The Greek meltdown - 07/01/2015

The following interview with Bill Black and Michael Hudson is the clearest explanation of why Greece's debts are illegitimate and why the EU and the IMF won't let them off the hook.

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US Hedge Funds Get Bailed Out if Greeks Pass Bailout Referendum

To watch Part one GO HERE

To watch Part two GO HERE

"Heartbreaking" Scene Unfolds At Greek Banks As Pensioners Clamor For Cash

Zero Hedge,

1 July, 2015

1,000 Greek bank branches chanced a stampede in order to open their doors to the country's retirees on Wednesday.

The scene was somewhat chaotic as pensioners formed long lines and the country’s elderly attempted to squeeze through the doors in order to access pension payments.

As Bloomberg reports, payouts were rationed and disbursals were limited according to last name. Here’s more: 

It’s a day of fresh indignities for the people of Greece.

About a third of the nation’s depleted banks cracked open their doors after being closed for three days. But all they did was ration pension payments, hours after the country became the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund and its bailout program expired. 

On the third day of capital controls, a few dozen pensioners lined up by 7 a.m. at a central Athens branch of the National Bank of Greece, an hour before opening time. They were to receive a maximum of 120 euros ($133), compared with the average monthly payment of about 600 euros. Many left with nothing after the manager said only those with last names starting with the letters A through K would get paid.

“Not only will I have to queue for hours at the bank in the hope of getting 120 euros, but I’ll have a two-hour round trip,” said Dimitris Danaos, 77, a retired local government worker who was making the bus journey from his home outside the Greek capital to the suburb of Glyfada. 

AFP has more color:

In chaotic scenes, thousands of angry elderly Greeks on Wednesday besieged the nation’s crisis-hit banks, which have reopened to allow them to withdraw vital cash from their state pensions.

“Let them go to hell!” said one pensioner waiting to get his money, after failed talks between Athens and international creditors sparked a week-long banking shutdown.

The Greek government, which closed the banks and imposed strict capital controls after cash machines ran dry, has temporarily reopened almost 1,000 branches to allow pensioners without cards to withdraw 120 euros ($133) to last the rest of the week.

The move has again sparked lengthy queues at banks across Greece — and outrage from many retirees who are regarded as among the most vulnerable in society, exposed to a vicious and lengthy economic downturn.

Under banking restrictions imposed all week, ordinary Greeks can withdraw up to 60 euros a day for each credit or debit card — but many of the elderly population do not have cards.

 Another customer, a retired mariner who asked not to be named, told AFP he had no cash to buy crucial medicine for his sick wife.

“I worked for 50 years on the sea and now I am the beggar for 120 euros,” he said.

“I took out 120 euros — but I have no money for medication for my wife, who had an operation and is ill,” he added. 

Here’s a look at the scene at National Bank in Athens courtesy of The Telegraph:

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As we outlined in detail earlier this morning, the latest polls show a slim majority of Greeks plan to vote "no" in the upcoming referendum (which, as far as we know, will still go on). Many analysts and commentators say a "oxi" vote would likely lead to a euro exit and with it, far more pain for the country's retirees.

Indeed, as we noted on Tuesday in "For Greeks, The Nightmare Is Just Beginning: Here Come The Depositor Haircuts," Goldman has suggested that only once Syriza's "core constituency of pensioners and public sector employees" sees the cash reserves (to which they have heretofore enjoyed first claim on) run dry, will they "face the direct implications of the liquidity squeeze the political impasse between Greece and its creditors has created. And only then will the alignment of domestic political interests within Greece change to allow a way forward."

And so, as sad as it is, the scene that unfolded today in front of the roughly one-third of Greek bank branches which opened their doors to pensioners, may have been preordained by the powers that be in Burssels because as we said yesterday evening, breaking Syriza's voter base may have been necessary in order for the Troika to finally force Tsipras to relent or else risk being driven from office, after capital controls and depositor haircuts force public sector employees to collectively cry "Uncle", beg Europe to take it back, and present Merkel with Tsipras and Varoufakis' heads on a proverbial (and metaphorical, we hope) silver platter

Greece crisis: Berlin accuses Tsipras of seeking scapegoats outside own ranks

Criticism of Greek prime minister reinforces view that Germany might refuse to negotiate with Syriza administration on rescue package until after referendum

the Guardian,

1 July, 2015

Berlin has delivered a blistering attack on Greece’s beleaguered radical prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, accusing him of lying to his own people and seeking scapegoats for the country’s misery everywhere but in his own ranks.

The German government dismissed desperate attempts by Athens to salvage some form of bailout, prompting Tsipras to hit back, accusing the country’s creditors of trying to “blackmail” Greek voters with dire warnings that a vote against austerity in this weekend’s referendum would be a vote to leave the euro.

Tsipras referred to leaders of other eurozone nations as “extremist conservative forces” and blamed them for the capital controls that have forced the banks to shut down and ration csh.

With relations between Greece and Germany now at their lowest point in the crisis, divisions have also opened up among the main EU powers over what to do about Greece after five years of bailout closed down on Tuesday and the country became the EU’s first to default on loans to the International Monetary Fund.

The trenchant criticism of Tsipras from Berlin reinforced the view that the German government might refuse to negotiate with the leftwing Syriza administration on any new rescue package after Sunday’s referendum in Greece – which Berlin insists is a vote on whether to stay in the euro.

The validity of the vote is now also being questioned. The Council of Europe said one week’s notice fell short of international standards and the wording was unclear, while Greece’s highest court has been asked to cancel the plebiscite on constitutional grounds. A judgement will not be made until Friday.

Syriza’s allies in the German parliament – die Linke, or the Left – accused the chancellor, Angela Merkel, of seeking to topple the Greek prime minister. It is an open secret in Berlin that Merkel, and especially her hawkish finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, would be happy to see Tsipras fall as a consequence of Sunday’s vote. At the very least, German government sources say privately, Berlin wants Greece’s flamboyant finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, replaced.

The rising tension over the Greek debacle surfaced at the very top of the EU on Wednesday when Schäuble rejected the latest Tsipras letter to his creditors accepting most of the austerity terms that last Saturday he had described as “humiliation” and “extortion”, while arguing for much more generous rescue funding over two years and including debt relief.

Schäuble said the Tsipras overture just muddied the waters further, while Merkel flatly ruled out any more negotiations this week until after the Greeks have voted.

“There can be no negotiations on a new aid programme until after the referendum,” said Merkel.

The French president, François Hollande, however, urged a quick fix. “The agreement must come immediately,” he said. “It’s been a while that we’ve been talking about this agreement. It must happen now.”

Tsipras’s erratic tactics in veering from rejectionism to conciliation and back within hours only added to the exasperation in eurozone circles.

Schäuble made plain that he had given up listening to the confusing signals from the Greek government, suggesting it will be very difficult for the two key parties, Athens and Berlin, to move quickly towards defusing a situation losing control. 

Time is very tight. As well as defaulting on €1.5bn of loans to the IMF on Tuesday, Greece has to redeem European Central Bank bonds worth €3.5bn on 20 July.

“Greece is in a difficult situation, but purely because of the behaviour of the Greek government ... Seeking the blame outside Greece might be helpful in Greece, but it has nothing to do with reality,” said Schäuble. “The Greek government is not doing its people any favours at all if it keeps making completely false statements. 

Nobody else is to blame for their situation ... It’s all very sad. We’re in a much harder situation than before. It was always difficult. But it has just kept getting more and more difficult since January.” Tsipras assumed office in January.

Tsipras was also criticised by Germany’s vice-chancellor in the Merkel coalition, Sigmar Gabriel. He accused the leftwing Syriza government of allowing the wealthy and the oligarchs to suck the country dry and take “billions” out of the country.

“Who’s liable for this money? Workers in Germany, among others.” He said Europe was doing nothing but throw money at “this corrupt state”.

Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia, the EU commissioner for the euro, also said it might be possible to strike a deal before the ECB payment deadline on 20 July, only for Schäuble to signal that may not be possible.

In the last 24 hours Tsipras has pirouetted on his tactics to demand debt relief plus a new two-year €29bn baillout from the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund, known as the ESM.

However, this could only be negotiated quickly with maximum goodwill on both sides. The Germans will drive a hard bargain and Merkel may balk at having to take a third Greek bailout to the Bundestag where she could face a revolt.

Merkel and Schäuble strongly emphasised that there was no risk to the rest of the currency bloc from the Greek meltdown.

“Europe is strong,” said Merkel. “Much stronger than five years ago at the start of Europe’s debt crisis which originated in Greece.”

The German finance ministry website on Wednesday issued an FAQs list on Greece blaming the Tsipras government for the breakdown while reassuring Germans about the low likelihood of spillover effects.

“The impact is limited. The eurozone itself is stable and safe. Contagion risks as in 2012 no longer exist.”

“The fact is,” said Schäuble, “that this [Tsipras] government has done nothing to build up a competent administration and it’s been in office for six months.”

Merkel added: “Europe’s future is not at stake. It would be at stake if we forgot who we are and what makes us strong. We are stronger because of the reform policies of recent years, mainly due to Germany’s position.”

Greek PM: We aim to seal deal with creditors after referendum

As EU officials have agreed to pause the Greek debt talks, PM Alexis Tsipras underlined his commitment to the referendum saying that any statements about expelling Greece from the Eurozone should Sunday's referendum result in a "No" vote are a bluff.

The group of Eurozone finance ministers has agreed that the debt talks will be paused until after Greece holds a popular referendum on whether or not Athens should agree to the international creditors’ conditions.