Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com
“No, absolutely not,” said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi when asked if the euro was in danger. “The euro is irreversible,” he added just as a whiff of panic began sweeping over the Eurozone. Everybody was supposed to enjoy their long vacation, and nothing important was supposed to happen. But, like a group of disruptive homeless guys, the ECB, the International Monetary Fund, and politicians have apparently gotten tired of kicking the Greek bailout can down the road, and they stomped on it instead.
Last week it was the ECB; it announced that it would no longer accept Greek government bonds as collateral, thus cutting Greek banks off from ECB funding. They will now be dependent on Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) by the Bank of Greece, an unsustainable, risky measure.
Over the weekend, word seeped out that the IMF, having lost patience with Greece’s stalled reform efforts, would be unwilling to contribute more funds to the bailout. A huge blow. Vigorous denial by the IMF? Nope. On Monday, it only said tepidly that it would be “supporting Greece in overcoming its economic difficulties.”
Inspectors of the Troika—the EU, the ECB, and the IMF—are trundling into Athens today for meetings and inspections starting on Tuesday. Their final report will be the basis for the Troika’s decision in September to make the next bailout payment, or to let go. Politicians appear to be holding off on their final judgment until then. But they’re talking—and it doesn’t
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-07-23/smashing-can-instead-kicking-it-down-road?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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