Greece must choose between 2 catastrophes

[FLPanhandle]

Yanis Varoufakis rues the day when Greece joined the euro.

The Greek finance minister says his country would be better off if it was still using the drachma. Deep down, he says, all 18 countries using the single currency wish that the idea had been strangled at birth but understand that once you are in you don't get out without a catastrophe.

All of that is true, and explains why Greece is involved in a game of chicken with all the other players in this drama: the International Monetary Fund, the European commission, the European Central Bank and the German government.

Things will come to a head this summer because it is clear Greece cannot make all the debt repayments that are coming up. It has to find €10bn (£7.3bn) in redemptions to the IMF, the ECB and other bondholders before the end of August and the money is not there.

Greece's creditors know that and are prepared to let the government in Athens stew. They know that Greece really has only two choices: surrender or leave the euro, and since it has said it wants to stay inside the single currency, they expect the white flag to be fluttering any time soon.

http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-must-choose-between-2-catastrophes-2015-5


I've always said Greece should just default and leave the Euro behind. Sure, it'll suck big time in the short term, but they are delaying the inevitable anyway. Looks like Greece has decided to follow the EU lead and implement their demands though so they can keep borrowing.

[Cassidy1]

1. Should've never had the Olympics

Those are expensive. ha ha

[Historic NY]

2. Funny how Greece wants Germany to repay a 70 + yr old war debt....

but they fail to mention they got 376 million under the Marshall Plan 1948-52 and more assistance when Truman insisted he would keep troops there despite Great Britain's resistance they were not needed. Greece was shifting to the communists. Instead of making demands on Germany perhaps they seek the funds from Russia who refused assistance. A native Greek friend told me that people in the country stole so much of the assistance they got and used it for other purposes. Greece wouldn't survive if they left now, they need hand outs. Most people don't work and most don't pay taxes for the government.