BANKERS HOLD GREEKS HOSTAGE

The Barbarians are at the gates of Athens and they are looking for blood.  By forcing Greece to tow the line bankers hope to quell what might be a backlash from other countries under their thumb forcing them to drop their terror campaign of austerity that has driven Greece to the brink of financial ruin.

Germany Sticks to Hard Line as Varoufakis of Greece Steps Aside

In the European Union, most real decision-making power, particularly on matters involving politically delicate things like money and migrants, rests with 28 national governments, each one beholden to its voters and taxpayers. This tension has grown only more acute since the January 1999 introduction of the euro, which now binds 19 nations into a single currency zone watched over by the European Central Bank but leaves budget and tax policy in the hands of each country, an arrangement that some economists believe was doomed from the start.

Since Greece’s debt crisis began in 2010, most international banks and foreign investors have sold their Greek bonds and other holdings, so they are no longer vulnerable to what happens in Greece. (Some private investors who subsequently plowed back into Greek bonds, betting on a comeback, regret that decision.)

And in the meantime, the other crisis countries in the eurozone, like Portugal, Ireland and Spain, have taken steps to overhaul their economies and are much less vulnerable to market contagion than they were a few years ago.

Debt in the European Union

Gross government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product plotted through the fourth quarter of 2014.

Source: Eurostat