10 Responses to Firing line: ‘Greece is on the brink, the survival of the euro in question’ – UK, Cameron

  1. Meridian says:
    May 17, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    Alvin…what happens if Greece collapses and the euro doesn’t survive? What ripple effects will that have on other economies?

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    • The Extinction Protocol says:
      May 17, 2012 at 3:08 pm

      IM

      Greece has about $400 billion dollars in loans outstanding to European banks. U.S. firms may also have bond contracts tied up in the mess. If Greece defaulted on its loan obligations, there would a string of bank failures across Europe. The ECB would have to step in with massive funding to stave off a wave of collapses. However, they would not remedy the effects. The cost to insure borrowing and payments by countries still mired in debt would soar as the risks of default would increase. This would create an adverse situation where Spain, Portugal and Italy are already paying unsustainable bond yields servicing the debt they already owe. Each country would then be forced with a EU pullout to default on their loans- as the struggle would now come down to simple survival. Spanish banks have strong ties to most of Latin and Central American countries; so the fallout would be almost inconsolable- not to mention it would deplete the funds of the IMF. Then you still have Italy to worry about. Italy makes Greece look like a grade school picnic. Italy’s debt is three times what the Greek debt is. As a matter of fact, Italy is the third-largest economy in the EU, and the eighth largest economy on the planet. Its outstanding debt of €1.9 trillion (£1.6 trillion) accounts for a full 25% of all the debt in the eurozone. Italy would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s too big to fail and almost too big to bail out. It would take about $2 trillion in U.S. capital to stave off a crash. In the meantime, the Australian market have already loss about $85 billion in equity in the last 10 days with just talk of this. Stock markets around the world would see substantial drops if the crisis got any worse because they realize the difficulty that would be involved in trying to get so many nations to form a consensus to solve this problem. U.S. banks have heavy leverage and exposure to toxic derivatives and CDS contracts underlying bonds in Europe.

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      • Irene C says:
        May 18, 2012 at 12:06 am

        Thank you for an easy-to-understand explanation. This is a frightening scenario. What, if anything could the U.S. do to prevent being swallowed up in this (not that they would really do anything logical.)

        Maranatha

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      • The Extinction Protocol says:
        May 18, 2012 at 12:30 am

        Im
        The Credit world is like the Matrix created by bankers – it allows one to finance any dream

        Sure. I don’t think it’s much we can do though the Fed will probably print and loan out billions more to try and contain the problem in Europe as opposed to waiting to treat the symptoms of collateral damage when it surfaced on U.S. shores and could be even more expensive to plug. Just 3 months ago, the IMF and EU assured us they had the problem licked and there was nothing to worry about because they had raised about $400 billion in the war chest. Imagine the banks are like credit card companies- they don’t want you to ever pay off the balance- just the minimum monthly payment, so they can have you by the throat forever. This is essentially what happened in Europe. Someone thought of the idea of the Eurozone and the banks issued credit cards to all the countries to grow their economies…The problem with debt is you have to settle it or you will be paying on it forever. Well, before you know it, all the EU countries are in debt to the bankers and all these governments’ tax revenue is paying back credit card interest instead of providing the much needed essential services for its citizenry. All these bailout are doing is kicking the can down the road for a later date where it will morph from a soda can into a barrel. It’s like Morpheus told Neo, the Agents are guarding all the doors. They are holding all the keys. Sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them. Well, in this case; the bankers are guarding all the doors and holding all the keys…and sooner or later, someone is going to have to pay them. Credit is the artificial world created by the bankers.

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  2. spookmoor says:
    May 17, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    Sorry, can’t really follow where he is coming from as the British (to their eternal credit) kept the pound. So they should be sitting pretty with all this going on, bar trading in Euro?

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  3. JAzz man says:
    May 17, 2012 at 3:19 pm

    Well it seems to me that he is keeping up with the Royals, As they are part of the bigger picture, It is time for a change in our financial institutions, where they just sell instruments with no backing, Anyway where did all this money come from in the first place, Its all non – disclosure and fraudulent behaviour of all institutions in question, Yes! It is good that the whole system collapses. At least the gangster bankster will get there comeuppance

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  4. nickk0 says:
    May 17, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    It’s a great time to buy into the Stock Market !!
    😐

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  5. tonic says:
    May 19, 2012 at 12:15 am

    Greece could well be holding a lighted match to the whole “money” economy. Odd thats its Greece.

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