The clock is ticking on the Greek debt agreement, and the smell of impending default fills the air. The Financial Times reported on Monday that the Greek government is prepared to forego €2.5 billion worth of payments due to the IMF in the next couple months, effectively plunging the nation into default.
The southern European nation could potentially be the first domino to fall in the dissolution of the eurozone. The default would send a serious tremor through Europe’s short-lived economic union, and the ECB is poised to cut off the cheap money spigot, leaving the Greek financial sector high and dry fomenting greater economic tumult.
Today the Financial Times reports that German finance minister Wolfgang Shäuble shot down any inkling that there might be an accord between the leftist Syriza government and its creditors. Further, Standard & Poor, a rating agency, announced that as a result of the junk status of Greek bonds, Greece is probably not going to be able to pay anybody back, let alone the IMF.
The gloom and doom factor here is that Greece is nearly incapable of paying out pensions and salaries for public sector workers, and as a leftist government, the decision to sell out the people to pay off the IMF is risky. With that being said, and due to the fact that the Germans wash their hands of this whole nasty thing, all that is really left to do is wait for the smoke to clear.
The question still remains of whether or not the Greeks will stay in the eurozone or if the “Grexit” will ensue. Public opinion in Greece indicates that an immense amount of Greeks, or 82 percent support Greece remaining in the monetary union.
With the Germans turning their backs on the “radical” Syriza government, and the ECB preparing to cut off the cash, all that that the cradle of democracy can do is to accept the honor of being the first deadbeat nation in the developed world.
The ballad of the Greek bust is an unprecedented story for the 21st century, and anybody not paying attention to this thing is missing history. The aftermath of this Greek financial tragedy has the potential to rock and roil the very foundations of the global financial system, and no doubt a great transformation is on the horizon.
Analysis by Joe Siess