Papandreou is trying to shut up the political opposition including members of his own party and stop the street rioting by means of the referendum 75% of Greeks don't want to leave the EU or return to the drachma, so in theory the referendum Yes vote would support the austerity, the rioting would end and Papandreou would remain in power with a consolidated party it's the ECB that isn't providing the funding that's the solution, fund the debt and the problem goes away as was the case in the US Greece was de facto in default as soon as its debt amount was known, at present it's a still after months and months a 'shall we or shan't we fund Lehman' scenario
Been wondering the same thing. Depending on which legal route they take, if the referendum even occurs, it would take either 40% or 50% of voters to actually be valid to begin with. I wonder if this is a gambit by Papa to either have the referendum vote fail period (Not enough NO's so you're obviously for it,) or to garner a yes using EU membership and bankruptcy as leverage and from there basically saying, "You voted for it so quit'cher bitchin." Apparently some groups are taking the "vote yes or not at all" approach to shoot for the former, but according to the always accurate wikipedia Greece has pretty high voter turnout in government elections, somewhere around 70%+, so who knows. I hope Markel throws her shoes at him at G20 that would make my day. As far as a full default goes, it's hard to get a good feel for an outcome that isn't filled with "ifs." I think it will be easier for the EU to manage the rest of the PIIGS without Greece, but they're going to be kicking the can for a while if they manage to keep the Euro together after a default. The French financial sector would eat shit for sure, but you'd think the economic/political hellhole that Greece falls into ought to be enough incentive for the other countries to stay in line. The region has the capital to survive, but it would be up to the politicians to quit playing games and pump out some fiscal policy before the ship sinks. Unless of course the Mayans were right, and the Greek default is just the precursor to 2012. GET YER BOMB SHELTERS READY FOLKS
They seem to be trying to dump the problem in the hands of Brazil, China, Russia, without realizing that those countries do not view Europe with the same view as they used to. What if those counties view Europe as if it were an old bitch who does not realize she is in her sixties.
Excuse me, but why the f is this considered "chit chat"? These are very legitimate questions considering the backdrop of discord with the referendum. And who the hell are you to decide what is "chit chat"? Or are you leveraged up to your eyeballs banking on some good news?