to be starving in the streets because of government restrictions on their economic activity, AKA capital controls. They will lose their savings, but anyone with gold and silver will be OK. (And lead.) If you have any family in Greece, tell them to get out of the country in any way possible right now. I mean right now, don’t even sleep on it. Boat, plane, walk across the border to Macedonia, it doesn’t matter. Just get out.

5 Days until Greek Bailout Expires

rafifarber Eurozone Crisis, The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

The sticking point, apparently, is that the Greek government wants to raise taxes, and the IMF wants it to cut spending.

The IMF is right here. Higher taxes will mean richer Greeks move out, or evade them. Spending cuts will lower the deficit, and free the economy to a degree, adding to growth.

To rephrase the current positions, Greece says, “I want to eat more.” The IMF says, “We want you to go on a diet.”

If they do exit the Euro, boy oh boy will they be going on quite a diet.

This is really a contest in how much Greece’s leftist government really believes in the power of money printing. If they think it really does solve everything, they’ll leave the Euro and print their own if they don’t get the deal they want.

Will this be the last last last last deadline? I don’t know. Somehow I doubt it.

Headline of the Year: Gennimata easily beats off competition to become first woman to head PASOK

rafifarber Humor, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

Great stuff. Love the picture too. And her name, Fofi.

Gennimata easily beats off competition to become first woman to head PASOK

Fofi beats off competition
Fofi beats off competition
Fofi Gennimata took over as the first female leader in PASOK’s history on Monday after comfortably seeing off her two male competitors to secure the presidency of the beleaguered Socialist party.

The ex-minister immediately said that she would seek to rebuild the once-mighty party and would begin a dialogue with other groups on the center-left of Greek politics. Although she did not name them, her comments suggest that she will reach out to Democratic Left, which was part of the coalition government between 2012 and 2013, and the Movement of Democratic Socialists launched by ex-PASOK chief George Papandreou in January.

Reminds me of this great blooper:

 

Tsipras Insists on Saving Democracy, But Democracy is what is Destroying Europe

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , ,

I can’t resist. It’s just too poetic.

Tsipras was quoted as penning this rhetorical flourish, not bad for the Rambam at the end of one of the 14 books of the Yad, except full of much more bull:

Those who perceive our sincere wish for a solution and our attempts to bridge the differences as a sign of weakness, should consider the following: We are not simply shouldering a history laden with struggles. We are shouldering the dignity of our people, as well as the hopes of the people of Europe. We cannot ignore this responsibility. This is not a matter of ideological stubbornness. This is about democracy. We do not have the right to bury European democracy in the place where it was born.

Your people’s dignity? What a sick twisted world where “dignity” is defined by how much of other people’s money you can snort up in a bailout to maintain your bloated pensions for people who do nothing but put restrictions on business.

Real dignity, Tsipras my commie buddy, is when you work for the money you earn, it’s from the satisfaction of having created value for the world, of being rewarded for hard efforts pleasing consumers.

As for burying European democracy in the place where it was born, just because “your people” in Greece voted for you to take other people’s money in Germany because you ran out of money in your own country, doesn’t mean doing so is dignified or morally correct. Here is a beautiful paragraph from an FT article penned by a politician of all people, telling the truth for once.

“The game theorists of the Greek government are in the process of gambling away the future of their country,” Mr Gabriel wrote, in a thinly veiled dig at Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister who is an expert on game theory. “Europe and Germany will not let themselves be blackmailed. And we will not let the exaggerated electoral pledges of a partly communist government be paid for by German workers and their families.“

BAM!

Just because a bunch of people democratically voted to take money from people in another country doesn’t make it holy. Maybe democracy will finally die right where it was born, in Greece, with its body decaying out from there and the rotting corpse of democracy that has all led us to unsustainable global debt trying to steal from one another will decay and be gone forever, all while the democracy worshipers, especially in this country where “saving democracy” is the new god of Israel that took us all out of Egypt to be our god, all wonder what the hell happened.

Greeks Partying Hard as the Ship Sinks

rafifarber Eurozone Crisis, The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

This is not about the negotiations. It’s actually a dry news story about an actual event that happened and is happening and can be documented, rather than rumors of a report of possible private conversations with intonations and predilections and intimations of something maybe blah blah behind closed doors deal thingee between Greece, and its creditors the CIA, IMF FBI KGB, KKK, ECB, and CBS.

So the Greek public broadcasting station ERT is being reopened. Davka now. Wow. 1,500 state employees hired to spew bullshit about what all the Greek politicians are doing, saying, not doing and not saying so everyone can know. All the time.

I wonder what the hell they’re going to pay the 1,500 bullshit workers with.

Once described as a “haven of waste”, Greece’s public broadcaster relaunched on Thursday evening with a live concert by famous local musicians in central Athens…

“Today ERT is back, once again tasked with providing a service to Greek society of prompt and impartial information. The stakes are high; to show that a public organisation can serve the public interest,” said Tsipras.

It’s thought around 1,500 staff are being gradually rehired as programming progressively resumes.

Reporting from the reopening, Nikoleta Drougka, our correspondent in Athens said: “Here at the ERT headquarters, the mood is celebratory.”

Live it up you wacknuts. Party hard. You don’t have much time to enjoy it, so may as well go out screaming.

It reminds me of that snippet from Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) where God tells him to redeem a field while the Babylonians are busy burning Yehuda and killing everyone. Yirmiyahu asks what’s the point. God says that fields will still be redeemed in My land, no matter what’s happening.

In Yirmiyahu it’s a sad but beautiful note of ultimate continuity in the face of catastrophe. The meaning is, ultimately, we’ll be back. And we are.

But with his reopening of some stupid public broadcaster, it’s like an dark universe version of that same message. We screwed up. So at least let’s screw up some more before the bell tolls. Have a party. Woo hoo.

My Last Word On Greece Until they Leave the Euro

rafifarber Humor, The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

The back and forth on Greece is starting to drive even me nuts. As we get closer to the deadline of reality (whenever that is), the Greek government – the entire Eurozone really – is acting more and more like a cornered animal, changing its tune and tone every hour instead of every day. It’s getting nuts, and I can’t believe any stories that come out of there anymore.

One hour Greece has a deal. The next hour the IMF is pissed as hell. Then Tsipras is groping Merkel and then Varoufakis is growling at Scheuble, then some Greek unknown official named Somethingopalous Flabargatopolous says something very hopeful, but Jean Claude Van Dam Juncker says “we have to hurry” and Christine Lagarde gets hot flashes while Jeroen Djisselbooger says Greece’s plan is not credible, but talks were “extremely friendly”.

This is a term I’ve actually seen a lot. “Extremely friendly”. Does anyone not an an asylum use that term? “Extremely friendly”? Extreme friends, sounds like a reality show where two friends go into the Outback and see if they can survive dehydration and kangaroo attacks.

I have never been “extremely friendly” with anybody. It sounds frightening.

So whatever happens, happens. I’m done. Everything is smokescreens now. As we get even closer, the story will change by the minute.

FINALLY The Answer on Greek Default and Grexit Coming TODAY

rafifarber Eurozone Crisis, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , ,

We don’t know the details because “the conversations are private”, but the three biggest mafia gangs in the Eurozone – the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary (Government Bail Out) Fund, AKA the Troika, or Institutions, or Mobsters, or Former Student Council Presidents Suddenly In Charge Of A $#!+load Of Stolen Money, have given the Syriza Welfare Whiners a take it or leave it offer.

If Greece rejects it, a full bank run will begin, and the whole system will begin to buckle.

Yesterday we had another gold flag, by the way. Stocks down, dollar way down, bonds down, gold up.