Greece is the word

somablu · #1 19-06-2011

Just starting a thread on Greece's popularity atm

Quote:

UK banks abandon eurozone over Greek default fears - Telegraph
18 Jun 2011

UK banks abandon eurozone over Greek default fears

UK banks have pulled billions of pounds of funding from the eurozone as fears grow about the impact of a “Lehman-style” event connected to a Greek default.

Senior sources have revealed that leading banks, including Barclays and Standard Chartered, have radically reduced the amount of unsecured lending they are prepared to make available to eurozone banks, raising the prospect of a new credit crunch for the European banking system.

Standard Chartered is understood to have withdrawn tens of billions of pounds from the eurozone inter-bank lending market in recent months and cut its overall exposure by two-thirds in the past few weeks as it has become increasingly worried about the finances of other European banks.

Barclays has also cut its exposure in recent months as senior managers have become increasingly concerned about developments among banks with large exposures to the troubled European countries Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal. ...

This sort of reminds of the tanks in the streets comment from Paulson

Quote:

Greek PM asks for support to avoid catastrophic default | Reuters

Sun Jun 19, 2011
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Sunday appealed to parliament to support a new cabinet appointed to push through painful economic reforms, saying a debt default would be catastrophic...

somablu · #2 19-06-2011

From Zerohedge
Debunking Some Myths About The "Greek CDS Contagion" Threat | zero hedge

somablu · #3 20-06-2011

Quote:

BBC News - Greece debt plan 'playing with fire' says eurozone head
19 June 2011
The Greek debt crisis is endangering the economies of at least five other EU countries, the head of the eurozone group of finance ministers has warned.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said Germany was "playing with fire" with a plan to involve private creditors in resolving the crisis.

Eurozone finance ministers are set to release 12bn euros (£10bn) in loans later on Sunday.

PM George Papandreou confirmed talks over a second bail-out are going on.

The 12bn-euro loan is the latest tranche of an EU and IMF aid package, agreed in May last year, worth a total of 110bn euros.

Speaking on Sunday at the start of three days of debates, Mr Papandreou said that Greece was in talks for a new bail-out "roughly equal" to the first package, and called for a referendum in the autumn on "changes to the political system", including to the country's constitution..

But the money is conditional on the government implementing a series of painful domestic reforms which have sparked nationwide strikes, rallies and violent riots on the streets of the capital.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that private investors should be encouraged to share some of the burden of the Greek debt by allowing the country extra time to pay them off...

somablu · #4 20-06-2011

This should be interesting.

Quote:

Greek PM Calls For Support, Plans Constitutional Referendum - www.capital.gr

ATHENS -(Dow Jones)- Prime Minister George Papandreou Sunday called on parliament to back his newly-formed cabinet, as Greece sought fresh aid from its European partners and with just weeks to go before the country is due to run out of cash.

"I request a vote of confidence so that we can, with a strong voice, negotiate a new agreement," Papandreou said.

Speaking at the start of a three-day debate ahead of a vote of confidence late Tuesday, Papandreou also said he would propose a referendum on sweeping constitutional reforms for later this autumn....

somablu · #5 20-06-2011

From Spain.

Quote:

Tens of thousands march against Euro Pact in Spain - AlertNet
MADRID, June 19 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Spaniards abandoned their customary quiet day with families and friends on Sunday to march against the so-called "Euro Pact" and the handling of the economic crisis.

In Madrid, marches began at six locations around the city, one at 6 am from Leganes, 13 kilometres from the centre, before convening at the Neptune plaza in front of the Prado art museum, a stone's throw from parliament.

At 1200 GMT, police put estimates in Madrid at between 35,000 and 45,000 protestors, with no reports of violence, according to national radio.

"I'm here because this is a con," said Juanjo Montiel, 26, one of four blind protestors in Madrid, who works in Information Technology for around 1,000 euros a month...

somablu · #6 20-06-2011

From Zerohedge
Ceasefire Between Germany And ECB Has Expired: Greek Compromise Plan Now "Off The Table" | zero hedge

somablu · #7 20-06-2011

Athens protests: Syntagma Square on frontline of European austerity protests | World news | The Guardian
Sunday 19 June 2011

Quote:

A year in, and the deal is not working. Greece has been in recession for two years and on official forecasts this will be its third. When I ask Athens University economist Yanis Varoufakis to describe the economy, he shoots back one sentence: "It's in freefall."

Sitting on the balcony of his flat behind the Acropolis, he throws out some statistics: 50,000 businesses went bankrupt last year, industrial production fell 20% and will drop another 12% this year. Unemployment has surged, so that one in six of the workforce doesn't have a job. These are the sort of figures associated with a depression, and the predictable result is that the public finances are getting worse. Greece's debt has ballooned to 153% of GDP; on Varoufakis's projections, even if ministers manage to make all their promised cuts, the government will owe three times the entire national income.

Behind these numbers lie the stories of a society in distress. One man talks about his daughter who works in the in-store restaurant of a large supermarket outside Athens; at closing time, she and her workmates have started giving out the unsold meals to the newly unemployed – the 21st-century equivalent of a soup kitchen. An employee of a local council notes that they pick up 17% less rubbish than a year ago, simply because people have cut back on food. The owner of an art gallery tells me her son has just started his first job; holding a master's in accountancy, he works six hours a day in a mobile-phone shop.

Quote:

I take a tour of the shipbuilding yard in Perama, just outside Athens. Greece has the largest commercial fleet in the world, and yet Perama is utterly silent. There is a rusting hulk, abandoned a few years ago, when those who commissioned it could no longer afford to pay for it. A decade ago, this yard employed 7,000 workers – now it has around 500. There was a time when assembling small cargo vessels was seen as pedestrian work; last year, the yard was contracted to build two boats, and the jobs were fought over.

somablu · #8 20-06-2011

Europe Fails to Agree on Greek Aid Payout - Bloomberg
Jun 20, 2011 10:28 AM GMT+1000

Quote:

European governments failed to agree on releasing a loan payout to spare Greece from default, ramping up pressure on Prime Minister George Papandreou to first deliver budget cuts in the face of domestic opposition.

Quote:

Decisions on the next payout and a three-year follow-up package were put off until early July, prolonging Greece’s fiscal agony and heightening the brinksmanship that has marked Europe’s handling of the unprecedented debt crisis...

wulfgar · #9 20-06-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by somablu

And whose banking system was a big purveyor of debt to Greece anyway......whose a pretty boy?

somablu · #10 20-06-2011

Europe postpones decision on loan to Greece - latimes.com

Quote:

By Henry Chu Los Angeles Times June 20, 2011, 1:34 a.m

LONDON—
European finance officials put off a decision Monday on handing debt-laden Greece its next installment of emergency loans, increasing the pressure on Athens to enact new austerity measures and fueling market fears of a national default.

Investors had hoped that officials meeting in Luxembourg would approve the payout of about $17 billion in rescue loans to Greece, which desperately needs the money to pay bills that come due next month...

Oh, this will go down well.

Quote:

But after several hours of talks, finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro said early Monday they would release the funds only if Greek lawmakers approve a controversial program of tax hikes and spending cuts to slash the country's mammoth budget deficit.

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