guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 May 2012 20.10 BST Financial markets are hastily making preparations for a Greek exit from the euro after a day of political and economic turmoil ended with Europe's policy elite admitting for the first time that it may prove impossible to keep the single currency intact. "The contagion risk would be far, far smaller than one and a half years ago," said the Dutch finance minister, Jan Kees De Jager, of the effect of a Greek exit. On Monday investors were seeking out safe havens, including German bonds and the pound, as they sold eurozone assets. The boss of PKO Bank Polski predicted that Europe was hurtling towards its Lehman moment, with Portugal, Spain, and Italy being dragged into the slipstream of a Greek exit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/14/euro-single-currency-greece
Ooooo...lets take bets on what the drachma will trade at when greece starts printing again. I say 1,500 drachma to 1 euro. (for those that dont know, when the drachma was exchanged to euro, it was 340 drachma to 1 euro in 2002.
The real test for Greece happens after they exit the Euro and return to the Drachma. Yields on newly issued Greek paper should trade in the double digits. Until now, Greece was mollycoddled and carried along by the international community with endless bailouts. It will be interesting to watch the Greeks truly hit the wall and tear at the seams. A microcosm of our future.
Countries/banks get cute and tried put in clauses to denominate Greek debt in only Euros. Guess what? It doesn't matter!!! Between default and revolution/total chaos, guess which one is the path of least resistant?:eek:
the latest chapter in the European farce...... The European monetary union in its current form is doomed. Greece is a basket case. Nearly everything the politicians tell the public is a lie. Everything the public expects ("free" health care, lavish pensions) is a delusion. bring in the clowns. s