How far will the banksters go in Greece

The word on the street is that the situation in Greece may deteriorate to the point where a military coup might be an option.  Goodness knows such a thing is possible--Greece actually did have a colonel's coup in 1967 which lasted seven years.

Report: Military coup possible in Greece

Sunday, May 29, 2011

BERLIN – Daily News with wires

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency warned in a report that the tough austerity measures and the dire situation could escalate and even lead to a military coup, according to a report by Germany’s popular daily Bild.

According to he CIA report, ongoing street protests in crisis-hit Greece could turn into escalated violence and a rebellion and the Greek government could lose control, said Bild. The newspaper said the CIA report talks of a possible military coup if the situation becomes more serious and uncontrolled.

Greece is under immense pressure owing to public debt that has swollen to 340 billion euros. The EU, IMF and European Central Bank are pressing Greece to step up a privatization program and get all political parties to approve more austerity and reform measures that have sparked violent protests, but emergency talks called by the president on Friday failed to make any headway, AFP reported.

Opposition parties have mostly refused to support the government in its quest to cut spending by trimming an overblown civil service and the sweeping privatization drive announced this week has attracted even stronger protests.

Meanwhile, the Dutch finance minister said his country, Germany, Finland and other EU members won't give Greece any more bailout money, if the debt-laden country fails to adopt further austerity measures. more

Here Are The Latest Details On Greece Vs. "The Troika"

Joe Weisenthal | May 30, 2011, 6:16 PM 

In the midst of 6 days of "indignant" protests, we know that the EU/IMF/ECB (known as THE TROIKA) are close to making available 65 billion EUR more in loans in exchange for more austerity and more privatizations. The catch is that they want outsiders to have a role in managing the privatizations because Greece has been so slow on this front heretofore. Of course, that means Greek sovereignty is kaput.

According to The Kathimerini newspaper, Greece and The Troika are moving nearer together. The Greek government has agreed to more privatizations, lower pay for state workers, and slower hiring (the government will be able to hire 1 worker for every 10 who retire).

The hitch? You guessed it, this issue of whether outsiders will be able to help manage the whole process.

This would be an incredible political blow, and likely make the public more livid than they already are.

It's also worth noting the absurdity of this whole outside help solution. It implies that the problem is not the failed economics (austerity, the eurozone, etc.) but just that the Greeks haven't applied it properly, and that if it were just managed better by outsider, all this cutting would work out fine. more

Of course, a coup in Greece will not save the Euro or solve the problems facing the European Central Bank.

The Hidden Cost of Saving the Euro

ECB's Balance Sheet Contains Massive Risks

By Matthias Brendel and Christoph Pauly

While Europe is preoccupied with a possible restructuring of Greece's debt, huge risks lurk elsewhere -- in the balance sheet of the European Central Bank. The guardian of the single currency has taken on billions of euros worth of risky securities as collateral for loans to shore up the banks of struggling nations.

On the green fields near Carriglas, halfway between Dublin and Ireland's west coast, the wind whistles eerily around rows of half-finished houses. Most of these buildings are roofless, leaving their bare walls unprotected against the elements. Even the real estate brokers' for-sale signs and the project offices are gone. Hardly anyone in Carriglas believes that the houses will ever be finished.

There are many of these ghost towns in Ireland, including 77 in small County Longford alone, which includes Carriglas. They could end up costing German taxpayers a lot of money, as part of the bill to be paid to rescue the euro.

That bill contains many unknowns, but almost none of them is as nebulous as the giant risk lurking in the balance sheet of the European Central Bank (ECB), in Frankfurt. Many bad loans have now ended up on that balance sheet, including ones that were used to build houses like those in Carriglas and elsewhere. No one knows how much they are worth today -- and apparently no one really wants to know.

Since the beginning of the financial crisis, banks in countries like Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece have unloaded risks amounting to several hundred billion euros with central banks. The central banks have distributed large sums to their countries' financial institutions to prevent them from collapsing. They have accepted securities as collateral, many of which are -- to put it mildly -- not particularly valuable. more