Greece Financial Default Watch

[Letsbereal]

IIF warns of massive Greek default fallout: report
6 March 2012, Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/iif-warns-of-massive-greek-default-fallout-report-2012-03-06

A disorderly default by Greece would likely force Italy and Spain to seek aid to prevent being engulfed by the debt crisis and would cause more than €1 trillion ($1.36 trillion) in damage to the euro zone, the Institute of International Finance warned in a recent document, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The IIF, a banking trade group, helped negotiate a voluntary Greek debt swap that aims to cut more than €100 billion from Greece's debt pile.

Failure to complete the swap could endanger the country's second bailout, leaving the potential for a hard default.

The European Central Bank would likely suffer major losses, the document said, putting the ECB's Greek exposure at €177 billion, while Ireland and Portugal woould likely need further assistance.

A default would also likely trigger at least €160 billion in bank recapitalization costs, the IIF warned.

An IIF spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

[Letsbereal]

Greek bond swap concluded successfully - Deal clears needed threshold, but some still fret over Europe’s debt
8 March 2012, by William L. Watts - Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/optimism-grows-over-greece-bond-swap-2012-03-08

Excerpt:

Greece completed a crucial debt swap with private creditors on Thursday, clearing the way for the country to substantially lower its debt burden and moving it closer to receiving a badly needed second official bailout, according to media reports.

Bondholders representing some 85% of Greece’s outstanding private-sector debt, well above the government’s minimum threshold, have signed up to take part in the swap, according to the reports.

The high rate of participation will allow Greece to force any holders of bonds regulated under Greek law to participate in the swap.

Bloomberg reported that €155 billion ($205 billion) of the €177 billion in bonds issued under Greek law were tendered.

Citing a banker briefed on the deal, it said €12 billion of non-Greek regulated bonds and €7 billion of state-owned company bonds were also tendered.

The success of the deal will cut Greece’s debt burden by more than €100 billion and remove one of the last hurdles keeping its official creditors from moving forward with an official bailout worth €130 billion.

The developments helped lift risk appetite in financial markets, boosting European equities and U.S. stock indexes, strategists said.

They warned, though, that the positive sentiment may prove fragile. Read more in Europe Markets.

“The deal ... is just one more hurdle in a crisis that is still very likely to bring further bad news in the coming months,” said Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London.

[America2]

Greek bond swap concluded successfully - Deal clears needed threshold, but some still fret over Europe’s debt
8 March 2012, by William L. Watts - Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/optimism-grows-over-greece-bond-swap-2012-03-08

“The deal ... is just one more hurdle in a crisis that is still very likely to bring further bad news in the coming months,” said Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London.

Couldn't be further from the truth...

[Letsbereal]

ECB to again accept Greek bonds as collateral
8 March 2012, by William L. Watts - Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ecb-to-again-accept-greek-bonds-as-collateral-2012-03-08

The European Central Bank on Thursday said it would again accept Greek government bonds as collateral in its funding operations.

The bonds had been ruled temporarily ineligible for use as collateral last month after Standard & Poor's declared Greece to be in selective default.

The ECB said at the time that eligibility would be restored once a previously-agreed collateral enhancement program for Greece was formally activated.

In a news release Thursday, the ECB said its Governing Council acknowledged the activation of the buyback program and

"has decided that the aforementioned debt instruments will be again accepted as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations, without applying the minimum credit rating threshold for collateral eligibility until further notice."

[Letsbereal]

ISDA EMEA Determinations Committee: Restructuring Credit Event Has Occurred with Respect to The Hellenic Republic
9 March 2012, London (ISDA)
http://www2.isda.org/news/isda-emea-determinations-committee-restructuring-credit-event-has-occurred-with-respect-to-the-hellenic-republic

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

ISDA EMEA Determinations Committee: Restructuring Credit Event Has Occurred with Respect to The Hellenic Republic

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today announced that its EMEA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee resolved unanimously that

a Restructuring Credit Event has occurred with respect to The Hellenic Republic (Greece).

The EMEA DC resolved that a Restructuring Credit Event has occurred under Section 4.7(a) of the ISDA 2003 Credit Derivatives Definitions (as amended by the July 2009 Supplement) following the exercise by The Hellenic Republic of collective action clauses to amend the terms of Greek law governed bonds issued by The Hellenic Republic such that the right of all holders of the Affected Bonds to receive payments has been reduced.

The Committee determined that an auction will be held in respect of outstanding CDS transactions on March 19.  ISDA has published a list of obligations issued or guaranteed by The Hellenic Republic, which the EMEA Determinations Committee is currently in the process of reviewing.  That list can be accessed here: http://www2.isda.org/preliminary-greek-obligations/.

ISDA will publish further information regarding the potential auction on its website, www.isda.org/credit, in due course.

Answers to frequently asked questions regarding The Hellenic Republic Restructuring Credit Event can be accessed via ISDA’s Greek Sovereign CDS page: http://www2.isda.org/greek-sovereign-cds/

ISDA will host a press briefing today at 9PM GMT / 4PM EST addressing the credit event ruling. A live webcast of the briefing will be available at: http://services.choruscall.com/links/isda120309.html.

[Letsbereal]

Greece Restructuring Plan Triggers $3 Billion in Default Swaps, ISDA Says
9 March 2012, by Abigail Moses (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-09/greek-debt-deal-might-trigger-3-billion-of-default-swaps-under-isda-rules.html

Greece’s use of collective action clauses forcing investors to take losses under the nation’s debt restructuring will trigger payouts on $3 billion of default insurance, the International Swaps & Derivatives Association said.

A total 4,323 credit-default swap contracts can now be settled after ISDA’s determinations committee ruled the use of CACs is a restructuring credit event. Before the ruling, Greek swaps rose to a record $7.68 million in advance and $100,000 annually to insure $10 million of debt for five years.

The decision was unanimous, New York-based ISDA said today in a statement distributed by Business Wire. An auction to set the size of the payouts will be held on March 19.

A settlement is poised to bolster confidence in the $257 billion government-debt insurance market after Greece’s restructuring tested the viability of default swaps as a hedge. Greece reached its target for participation in the debt restructuring after using CACs to force the hand of holdouts, with investors in 95.7 percent of the bonds taking part.

Policy makers including former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet opposed payouts on Greek credit- default swaps on concern traders would be encouraged to bet against failing nations and worsen the region’s debt crisis.

‘Best Instrument’

“It’s important to keep investor confidence in this instrument as it will affect the ability of sovereigns to issue bonds,” according to Alessandro Giansanti, a senior rates strategist at ING Groep NV in Amsterdam, who said the decision will “restore confidence” in the market. “If you want to attract investor demand, you have to offer them an instrument that will allow them to hedge exposure, and CDS is the best instrument for that.”

A swaps trigger “raises the question of which country is next and which banks are most exposed,” Hank Calenti, a bank analysts at Societe Generale SA in London, wrote in a note. “Less than six months ago we had the head of the ECB exhorting that there must be no credit event on Greece,” he wrote.

While policy makers had hoped to achieve debt sustainability in Europe’s most indebted nations without triggering default swaps, political determination to avoid the stigma of a credit event waned as Greece struggled to meet the terms of its bailout. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the nation to selective default on Feb. 27 after the government retroactively inserted CACs into bond terms.

Daisy Chain

“I’ve been surprised throughout at the strong desire not to trigger CDS,” said Elisabeth Afseth, a fixed income analyst at Investec Bank Plc in London. “This should be good for anyone seeking protection elsewhere, such as Spain or Italy.”

Credit-default swaps on Greece now cover $3.16 billion of debt, down from about $6 billion last year, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. That compares with a swaps settlement of $5.2 billion on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008.

While there were concerns at that time about a daisy chain of losses if counterparties failed to meet their commitments, the settlement of swaps guaranteeing debt of Lehman, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, were “orderly” and caused no major disruptions for the market, according to regulators.

Swaps on western European governments can pay out on a credit event triggered by failure to pay, restructuring or a moratorium on payments. A restructuring event can be caused by a reduction in principal or interest, postponement or deferral of payments or a change in the ranking or currency of obligations, according to ISDA rules. Any of these changes must result from deterioration in creditworthiness, apply to multiple investors and be binding on all holders.

Restructuring

The determinations committee which decides whether a credit event has occurred consists of representatives from 15 dealers and investors. The group, which includes Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), Pacific Investment Management Co. and Morgan Stanley, rules after a request is made by a market participant.

In a restructuring credit event investors have the right to choose whether to settle their default swap contracts.

Auctions will set a recovery value on the bonds and swaps sellers will pay buyers the difference between that and the face value of the debt.

[Letsbereal]

Greece – Round III, In Which We Learn That Greek Debt Actually INCREASED Post-Default
9 March 2012, by Mark Grant, author of "Out of The Box and onto Wall Street" (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece-round-iii-which-we-learn-greek-debt-actually-increased-post-default

[Letsbereal]

Papademos Speaks - Point And Counterpoint
9 March 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/papademos-speaks-point-and-counterpoint

The fearless ECB-plant leading the Greek people on an unelected basis has spoken. Here are the key points and counterpoints:

1. PAPADEMOS SAYS DEPOSITS NOW CAN RETURN TO GREECE

-> They can... but they won't because as the Greek gold is confiscated, so will the Greek private deposits.

In the meantime: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greek-bank-deposit-outflows-soar-january-third-largest-ever
 

2. PAPADEMOS SAYS UP TO GREEKS TO DETERMINE THE COURSE OF COUNTRY

-> Yes indeed http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece-not-happy-angela-merkel

That. And all those successful referendums...
 

3. PAPADEMOS SAYS GREEKS MUST NOT WASTE THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY

-> Great opportunity indeed: Total Greek debt pre-restructuring: $1.20 Trillion; Total Greek debt post-restructuring: $1.233 Trillion.

Congratulations Greece - you now have more debt than ever in history following this historic "restructuring",

but at least your new foreign overloards have a first lien on everything and then some as the Troika's DIP alone is well 130% of GDP.

Including your gold. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/cost-combined-greek-bailout-just-rose-%E2%82%AC320-billion-secured-debt-or-136-greek-gdp

[TahoeBlue]

Ok, they start to payout 3 billion euros in CDS (default swaps ) and try to put out stories that everything is peachy....


http://www.cnbc.com/id/46683364

Greece Default Is Official; Insurance Payouts Triggered
Published: Friday, 9 Mar 2012

A group representing dealers in credit default swaps decided Friday that Greek's bond swap constitutes a "credit event" that entitles holders of Greek credit default swaps to compensation.

The "yes" vote by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association triggers roughly $3.2 billion in CDS, which are insurance policies that pay out if a bond issuer defaults. That amount is actually much smaller than many had feared.

The decision was widely expected, and stocks were slightly down after the announcement.

Greece pushed through a bond swap deal on Friday, forcing  bond holders to take a significant "haircut" on the return of their money. The swap was approved by about 84 percent of the holders, and Greece is moving to activate a rule forcing the rest of the bondholders to go along with the deal.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/threat-of-greek-default-fades-but-bailout-may-not-be-last/articleshow/12221197.cms

11 Mar, 2012, 05.25PM IST, AFP
Threat of Greek default fades but bailout may not be last

BRUSSELS: The dark clouds hanging over the eurozone have receded along with the threat of a Greek default, but the latest bailout for Athens may not be the last.

After nine long months of negotiations, a large majority of Greece's private creditors agreed to a bond swap that will see them accept huge losses and wipe some 100 billion euros ($131 billion) off Athens' debt.

Eurozone finance ministers immediately unblocked part of a second aid package of 130 billion euros and were expected to give final approval to the entire programme at a Monday meeting.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde welcomed the debt deal as "an important step that will dramatically reduce Greece's medium-term financing needs and contribute to debt sustainability".

And US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that thanks to the measures taken by Europe to tamp down the debt crisis, the continent no longer posed major risks to the global economy.

"We are not out of the woods but we have taken an important big step," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.
...

[Letsbereal]

The Greek €107 Billion Contingent Liability Gorilla Exposed
10 March 2012, by Mark Grant (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greek-%E2%82%AC107-billion-contingent-liability-gorilla-exposed

Excerpt:

With the addition of the new IMF/EU loans of $172 billion and the revelation of the guaranteed debt at $107 billion Greece now has $279 billion of new and hidden debts.

All of the meandering, all of the charades, all of the red nail polish applied will, in the end I forecast, not be able to hide the reality that the barking dog is a greasy Pig.

A Dose of Reality:

- If Greece borrows money from the IMF/EU which means that they have more debt now than they did before they defaulted then they are worse off and not better off as they have a larger debt.

- If Greece has an additional $107 billion in debt that has not been accounted for because it is not in the name of the Hellenic Republic but is guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic then how are they going to pay off this debt?

- If the goal of this entire exercise was to reduce Greece’s debt to GDP ratio to 120% then how will a larger debt accomplish this as it is fiscally impossible.

- If the “real REAL goal” was to pay off the European banks so they wouldn’t default then Europe has accomplished this goal but at a terrible cost to Greece and to the Greek people.

[TahoeBlue]

Of course what Greece "owes" is a derivative fraud, so what ever the "gamblers"-"investors" get is more than they put in?

Bonds be bonds.. and so what they lose on the bond side they will more than make up for with the CDS's and other derivative side bets?  

http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/13019/investors-take-haircut-as-greece-avoids-default
Saturday 10, March 2012 by Robin Amlôt
Investors take ‘haircut’ as Greece avoids default
...
The bond swap is aimed at helping to reduce Greece's debt to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. In the exchange, investors will receive new bonds with a face value of 31.5 per cent of the old ones together with notes from the European Financial Stability Facility. The new debt is governed by English law and comes with warrants that will provide extra income in years when Greek economic growth exceeds set thresholds. The net present value loss for investors is more than 70 per cent.

[jofortruth]

Greece has Defaulted which country is next?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/greece-has-defaulted-which-country-in-europe-is-next.html
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/greece-has-defaulted-which-country-in-europe-is-next

[Letsbereal]

Bond holders seek court date with Greek banks and state
12 March 2012, (Athens News)
http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/54006
 
Lawyers in Germany representing 110 Greek bond holders said on Monday they have formed a class action group and intend to sue banks and the Greek state following last week's Greek bond swap, which slashed more than €100 billion from Athens' debt.

The Hamburg legal firm said most of the investors had spent €100,000-€500,000 on Greek paper, although the highest investment reached €3 million.

It did not name any of the banks it might target.

The suit, likely to be filed in Washington, will claim banks failed to properly advise clients about the risks of Greek paper and seek compensation.

Separately, lawyers will argue that Greece, in orchestrating a debt swap, infringed against a German-Greek investment treaty intended to protect German investors from political risk.

Lawyer Matthias Groepper of legal firm Groepper Koepke said those who had agreed to the terms of the debt swap would be unable to claim compensation.

[Letsbereal]

Greek Bonds Holders Are Suing Greece and the Banks
12 March 2012, (Money Talk)
http://www.inthemoneytalk.com/greek-bonds-holders-are-suing-greece-and-the-banks/1274/

German lawyers representing 110 of the Greek bond holders will sue the Greek state and the banks from the exchange of bonds which reduced the Greek debt with over €100 billion.

Most investors have spent €100,000 to €500,000 on Greek bonds, the largest investment being of €3 million, according to the law firm in Hamburg, which didn’t mention the banks included in this action.

Banks will be accused of not informing customers about the risks and they will be required to pay compensation.

Lawyers will also argue that Greece, through the exchange of bonds, violated a German-Greek treaty that protects investors from Germany from political risks.

Investors who have accepted the terms of the bond exchange won’t be able to ask for compensation, said a lawyer at the law firm Groepper Koepke.

The Ministry of Finance from Athens announced Monday the completion of the exchange of bonds worth €177 billion held under the Greek law by private investors, marking the first stage of the largest sovereign debt restructuring in history.

The operation of changing the old bonds with new ones started this morning and covered only the bond portfolio of €177 billion.

The new Greek bonds debuted Monday on financial markets at a price with a major discount to face value, indicating that investors have already pessimistic expectations about the finances of the Greek State.

According Tradeweb, the new bonds are quoted at 22-26% of the nominal value.

In the largest ever sovereign debt restructuring, private creditors have accepted the loss of 53.5% of the nominal value of bonds.

If unpaid interest on redeemed bonds and maturity extension costs were also taken into account, the actual losses amounted to 74%.

[Letsbereal]

Task Force set for long stay in Greece http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjBkoB88HnA

The European Commission's special task force providing assistance to the Greek government as it struggles to rebuild its economy has rented an entire building in central Athens on a 12-year lease.

It implies it will be a central feature in Greek politics and the economy for a long time. Its latest report says progress has been made.

"PSI, (bond swaps), and the negotiations about the 2nd support program for Greece have eliminated some of the uncertainties over Greek development and it's now possible to have a new start," said Task Force leader Horst Reichenbach.

The IMF, another key player in the bailout, has its own team in Athens in the Central Bank building, whereas the task force's 45 members will work closely with 30 Greek ministries.

The IMF has stumped up a new four-year 28 billion euro loan.

With the aim of cutting Greek debt from 160% of GDP to 120% by 2020, across-the-board deregulation is to be implemented in labour, public services, and product markets, tax and social security legislation, the licencing system, and state control of the productive apparatus.

[Letsbereal]

Greek CDS payouts seen at $2.5 billion
19 March 2012, by William L. Watts - Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greek-cds-payouts-seen-at-25-billion-2012-03-19

An auction conducted Monday determined that investors and traders who sold instruments known as credit default swaps, or CDS, on sovereign Greek debt will have to pay buyers a total of around $2.5 billion to settle the contracts.

Payouts were triggered after the Greek government invoked clauses earlier this month forcing all private bondholders to exchange Greek debt at a loss.

The auction, conducted by Creditex and Markit, valued Greek government bonds at 21.5% of face value, leaving CDS sellers to make up the remaining 78.5%.

Analysts said net exposure to Greek CDS stood at near $3.2 billion, according to recent data from the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.

[Letsbereal]

Greek economy 'to shrink another 4.5%' this year
19 March 2012, (AFP)
http://www.france24.com/en/20120319-greek-economy-shrink-another-45-year

Excerpt:

Greece's struggling economy will contract by another 4.5% of output this year ahead of a possible rebound in 2013, the Bank of Greece said in an annual report on Monday.

"The recession is expected to continue in 2012 and according to temporary estimates, the average annual contraction in GDP will be in the order of 4.5%," the Bank said in its annual report on monetary policy.

It added that the economy, now in a fifth year of recession, shrank by 6.9% in 2011.

And despite a wave of austerity measures imposed in return for EU-IMF loans, the public deficit had come in at 10.6% in 2011, the Bank said, compared to a target of 9.0%.

The European Commission last month said the Greek economy would shrink by 4.4% in 2012 compared to a previous forecast of 2.8%,

while the IMF estimated the contraction at 4.8%.

The IMF last week decided a new €28 billion ($36.5-billion) loan for Greece.

The loan approval came days after eurozone ministers signed off on their part of a huge €237 billion rescue plan for Greece,

that combines €130 billion in new financing and €107 billion of debt reduction by the private sector.

[Letsbereal]

EXCLUSIVE: GREEK GOVERNMENT ROBBED PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS TO COMPLETE BOND SWAP
26 March 2012, (The Slog)
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/exclusive-greek-government-robbed-public-institutions-to-complete-bond-swap/

REVEALED: HOW VENIZELOS REGIME SECRETLY REMOVED 70% OF MAJOR HOSPITAL, UTILITY & UNIVERSITY BANK ACCOUNT FUNDS TO PAY BONDHOLDERS

[TARA]

http://www.boroume.gr/2012/03/greeces-cut-price-potato-movement-shows-greeks-chipping-in-the-guardian/

Greeks are pulling together and forging innovative new social and economic models to help those hit hardest by the debt crisis.


Spyros Gkelis, a smart and hard-working biology lecturer from Thessaloniki, saw it like this. “If someone shoves you,” he said, “you know, like really pushes you, hard, in the street, so it hurts, your first reaction is to lash out. Strike back. But if that doesn’t achieve anything, if they keep pushing, and it keeps hurting, you think again. Try something else. Work out some way of dealing with it.”

In their fifth year of recession, with 21% of the workforce jobless, salaries slashed, one in 11 people in greater Athens using soup kitchens and half the country’s most prescribed medicines now in short supply, that is what more and more Greeks are doing. Faced with a half-broken state, and systems and structures only making things worse, people are doing things differently.

In a clearing on a hillside above the second city, Elisabet Tsitsopoulou found herself buying five 25kg sacks of potatoes, for herself and her neighbours, from the back of a lorry. She paid €0.25 a kilo, against the 60-70 cents she would pay in the shops. The farmer she bought from, Apostolos Kasapis, was equally happy: he got his money straight away, rather than having to wait up to a year – or forever – for a middleman’s cheque.

“It benefits everyone,” said Christos Kamenides, professor of agricultural marketing at Thessaloniki University, of the producer-to-consumer system he has helped perfect. The potato movement was launched last month and is spreading across Greece, incorporating other staples such as onions, rice, flour, olives and – at the last count – more than 4,000 Easter lambs. Town halls announce a sale; locals say how much they’ll buy; farmers show up with it in 25-tonne trucks. Everyone’s happy.

With many Greeks now taking home 30% less than before the crisis, but prices of plenty of products still impossibly high, the movement is a clever and, for many, vital way to cut costs that is of practical help to both parties to the transaction. There is anecdotal evidence, too, that supermarket prices are starting to fall, certainly on direct sale days, in response to it.

In several parts of the country, small volunteer shops are setting up, often on the initiative of local councils, selling produce at barely more than cost price – the margin is marked on the pack – in member-only schemes, to avoid tax and legal problems. Kamenides is developing a broader scheme along these lines. His “unified co-operative” will unite producers and consumers and may eventually serve as an economic model for buying and selling essential foodstuffs.

A couple of hours south, in the port of Volos, an alternative economic model is already up and running. More than 800 townsfolk have signed up for a local currency scheme called TEMs. Teachers, doctors, babysitters, a bookkeeper, farmers and smallholders, a decorator, hairdresser, seamstress and a lawyer are among the members. In the past couple of weeks Theodoros Mavridis, a local electrician, has not had to pay a euro for his eggs, tsipourou (the local brandy), fruit, olives, olive oil, jam, soap, and help in filling out his tax return.

Maria Choupis, a founder member, said up to 15 such networks are active. Members transfer units into and out of each others’ accounts online. To ensure the currency works hard, these can hold a limit of 1,200 TEMs, and cannot be more than €300 overdrawn. For Bernhardt Koppold, an alternative therapist, the scheme is easier and more direct but also “a way of showing practical solidarity”. Choupis agrees it’s “as much social as economic”. That’s a point that recurs frequently. There is, among many Greeks, still intense anger at what they are living through, as well as almost complete disillusionment with politicians, not to say politics. But in Choupis’s words, many are “moving beyond anger”: instead of lashing out, coming together.

In Volos, a waiter in the taverna by the ferry terminal, told me that “in the years of cheap money and easy credit, we just lost sight of what matters, you know? It’s sad that it’s taken a crisis to do it, but we’re rediscovering our values.”

People are helping each other in small, informal ways. Teachers and parents’ associations “come together, gather food and discreetly arrange to allocate it to families in the school who are suffering”, said Victoria Pakrete, an Athens teacher who herself volunteers in a soup kitchen. Marie Le Du said that in the northern Athens suburb where her mother lives, women from the local Orthodox church “work in pairs. They visit two or three families that are ‘their’ families, drop in for a coffee and a chat to catch up – and discreetly hand over a parcel of donated food, as part of the visit, to preserve the family’s dignity.”

Others are more organised. Reveka Papadopoulos, head of Médecins Sans Frontières Greece, said that in the past year she had seen “some really encouraging, exciting things. People are seeing the power of organising themselves, of helping themselves, and each other. It’s wonderful to see … it keeps you going.”

So in Thessaloniki, the National Theatre of Northern Greece is about to launch a season of plays by Genet, Pinter, Albee and Greek authors under the banner Social Theatreshop.

Theatregoers will pay for their tickets with food, which the theatre’s 300 staff – actors, technicians, administrators, all working on the project for free – are distributing among charities and welfare groups in the city.

“We are, everyone knows it, in a very bad situation,” said the deputy artistic director, Giannis Rigas. “We thought, we have to do something for people who now have so little money that they are going hungry. But this isn’t charity, it’s a fair exchange: food for theatre. A couple of tins of soup, or a packet of pasta, for a ticket. And it’s also a way to put the theatre back where it belongs, in the community.”

Across town, on the redecorated first floor of a battered building owned by a trades union association, more than 80 doctors and dentists volunteer their time at the social medical centre, opened late last year to treat illegal immigrants with no access to free healthcare.

In fact, 70% of the patients seen by the GPs and specialists at the centre until 9pm each night are Greek citizens who can no longer afford health insurance.

“If you’re not earning, you no longer have easy access to care,” said Sofie Georgiadou, a dentist who volunteers one evening a fortnight. “I never imagined I would one day find myself working somewhere like this, in Greece.”

It doesn’t, in some instances, take much to change things. In Athens, Xenia Papastavrou, fed up with the quantities of perfectly good bread going to waste in restaurants and bakeries when welfare groups were spending money elsewhere to buy it, has founded a network called Boroume that, via its website, now puts 70 commercial food donors – including Greece’s largest bakery chain and 25 Athens hotels – in contact with 400 welfare groups, from elderly people’s homes and orphanages to drop-in centres for the homeless and municipal soup kitchens. Similarly Silia Vitoratou, a statistician, joined with friends in December to set up Tutorpool, whose site now puts 500 volunteer tutors in contact with pupils who need their help. It is a fact of Greek life that most schoolchildren, especially those hoping to go to university, will at some stage need after-school tutoring; many parents can no longer afford the private tuition centres that for decades have met that demand.

Tutorpool is helping Vassilis Xanthopoulos, 11, who is dyslexic and has had extra private tuition since he was very young.

“Last year, we had to stop,” said Harris, his father. “My business has practically collapsed, and my wife is earning half what she used to. It was €450 a month we no longer had. Vassilis started falling behind almost instantly. Tutorpool really saved us.”

Warming as they are, though, such initiatives can’t save everyone. Korina Hatzinikolaou is a developmental psychologist at the Athens Institute of Children’s Health, which co-ordinates Greece’s child healthcare provision.

Her salary has been cut by a third and hasn’t been paid since December; she and her two small sons have had to move back in with her mother.

More alarmingly, the institute itself can no longer make ends meet and is threatened with closure; Greece’s national neo-natal screening programme, among others the institute runs, is now at risk.

“There are limits to what ordinary people can do,” Hatzinakolaou said.

“We can do much, but we cannot run a health system. At some point, a state has to say, ‘You know what? This really matters. Let’s all do it, together. Let’s make it a priority.’ But here in Greece, the social state is collapsing. I am really not sure how it will end.”
Greece on the breadline

Jon Henley spent a week blogging his way through Greece, hearing the human stories behind the European debt crisis in a country that has been left reeling. Each report in the Greece on the Breadline series was accompanied by hundreds of online comments, as readers shared very similar experiences across the country.

Many called for projects such as the “potato movement” to be extended to other parts of the country, while soppan updated us on the progress of Boroume, the scheme to make better use of leftover food from restaurants. “From what I’ve seen of their website Boroume has started a Patras branch, and as far as I know local bakeries were already giving away leftovers to illegal immigrants, which as you know is a major problem in our town.”

After the report on tutors giving free lessons, MonaLisa4Ever and others shared links to free education resources: “But a system that is deprived of resources (school libraries, computer labs, modern buildings, play spaces, etc) can only depend so much on the creative potential of the teachers … The system is starved.” Readers involved in the projects featured in the series came online to explain more – from vzlalsj, a physician working in a Greek hospital on HIV and malaria levels, to KaterinaK, the leadership coach offering free lessons to the unemployed.

While some were concerned about the effect reports on the crisis might have on the tourism industry, many gave thanks for showing how ordinary Greeks are tackling social problems.

A new solidarity among citizens is a source of support and hope, readers like Nirema said: “What helps maintain my optimism: when I last visited Athens … the three times I made it to the [non-mainstream] theatre, it was packed. Bookshops in central Athens were also quite busy … Then I saw the burnt-down neoclassical cinema, and the human remains of the day sleeping on the pavement, and a few angry faces venting their anger on buildings … Still, the fact that people huddle together in theatres and read books, trying to make sense and hopefully rectify all this, feels [sic] me with hope.”

Jon Henley – The Guardian 27/3/12

[Letsbereal]

Papademos: Can't rule out third Greek bailout
30 March 2012, Frankfurt (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/papademos-cant-rule-out-third-greek-bailout-2012-03-30

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos on Friday said the country was working to ensure it won't need a third bailout but said the potential need for further aid couldn't be ruled out, news reports said.

"Some form of financial assistance might be necessary but we have to work intensely to avoid such an event," Papademos told Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper, according to Reuters.

The prime minister said exiting the euro would be a disaster.

"The return of the drachma would trigger high inflation, exchange instability and a fall in the real value of bank deposits," he said, according to the report.

[TARA]

http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=1460380

Greek pensioner commits suicide in Syntagma square

A 77-year old Greek man took his life in Athens΄ central Syntagma Square early Wednesday, police said, shooting himself with a handgun just several hundred meters from the entrance to the Greek parliament building in apparent despair over his financial debts.

According to Dow Jones Newswires, his identity has not been released pending notice to next of kin and police are now investigating if the man has left behind any suicide note.

But according to eyewitness accounts, the man shouted "so I won΄t leave debts for my children" before killing himself.

"This was a symbolic suicide. If it hadn΄t happened here, in the square, in front of parliament, no one would notice," said one bystander, who declined to give his name but who heard the shots from across the square.

Greece is now in its fifth year of a grinding economic recession made worse by successive waves of austerity measures the country has taken to meet the demands of its international creditors from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Those various austerity measures have led to steep cuts, in some cases more than 25%, in retiree pensions and other benefits. At the same time many Greeks are being squeezed by declining wages and higher taxes on everything from property to petrol.

The social impact of the economic crisis has become increasingly apparent on the streets of Athens and other cities, while suicide rates have jumped. In one notable case last September, a Greek man in his 50s who was struggling with his debts attempted suicide in front of a bank branch in the northern city of Thessaloniki by setting himself on fire.

[TARA]

Athens: Suicide Man Leaves Behind Shocking Note

In a sharp political  -and for some even “shocking” -  tone the man who committed suicide just a couple of meters away from the Greek Parliament in the heart of Athens on Wednesday morning explained the motives for his desperate act. In a hand-written note, retired pharmacist D.X., 77, spoke of loss of dignity due to harsh austerity and wished that some day the youth of the country would take the arms and hang those politicians who brought the country and its people to this stage.  He had left a similar not to his daughter.


    “The occupation government of Tsolakoglou* literally annihilated any possibility for my survival that was depended on a decent pension which only I personally paid for 35 years (without any state support).

    Because my age does not give me the possibility for a dynamic reaction (without meaning that if a Greek would grab the kalashnikov, I wouldn’t be the second one [to grab one], I see no other solution than the decent end before I start searching in the garbage for food.

    I believe that one day the youth without future will take the arms and hang upside down at Syntagma Square the national traitors as the Italians did with Mussolini  in 1945 Piazza Poreto in Milan)”

 

 

D.X. was married and had a daughter. He was a member of the Greek Pharmacists’ Association. He had sold his pharmacy in 1994 and had gone into retirement.

It looks as if the several pension cuts of the last two years had  created such conditions that the man could not bear.

Meanwhile, dozens of Athenians flocked to the spot where D.X. committed suicide, less than two hundred meters away from the Greek Parliament, and started to leave flowers, candles and notes full of anger and indignation against the social injustice of the austerity measures.

When the paramedics removed his corpse in the morning, the stunned passengers had applaud.

D.X. killed himself on Wednesday morning under a park tree with a single bullet on his head.

Greek politicians expressed their shock and shed the usual crocodile tears.

*Georgios Tsolakoglou was a Greek military officer who became the first Prime Minister of the Greek collaborationist government during the Axis Occupation forces of Germany and Italy  in 1941-1942, during the WWII. In modern Greece “Tsolakoglou” has the negative connotation meaning a traitor. In times of loan agreemends and Memorandums of Understanding, “Tsolakoglou” refers to those Greek politicians “collaborating” with the country’s lenders, the Troika of IMF, EU and ECB.

http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2012/04/04/athens-suicide-man-leaves-behind-shocking-note/
      
    
  

[TARA]

Greek Police Beats Journalists & Photo-Reporters

http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2012/04/05/greek-police-beats-journalists-photo-reporters/

 

[Letsbereal]

Greek Banks Post $37 Billion Losses on Debt Restructuring
20 April 2012, by Marcus Bensasson, Maria Petrakis and Natalie Weeks (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-20/greek-banks-post-37-billion-losses-on-debt-restructuring.html

Greece’s four biggest banks reported a combined loss of €27.9 billion ($36.9 billion) for last year after participating in the country’s debt exchange, the largest sovereign restructuring in history.

The four, including National Bank of Greece, EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA (EUROB), Alpha Bank SA and Piraeus Bank SA, said they wrote down about €25 billion in the combined value of their Greek government bond holdings.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is trying to finalize a plan to recapitalize Greek banks, which wrote down more than half the face value of their government bonds and posted an increase in bad loan ratios after five years of recession.

Greece’s bank- recapitalization body yesterday got €25 billion in a first tranche of funds, or half the total assigned for the purpose, as part of a second bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

“Recapitalization is a necessary prerequisite to securely finance the real economy and in particular small- and medium- sized enterprises,” Papademos said at a conference today.

“It is also a necessary precondition for reinforcing trust in our bank system.”


Losses

National Bank, the nation’s biggest lender, had a net loss of €12.3 billion for 2011 after a €406 million profit a year earlier, the Athens-based lender said in a statement today.

The average estimate from three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a loss of €9.29 billion.

EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA, the second-biggest lender, had a €5.51 billion loss after a €68 million profit in 2010 and Alpha Bank SA, the third biggest, lost €3.81 billion after an €86 million profit in 2010.

Piraeus Bank SA (TPEIR), the fourth largest, had a €6.3 billion loss.

National Bank took €10.8 billion of post-tax impairments on Greek government bond holdings after writing down their value by 75%.

Eurobank wrote down €4.6 billion of government bonds after taxes and Alpha Bank €3.8 billion.

Piraeus wrote down €5.1 billion.

The IMF, EU and European Central Bank, the so-called troika of agencies overseeing the Greek financing, plan to help capitalize banks with incentives for private investors.

The goal is to bring core tier 1 capital to 9% of assets by the end of September.

“The whole plan for the future is really not clear because the conditions for the recapitalization are not clear,” Alpha Bank General Manager Artemis Theodoridis said in a telephone interview.

“What we found out in the last few days is that they will not be clear, at least the legal framework, before the elections,” he said. The country is due to hold general elections May 6.


Buyback Offer

Alpha Bank SA offered to buy back a nominal €1.58 billion of outstanding securities in a bid to boost its capital.

If completed, the offer would generate a gain for the group’s Core Tier 1 capital, which the bank reported at 3% for 2011.

National Bank (ETE), Eurobank and Piraeus Bank did not disclose what their Core Tier 1 ratios would be without support from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, the state recapitalization body.

National Bank reported a Core Tier 1 capital ratio of 6.3% after an injection of €6.9 billion from the HFSF.

Agricultural Bank of Greece SA and TT Hellenic Postbank SA (TT), two state-controlled lenders, were granted extensions and will report earnings by May 31, the banks said in exchange filings.

The bank recapitalization plan includes incentives for private investment such as rights for shareholders to purchase the government’s stake and safeguards for buyers of convertible bonds, according an IMF report released March 16.

The HFSF will continue to hold voting rights in the event of strategic decisions related to the banks to avert the risk of asset stripping by investment funds, according to the report.

[Letsbereal]

I know that the hot tall mad fat dog, called Spain, just moved in but: (Skinny Greece dog move over!)

Ich Bin Ein Athener http://www.zerohedge.com/news/ich-bin-ein-athener

It Took The Bank Of Greece Only Three Weeks To Revise Its 2012 GDP Forecast Even Lower http://www.zerohedge.com/news/it-took-bank-greece-only-three-weeks-revise-it-2012-gdp-forecast-even-lower

Now We Know Where All The Greek Bank Deposits Have Gone

Greeks top penis extension surgery http://www.zerohedge.com/news/now-we-know-where-all-greek-bank-deposits-have-gone

More Greek men had penis extension surgery in 2010, in proportion to the population, than their counterparts in 25 countries in the developed world examined in a survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

[Letsbereal]

There Goes Greek GDP: Nazional Lampoons Greek Vacation Just Got Cancelled
25 April 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/there-goes-greek-gdp-nazional-lampoons-greek-vacation-just-got-cancelled
 
As if the Greeks haven't suffered enough from Northern European actions (admittedly in response to their own actions), it seems the anti-German sentiment is keeping the wealthy tourists away from the beaches.
 
As Reuters notes today, 'German tourists are in short supply in Greece these days, frightened away by reports of visceral anti-German sentiment in some places'. 
 
Data for the main summer holiday season shows pre-bookings from Germany down by some 30%.
 
We guess the pictures of Molotov cocktails being thrown, city-wide strikes, and cardboard cities full of unemployed youths was too much but as one Greek tourist-shop-owner clarified
 
"They're not coming because of the problems. But we don't have a problem with German people, only their government."
 
Tourism - the one remaining possibility for Greece to drag themselves out of the quagmire (aside from olive oil and yoghurt) - is now under pressure as The Germans ("That's just the way Germans are: if there's trouble in some country, then Germans just don't go there on their holidays.") wage "an economic war against Greece".
 
Sadly the xenophobic and nationalist tensions are indeed rising (as we warned many times in the past - and suggest will be the ultimate undoing of the political compact in Europe) as the crisis had revived anti-German sentiment from World War Two that most thought had long since disappeared.
 
"The Greeks moved on and tried to forget, then this. If you ask me, Germany owes Greece billions for all the murders and war crimes. Germany should pay Greece what it owes."

[Letsbereal]

Greece gives emergency cash to avert energy meltdown
27 April 2012, by Harry Papachristou - Athens (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/27/greece-ppc-idUSL6E8FR95D20120427

* Main utility PPC to get €250 mln cash injection

* Cash will allow PPC replenish working capital, pay suppliers

* Temporary solution until June 30

Cash-strapped Greece will provide €250 million ($331 million) in emergency funds to its ailing electricity providers to prevent a California-style energy crisis, government officials said on Friday.

The liquidity injection removes the risk of a financial chain reaction which, according to regulators, was threatening to bring the country's electricity system to its knees.

The temporary aid will shore up the accounts of main power utility PPC, allowing it to maintain operations and reimburse other suppliers of electricity and natural gas on whom the smooth functioning of the country's energy system depends.

"The measure was taken to bolster PPC's liquidity position," one official told Reuters after a cabinet meeting that authorised the move.

Greece's energy market has fallen into disarray due to a combination of stagnant power demand, rising fuel costs and a government decision to use PPC as a tax collection vehicle.

An increasing number of consumers stopped paying their electricity bills after the government started collecting a €1.7 billion property tax through them last year, in a desperate effort to meet its budget targets under an EU/IMF bailout.

Non-payments blew a hole into the accounts of PPC, which is Greece's biggest power producer and its sole electricity retailer. PPC, which posted a record loss in the fourth quarter, is also the biggest client for upstart producers generating about 23% of Greece's electricity.

The liquidity crunch sparked fears of a power meltdown like the one that happened in 2001 in California, which suffered large-scale blackouts after its energy market collapsed.

In a paper released earlier this week, Greek electricity regulator RAE said the system needed an immediate liquidity injection of at least €350 million to stay afloat.

The government partly heeded the regulator's call on Friday, allowing PPC to retain until June 30 about €250 million of the property tax it has collected on behalf of the state.

This will be a temporary solution until the company's cash situation improves later this year, officials said. PPC said last week it agreed terms for a €960 million bank loan to cope with the liquidity crunch and roll over €1.12 billion of maturing debt later this year.

Energy is a sore point in the country's relations with its lenders.

The EU and the IMF have been pressuring Athens to introduce more competition in its €5-billion retail power market by deregulating electricity prices and abolishing PPC's monopoly over coal, the country's cheapest and most abundant energy source.

($1 = €0.7542)

[Letsbereal]

It's lookin’ grim Starting an Iranian oil boycot at the beginning of the tourism season is of course a very sensible thing to do.

Pre-Holiday-Greece Bookings from Germany are down by some 30% not only out of bad sentiment because fly-drive without gasoline isn't somtin to look forward to.

I actually experienced that myself and getting gasoline costed a day. I really donnow what the Greek gov has in mind with boycotting Iran shooting themselves in the foot.

Now they've got to build up even more debt to stay afloat.

[TahoeBlue]

Now they've got to build up even more debt...

I think that is the operative plan...

[Letsbereal]

Greek economic downturn falls on small business http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASJeJZxi2vY

May 5, 2012

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips visits his old neighbourhood in Greece where residents will go to the polls on Sunday.

But, the vote comes as the country suffers through tough economic times with small businesses, once considered the lifeblood of the country, especially hard hit.

Pointing out a corridor of closed shops once familiar to him, our correspondent reports that almost a third of shops in Athens have closed in the economic downturn.

[Letsbereal]

People of Greece Shake Europe – The Real News http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUbRkJyAPHk

May 7, 2012

Costos Lapavitsas: The growing strength of the left shows the Greek people are getting ready to leave the Eurozone

[TahoeBlue]

Interesting, that these front men are willing to lose there jobs for the sake of the nwo financial system... of course that same system gave them the jobs as the fronts in the first place - time for retirement and new nwo fronts.

Or in other words : "Our work here is done"

http://www.condividisufacebook.it/avanti-il-prossimo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=avanti-il-prossimo&lang=en
NEXT NEXT!!!



http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4303364/John-Simpson-French-Revolution-could-cost-David-Cameron-his-head.html


The French Revolution that could cost David Cameron his head

LIBERTY, equality, fraternity — but don’t dare add austerity if you want to stay in power.
That is the lesson from Sunday’s French presidential election, and David Cameron will be taking note.

Voters booted out Nicolas Sarkozy and his EU-pleasing, penny-pinching ways in favour of socialist Francois Hollande and his anti-austerity policies.

The President-elect is even vowing to renegotiate an EU treaty that lays down tough budgetary and debt controls. He argues that cuts – like those made in the UK – will only slow down economic growth.  ...
...

[Letsbereal]

Fitch Sets The Stage: “Greece Leaving The Euro Would Be Bearable” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/fitch-sets-stage-greece-leaving-euro-would-be-bearable

Greece Likely to Exit Euro This Year, FX Concept’s Taylor Says http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-08/greece-likely-to-exit-euro-this-year-fx-concept-s-taylor-says.html

Costos Lapavitsas: The growing strength of the left shows the Greek people are getting ready to leave the Eurozone http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=210616.msg1356115#msg1356115

Toxic Spiral: Greek Office Vacancies Soar As Tourism Industry Implodes http://www.zerohedge.com/news/toxic-spiral-greek-office-vacancies-soar-tourism-industry-implodes

Greek Default Risk Returns as Bond Maturity Nears http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-08/greek-default-risk-returns-as-bond-maturity-nears.html

Greek Left Coalition Leaders Says Bailout Accord “Null And Void”, Demands Greek Debt Moratorium http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greek-left-coalition-leaders-says-bailout-accord-null-and-void

[Letsbereal]

GREECE’S TSIPRAS SAYS WANTS INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE IF GREECE’S DEBT IS LEGAL

Max Keiser speaks to Athens Lawyers Association http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BizrgYE5sF0

Max Keiser: I had a chance to speak to a Greek lawyers association in Athens last year on the topic of legality of Greek debts.

The debts are illegal and now the Greeks will sensibly ignore them.

Other attendees: Mr. George Sourlas, Ex-President of Greek Parliament; Mr. Ioannis Adamopoulous, President of Athens Lawyers Association; Mr. Ioannis Sakas, Prosecutor General at Athens Court; Mr. Ioannis Athanasiou, President of Prosecutors and Judges Association; Mr. Nikos Xidiroglou Giournalist, Panel Coordinator

This is an abridged version of talk Max gave to a group of lawyers suing derivatives dealers and government officials in Greece for financial fraud. There was much (very loud) translation and some audio problems that I cut out. The rest of the panel spoke in Greek. I will post those when I can for Greek speakers.


MAX KEISER FROM ATHENS! on Jun 24, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-4ie8TSrg4

IMF Same Exact Four-Step Program

1.0 Privatization 'Briberization.'

2.0 IMF/World Bank capital market deregulation allows investment capital to flow in and out the "Hot Money" cycle.

3.0 Market-Based Pricing, a fancy term for raising prices on food, water and cooking gas

3.5 IMF and World Bank call their "poverty reduction strategy": Free Trade- "The IMF riot."

http://www.gregpalast.com/the-globalizer-who-came-in-from-the-cold/

[Letsbereal]

Schaeuble: EU can’t force Greece to keep euro http://www.marketwatch.com/story/schaeuble-eu-cant-force-greece-to-keep-euro-2012-05-09

Euro zone may delay Greek bailout payment-report http://www.marketwatch.com/story/schaeuble-eu-cant-force-greece-to-keep-euro-2012-05-09

[Letsbereal]

Taylor: “Greece will be out of money in June – Greece will exit euro this summer”
FX Concepts’ Tyler on Greece Debt Crisis, May 8 http://www.bloomberg.com/video/92198239/

May 8 (Bloomberg) — John Taylor, founder and chief executive officer of FX Concepts LLC, talks about Greece’s debt crisis and a potential exit from the Euro.

Taylor, speaking with Erik Schatzker and Sara Eisen on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack,” also talks about the outlook for the U.S. dollar.

(Source: Bloomberg)

[Letsbereal]

Greece to get most of aid tranche; $1.3B withheld
9 May 2012, by Polya Lesova - New York (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-to-get-most-of-aid-tranche-13b-withheld-2012-05-09

The board of directors of the euro-zone rescue fund said in a statement on Wednesday that it will hold back on disbursing €1 billion ($1.29 billion) of aid to Greece which was supposed to be part of a €5.2 billion tranche.

As part of its international bailout, Greece will receive €4.2 billion on Thursday, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) said on Wednesday.

The remaining funds of €1 billion "are not needed before June and will be disbursed depending on the financing needs of Greece," the EFSF added.

As with previous disbursements to Greece, the EFSF will transfer the €4.2 billion into a segregated account which will be used for debt-service payments.

Worries about Greece's ability to honor its commitments have escalated in recent days after Sunday's parliamentary elections produced inconclusive results, with party leaders still unable to form a government.

Read the full story: Greece, Spain worries roil bond markets http://www.marketwatch.com/story/grexit-spain-bank-worries-roil-bonds-2012-05-09

[Letsbereal]

Greeks May Hold $510 Billion Trump Card in Renegotiation http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-09/greeks-may-hold-510-billion-trump-card-in-renegotiation.html

Zurich has contingency plan if Greece exits euro http://www.marketwatch.com/story/zurich-has-contingency-plan-if-greece-exits-euro-2012-05-10

Greece Euro-Exit Debate Goes Public http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-09/greek-euro-exit-talk-seeps-into-public-as-officials-air-doubts.html

Germany hardens stance on Greece http://www.marketwatch.com/story/germany-hardens-stance-on-greece-2012-05-09

[Letsbereal]

As New Greek Bonds Tumble To All Time Lows, Is Greece About To Re-Default In 5 Days? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/new-greek-bonds-tumble-all-time-lows-greece-about-re-default-5-days

Popcorn Time.

Greece’s Jobless Soar By 42% As Unemployment Rises To Record, Industrial Collapse Accelerates http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greeces-jobless-soar-42-unemployment-rises-record-industrial-collapse-accelerates

Excerpt from: Bankia: The Failed Bank In The Coalmine http://www.zerohedge.com/news/bankia-failed-bank-coalmine

Greece-The Situation Grows Perilous: I pointed out that the total debts of this country stood at $1.1 trillion and, since then, have gotten bigger even after the PSI took place.

In fact, Greece borrowed $130 billion to pay off $105 billion and the ECB/EIB and the IMF refused to take the hits.

Now just the country, the sovereign, owes $517 billion to various parties both public and private which is not only an astronomical number for a country of this size, about the same as the total GDP of Switzerland,

but one that cannot be paid back by any stretch of anyone’s imagination.

[Letsbereal]

Greece must ‘obey or get off euro train’ - EU
12 May 2012, by Vladimir Kremlev (RT News)
http://rt.com/news/greece-eurozone-political-crisis-093/

Top EU officials have decreed Greece should leave the eurozone if unable to stick to the austerity measures imposed by European creditors.

The political crisis in Athens is making this scenario not altogether impossible.

­The parliamentary elections in Greece on May 6 ended with no political party gaining the majority of seats needed to form a government.

Now it appears that their hopes of forming a ruling coalition are falling apart like a card-castle.

President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso told Italy’s SkyTG24 TV channel that since Greece is unable to fulfill its financial obligations towards the EU, it should leave the eurozone.

Barroso compared the single currency to a club, the rules of which are binding for members.

The President of the European Commission said however highly he respects Greek democracy, he cannot neglect the needs of the other 16 eurozone member states.

He stressed that if Athens cannot respect agreements reached, he sees no reason why the EU should not part company with Greece.

Greek politicians seek to stop austerity measures

­Barroso’s harsh rhetoric could be regarded as a response to attempts by Greek politicians to reconsider the austerity program imposed on Greece by the EU.

On Thursday the head of Greece's second-placed Radical Left Coalition addressed the EU’s top officials, calling on them to re-examine the strict austerity program Greece is going through.

The letter was addressed to EU President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.

In his letter Alexis Tsipras wrote that the election on May 6 had exposed a strong anti-austerity mood among the Greek population.

As a result, the new Greek parliament proved unable to form a working government. All this has stripped Greece's bailout commitments of “political legitimacy.”

Tsipras appears to be consistently following the socialist coalition’s anti-bailout agenda that intends to overturn the austerity measures.

The leader of the Radical Left Coalition insists that the exhausting demands have proved fruitless.

Instead of helping, they are destroying the country’s recession-stricken economy, insists the Greek politician, threatening the top EU officials with a humanitarian crisis in Greece.

Alexis Tsipras urged the EU leadership to “re-examine the entire framework of the current strategy” towards his country.