Political, financial turmoil in Greece

This one is worth watching, because if the vote goes the wrong - or right - way, it may well be the last straw for the whole Euro house of cards:

http://news.sky.com/story/1399197/greece-back-in-crisis-as-snap-election-forced

Greece Back In Crisis As Snap Election Forced
Markets fall as investors fear a new government will reject the conditions of the country's financial bailouts.

Greece has been plunged back into crisis-mode with the triggering of snap parliamentary elections.

The Athens Stock Exchange was 10% down when it was confirmed that the government of prime minister Antonis Samaras had failed to secure the election of a new president, resulting in early parliamentary elections being called.

Polls currently suggest the radical leftist Syriza party, which wants to renegotiate Greece's bailout agreements and roll back on austerity, will win the contest - prompting the investor flight because of uncertainty over the country's financial future.

The rescue deals - agreed with the EU and International Monetary Fund - prevented Greece defaulting on its debts.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras said the elections would herald an end to austerity.

He said: "With the will of our people, in a few days the bailout agreements of austerity will be history."

There was only one candidate for president, former European Commissioner Stavros Dimas, but the government fell 12 votes short of the 180 'super-majority' it needed despite a last-minute appeal by Mr Samaras.

n a televised address after the vote, he said: "Tomorrow I will visit the president and request that elections be held as soon as possible, on 25 January."

He had previously warned that an election could be "disastrous" while the country is negotiating with its creditors.

Greek banks bore the brunt of the hit to the Athens market, with Bank of Piraeus dropping 16.7% to record lows while National Bank of Greece fell 14.2%.

The Greek result also hit stock markets in Spain and Italy particularly as they were also hit hard by the eurozone economic slump and sovereign debt crisis which led to Greece's 2010 bailout.

The country had been progressing well in its recovery though cuts to core services remain deeply unpopular and unemployment is stubbornly above 25%.

More follows...

This is going to be a rough ride?

This one could cause real problems, Lily; it doesn't look like the Greek people are going to back down and play it 'safe' this time, they've had enough. I gather the EU sanctions on Russia were the last straw, as it had been a longstanding market for many Greek farmers.

All these plates are not going to keep spinning forever, IMO.

No they are not going to keep on and it is only a question of when they come crashing down.

http://rt.com/op-edge/219795-germany-manipulation-greece-eurozone/

The German government insists it wants Greece to stay in the eurozone and isn’t drafting any contingency plans in case of ‘Grexit’. This shows Germany is adamant about keeping Greece under the domination of the 'troika', journalist Ernst Wolff told RT.

“The goal of the German government, the European Union and even the government in Athens itself is to keep Greece in the euro zone," German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview on Sunday.

"There were no, and there are no, other plans to the contrary," he added, without directly refuting Der Spiegel’s report that a common belief in the German government was that the eurozone is stable enough to cope with potential Greece exit........more at link.

It's hard to make sense of what is going on here, as contradictory stories appear to be coming out of Germany, with Merkel none too upset at that thought of what's being known as Grexit.

Whatever the case, the EU might like to remember it didn't end well the last time Germany tried to dictate to Greece.......

They can't keep papering over the cracks for ever. I do know that many German citizens are fed up to the back teeth with being used to bail other countries out.

Those plates will surely have to fall sometime soon?

Well, Germany pays for most of it, followed mainly by the UK, even though we aren't in the euro, so I really can't see it going on for much longer, Lily. Whether Merkel and co like it or not, the electorate are getting downright mutinous about the whole business.

Oh dear......what's next?

2015 is going to be a very interesting year, Lily - a bit like that Chinese curse, I suspect.

Well I guess everyone had better fasten their seat belts then.......

Yes, The Electorate do seem to be getting a bit mutinous. But it doesn't appear to be doing them any good. No one is taking any notice of The Electorate, least of all Cameron. And a change of Government won't help either.

I still remember the beginnings of all of this, when UK was invited, and DeGalle got very pissed off when UK tuned him down, because The Politicians at Westminster weren't sure if it was a good idea.

That's when The UK should have gone in. Or turned it down for all time. Now it is just a God awful mess.

Europe will now be better served if The UK either joins the Currency or gets out all together. Personally, I don't care. The Pound is just a boring pain in the arse that is seriously interfering with my financial stability.
I have now suffered for knocking on seven years because The Pound is unstable. This recent uprise in The Pound has afforded me some small increase to my Pension, but I don't expect it to last. I am so tired of watching Britain cocking it up.

Plenty of time for further up-cocking by Westminster before May, when we're odds on to get our very own constitutional crisis, Sabot.

http://news.sky.com/story/1402261/euro-sinks-to-nine-year-low-against-dollar

The euro has dropped to a nine-year low against the US dollar as investor fears over growth prospects continue to grow.

On Monday the currency dropped 1.2% in value to €1.19, the weakest spot exchange rate since early 2006.

The pound was worth almost €1.28 on spot markets - helping UK travellers to the continent.

The euro sell-off comes amid doubts that a new quantitative easing (QE) programme, hinted at by European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi, will help the ailing currency.

Concerns have also been raised about a Greek left-wing government led by the Syriza party taking power - cutting austerity reforms - just months after it clawed its way out of a lengthy recession.

Is that good or bad for you, Sabot?

PS - I wish they'd call 'quantitative easing' what it really is - printing money. And then watch terror spread on the streets.

If they did't have anything to hide they would never had called it that in the first place....

Luckily for me, the Hungarian forint is not in the Eurozone, though the country is in the EU. Of course Austria is in the Eurozone. At present I am using my debit card to get money off my UK bank account and the rate is very good. LL

It's not The Euro that is dropping. The Euro is still as stable as The Franc was against The Pound and The Dollar. The Pound and The Dollar are simply rising for once.

Yes, this is good for me. You see, The Euro was set according to the value of The Franc and The Deutsche Mark at the time. This hasn't altered. It's the other currencies that are fluctuating. When The Pound goes down I get less Euros for my Pension which is paid at source in Pounds.

Is this a consequence of oil prices? Just a shot in the dark here.......

lily wrote:Is this a consequence of oil prices?  Just a shot in the dark here.......

I don't know, Lily. The price of petrol and diesel here remains as ever stable, and cheaper than UK. The price of paraffin didn't get a hike this Winter.

Meanwhile, UK is into another petrol price war. So if anywhere then it's UK that needs to worry about oil.

Your fuel should be cheaper, the international price has collapsed. Along with the currencies of several nations.

The ban on exports to Russia has caused terrible problems, Lily, an awful lot of small farmers depended on that money. In fact, it's a giant mess, but it's too late to wind that clock back.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-05/stocks-suffer-worst-santa-claus-rally-1999-crude-plunges-below-50

Crude oil's gone below 50% a barrel today.

Back in the year 2000 at the time of the change over The Euro was worth 65 pence. This was perfectly acceptable to The World's Markets. It is now hovering around 78 pence. It has a long way yet to fall before it goes back to what it was in the beginning.
In the meantime The Pound nearly sank to parity.
Does that sound as though The Euro is in trouble? The Euro today is worth around 78 pence as opposed to 65 pence fourteen years ago.

Personally I hope The Pound rises a bit more. I would like to see The Euro at around 70 pence.

I don't think even the so-called 'experts' can work out what's good and what's bad any more, Sabot, everything's too wierd.

bb1 wrote:I don't think even the so-called 'experts' can work out what's good and what's bad any  more, Sabot, everything's too wierd.

I can, when it comes to The Euros in my pocket, Bonny. The price of 65 pence to the Euro didn't just dream itself up. It was decided on many things that had been in place for many years.

I have to live on about 120 pounds a week. How many Euros I get for that is of some importance to me.

Isn't all about what it is pegged to?

ETA: Silly me...everything floats.

Maybe a time-honoured favourite is about to become popular again?



Interestingly, Russia and China have been buying vast quantities of the lovely shiny stuff, while the West has been frittering it away on - no-one seems any too sure what.