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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
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September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
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September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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« Reply #60 on: January 02, 2012, 09:16:03 am »

Well good...hopefully these pharmacists can see the evils of pharmakia will they are on hiatus!

Greek pharmacists, doctors on strike

1/2/12

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece is already seeing its first strike of the year, with pharmacists and doctors walking off the job to protest health sector reforms that include cuts in drug prices.

Pharmacists across the country began a 48-hour strike Monday to protest government plans to trim their profits by cutting the retail prices of drugs. They are also demanding payment of hundreds of thousands of euros owed by social insurance funds.

State hospital doctors started a four-day strike, objecting to government reforms to the state health system. The doctors were to be present at work but would be treating only emergency cases.

Greece has been surviving on international rescue loans since May 2010. It is negotiating the details of a second bailout.
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« Reply #61 on: January 03, 2012, 04:25:07 pm »

Sign bailout or face euro exit, Greece warns
3 January 2012, by William L. Watts - Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sign-bailout-or-face-euro-exit-greece-warns-2012-01-03

Greece could be forced to leave the euro if it fails to seal an agreement on a second 130 billion euro ($169.5 billion) bailout from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and private bond holders, a government spokesman warned Tuesday.

"The bailout agreement has to be signed, otherwise we will be out of the markets, out of the euro," the spokesman, Pantelis Kapsis, told Skai TV, according to a BBC report.

The agreement has faced sharp domestic criticism.

European leaders agreed in principle last October on a new bailout plan for the country. EU, IMF and European Central Bank officials are set to arrive in Athens in mid-January to work out details of the plan.
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« Reply #62 on: January 03, 2012, 04:45:10 pm »

If they don't sign, what is Greece going to do, attack with Baklava? Grin
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« Reply #63 on: January 03, 2012, 05:20:44 pm »

I have a question on this - is this one of those "darned if you do, darned if you don't" ultimatums for Greece?

I mean if they accept the bailout, the euro's going to eventually crash anyways as the "life support" will continue. And if they don't(even though it may be the right thing to do), the euro may crash right away.

It's as if the whole Hegelian Dialect is going on, where you have the rest of the EU vs. Greece - both are merely different sides of the same coin.
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« Reply #64 on: January 04, 2012, 11:47:42 am »

Summary Box: Greece could nix euro without bailout
1/3/12

WARNING: A spokesman for the Greek government said it might have to ditch the euro and push more austerity on its people if it can't get a second major international bailout.

PACKAGE ON HOLD: Greece is being kept afloat by a May 2010 bailout. An additional rescue package was set in October, after it became clear the first one wouldn't suffice.

PRIVATE CREDITORS WARY: Banks and insurance funds that hold a lot of Greece's debt agreed then to cut the value of their holdings by 50 percent, which would in effect slash Greece's borrowing. But the talks have snagged on crucial details.
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« Reply #65 on: January 04, 2012, 06:48:11 pm »

Millions of Greeks living in poverty

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/219311.html

1/4/12

Millions of people in the cash-strapped Greece are now living in poverty, as a result of the government's harsh austerity measures aimed at ending its financial crisis, a new report says.
 

According to the Hellenic Statistical Agency's first official report in 2012, about 20 percent of Greek citizens, which is over two million people, are considered poor.
 
The monetary poverty line for Greece is set at the annual amount of 7,178 euros per person and 15,073 euros per household with two adults and two dependent children under the age of 14.
 
The poverty rate for children under 17 years was at 23 percent in 2011, which is three points higher than the poverty rate for the whole population.
 
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« Reply #66 on: January 08, 2012, 07:37:52 pm »

IMF losing confidence in Greece's ability to reform-report
7 January 2012,by Brian Rohan - Berlin (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/07/imf-greece-idUSL6E8C70AY20120107

The International Monetary Fund is losing confidence in Greece's ability to clean up its public finances and work off its mountain of debt, German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

Citing an internal IMF memo, the news weekly said the body considered Greece's current readjustment programme insufficient and that new measures would have to be taken if the country is to avoid default and meet targets agreed with creditors.

The magazine said the IMF saw three options: either Athens enacts further austerity measures, private creditors write off more of their investments in the country's sovereign debt, or states in the euro zone increase bailout aid.

Earlier on Saturday, an adviser to Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told a Greek newspaper that a 50% write-down on Greek debt holdings, part of Greece's debt swap deal, is not enough to put the country on a viable path.

Banks and investment funds have been negotiating with Athens for weeks on the scheme, which aims to cut Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio from 160% to a more manageable 120 percent by 2020 -- a key part of the country's second, €130 billion bailout.

Der Spiegel, in its edition that hits news stands on Sunday, says this 120% target is now in question.

It said the IMF had strong criticism for Athens' sluggish structural adjustment, especially regarding tax collection and state asset sales.
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« Reply #67 on: January 08, 2012, 07:59:06 pm »

Greece to 'sell bonds backed by state property'
07 January 2012, (AFP)
http://www.france24.com/en/20120107-greece-sell-bonds-backed-state-property

Crisis-hit Greece plans to sell bonds with state property as collateral to buy back sovereign debt and postpone a privatisation drive under unfavourable market conditions, a report said on Saturday.

To Vima weekly said the Hellenic state asset development fund, an agency set up last year to manage Greece's asset sales, plans to create a privatisation bond to buy back part of the country's enormous debt on the secondary market.

For every one billion euros earned by the planned bond, the state will be able to buy back older debt worth €2.5 billion given the currently depressed value of Greek debt, unnamed agency officials told the newspaper.

Greek state debt, which has exploded to over €350 billion ($447 billion), is currently trading up to 35% below its face value, To Vima said.

Athens last year pledged a sweeping privatisation drive in return for bailout loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The process originally aimed to raise €5.5 billion by the end of the year, and €50 billion overall by 2015.

But targets have been revised owing to procedural delays and fears that a hurried sale in the present economic downturn will only bring limited revenue.

In December, Greece sold four disused Airbus A340 jets for $40.4 million, a sum which aviation unionists dismissed as scrap value.

The privatisation list includes ports, regional airports, utilities and motorways, a leading casino, public-owned defence, train and mining companies, and a key stake in Greece's monopoly gaming operator.
 













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« Reply #68 on: January 09, 2012, 10:52:09 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greece-quit-euro-unless-massive-funding-given-czech-231303354.html

Greece should quit euro unless "massive" funding given: Czech

1/8/12

(Reuters) - Greece should leave the euro zone and devalue its new currency unless Europe is willing to provide "massive" funding for the indebted country, Czech central bank Governor Miroslav Singer said in a newspaper interview.
 
Singer told daily Hospodarske Noviny Europeans should focus on helping banks which may need recapitalisation and on issues that can be resolved, rather than devoting attention for years to Greece which represents just two percent of the European economy.
 
"If there is not the will to give Greece a massive amount of money from European structural funds, I do not see any other solution than its departure from the euro zone and a massive devaluation of the new Greek currency," he said in the interview to be published on Monday.
 
"So far Greece has been given loans that served mainly for buying time and for rich Greeks to move their money out of the country. This lowers the trustworthiness of Europe and the willingness of non-European countries to lend or provide new capital to the International Monetary Fund for helping Europe."

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« Reply #69 on: January 10, 2012, 12:14:07 am »

Greece Spends Bailout Cash On European Military Purchases
9 January 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece-spends-bailout-cash-european-military-purchases

European Companies Are Now Funding European Banks And The ECB - Is "Investment Grade" Cash Really Just Italian Treasurys?
9 January 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/european-companies-are-now-funding-european-banks-and-ecb

Also See:

ECB policymaker wants banks off Greece bailout hook
6 January 2012, by Paul Carrel - Frankfurt (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/06/us-eurozone-idUSTRE8050GB20120106
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« Reply #70 on: January 12, 2012, 03:56:14 pm »

Private creditors tell Greece time running short
12 January 2012, by Polya Lesova - London (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/private-creditors-tell-greece-time-running-short-2012-01-12

Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre, co-chairs of the Steering Committee of the Private Creditor-Investor Committee for Greece, said in a statement on Thursday that talks with the Greek government will continue in Athens on Friday, but "time for reaching an agreement is running short."

Dallara and Lemierre met in Athens on Thursday with the Greek prime minister and the finance minister to discuss a voluntary debt exchange between Greece and the private sector.

"It is essential in order to finalize the voluntary PSI agreement that support be given by all official parties in the days ahead,"

Dallara and Lemierre said in a statement.

Some media reports have said that private-sector investors may have to accept a 60% haircut on the face value of their Greek debt holdings, which would be above the 50% agreed by euro-zone leaders last October.
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« Reply #71 on: January 15, 2012, 07:40:33 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/p-greek-standoff-pressure-euro-zone-boost-defenses-221336080.html

1/15/12

S&P, Greek standoff pressure euro zone to boost defenses

LONDON (Reuters) - Financial markets are unlikely to be derailed by mass euro zone downgrades but with Greek debt talks at an impasse, pressure has been loaded on the bloc to shore up its defenses and glimmers of optimism from last week have been firmly doused.
 
With the United States and Japan already downgraded from "AAA" the likes of France and Austria are in good company and Standard & Poor's ratings cuts had been flagged in December. Nonetheless, the upbeat tone that surrounded last week's strong Spanish bond auction now seems a distant memory.
 
"The euro zone crisis is now dominating market activity again, after a period in which better economic news from the U.S., and easier monetary policy in China had helped markets move higher," said Dominic Rossi, chief investment officer, equities, at Fidelity Worldwide Investment.
 
U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday but the euro zone will not have to wait long for a test of investor appetite.

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« Reply #72 on: January 16, 2012, 02:39:53 pm »

S&P Says Greek Default Imminent
16 January 2012, Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/sp-says-greek-default-imminent

Time for the dominos to fall where they may: head of sovereign ratings at S&P Kraemer spoke on Bloomberg TV, and said the following:

KRAEMER: GREECE, CREDITORS `RUNNING OUT OF TIME' IN DEBT TALKS -BBG

KRAEMER: EURO LEADERS HAVEN'T TACKLED CORE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS -BBG

KRAEMER SAYS EUROPE MUST DEAL WITH IMBALANCES, COMPETITIVENESS -BBG

And the punchline:

KRAEMER SAYS HE BELIEVES GREECE WILL DEFAULT SHORTLY - RTRS

The only thing he did not add is that the default will be Coercive.

What happens next is anyone's guess, but whatever it is it is certainly priced in.

Also, let's not forget that the inability of the market to react to any news ever again is most certainly priced in.
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« Reply #73 on: January 16, 2012, 04:37:04 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greek-pm-confident-debt-swap-deal-clinched-time-083553716.html

1/16/12

Greek default fears grow as talks stall

ATHENS/LONDON (Reuters) - Greece's private sector creditors warned on Monday that the Athens government must urgently break a deadlock in debt swap talks triggered by "unreasonable" demands from international lenders if is to avoid a disorderly default.
 
Barely a month after an injection of bailout funds helped to avert bankruptcy, Greece is back at the centre of the euro zone crisis as fears of a default and a subsequent euro zone exit overshadow a mass credit downgrade of euro zone countries.
 
Cash-strapped Athens needs a deal with the private sector within days to avoid going bankrupt when 14.5 billion euros of bond redemptions fall due in late March.
 
But talks with its creditor banks broke down on Friday over the interest rate on new bonds Greece will offer and a plan to enforce investor losses. Negotiations were suspended until Wednesday, and Athens sent senior officials to Washington to consult with the International Monetary Fund.

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« Reply #74 on: January 17, 2012, 06:39:04 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/greeks-strike-against-austerity-eu-imf-visit-084154979.html

1/17/12

Greeks strike against austerity as EU, IMF visit

ATHENS (Reuters) - Thousands of angry Greek workers marched to parliament on Tuesday to protest against austerity, waving banners reading "EU, IMF out!" as Athens' lenders arrived for talks in a race against the clock to avert a messy bankruptcy.
 
Greece's private sector creditors warned on Monday that the government must urgently break a deadlock in negotiations on a plan to slash the country's debt if is to avoid a disorderly default when a major bond redemption comes due in late March.
 
A team of EU, IMF and ECB officials start combing through Athens' books on Tuesday as part of efforts to put together a 130-billion-euro rescue package the country needs, together with the debt swap deal, to stay afloat.
 
But ordinary Greeks, who have been hit hard by tax hikes and spending cuts which were part of a first bailout agreed in 2010, fear more austerity and wage cuts with the second bailout and say they cannot take more belt-tightening.

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« Reply #75 on: January 19, 2012, 05:43:37 pm »

Greece: Eurozone won't add cash if bond talks fail

http://news.yahoo.com/greece-eurozone-wont-add-cash-bond-talks-fail-122532580.html

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Eurozone countries won't increase financial support for Greece if it fails to secure a bond-swap deal with private creditors, the country's foreign minister warned Thursday.

Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos's remarks came hours before he held a second day of talks with banking negotiators to reach a deal, known as the Private Sector Involvement, aimed at slashing the country's debt by euro100 billion ($130 billion).

Greece is facing a renewed threat of defaulting on its debts, with a euro14.5 billion ($18.7 billion) repayment looming March 20 and no funds to cover it.

"If there is a (financing) gap, this would have to be covered by a larger contribution from the official sector — that means the eurozone countries, directly or indirectly. And at this point, I do not see any willingness or readiness to increase that contribution," Venizelos told parliament. "So there must be no gap, and the Private Sector Involvement is very important."

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« Reply #76 on: January 21, 2012, 09:05:33 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/greeces-creditors-leave-athens-talks-continue-133626371.html

1/21/12

Greece's creditors leave Athens

LONDON/ATHENS (Reuters) - The representatives of Greece's private creditors left Athens unexpectedly on Saturday without a deal on a debt swap plan that is vital to avert a disorderly default, sources close to the negotiations told Reuters.
 
Negotiations will continue over the phone during the weekend but it is unlikely that an agreement can be clinched before next week, the sources said, as Athens races against the clock to strike a deal.
 
A lot of progress has been made on the details of the plan during talks between Athens and Institute of International Finance chief Charles Dallara, sources say, but any deal needs the approval of the IMF and euro zone countries, who insist on a substantial cut in the debt load.
 
The IMF and EU countries, and in particular the bloc's paymaster Germany, want to make sure the deal puts Greece's derailed finances back on a sustainable track before they agree to a new, 130-billion euro bailout, which is also crucial to avoid a messy default.
 
The IMF insists the debt swap deal must ensure Greece's debt burden will be cut to 120 percent of GDP by 2020 from 160 percent now, as agreed at an EU summit in October, and has warned that this is made more difficult by the fact that Athens' economic prospects have deteriorated since.

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« Reply #77 on: January 21, 2012, 09:25:35 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-happens-greece-defaults-144640152.html

1/20/12

Factbox: What happens if Greece defaults?

(Reuters) - Greece is expected to announce a bond swap deal with private sector creditors which will see at least half the value of their investments in its debt written off.
 
Such a deal is likely to tip the country into default, although that could mean several different things.
 
GREECE'S CURRENT RATINGS
 
The three big credit rating agencies - Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's - downgraded Greece in July after the debt swap plan was unveiled, assigning it "highly speculative" status and warning that losses for private creditors would imply a default. Fitch rates Greece CCC, S&P rates it CC and Moody's Ca.
 
SELECTIVE OR OUTRIGHT DEFAULT?
 
Fitch and S&P make a distinction between a selective or restricted default, where a borrower stops making interest or principal payments on some debts, and an outright inability or refusal to repay creditors.
 
Market players often make similar distinctions, referring to "orderly and disorderly," "soft and hard" or "managed and messy" defaults.
 
Both rating agencies have said a debt exchange under which creditors take losses, whether voluntary or otherwise, would be a selective or restricted default.

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« Reply #78 on: January 21, 2012, 09:35:52 am »

^^^^

RECENT COMMENTS
 
"Greece will default very shortly. Whether there will be a solution at the end of the current rocky negotiations I cannot say," Moritz Kraemer, the head of S&P's European sovereign ratings unit, told Bloomberg Television on Monday.
 
"There is a lot of brinksmanship (going) on and a disorderly default will have ramifications on other countries but I believe policymakers will want to avoid that ... The game is still on."
 
"It is going to happen. Greece is insolvent so it will default," Edward Parker, Managing Director for Fitch's Sovereign and Supranational Group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told Reuters on Tuesday. "So in that sense it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
 
"We have said for a long time that we don't think this (private sector involvement) is the way to go, and we would treat it as a default," Parker said. "It clearly is a default, however they try to spin it."
 
"It would be a default regardless of the size of the NPV (net present value) loss," Fitch's lead analyst for Greece, Paul Rawkins, said on Wednesday.
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« Reply #79 on: January 24, 2012, 09:34:55 am »


[VIDEO LINK INSIDE]

1/24/12

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's will likely downgrade Greece's ratings to "selective default" when the country concludes its debt restructuring, but that will not necessarily destroy the credibility of the European Union, an official with the ratings agency said on Tuesday.
 
"It's not a given that Greece's default would have a domino effect in the euro zone," John Chambers, the chairman of S&P's sovereign rating committee, said in an event organized by Blooomberg Link.
 
(Reporting By Walter Brandimarte, Daniel Bases and Steven C. Johnson)

http://news.yahoo.com/p-says-likely-declare-greece-default-135951494.html
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« Reply #80 on: January 24, 2012, 04:29:11 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-slightly-lower-greek-talks-worries-163825376.html

Stocks slightly lower on Greek talks worries

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in the United States and Europe on Tuesday as investors worried that a deal to cut Greece's national debt and hold off a possible financial crisis might fall through.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 49 points at 12,660 just after 2 p.m. EST. It has risen or fallen less than 100 points in 13 straight trading sessions, the longest stretch of calm since March and April of last year.

Treasury prices rose Tuesday from their lowest levels this year on uncertainty about whether Greece will reach a deal with its creditors. That drew money back into safer investments.

In Europe, Greece's stock market index fell 5.5 percent. Stocks fell less than 1 percent in Germany, France and Spain.

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« Reply #81 on: January 24, 2012, 08:23:44 pm »

Canadian dollar slides as Greek debt fears weigh

http://news.yahoo.com/canadian-dollar-slides-greek-debt-fears-weigh-222201583.html

1/24/12

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's dollar weakened against the U.S. currency on Tuesday, pulled lower with the euro and commodity prices as a setback in the latest efforts to restructure Greek debt triggered fresh worries about the stability of the euro zone economy.
 
Athens needs a deal very soon to ensure it can get its hands on funds from a 130-billion-euro rescue plan drawn up by its European partners and the International Monetary Fund. It needs the money before 14.5 billion euros of bond redemptions come due in March.
 
The market has already priced in an orderly default whereby private stakeholders would take a 50- to 70-percent haircut on their Greek debt holdings, said Benjamin Reitzes, senior economist and foreign exchange strategist at BMO Capital Markets.
 
"When talks break down you get a little bit more concerned that things aren't going to evolve that way and you get the chance of a disorderly default coming back on the table," he added.

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« Reply #82 on: January 25, 2012, 09:41:09 pm »

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/economic-ruin-on-the-horizon-for-greece-germany-cast-doubts-on-saving-country-from-financial-meltdown/

Economic ruin on the horizon for Greece: Germany cast doubts on saving country from financial meltdown

January 26, 2012 – GREECE - Angela Merkel has cast doubt for the first time on Europe’s chances of saving Greece from financial meltdown and sovereign default, conceding that Europe’s first ever multibillion euro bailout coupled with savage austerity was not working after a two-year crisis that has brought the single currency to the brink of unraveling. In an interview with the Guardian and five other leading European newspapers, the German chancellor also insisted – against widespread resistance elsewhere in the eurozone and in the UK – that the European court of justice (ECJ) be empowered to police public spending and budget policies of the 17 countries in the euro. She also called for the eventual creation of a European political union, with many more national powers ceded to a central government, a strengthened bicameral European parliament, and the ECJ assuming the role of Europe’s Supreme Court. Days before the latest EU summit, which, at Merkel’s insistence and evoking scant enthusiasm elsewhere, is to finalize an international treaty between eurozone governments entrenching German-style fiscal and budgetary rigor in all single currency countries, the chancellor admitted having doubts about the strategy she had pursued during the crisis. “We haven’t overcome the crisis yet. Of course, there’s Greece, a special case where, despite all the efforts that have been made, neither the Greeks themselves nor the international community have yet managed to stabilize the situation.” Asked about the European response over the past two years, during which Berlin has often dictated terms and encountered strong resistance in Brussels, Paris, and at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Merkel said: “Good politicians always have doubts, as a way of constantly reviewing whether they are on the right track.” There were no doubts about her aim – to save the euro and preserve the EU. The reservations concerned the means to those ends. With Europe’s biggest ever crisis moving into its third year, the chancellor is facing growing resistance to her key aim at Monday’s summit – finalizing the “fiscal compact” treaty that is the euro’s new rulebook, foreseeing quasi-automatic fines for fiscal sinners, empowering the Luxembourg-based ECJ to sit in judgment of the 17 countries’ budgets, and establishing legally binding debt ceilings for eurozone governments. –Guardian
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« Reply #83 on: January 26, 2012, 10:31:52 pm »

Be ye not deceived...when they say peace and safety...

http://news.yahoo.com/creditors-could-accept-lower-coupon-greek-bonds-media-080703098.html

Greece, creditors edge closer to deal

snippets:

After weeks of wrangling over the coupon, or interest rate, Greece must pay on new bonds it will swap for existing debt, attention has shifted to whether the ECB and other public creditors will follow private bondholders in swallowing losses.
 
A day after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said the ECB may need to accept losses on its Greek holdings, the European Union's top economic official also warned more public money will be needed to make up a shortfall in the country's second bailout.

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The ECB, which owns roughly 40 billion euros worth of Greek bonds, is no closer to agreeing on whether or not it will take losses on the Greek bonds it owns after a late night Wednesday meeting, euro zone central bank sources told Reuters.

------------------------

So far the coupon on the new bonds had been the main stumbling block in the negotiations.
 
On Monday, euro zone ministers rejected the creditors' offer of a 4 percent coupon on new bonds after Greece and its EU/IMF lenders held out for a 3.5 percent interest rate. They want the lower coupon to ensure the country's debt falls to a target of 120 percent of GDP by 2020, from around 160 percent now.
 
A second source familiar with the negotiations said the "coupon is parked for current time until we can get closer on detail of the overall package". Asked if that would include the ECB, the source said: "We would expect it to, still to be determined though."
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« Reply #84 on: January 26, 2012, 10:47:04 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/greece-resume-talks-debt-writedown-041933648.html

1/26/12

The IMF, which is bound by rules to lend only to countries that have sustainable debt levels, has insisted on achieving a 120 percent debt level, but sources close to the talks said proposals now on the table would only get Greece down to around 130 percent.

---------------------------------------------

IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned Wednesday that European public creditors would need to pitch in and help Greece.

-------------------------------------

While Greece has undertaken austerity measures, its bailout partners have been exasperated by its slow implementation of structural reforms and privatisation that are seen as necessary for the country to return to growth and pay its debts.
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« Reply #85 on: January 27, 2012, 09:09:41 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/eu-imf-press-greece-reforms-aid-flows-092711172.html

EU, IMF press Greece on reforms before aid flows

..

ATHENS (Reuters) - The European Union and IMF want Greece to push through more budget cuts and implement a series of long-agreed austerity reforms before they agree on a new bailout the country needs to avert bankruptcy, a report obtained by Reuters shows.
 
All eyes have been on Athens' tortuous debt swap talks with its private creditors over the past week, but Greece also needs to convince its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund to release a 130-billion euro package if it is to avoid a chaotic default.
 
Athens' partners have grown increasingly exasperated with its repeated fiscal slippages and delays on reforms and want to see progress before they wrap up Greece's second multi-billion euro bailout in three years.
 
The EU, IMF and ECB lenders - known as the troika - have drawn up a report this week which includes a list of measures they want to see enacted by Athens.
 
Top of the list is passing a supplementary budget with more cuts to reach fiscal targets in 2012. The troika suggests large spending cuts in defense and health spending as well as cutting redundant state entities. The document does not specify the amount of cuts needed.
 
The EU and IMF are also pressing Greece to adopt a much-delayed reform of supplementary pensions, ensure that a plan to replace only 1 out of 5 civil servants leaving the workforce is enacted and want Greece to finalize the opening up of its many closed professions such as lawyers and pharmacists, which they have been demanding for years, the document shows.
 
They also want the Bank of Greece to complete its assessment of Greek banks' capital shortfall and they expect the government to enact legslation to improve wage flexibility and further liberalize product and service markets, the document says.
 
The list of measures is not final and could change after discussions with the Greek authorities, the document says.
 
Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the government would try to negotiate some of the points on the list but repeated that Athens needed the bailout loan to stay afloat.
 
Asked if Greece would default without the aid, he told Skai TV: "It's obvious, if we don't get the loan, how are we going to find the money?"
 
But he added: "This is not what we will finally pass, we should keep that in mind. It's a list by the troika that opens up all those issues ... Some of them are past obligations, some are up for negotiation."
 
Talks with EU, IMF and ECB inspectors on the new bailout program are expected to go well into next week, sources close to the talks say, with slow process so far on fleshing out reforms required by the lenders on areas such as cutting the public sector workforce and making wage rules in the public and private sector more flexible.
 
Looming elections are distracting senior Greek officials and politicians from enacting the unpopular austerity reforms.
 
Greece's co-ruling conservative New Democracy party wants snap elections as a new bailout deal is clinched and no later than April 8.
 
Greece and its private creditors made progress on Thursday in talks on restructuring its debt, both sides said, and they will continue negotiating on Friday with the aim of sealing an agreement within a few days. There was no set time yet for Friday's meetings.
 
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander, editing by Mike Peacock)
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« Reply #86 on: January 28, 2012, 09:08:35 am »

http://www.mail.com/business/markets/1010324-what-we-worry-when-we-worry-greek-debt.html#.4284-stage-teaser1-3

January 28, 2012 — NEW YORK (AP) — Remember Greece?

It's been two years since a financial crisis erupted in the birthplace of drama, and the final act is still unfinished. A second week of talks in Athens ended Friday with no deal between the country, the European Union and private holders of Greek bonds.

Remarkably, even after the crisis became such an international worry last year that the leaders of France and Germany were actually referred to as "Merkozy," the European debt bomb could still explode, with Greece as the fuse.

Economists and investors see a Greek default as the biggest test of the world financial system since the crisis that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment house in 2008. It is also the biggest threat to what has been a successful start to the year in the U.S. stock market. The Standard & Poor's 500 index has gained 4.7 percent, roughly half its average for a full year, in just four weeks.

"If talks break down next week and it looks like they can't reach a deal, it raises all sorts of risks," says Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial. "The stock market could probably lose half its gains for the year."

On paper, it's hard to see how Greece could take down financial markets in the U.S., the world's biggest economy, with $15.2 trillion in goods and services churned out every year. Consider: — Greece's economy weighs in at euro220 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund's estimates. That translates to $285 billion, which puts Greece's economy on par with Maryland's. The U.S. sells about $1.6 billion in weapons, medicine and other products to Greece each year, a minuscule 0.07 percent of exports.

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« Reply #87 on: January 28, 2012, 09:12:22 am »

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-germany-wants-greece-budget-121818261.html

By Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is pushing for Greece to relinquish control over its budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over a second rescue package, a European source told Reuters on Friday.

"There are internal discussions within the Euro group and proposals, one of which comes from Germany, on how to constructively treat country aid programs that are continuously off track, whether this can simply be ignored or whether we say that's enough," the source said.

The source added that under the proposals European institutions already operating in Greece should be given "certain decision-making powers" over fiscal policy.

"This could be carried out even more stringently through external expertise," the source said.

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« Reply #88 on: January 28, 2012, 08:02:59 pm »

Endgame Begins - UK "Foreign Office Sources Say Merkel Now Thinks Greece Will Default"
27 January 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/endgame-begins-uk-foreign-office-sources-say-merkel-now-thinks-greece-will-default
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« Reply #89 on: January 28, 2012, 08:07:02 pm »

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/01/prepare-for-greece-to-leave-eurozone.html

1/27/12

Excerpt:

Expect Greek "Bank Holiday" Soon

Perhaps I am mistaken but I do not see any chance Greece will agree with this proposal.

German and IMF demands make meaningless any hint of a deal "soon". Germany has signaled it has had enough and will not throw another 130 billion euros down a rathole. The IMF signaled the same thing but not as emphatically.

Thus, if Germany does not back down and the IMF insists on a 10-page list of “prior actions” a Greek exit from the Eurozone is at hand. 

Look for a "bank holiday" in Greece soon.
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