The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Greece Threatens Sovereign Default

Posted on | June 1, 2015 | 102 Comments

This could trigger a global financial crisis:

Greek premier Alexis Tsipras has accused Europe’s creditor powers of issuing “absurd demands” and come close to warning that his far-Left government will detonate a pan-European political and strategic crisis if pushed any further.
Writing for Le Monde in a tone of furious defiance after the latest set of talks reached an impasse, Mr Tsipras said the eurozone’s dominant players were by degrees bringing about the “complete abolition of democracy in Europe” and were ushering in a technocratic monstrosity with powers to subjugate states that refuse to accept the “doctrines of extreme neoliberalism”.
“For those countries that refuse to bow to the new authority, the solution will be simple: Harsh punishment. Judging from the present circumstances, it appears that this new European power is being constructed, with Greece being the first victim,” he said.
The Greek leader, head of the radical-Left Syriza government, issued a stark warning that his country will not submit to these demands and will instead take action “to entirely transform the economic and political balances throughout the West.” . . .
Mr Tsipras’s article is a thinly-disguised warning that Greece may choose to default on roughly €330bn of debt in the biggest sovereign default ever, and pull out of the euro, rather than breech its key red lines.
The debts are mostly to European official creditors and the European Central Bank. The situation has become critical after depositors withdrew €800m from Greek banks in two days at the end of last week, heightening fears that capital controls may be imminent.
Mr Tsipras’s choice of words also implies that Greece may turn its back on the Western security system, presumably by shifting into the orbit of Russia and China.

The problem with socialism, as Margaret Thatcher wisely observed, is that eventually you run out of other people’s money. Greek is effectively bankrupt, and Tsipras seems to imagine that he can blame this on Greece’s creditors. As much as that may suit Tsipras’ socialist ideas, it won’t produce any more cash. And if Greece stops paying bondholders, this would likely trigger a crisis in financial markets that would hurt a lot of innocent people who never set foot in Greece nor derived any benefit from the money Greece borrowed. Tsipras is reckless, irresponsible, and indifferent to the harm caused by his decisions.

Did I mention he’s a socialist? Pretty sure I did . . .

(Via Memeorandum.)

 

Comments

102 Responses to “Greece Threatens Sovereign Default”

  1. Michael Rutherfurd
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:07 am

    And thus the cascade failures begin

  2. RS
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:16 am

    There are crises and then there are CRISES!!!!!. Greece leaving the Eurozone, where of its own volition or because they’re booted out is not the worst thing that could happen. The crisis, such as it is, has happened already because Greece has had access to Germany’s AMEX card for years and run up big bills. If Greece leaves, the Greek devaluation of the Euro stops, at least.

  3. RS
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:17 am

    HTML fail. My bad.

  4. Bob Belvedere
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:23 am

    There are a number of bombs ready to detonate on us.

    The only question left is: which one will be The One.

    Dark and Cruel Days ahead.

  5. Steve Skubinna
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:42 am

    Man, between this, the ongoing cannibalization of the progressive coalition and the collapse of the Blue Model, there isn’t enough popcorn in the world.

    The question the Greek government needs to be asking themselves is how far can they push Germany before they abandon the Euro, because that is what will kick the props out from under the entire rotten edifice.

  6. Steve Skubinna
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:44 am

    Oh. I thought you were really worked up.

    But Greece exiting the Eurozone would not be catastrophic (aside from the fact that they can’t, any more than a deadbeat freeloading relative can walk out on whoever he’s sponging from). As I note below, what will kill the Euro is Germany getting cheesed off enough the bail.

  7. Steve Skubinna
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:46 am

    The One? Well, when you spell it like that, capitalized, it can only mean the Metrosexual Mugabe himself, Barack Obama.

  8. Quartermaster
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:50 am

    A re-enactment of 1929. Won’t be the same trigger, but effects will be the same.

  9. Quartermaster
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:51 am

    That Germany has allowed things to run in the manner she has is the surprise for me. I left Germany in 1969, and even Kurt Kiesinger, a raging socialist, would not have allowed things to reach this point.

  10. Bob Belvedere
    June 1st, 2015 @ 6:53 am

    ‘Metrosexual Mugabe’ – can I use that? Appropriate credit to be give, of course.

  11. Steve Skubinna
    June 1st, 2015 @ 7:11 am

    Actually, appropriate credit would go to Paco, former frequent commentor at Tim Blair’s blog and currently residing at Paco Enterprises blog.

    Paco lives in Northern VA and I wonder if his paths ever cross with RSM’s.

  12. Steve Skubinna
    June 1st, 2015 @ 7:13 am

    The Germans are trying to be good neighbors and responsible members of the international community. How long they will accept being patsies for a gaggle of Mediterranean welfare leeches is an interesting question. I think an answer is forthcoming.

  13. Bob Belvedere
    June 1st, 2015 @ 7:34 am

    Ah, Sir Paco, a dear Friend In The Ether.

    His wit is legendary.

  14. Eric Ashley
    June 1st, 2015 @ 8:19 am

    Am I supposed to be sympathetic to big bankers who knew good and well what they were doing, and planned on 1) Getting a new career far way before things went sideways 2) Haveing the German and maybe the American taxpayers bail them out.

    It is time to declare a day of Jubilee.

  15. Jim R
    June 1st, 2015 @ 8:44 am

    Writing for Le Monde in a tone of furious defiance after the latest set of talks reached an impasse, Mr Tsipras said the eurozone’s dominant players were by degrees bringing about the “complete abolition of democracy in Europe” and were ushering in a technocratic monstrosity with powers to subjugate states that refuse to accept the “doctrines of extreme neoliberalism”.

    Shorter:

    “I’m not gonna pay back the money I owe, and you can’t make me! You’re just a bunch of meanies! WAAAAAHHHH!”

    Lefties, at root, are a pack of bratty children.

  16. Jim R
    June 1st, 2015 @ 8:47 am

    There is something in what you say, but I suggest that (like our mortgage crisis a few years ago) government policy plays a MUCH larger role than the stupidity and cupidity of bankers.

  17. Billyjoe Jimbob
    June 1st, 2015 @ 8:50 am

    Mr. McCain and the rest of his Commentariat should really read and think about what PM Tsipras actually wrote instead of taking umbrage over things which he didn’t say. This applies, as well but much more so, to Mr. Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph (to and about which you are all REALLY commenting…not the Le Monde piece).

    The Telegraph wrote, “The Greek leader, head of the radical-Left Syriza government, issued a
    stark warning that his country will not submit to these demands and will
    instead take action “to entirely transform the economic and political
    balances throughout the West.”.

    This is just not true. It’s NOT what Tsipras said in the Le Monde piece. One can’t even, in my reading and understanding of it, misconstrue what was written in Le Monde as being what Mr. Evans-Pritchard says he said. Mr. McCain doesn’t even trust you to read the Le Monde piece and come up with a similar view to his and Evans-Pritchard. If he did, he’d have given you a link to what was really written. It’s here ( http://www.primeminister.gov.gr/english/2015/05/31/prime-minister-alexis-tsipras-article-at-le-monde-newspaper-europe-at-crossroads/ ), at the Official Greek government site, by the way, assuming this site is allergic to French.

    And that’s only one part of it.

    Now, I don’t claim to be a mental giant (ad hominem attacks begin!), but I DID read both the original Tsipras post and the Telegraph piece and I believe I understand both of them. I wonder if Mr. McCain did.

    If he did, then he’s either not able to read and understand English or he’s misleading you on purpose.The difference between the two (Tsipras’ words and the Telegraph’s “analysis”) is that stark. And, if the American Government misled you on purpose, all y’all would feel like you’d REALLY been trod upon.

    Why, then, do you accept being misled from demagogues like Evans-Pritchard and hacks? Sure, they tell you what you want to hear, like, for instance, Tsipras is a socialist (he REALLY is). .

    But, I’ll bet money, a great many people here would understand and agree with his sentiments and even most of his words, if you but read what he really said…assuming you can get past that S word.

  18. texlovera
    June 1st, 2015 @ 8:53 am

    Or a re-enactment of 1914. Just instead of a head of state being killed, an economy will be…

  19. Gunga
    June 1st, 2015 @ 8:54 am

    Not so long ago I wondered how it was possible for West Germany to absorb the much worse off leech state of East Germany without becoming just another casualty of wishful thinking… I can’t help but think that the value of Greek tourism has to dwarf the value East Germany’s chief export: shemale swimmers…

    I can hear the sirens already…”dwarf” and “shemale” in the same sentence…

  20. Dianna Deeley
    June 1st, 2015 @ 8:59 am

    I am told that a Greek default is already accepted, anticipated, and allowed for.

    I remain skeptical.

  21. Billyjoe Jimbob
    June 1st, 2015 @ 9:03 am

    You REALLY need to read the Le Monde piece.

  22. Kirby McCain
    June 1st, 2015 @ 9:14 am

    You’re 100% right. The can has been kicked too far down the road as is and a default would be the best thing for everyone including the Greeks. Greece has been asking its Euro partners to throw more good money after bad. Enough is enough.

  23. JeffWeimer
    June 1st, 2015 @ 9:20 am

    Then what did he actually say? If the difference is that stark, what is the difference?

  24. JeffWeimer
    June 1st, 2015 @ 9:20 am

    Yes, yes they have. Paco attended Smittypalooza 1 a few years ago.

  25. Billyjoe Jimbob
    June 1st, 2015 @ 9:28 am

    Umm, read it yourself? You want to talk about my opinions or the facts? RTFQ!! Quit accepting like a zombie to what other people say is true.
    OK, bad simile. I guess zombies don’t listen. How about like the RCA dog…? You do know about the RCA dog?

  26. texlovera
    June 1st, 2015 @ 9:38 am

    I think of all the old blogs I miss, Tim’s old one is in the top three. The commenters there were at least half the fun!

  27. SouthOhioGipper
    June 1st, 2015 @ 9:42 am

    The Greek Socialists are convinced that when push comes to shove, Germany and the rest of the EU will cave. I don’t believe this will trigger a global financial crisis. I do believe it will trigger a humanitarian crisis in Greece, but I’m not going to complain about that. I have had a blast over the last year watching Greek Socialists get told that they can’t have any more of what we term “other people’s money”. Watching the famine will be a real popcorn moment.

    I only wish Maggie Thatcher were here to see it herself. It’s like watching the Cold War end all over again in miniature. Although Tsipras is right about one thing. The EU will eventually destroy democracy within it’s member states and I would hardly call their economics “extreme neo-liberalism” ahhaa..that’s a hoot. The whole crushing democracy thing? Yeah..the EU is all about that, no doubt.

  28. JeffWeimer
    June 1st, 2015 @ 10:06 am

    (ad hominem attacks begin!)

    You spent all that time explaining what it isn’t, and telling us that you think our opinions are wrong; yet you aggressively refuse to tell us what you think it is, and why.

    And then you drop into the very name-calling you *expected* we would do to you. Doesn’t make anyone more receptive to your opinion, whatever it is.

  29. Jeanette Victoria
    June 1st, 2015 @ 10:22 am

    Oh come on, they are fighting to maintain the two hour work week have some compassion

  30. Finrod Felagund
    June 1st, 2015 @ 10:31 am

    Like we really give a flying fuck in a rolling donut about the opinion of someone who wrote, and I quote:

    “At some point, what these guys [House Republicans] have done and are doing will stop being obstructionist politics and start to become crimes. I mean, like “real” crimes…”

    Go take your leftist bullshit and shove it up your ass where it came from, idiot leftist troll.

  31. Billyjoe Jimbob
    June 1st, 2015 @ 10:36 am

    And I think you should, Ms. Deeley. The Greeks don’t want to go, the EU “Troika” doesn’t want them to go, most of the EU populace doesn’t want them to go and none of the governments in the world want them to go.

    Near as I can see, which really ain’t all that far on this matter, the only people who do want them to go are those who have been taught that Socialism is a word whose very utterance by anyone makes them suspect as a Real American (German, Italian, et al).

    These people seem to include corporate interests, their toadies and, here in the good old USofA, most everyone who was brought up during the Cold War and their offspring, all of whom have been swimming in a corporate cultural bath trying to wash out the idea of Government of the people.

    And they really can’t.

    We really are a Socialist people…look around you. No, I mean, REALLY look around you with an open mind. Now compare what you see with the definition of Socialism.

    I don’t think one can have “government” without tending toward Socialism, unless Corporations run the government and that’s called Oligarchy which rhymes with Monarchy for a reason. From the Wiktionary:

    -archy
    Etymology
    From Latin -archia, from Ancient Greek ????? (arkhós, “LEADER”).

    The All caps are mine. In German, it might well have been rendered as Fuhrer.

    Socialism is when the government works by and for the people…all the people. Re: Medicaid, Social Security, The Armed Forces, EPA, FDA, The Constitution. E Pluribus Unum.

    Oligarchy is when the government works by and for the rich. The more oligarchic, the less it works for the people. Re: today’s news.

    Monarchy is when the government works by and for the “noble” class and they get to say who’s noble. Re: 1776

    E pluribus unum…it ain’t just a dead language.

  32. Billyjoe Jimbob
    June 1st, 2015 @ 10:39 am

    Cute.

    No, really. Cute.

    Misleading and droll but cute.

  33. Jim R
    June 1st, 2015 @ 10:51 am

    I found it on the Greek government’s website. Laugh lines:

    “… the Greek people made a courageous decision. They dared to challenge the one-way street of the Memorandum’s tough austerity…”

    TRANSLATION: We told the EU to bugger off and stop pestering us to pay back the money we owe them.

    “… Greece became the EU country with the highest index of social inequality.”

    TRANSLATION: Incredibly, socialism and deadbeat-ism (BIRM) led to such a want of jobs and economic opportunity that half the country is on the dole, and the other half is hoarding whatever cash it has in the totally realistic belief that investing it by opening a business merely puts it squarely in the sights of our tax collectors. They might as well dump it in the trash.

    “Another equally fundamental aspect of our proposals is the commitment to increase public revenues through a redistribution of the burden from lower and middle classes to the higher ones that have effectively avoided paying their fair share to help tackle the crisis…”

    TRANSLATION: There are people who have money because they WEREN’T stupid and profligate, and we’re going to take it away from them… so that we can continue to be stupid and profligate for a few more months.

    “… our government has clearly demonstrated its intention and determination to address these matters by legislating a specific bill to deal with fraud caused by triangular transactions, and by intensifying customs and tax controls to reduce smuggling and tax evasion…”

    TRANSLATION: Because, as we all know, governments go broke because they don’t keep a tight rein on fraud. Nothing to do with economy-killing tax schemes. Nothing to do with job-killing regulations. Nothing to do with encouraging a deadbeat attitude amongst the people. Just fraud and waste. Plus, it’s AMAZING how much money you can raise when you get to define what constitutes “fraud”.

    “The lack of an agreement so far is not due to the supposed intransigent, uncompromising and incomprehensible Greek stance.

    “It is due to the insistence of certain institutional actors on submitting absurd proposals and displaying a total indifference to the recent democratic choice of the Greek people, despite the public admission of the three Institutions that necessary flexibility will be provided in order to respect the popular verdict.”

    TRANSLATION: Dammit, we VOTED to keep doing pretty much what we had been, and it’s just not FAAAAAIIRRRR to tell us that we can’t!

    “… the issue of Greece does not only concern Greece; rather, it is the very epicenter of conflict between two diametrically opposing strategies concerning the future of European unification.”

    TRANSLATION: This needs no translation. He’s actually dead right: it’s a fight between people who are SLIGHTLY fiscally responsible on the one side, and people who are total deadbeats, leeches and fools on the other.

    “Europe, therefore, is at a crossroads. Following the serious concessions made by the Greek government, the decision is now not in the hands of the institutions, which in any case – with the exception of the European Commission- are not elected and are not accountable to the people, but rather in the hands of Europe’s leaders.”

    TRANSLATION: We were happy to live under the EU and sit back and watch without a murmur while more and more bureaucrats were appointed in Brussels. Indeed, government by “experts” is a bedrock principle of socialism. But now that these “experts” are telling us that they are going to cut off our credit cards, we are all in favor of democracy. WE VOTED TO LIVE ON BORROWED MONEY, AND WE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DO IT FOREVER!

    This last point is worth addressing in more detail. This is exactly why the Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, made our country a republic, not a democracy. It is why senators were intended to be appointed, not elected. It is why we have an electoral college.

    Government cannot function and liberty cannot be preserved if it is effectively a question of two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.

    The Greeks, foremost amongst the deadbeat nations of Europe, have been voting to have lamb for dinner for decades (YSWIDT?). The sheep have gotten tired of it. Natch, the wolves don’t like being put on a diet. But what to do?

    “This strategy not only risks the beginning of the end for the European unification project by shifting the Eurozone from a monetary union to an exchange rate zone, but it also triggers economic and political uncertainty, which is likely to entirely transform the economic and political balances throughout the West.”

    TRANSLATION: Push us too hard, and we’re outa here. We’ll find new friends outside the EU. Get it? So, keep our credit card active and raise our limit when and how we choose… or we’ll find somebody else who will.

  34. Jim R
    June 1st, 2015 @ 10:55 am

    Tsipras is right about one thing. The EU will eventually destroy democracy within it’s member states…

    I agree. The British decision, taken years ago, to stay off the euro and keep some distance between themselves and the burgeoning technocracy that is the rest of Europe is looking smarter and smarter every day.

    I wonder if all this will cause lefties generally to stop praising the EU model and wishing that the US was more like Europe.

    Probably not…

  35. Wombat_socho
    June 1st, 2015 @ 10:57 am

    As opposed to your pro-Greek screeds, which are none of these things. Bye now.

  36. JeffWeimer
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:00 am

    Don’t delete his screeds, they’re quite enlightening on that type of mindset. I want guys like that to keep talking, even thought he, as Finrod showed us down below, wants us to shut up and walk our seditious selves to jail.

  37. JeffWeimer
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:02 am

    That’s funny, the worst oligarchies are in those countries that pose as “socialist”.

  38. Matt_SE
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:18 am

    I view both sides in the Greek situation as being at fault: The EU was grossly irresponsible in allowing such a reprobate country into the union. The Greeks lived above their means by appropriating the Euro’s credit rating.
    In that sense, this very closely mimics the US housing bubble players.

  39. Matt_SE
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:20 am

    This is the villain’s speech of “you know, we’re really not that different, you and I.”
    LOL

  40. JeffWeimer
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:22 am

    As far as revenues, they’re pursuing a Kulaks strategy, if I understand his words right.

    That may or may not have anything to do with the huge amounts of money withdrawn from Greek banks last week.

  41. Matt_SE
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:22 am

    WAKE UP, SHEEPLE!!!!
    (lol)

  42. texlovera
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:23 am

    Obvious troll is obvious.

    “Billyjoe Jimbob”??? Seriously?????

  43. JeffWeimer
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:26 am

    This is what happens when Finrod asks himself “Who is *this* guy?”

    (click)(click)

    “Oh, OH. Ooooooh.”

  44. Jim R
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:29 am

    I’m thinking… Yes, it does.

    Strange, isn’t it: lefties are shocked when people try to “hide” their money from the tax collector by, say, taking it out of the bank, converting it to gold or some other value-holding object, moving it to offshore accounts, docking their yachts in a neighboring state, &c.

    O’ course, then they have to raise taxes again because, amazingly, the original tax scheme failed to raise as much as expected. Too bad they’d already raised expenditures in anticipation of all that money coming in.

    Rinse and repeat.

  45. Matt_SE
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:30 am

    Um…
    Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland…

  46. JeffWeimer
    June 1st, 2015 @ 11:52 am

    I may (or may not!) have been a *little* sarcastic in my previous comment.

  47. Finrod Felagund
    June 1st, 2015 @ 12:16 pm

    Exactly. This is why the large majority of idiot leftist trolls have their posting history set to private. Fortunately this one wasn’t smart enough to do that.

  48. richard mcenroe
    June 1st, 2015 @ 12:38 pm

    Maybe Tzippy the Pinhead should call all the young Greek men on the dole to arms to defend their nation against the EU. HAHAHAHAHA I’m sorry, I can’t even finish that thought…

  49. Bob Belvedere
    June 1st, 2015 @ 12:52 pm

    The lack of Imagination among the Bolshes these days is amazing considering what that the Old Bolshes of the 60’s and 70’s could actually be funny at times.

  50. Bob Belvedere
    June 1st, 2015 @ 12:55 pm

    I wish I could upvote this more than once.

    Very instructive, this one.