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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Greece signalled could change tack on vote for loan deal

The Greek government indicated in a call on Tuesday with euro zone finance ministers that it could change its stance on the referendum it has called for Sunday if a request for a new loan could be agreed, euro zone sources said. The Eurogroup will reconvene by telephone on Wednesday at 0930 GMT to discuss a new proposal from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that modifies an offer made last week by creditors, some sources said. Several sources familiar with the talks said Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told the Eurogroup in a teleconference which was at times difficult for ministers to follow that his government would either call off the vote or recommend electors vote 'Yes' to a deal with creditors if an agreement were reached.


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Greece 'to Make New Proposal Wednesday'

Greece will table a new proposal about its debt on Wednesday, German daily FAZ quotes Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem as saying. According to FAZ, Dijsselbloem said the Eurozone finance ministers would discuss the proposal the very same day. This came as the Eurogroup held a teleconference on Tuesday evening, with a move by Athens to request a second bailout package, this time only from the Eurozone's European Stability Mechanism (ESM), being the single item on the agenda. Greece has until 01:00 local time on Wednesday (22:00 GMT, Tuesday) to pay a debt installment to the IMF or default. More to follow.


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Greek debt crisis: In Athens, scavenging from bins has become a way to survive

As the country prepares to vote on continuing austerity on Sunday, in the streets of Athens some people have already resorted to searching the rubbish bins for food to eat and scrap metal to sell


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Greece travel Q&A: Tourists urged to bring cash

Tourists travelling to Greece have been advised to avoid relying on cards and that cash will be the best form of currency as the country enters a week ...


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The end of Europe as we know it: Why Greece is poised to change everything this weekend

Greece will cast its most important vote in a generation on Sunday: Euro or ... Greece closed its banks for the entire week, and instituted a system of ...


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Economists say Puerto Rico needs right to bankruptcy option

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's financial future hung in limbo Tuesday as economists and officials warned that the U.S. territory could head down Greece's path if it is not allowed to declare bankruptcy as it struggles with $72 billion in public debt.


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Greece asks IMF to push back payment deadline

Greece has requested for a key payment to the International Monetary Fund to be postponed from its Tuesday deadline, as the country scrambles to stave off default and a possible messy exit from the eurozone.


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Eurogroup rejects Greece’s Program extension, ECB to decide on Wed on ELA, IMF after midnight

+++ Jeroen Dijsselbloem after Eurogroup meeting: “There could not be program extension, it expires tonight. The Greek proposal will be examined after the Referendum.” That was also Germany’s stance, to discuss again on Greece after the Referendum. A Eurogroup meeting via teleconference will be held 12:30 noon BE time (GR […]


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US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Wall St opens higher on Greek deal hopes

… a last-minute deal to avoid Greece's exit from the …


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How Greece spent €250bn of borrowed money

… quot;Greece is right not to pay … has lent €252 billion to Greece. Over the same period, €232 … on debt payments, bailing out Greek banks and paying ‘sweeteners’ to … and Open Europe shows who Greece still owes money to.


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A Crowdfunding Campaign Tries to Save Greece

It is a nice gesture, a crowdfunding expert says. It is also totally impossible.


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Iran, Greece, Climate Change Dominate U.S.-Brazil Meeting

Barack Obama and Dilma Rousseff discussed the Greek financial crisis, climate change, security and other issues in a meeting in Washington.


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Capital controls mean Greeks can click, but not buy

The imposition of capital controls on Sunday evening means Greeks are no longer able to purchase goods or services from many big international online suppliers including Google , Amazon.com Inc , Apple and Facebook . Transfers of funds out of Greece were banned to prevent a collapse of the banking system after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras rejected the terms of a bailout offer from international lenders. The controls mean payments via debit or credit cards to accounts outside Greece are prohibited.


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U.S. urges steps to keep Greece from hitting financial stability

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told European officials on Tuesday that more work is needed to keep the Greek crisis from fuelling a breakdown in financial market stability. Lew discussed Greece in separate phone calls with Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, a Treasury official said in a statement. ...


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S&P downgrades four Greek banks to ‘Selective Default’

Standard & Poor’s rating agency cut four banks to SD (Selective Default) following restrictions imposed on deposits. The banks are Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank. S&P believes the default of Greek banks is virtually certain unless ...


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Greece hits new low as bailout to expire, default looms

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece slipped deeper into its financial abyss on Tuesday, when the bailout program it has relied on for five years was set to expire and the country was due to become the first developed nation to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund.


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EFSF programme for Greece expires tonight

The Greek financial assistance programme of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) expires tonight at midnight CET. As a result, the last EFSF loan tranche of €1.8 billion will no longer be available for Greece and the €10.9 billion ...


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Eurogroup ends without bailout extension

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup, says Greece will send a new proposal on Wednesday and eurozone finance ministers will meet again to discuss it. He warned that any new bailout could have tougher conditions, however. BBC


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Merkel ally Volker Kauder says surprised by new proposals from Brussels

A German senior conservative lawmaker, Volker Kauder, said on Tuesday he was surprised that Brussels was coming up with new proposals for Greece now as the government in Athens had broken off talks. "It's somewhat surprising that new proposals are ...


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This Is What It’s Like to Be a Rich Man in Greece Who Can Not Legally Pay His Debt

The cautionary tale shares a number of lessons on currency control


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Eurogroup: Greek Program Extension and Debt Restructuring Rejected

  Tuesday evening’s urgent Eurogroup teleconference resulted in the arrangement of another conference for Wednesday, July 1, at 11.30 am Central European Time. The meeting was scheduled after the Greek government submitted a request to the European Stability Mechanism for a two-year deal earlier on Tuesday. The Greek government was unable to persuade its Eurozone counterparts for its program extension as well as debt restructuring, according to Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb. However, Eurozone leaders are open to Greece’s third request of getting a loan from the ESM to pay maturing debts between 2015 and 2017. Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said after Tuesday’s meeting that Greece will present new proposals on Wednesday and that a new program for Greece will require even stricter conditions. The ESM formally announced that Greece’s European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) program, which has been in effect since February 21, 2012, will expire at 12 pm Central Eastern Time. According to the ESM, Greece owes the EFSF 130.8 billion euros. Prior to today’s Eurogroup, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had maintained the position that Germany will not discuss any Greek proposal until the results of Sunday’s referendum. The Greek government voted last Saturday to hold a referendum on July 5, that will ask Greek citizens to vote YES/NO on the bailout deal offered Greece by its international creditors.


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Greece Offered to Conditionally Suspend Referendum: Reports

Greece has offered to suspend its planned referendum said Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat according to a report by the Times of Malta. “They are ready to suspend their referendum or ask the people to vote ‘yes’ instead of ‘no’ if a package is put on the table with which they could agree,” Muscat told the Maltese parliament. Joseph Muscat added that the Greek offer was subject to conditions and that he was not sure if it was a breakthrough or a move by Athens to gain more time. Greek government Vice President Yannis Drasagakis talking on National Broadcaster ERT did not rule out that Greece could eventually suspend the public vote if the creditors offer a satisfactory agreement. On July 5th, Greeks are called to reject or accept a bailout package that would secure an agreement with Greece’s creditors.


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Greek Main Opposition Leader Suggests Voting ‘Yes’ in Referendum

As Greece and the Eurozone face a week of political and financial turmoil after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ sudden announcement of a July 5 referendum on the creditors’ proposed bailout agreement, main opposition New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras urged Greek citizens on Tuesday to vote “Yes” in the upcoming ballot. Samaras said: “The question regarding the referendum is simple. Do we say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the euro and Europe? After all, this is what all the European leaders have already delivered. Even the socialist leaders, such as Hollande, Renzi and Schultz.” And he clarified: “Answering ‘No’ in the referendum equals with saying ‘No’ to the euro and Europe.” The New Democracy leader also explained: “Voting “Yes” in the referendum will break the deadlock the country currently faces, paving the way to smoothing things out. The best way to avoid being blackmailed is to stand on our own feet. We should avoid any more deficits, we should not accept additional loans. We should work hard to reduce the huge expenses of our state and ease the tax burden for our society, the real economy and businesses. To stay in the heart of Europe and the euro, we vote ‘Yes’ next Sunday! In order to return to stability, normalcy and development, something that all Greeks wish for.”  


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Euclid Tsakalotos: ‘Institutions’ Greater Flexibility Would Be A Great Idea’

Greece’s Alternate Minister for International Economic Relations Euclid Tsakalotos presented on Tuesday his own version of what caused the breakdown in talks between Greece and creditors. According to the Greek negotiating team’s head coordinator, at least part of the problem was a lack of agreement between the three institutions involved, which he said “did not always see eye to eye.” “Any breakdown in negotiations is unlikely ever to have one cause. This is especially true when, as in the case of the Greek government, we were negotiating with three institutions that did not always see eye to eye on the desired details of any agreement, let alone over the wider strategic issues such as the question of whether the Greek debt is sustainable and needs to be re-profiled. All sides have claimed that they showed the maximum amount of flexibility in order to ensure an agreement. Unfortunately this is a claim that is not easily supportable with respect to the negotiating stance of the institutions,” Tsakalotos said. Tsakalotos also revealed that fiscal targets and measures, structural reforms and financing are the main areas in which Greece and its international creditors disagree. And he concluded: “So what does the Greek government think of the proposed flexibility of the institutions? It would be a great idea. We see the referendum as part of the negotiation process, not in lieu of it. So we look forward to greater flexibility in the days to come.” (Source: ANA-MPA)


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Where Does ISIS Stand A Year After It Declared Its Caliphate?

Every week, The WorldPost asks an expert to shed light on a topic driving headlines around the world. Today, we speak with Charles Lister, visiting fellow at Brookings Doha Center, on the Islamic State. It's been one year since the Islamic State insurgent group declared its caliphate, changing its name and proclaiming leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the caliph of all Muslims. Since then, the group has radically expanded into a number of countries across the globe while seizing cities and towns in Iraq and Syria. Currently locked in a battle with regional forces on the ground and targeted by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, the extremist group is also the subject of an immense effort to take back the territory it brutally occupies. But in spite of this campaign, the militants have persisted and still control swaths of territory as well as significant resources. The WorldPost spoke with terrorism expert Charles Lister to understand how the group is functioning, the reality behind its expansion and what's changed in the year since the establishment of their so-called Islamic State. Lister is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, and author of both a book on the Islamic State and a forthcoming work on jihadist groups in Syria. Is the Islamic State group more or less powerful now in terms of territory, resources and fighting forces than it was a year ago? While it remains difficult to definitively measure the Islamic State's size in terms of a fighting force, the simple answer is that the group did grow as a fighting force since the declaration of its caliphate a year ago. At that time, the organization was purely a Syria- and Iraq-based organization, and they probably commanded about 25,000 to 30,000 fighters on the ground in those two countries. One year later, I would probably estimate those numbers to have doubled in Syria and Iraq. One year later, I would probably estimate those numbers to have doubled in Syria and Iraq. That significant increase in manpower on the ground can largely be explained by the group’s somewhat forced co-opting of smaller fighting forces in Iraq and young men in areas of Syria. The militants essentially co-opt them to join their organization when they’ve taken over their towns, and many of those men literally have no other options. Outside of Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State has expanded quite significantly -- perhaps an awful lot more than a lot of analysts would have expected a year ago. Are you referring to countries like Libya? Officially speaking, the Islamic State is now operating in 11 countries. Some of those are much smaller in scale than others. In Libya, the Islamic State has a fairly sizable force operating on the ground, controlling territory and providing governance and other services. In many respects they’re trying to replicate the model that we’ve seen develop in Iraq and Syria. We see this on a smaller scale in Egypt as well. Officially speaking, the Islamic State is now operating in 11 countries. In Nigeria, through the recent pledge of allegiance by Boko Haram, we clearly see a large militant organization now officially fighting on behalf of the Islamic State. When Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, it was unclear how strong the link was between the group in Nigeria and the organization in Iraq and Syria. Has that become more clear? It’s still quite vague, but what can be said is that the Islamic State has received a lot more pledges of allegiance than the group has actually accepted. That would tend to suggest that some kind of assessment is being made at a leadership level as to whether or not the Islamic State can feasibly accept a pledge of allegiance. Smoke rises from an Islamic State position in Kobani, Nov. 8, 2014. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) When the top leadership accepts a pledge of allegiance, those fighters presumably bring some level of trust or they represent something worthwhile for the organization. Has the network structure of the Islamic State group changed throughout the expansion? It’s still very heavily Iraq- and Syria-focused. The infrastructure of the group is minimal in other countries. But the fact that affiliates are able to carry out operations abroad feeds into the idea that the Islamic State is a growing transnational organization. One of the most important things we've seen watching the survival of the Islamic State over the last 12 months is that in many respects, perception is far more important than truth or fact. The perception that the Islamic State is expanding internationally is essentially self-fulfilling towards the group’s expansion. You mean as a recruitment tool? As a recruitment tool, but also that the Islamic State has basically founded itself on the idea of continual expansion. They have to continue to show that they are growing as a global Islamist movement. They have to continue to show that they are growing as a global Islamist movement. The fact is that Islamic State has suffered in Iraq a lot over the last 12 months, but they have gained affiliates internationally, and for the group’s supporters and potential recruits, that perception of continual expansion is extremely important. If the group continues to lose ground, how might that affect its strategy? The Islamic State has lost the town of Tal Abyad, one of their principle border crossings, in the last two to three weeks. What they've done since is launch diversionary operations to draw away Kurdish forces who were approaching their capital in Raqqa. It’s an age-old tactic of drawing your enemy away from the most critically important areas, and so far in northern Syria, it's given at least a temporary reprieve from what looked like a very serious threat to its de facto capital. But when the group really does start to seriously lose strategically valuable ground, it will be a real critical moment for the organization to survive at all. The Islamic State has tied success into continuing to control territory and to govern as a state. As soon as it loses territory its very being comes into question. Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilisation force keep position in the city of Baiji. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images) In the areas and cities under its control, how has its state building and ability to govern progressed? The level of success or failure varies in every area under its control. In Mosul, the reporting has been quite mixed. There have been some reports that the extent to which the group has been able to continue the provision of services has been equal if not slightly better than what the services were under government control. There has been a great deal of attention as to whether the Islamic State can rebuild roads and provide health care, and so on. The reality is that whether or not they’re able to do that, the primary mechanism of maintaining control over territory is a seriously aggressive extent of law and order threatened with executions, amputations and all kinds of other horrific punishments. In some senses they’ve been extremely smart, because the group has been able to maintain its extremist ideology but at the same time managed in large part to co-opt local professionals into continuing their jobs and providing some kind of a sense that cities are still running as they previously did. In many cases, such as Mosul, those civil services workers are still receiving their salaries from Baghdad. Exactly, and that actually provides the Islamic State with a money-earning capability because it taxes those salaries. In many respects the Islamic State’s continual ability to acquire money is one of the key facets of how it maintains some legitimacy and ability to provide services. One of the most important things it does when it first comes into a town is that it subsidizes core staple foods. It will immediately try and drop the price of bread. However, when the Islamic State’s financial capabilities decline they’ll no longer be able to do that. It’s all these factors, the finance, the services, the religious credibility and broader context outside of the territorial control, that allow the local people to essentially put up with them being the source of law. In that sense the money is extremely important. There have been efforts to cut off that money and funding. Have those had any success? I think it would be wrong to say that coalition efforts haven’t had any success, but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that the Islamic State is cash strapped at all. In that sense, the focus on the oil industry was perhaps slightly misconstrued. Oil has and will continue to be important to the Islamic State, but it was importing oil as well as exporting back when Mosul was captured. It’s important to note that the coalition did target IS oil infrastructure, but the targeting was only against makeshift oil refineries in the desert. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that the Islamic State is cash strapped at all. There doesn’t seem to be a desire, and I think rightly so, to target large-scale infrastructure because of the implications it would have on a post-conflict context. The Islamic state’s biggest source of revenue is still taxation and extortion, and that is directly tied to its ability to control territory. So long as they control populations, it will be earning enough money to subsist and continue operations. There doesn’t seem to be any credible evidence that the Islamic state is suffering financially to any significant extent. How have conceptions of the Islamic State group as a non-state actor changed over the last year or so and how do you view them? At its heart, the Islamic State sees itself as an inherently Islamic organization. That’s how it presents itself and what almost all of its propaganda insists is the case. That’s how it sees itself on the ground, that’s how its objectives are formed. All through its own perception of ancient Islamist ideals, and it’s extremely important to acknowledge that. At the same time, what I would always be keen to emphasize is that the Islamic State is more than just an Islamic organization. They present themselves as a religio-political alternative and a force to protect Sunni-Arab Muslims from a perceived oppressive sectarian enemy. They are in that sense also an inherently political organization. The Islamic State is more than just an Islamic organization. The problem is that what the public sees from the Islamic State is its slick use of propaganda, and that use of propaganda is brutal and violent and it is continually sewn through with Islamic texts and rhetoric. But on a local level, there is a whole other type of propaganda that we see very little. That’s how it presents itself as a social movement that stands up for the poor and defends the oppressed, and presents itself as a more honorable, powerful future for the Sunni Arab population. Militants of Islamic State (IS) are seen just before explosion of air strike on Tilsehir hill near Turkish border on Oct. 23, 2014, at Yumurtalik village, in Sanliurfa province. (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images) Is there something that you think is underappreciated about the group? The coalition strategy as it currently exists is inherently Iraq-focused, but there needs to be a recognition of how important Syria is to the group. It’s not a coincidence that the group's capital is in Syria. It’s not a coincidence that when Mosul was attacked, about a quarter to a third of forces came from Syria and that within 24 hours a great majority of weapons taken from Mosul were transferred into Syria. Until we acknowledge the importance of that country to the Islamic State's expansion and survival, we’re fighting a losing battle from the very beginning. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. More from The WorldPost's Weekly Interview Series: - Have We Got ISIS All Wrong? - What Is The State Of Political Islam Today? - Was The Libyan Intervention A Mistake? - What Palestinian Membership In The ICC Really Means - Anguish In Argentina After Prosecutor's Mysterious Death - Could The New Syriza Government Be Good For Greece's Economy? - Naming The Dead: One Group's Struggle To Record Deaths From U.S. Drone Strikes In Pakistan -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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In Greece, People Are The Measure

"Man is the measure of all things: of the things that are, that they are, of the things that are not, that they are not." -- Protagoras Under these principles, democracy was created 2,500 years ago. Democracy was born out of need. The need of liberation from tyrannical regimes. The need of human liberation from centuries of oligarchy, absolutism, obscurantism. In the 2,500 years that followed, the setbacks were countless. There were some regimes that referred to themselves as "democracies," but only used this as a cover to impose absolutism. These enemies sowed economic, political and environmental dictatorships in the name of "democracy," always creating enemies out of the general public and with the end goals of money and power. The current Greek government, which resulted from the January 25th elections, was also born out of need, the Greek people's need to get rid of politics that make "money holy and blessed." In the name of balance sheets, the previous government threw away, like needless numbers, people and their needs. The current government was born by the need for more democracy, by the need for politics in which 'people are the measure.' In need of democratic expression, the government announced a referendum for July 5th. At a critical time, the government did the obvious: It requested that the Greek people judge the government, give direction to the government, and reward or criticize the government. Unfortunately, we have heard from creditor-serving politicians who call the referendum a coup. The choice has been given to the people, yet critics call it "division." The referendum is an option that they themselves never dared offer. For them a vote based on blackmail was enough, so that they could decide for everyone and for everything. "We are Europe," they yell. Yes, Europe is the one that carries out referendums sometimes even for simple issues, so simple that in post-dictatorship Greece they don't even make headlines. The Greek people spoke many times during the five years of the memorandum. They bled, they inhaled chemicals, they were faced with violence and mockery from the political personnel that for four decades now has used power in many ways, but never according to the principle "the measure of all money is people." In these past five years, the Greeks felt neglected from this particular political system and expressed the need to breathe freely. They've finally decided to do so. And they see now that their decision is not accepted by the same political system. What does it matter if the European people revolt? Everything, depending on your traditions and values. The contempt levied from opposition parties and the private sector towards the Greek people is intense and degrading on a daily basis. In this hour of the most crucial battle, this contempt is against the interests of the country and the interests of its people. It unleashes an attack meant to terrorize the people. It invokes the interventions of foreigners, it tries to create fear and panic, and to shift the problem to new levels. In response, we didn't hear a word on austerity, on unemployment, on malnutrition, on the migration of young people abroad, on the thousands of suicides related to economic reasons. Instead, the only thing we hear is that the banking system remains unprotected. The supporters of Troika have revealed themselves. They are not interested in the Greek people; they are interested in the banking system. We hear views like, "Banks are the backbone of the national economy." But we don't hear anything concerning the Greek people who suffer. The Greek people, however, know what they will do. This post originally appeared on HuffPost Greece and was translated into English. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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Working for yourself isn't cheap

FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors. The costs of being self-employed (Wall Street Journal) The 15 million Americans who are self-employed find themselves weighing the costs of working for themselves versus the expense of having to go at it alone. The Wall Street Journal suggests self-employed Americans end up paying more in taxes and towards insurance, and must also keep tabs on their retirement. Self-employed Americans have a higher tax bill because the payroll tax isn't split with someone else. It is expensive to get your own insurance plan, but one benefit is premiums are tax deductible. As for retirement, self-employed Americans must have the discipline to take money out of their paychecks and must also keep an emergency fund.    Millennials are not saving for retirement (Financial Advisor) A new TIAA-CREF survey shows just 56% of Americans surveyed between the ages of 18 and 34 are planning on Social Security to provide them income during retirement. The survey found that despite millennials seeing the need for money during retirement, only 31% have begun saving. The shortfall in saving is a result of other financial obligations, like student loans, and is likely going to have a significant impact on the amount of money they will have during retirement. Gundlach loaded up on Treasuries and Ginnie Maes (Reuters) Bond guru Jeff Gundlach says he bought "lots of Treasuries and Ginnie Maes" as a play on the debt problems in Greece and Puerto Rico and the volatility in China. "The 30-year Treasury went to a new high yield and no other part of the curve did. This was exactly the opposite of what happened at the low in yields in January," Gundlach noted. According to Reuters, Gundlach's Doubline Capital Management had $73 billion AUM as of the end of the first quarter.  Dynasty Financial lands an ex-Deutsche Bank team (Think Advisor) Dynasty Financial has added a team from  Intellectus Partners, formerly of Deutsche Bank. The team, which is spearheaded by David J. La Placa and Alex Brown, brings approximately $3 billion of client assets into the fold.  “We believe the existing wealth management model focuses too much on what a client has done in the past.  We are focused on their future,” La Placa said in a press release.  FINRA had a 'strong' 2014 (Wealth Management) FINRA turned a $120 million profit in 2014. Wall Street's self-funded watchdog brought in $997 million in revenue, up 10.7% from the prior year. According to Wealth Management, "Brokerages shared a $20 million rebate for the second consecutive year" with each firm receiving $1,200 in addition to a pro-rated share of their regulatory fees.Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women


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OBAMA: The Greek crisis is priced into the markets

President Barack Obama wants you to know that the Greek financial crisis isn't about to evolve into a major global financial crisis. During a White House news conference on Tuesday, Obama said "markets have properly factored in" the risks associated with the ongoing turmoil that's been rocking Europe in recent days. "This is not something we believe will have a major shock to the system," he said. "But obviously it's very painful for the Greek people and it can have a significant effect on growth rates in Europe." Over the weekend, it became increasingly clear that Greece was unlikely to make a debt payment due to the IMF on Tuesday. This would legally put Greece in default. Global markets sold off, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 350 points in a day. US presidents don't don't spend a whole lot of time talking about the financial markets. But when they do, everyone listens. Because, who wouldn't love to remind everyone that the President of the United States, like us, is terrible at making stock market calls. Back on March 3, 2009 (via Goldman Sachs), Obama made one of the most perfectly timed market calls in the history of market calls. He said, "[W]hat you're now seeing is profit and earnings ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it.” The S&P 500 more than doubled since Obama made that 2009 call. Hopefully, he's right about the whole Greek thing too. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 12 awesome facts about WWE superstar Brock Lesnar


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HEDGE FUND MANAGER: Tsipras could be gone in 30 days

In a special web episode of "Wall Street Week" that aired Monday, Marathon Asset Management CEO Bruce Richards made a pretty grim prediction for Greece's embattled government: "Thirty days from now, Syriza party — which is Alexis Tsipras, who is the prime minister — probably won't be in office," Richards said. "He's taken the country to a point, a brink, where, hopefully there is a point of return in terms of its economy turning around, but it's getting very dire." On Sunday, just as Greek officials appeared to approach a deal with European creditors for a new, much-needed $7.9 billion bailout package, Tsipras shocked the country — and the world — by calling a referendum on the bailout. Now Greek banks are closed through next Monday, and the country seems set to default on a $1.8 billion debt due to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday. Richards predicted that, in a matter of weeks, supermarkets would begin to run out of food and gas stations would run out of gas. "It shows his ineffectiveness — his inability to work on a deal," Richards said of Tsipras. He went on to predict two potential scenarios for Greece: Tsipras could resign (Richards said the probability of this is very low — around 10%) The Greek people will vote "yes" to the latest deal proposal, and Tsipras will go "crawling back" to authorities and take the deal Richards thinks the second scenario is more likely. And, he said, it would effectively be a vote against Tsipras and Syriza. "I think the Greek population realizes now that they've elected the wrong party and they've elected the wrong prime minister," he said. "Greek people are smart, they're good business people, and they're going to vote for the most sane economic program for Greece, which is to stay in the euro." As for the wider implications of a Greek default on the global economy, Richards said European banks were strong, and few had exposure to Greece. The institutions that do have exposure to Greece — the so-called troika of creditors — are made up of government and international institutions and will probably be able to absorb the impact of a default, he said. So, he said, "It will not be a Lehman-like event." For more on Greece, you can read Business Insider's complete coverage here »Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch a pilot squeeze his plane through this skinny canal in Greece


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Argentina Shows Greece There May Be Life After Default

When, five years ago, Greece's crisis began, Europe extended a helping hand. But it was far different from the kind of help that one would have wanted, far different from what one might have expected if there was even a bit of humanity, of European solidarity. The initial proposals had Germany and other "rescuers" actually making a profit out of Greece's distress, charging a far, far higher interest rate than their cost of capital. Worse, they imposed conditions on Greece -- changes in its macro- and micro-policies -- that would have to be made in return for the money. Such conditionality was a standard part of the lending practices of the IMF and the World Bank. Typically, when they imposed these conditions, they had little knowledge of the real workings of the economy; and frequently, there was more than a little politics in the demands. There was sometimes an element of neo-colonialism: the old White Europeans once again telling their former colonies what to do. More often than not, the policies didn't work as they were supposed to. There were huge discrepancies between what the Western experts expected and what actually happened. Somehow, one expected something better of Greece's Eurozone "partner." But the demands were every bit as intrusive, and the policies and models were every bit as flawed. The disparity between what the Troika thought would happen and what has emerged has been striking -- and not because Greece didn't do what it was supposed to, but because it did, and the models were very, very flawed. At last, after years of blackmailing Greece and demanding ever more austerity that led to a catastrophic economic depression, the Troika has finally pushed the country into the brink of default. The situation has some important similarities with Argentina's 2001 default -- and some differences as well. In both countries, recessions turned into depressions as a consequence of austerity policies -- making the debt even more unsustainable. In both cases, the policies were demanded as a condition for assistance. Both countries had rigid currency arrangements that gave them no possibility for running expansionary monetary policies during the recession. In both countries, the IMF got it wrong, providing alarmingly flawed forecasts of the consequences of the imposed policies. Unemployment and poverty soared, and GDP plummeted. Indeed, there is even a striking similarity in the magnitude of the fall in GDP and the increase in the unemployment rate. In Argentina, youth unemployment in particular skyrocketed and stayed high for several years. The lack of opportunities destroyed motivations and was an immense waste of the talent of millions of young people. With youth unemployment over 60 percent in Greece, a similar saga is going on. Defaults are difficult. But even more so is austerity. The good news for Greece is that, as Argentina showed, there may be life after debt and default. The saga that led to the Greek default reminds us time and again of important lessons for the management of sovereign debt crises that we should have learned from earlier such events. The first one is that there is no improvement in the capacity of debt repayment without economic recovery. At the same time, there is no economic recovery without a restoration of debt sustainability. Both in Argentina and Greece, restoring debt sustainability required a deep sovereign debt restructuring. In both cases, finalizing a "good" debt restructuring, a timely and sufficiently deep restructuring conducive to economic recovery with access to international credit markets, has proven to be quixotic. This is not due to any fault on the part of the countries, but to deficiencies in the frameworks in which negotiations were carried on. In both cases, creditor institutions pretended that sustainability could be regained through "structural adjustments." Under intense pressure, the programs that were foisted on them were accepted and implemented -- but they obviously didn't work. Exchanging "bailout" funds -- funds that were mostly used to repay the very same creditors that were providing them -- for adjustments (and promises of even bigger adjustments) spiraled into economies that got ever weaker. In the case of Argentina, after years of suffering, the people went into the streets. In both cases, runs on the banking system ended up with a partial freezing of bank deposits, which in the case of Argentina, triggered a full-fledged banking crisis and a subsequent conversion of deposits denominated in a foreign currency into domestic currency that led to a restructuring of domestic liabilities -- at a high cost for small domestic savers. In Greece, the consequences still remain to be seen. Debt contracts are voluntary exchanges between creditors and debtors. They are done in a context of uncertainty: when the debtor promises to repay a certain amount in the future, everyone understands that the promise is contingent on the debtor's capacity for repayment. There is risk involved -- the reason that creditors demand a larger compensation (higher interest rates) than if they were lending under no risk. Debt restructurings are a necessary part of the lender-borrower relationship. They have occurred hundreds of times, and they will continue occurring. The way in which they are resolved determines the size of the losses. Bad management of debt crises, such as demanding austerity policies during recessions -- in spite of theory and empirical evidence showing that austerity in recessions only makes recessions deeper -- inevitably leads to larger losses and more suffering. Those who get saved by the bailouts (as the German and French banks in the case of Greece) usually give moral hazard as the reason to avoid debt restructuring. They claim that it would create perverse incentives; other debtors would be more inclined to "abuse" borrowing by not repaying. But the moral hazard argument is a fairy tale. Both Argentina and Greece had already paid a very high price for their debt problems by the time of default. No country in the world would be happy to follow the same road. Greece's experience also teaches us what should not be done in a debt restructuring. The country "restructured" its debt in 2012, but it did it wrong. It was not only insufficiently deep for economic recovery, but it also led to a change in the composition of debt -- from private creditors to official creditors -- making further restructurings more difficult. To some extent, Greece faces a more complex situation than Argentina did in 2001. Argentina's default was accompanied by a large currency devaluation that made the country more competitive and that, together with the debt restructuring, provided the conditions for a sustained economic recovery. In the case of Greece, default and Grexit would require the re-implementation of a domestic currency. It's not the same to devalue an existing currency than to create a new currency in the midst of a crisis. This additional layer of uncertainty has enhanced the Troika's capacity for pressuring Tsipras's government. When debt is unsustainable, there needs to be a fresh start. This is a basic, well-recognized principle. So far, the Troika is depriving Greece from this possibility. And there can't be a fresh start with austerity. This Sunday, Greek citizens will debate two alternatives: austerity and depression without end, or the possibility of deciding their own destiny in a context of huge uncertainty. None of the options are nice. Both could lead to even worse social disruptions. But while with one of them there is some hope, with the other there is not. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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LARRY SUMMERS: I only like Mario Draghi right now

As the drama continues in Greece, the world is becoming less patient with the European leaders involved. An editorial from the Financial Times on Sunday blasted Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras for his role in the crisis. Meanwhile, some protestors have vilified German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande, and others for pushing hard on Greece. But at least one leader is getting praise at the moment: ECB President Mario Draghi. Speaking from the Swiss International Finance Forum on Monday, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers lauded Draghi for his strenuous efforts to keep everything together. "I think the one person who has acquitted himself in an extraordinarily difficult position in an extraordinarily impressive way is ECB head Mario Draghi," Summers said, as quoted by Bloomberg.  Summers added that while Draghi is, "being faithful to the imperatives of a central bank," he, "has also recognized the broader stakes involved and then prepared to commit himself and insist that his institution be committed in stepping forward and doing what is necessary to provide confidence." Summers went on to bash other European leaders. According to Bloomberg, he compared central banks to anesthesiologists because "when they mess up it can be catastrophic, but ultimately no anesthesiologists can ever cure a patient." Similarly, he explained, no central bank can ever bring about rapid economic growth. "That depends on the wisdom of its political leaders' policies, on the commitment to hard work of its people and the spirit of imagination and capacity of its business leaders," Summers said. " That is why as valuable as what Mario has done is, it's not enough."SEE ALSO: Greece asks for a new 2-year bailout Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: KRUGMAN: Mario Draghi Probably Can't Save Europe On His Own


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U.S. Efforts In Greek Debt Crisis May Be Just Too Late

The United States should have intervened a week ago when the latest talks between Greece and its creditors began to fall apart, a former senior International Monetary Fund official told The Huffington Post on Tuesday. Appeals for compromise over the Greek debt crisis come too late now, economist Peter Doyle said. Nonetheless, on Monday evening, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew spoke with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other European officials, urging them to continue negotiating a bailout deal ahead of Greece's July 5 referendum on agreeing to any such deal. Greece needs additional funds to avoid defaulting on its debts, including a 1.6 billion euro payment due to the IMF by midnight Tuesday, Washington, D.C., time. As of Tuesday afternoon, Greece had yet to make the payment and was calling for an emergency loan from eurozone nations. In Lew’s talks with Tsipras on Monday, the Treasury secretary emphasized that any deal must include both “a commitment to reforms” by Greece and a “discussion of potential debt relief” for the country, according to a statement from the Treasury Department. By mentioning debt relief, the U.S. seemed to call for greater compromise from Greece’s creditors. So far, the eurozone nations have offered to make new loans available to Greece, but have refused to consider actually reducing the Greek debt in the current talks. A last-minute proposal on Tuesday by the European Commission, which represents eurozone nations in the talks, suggested there could be negotiations over debt relief later in the year if Greek citizens vote yes to the proposed bailout deal on July 5. For its part, the IMF has paid lip service to the idea of debt relief for Greece. But it has not backed that up with any such endorsement in key official documents. Greece claims -- and many economists agree -- that it will never be able to repay the debt it now owes and that continuing to try to do so is preventing the country from recovering economically. To really help the situation, Doyle, the former IMF senior manager, said the U.S. needed to step into the negotiations between Greece and its creditors at a crucial moment a week ago. As the largest single contributor to the IMF, the U.S. has the greatest say over its policies. Specifically, Doyle argues that the U.S. should have stopped the creditors from sending back Greece’s latest proposal covered with redlined changes on June 24 and then leaking it to the media. The way the counterproposal was made was widely seen as humiliating to Greece. Moreover, it did not offer any new concessions on debt relief, pension reforms or increases in the value-added tax. Greece reacted furiously to the counterproposal, beginning a downward turn that culminated Saturday in Greece's withdrawal from the talks and announcement of the referendum. “I was truly amazed that the U.S. allowed the IMF to send back to Greece that redlined document,” Doyle said. “It must have slipped through the cracks in the White House," he added. "That redlined document was completely humiliating, and it says nothing about debt relief.” Doyle noted that “in general, the U.S. has been on the side of the angels,” pushing Europe to compromise for the sake of the eurozone’s future. “The U.S. position has been that the Europeans are completely crazy to risk a major conflagration in Europe over something so small as Greece,” he said. The Obama administration says that its urgent appeals were responsible for getting the eurozone nations to bail out Greece in May 2010, when the euro was in danger of collapse. Then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recalled in notes for his 2015 memoir, which were leaked last year to the Financial Times, that eurozone nations in general, and Germany in particular, resisted rescuing Greece on the grounds that it would reward the country for its fiscal irresponsibility. “But the main thing is I remember saying to [European leaders]: ‘You can put your foot on the neck of [Greece] if that’s what you want to do,’” Geithner recounted. “‘But you’ve got to make sure that you send a countervailing signal of reassurance to Europe and the world that you’re going to hold the thing together and not let it go. [You’re] going to protect the rest of the place.’” In the Treasury Department’s Monday statement, it again highlighted the importance to the global economy of a “sustainable” accord between Greece and its creditors. But with European economies on the mend, confidence in the euro restored, and most of Greece’s debt held by governments rather than banks, many analysts predict that the impact on global markets of a Greek default and eurozone exit would be limited. And speaking at a Tuesday press conference, President Barack Obama downplayed the financial impact of those events on the U.S. economy. Obama called the threat of a Greek default and eurozone departure an "issue of substantial concern," but one that is "primarily of concern to Europe." He added that Americans should not be bracing themselves for a "major shock." -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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EFSF announces end of Greek programme

1.8 bln euros were left unused, along with 10.9 bln euros intended for banks recapitalization


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Greeks eke by on little cash

Banks in Greece remain closed for the week, with limits on ATM withdrawals.         


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Ryanair forced to accept cash only for ticket purchases from Greece

Credit card purchases via website the latest casualty of credit controls


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Greek govt Dep PM: We want a solution with creditors!

Another Eurogroup meeting on Wed.! -- Dragasakis: Cutting salaries, pensions even more not the means for exiting crisis


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Juncker, Schulz on Greece crisis: History in the making!

Billion-euro question is whether referendum will be held if negotiations resume


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Greece's nightmare has begun, and it's getting worse

The economy in Greece has begun its descent into the fiscal abyss as the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras initiated capital controls on ...


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Greece lifelines run out as IMF payment looms

Greece is widely expected to miss a crucial payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday—hours before its bailout officially ends at ...


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Greece appeals for last-minute bailout deal

Greece pleaded for a short-term bailout extension on Tuesday to avert a midnight default as frantic efforts gathered pace to salvage a deal that could keep Athens in the euro, with Germany warning that time had run out to extend vital credit lines.


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The Greek crisis and the church

The Greek church predates the Greek state by many centuries, and such is its concern with the original events of sacred history that it can seem ...


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IMF's uneven dealings with Greece is saga of embarrassment

Greek bailout: the IMF’s reputation has been dented with its overly optimistic projections and wishy-washy stance on debt write-downsOne big loser from Greece’s (likely) default is the reputation of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF, we used to believe, only stepped in when a country’s path to debt sustainability was clear and economic revival could be plotted with reasonable confidence. The organisation’s standing as a global lender of last resort relied on the even-handed application of that principle.In Greece, it’s hard to say the debt was ever sustainable in the world after the global financial crisis of 2007-09. In 2010, when the IMF contributed €30bn to the first bailout programme, Greece hadn’t yet experienced its deep recession. But the risk of deep spending cuts making the position worse was obvious: the unpromising backdrop was a weak eurozone in which banks remained under-capitalised. Continue reading...


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Greek crisis presents buying opportunity

Fund managers remain positive on European equities


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Greeks pitch IMF into uncharted territory

Greece becomes first advanced economy to miss deadline in fund’s 71-year history


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President Barack Obama: Greek Crisis of ‘Substantial Concern’ for Europe

  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the Greek financial crisis is of “substantial concern” but should not prompt “overreactions.” Obama says he doesn’t believe the crisis will deal a “major shock” to the American financial system, but adds that it’s painful for the Greeks and could affect European economic growth. He says that, in […] The post President Barack Obama: Greek Crisis of ‘Substantial Concern’ for Europe appeared first on The National Herald.


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Eurogroup Rejects Greek Request for Extension of Bailout

The Eurogroup rejected on Tuesday the request of the Greek government to extend the bailout programme of the country. This became clear after the end of the extraordinary teleconference of the eurozone finance ministers. The conference call was necessitated after the Greek government submitted its latest list of proposals earlier on Tuesday. These developments come just hours before Greece is expected to default on its IMF debt repayment of EUR 1.6 B, which falls due later on Tuesday. It is likely for a new meeting of eurozone finance ministers to be convened again on Wednesday to discuss the other proposals of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. In its latest proposal, Greece asked for an extension of its bailout and a new two-year EUR 29.1 B aid deal under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) with a parallel debt restructuring. However the Greek government made no concessions to the demands of international creditors for economic reforms. Greece requested for its bailout programme to be extended for a short period of time in order to avert a technical default on its IMF debt repayment. Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb announced that an extension of the bailout programme was not possible, while the request for new ESM programme had to be dealt through the normal procedures.


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FM Teleconference Over, More Talks in Morning; No Deal in Sight

ATHENS —  A Greek official informed  the Associated Press that the eurozone finance ministers’ teleconference is over, but talks will continue on Wednesday morning. An EU official says that Greece’s creditors did not agree Tuesday on a new bailout deal or extension for Greece and will instead, starting Wednesday, focus on a new plan for the […] The post FM Teleconference Over, More Talks in Morning; No Deal in Sight appeared first on The National Herald.


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We're not traitors, insist Greek's yes campaigners

Burgeoning citizens’ group – with backing from academics and media magnates – warns of dangers of leaving European Union and euroThousands of flag-waving Greeks gathered in a summer thunderstorm outside the parliament in Athens on Tuesday to insist their country belonged in the European Union and warn that leaving would lead to calamity.“It would take us so far backwards – a generation or more,” said Ellie Douka, an employee of a non-profit company. “It’ll be economic, social, cultural Armageddon,” said Yiorgio Economos, a junior executive in a shipping firm. “This is just so dangerous. It’s absolutely imperative that we stay in.”The situation is volatile. I can only hope that we are not going to commit national suicide Related: IMF: austerity measures would still leave Greece with unsustainable debt Continue reading...


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Briton launches crowdfunding campaign to pay off Greece debt

Thom Feeney offers postcards of Alexis Tsipras for €3 and has raised €250,000, as ‘while politicians are dithering, the crisis is affecting real people’As the Greek government and its creditors are locked in talks ahead of a deadline for the country to meet a £1.6bn debt repayment, an online crowdfunding campaign started by a London shoe shop worker is aiming to break the impasse by collecting a Greek bailout fund of his own.Thom Feeney, 29, launched the campaign to raise the money, calling on all Europeans to “chip in a few euro” and end the standoff. As of Tuesday afternoon more than €250,000 (£177,000) had been pledged from almost 15,000 people, or around 0.01% of the total amount. Continue reading...


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Drugmakers draw up plans to ease medicine shortage in Greece

Pharmaceutical trade association warns that Greek medicine supply chain is vulnerable to disruption in the event of a euro exitDrugmakers are drawing up emergency plans to deal with the fallout from a potential Grexit, as the industry issued a stark warning that Greece’s exit from the euro could lead to severe shortages of life-saving medicines and unleash a public healthcare crisis.The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) has written to the European Commission to warn that the Greek medicine supply chain is more complicated, and more fragmented, than in other European countries, and therefore “particularly vulnerable” to disruption if Greece crashes out of the single currency. Several hundred wholesalers distribute medicines to Greek pharmacies. Continue reading...


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