IMF warns of inevitable write down of ever growing Greece debt which is simply unpayable in present construct - 11 billion euros of financing needs , latest black hole for 2014 and 2015 on deck , of course not until after the German elections will this become a real issue ...... meanwhile Greece signals austerity fatigue - meaning the inevitable greek default is coming as no austerity means no more monies from the troika ! ...

CRASH 2: The sorcerers behind the screen

Do frontmen disguise who’s behind them?

Do you, like me, feel increasingly anxious about the degree to which our leaders seem to be seven beats behind the music? Or, even worse, playing from the wrong sheet of music?

The International Monetary Fund warned the eurozone yesterday that it may be forced to write off a chunk of Greece‘s debt after identifying an $11bn black hole in the finances of the recession-stricken country. In its regular update on the programme of financial austerity and structural change agreed to by Athens in return for financial help, Frou-Frou Lagarde’s IMF said weak growth and a sluggish pace of reform had opened up a funding gap in both 2014 and 2015. The IMF, which is struggling to persuade developing countries to back Greece’s bailout, said “debt sustainability” continued to be a risk.

The words I love in there are ‘warned’, ‘may be’, ‘update’, ‘funding gap’, and ‘debt sustainability’. Stringing those together into a sentence from Planet Earth, it might read like this: ‘The IMF reminded the Brussels Sprouts for the nth time that a funds write-off was inevitable given the events seen in the rear-view mirror. It pointed out too that there was no way Greece could, mathematically given the terms of Bailout2, ever pay off the debt.’

But the Reuters observations are also missing one other big fact: this will be the first time in its history that the IMF has had to write off a Sovereign debt. Five years ago, the world would have gulped at that fact, and declared a Greek default, done and dusted. That’s what should happen the second the Fund writes off the loan, but don’t hold your breath.

The only crumb of comfort is that this historic event happened on Lagarde’s watch. A silly, pompous woman who knows less than nothing about economic essentials (and less still about budget management) Cristine Lagarde is the woman who, when French Finance Minister, told the world, “Well, there will be a stress test [of French banks] and then everyone will see there is no problem”. She is the woman who worked with Geithner and others to keep the South Americans sweet, and get her elected head of the IMF. And she is the person who benefited most from the downfall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a saga above which there will always be clouds.

It often feels to me like these ‘political’ buffoons  are fulfilling an obfuscatory role as smoke to get in the eyes of those not watching the real movers and shakers out there. Behind the incompetent EC there is Draghi. Behind Squeaky Osborne there is Carney. Behind Lagarde there is the State Department. Behind Bernanke there is the Goldman dominated Fed Treasury. Behind Obama there is the CIA. Behind Rudd is the mining industry. Behind Jeremy Hunt there is the wispy JHJ Lewis. And behind our ‘free’ press there are Murdoch, the Barclay twins and assorted former pornographers.

The clowns love to be onscreen; but behind the screen, perhaps, the real business is being done.

Troika-fatigue: Are Greek lawmakers tired of austerity? FinMin Stournaras claims so

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics

Maybe. Maybe not. At least Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras claimed, that Greek lawmakers were tired of austerity and that “the fatigue of MPs” could cause a political risk for Greece’s fiscal targets.
Stournaras’ interview to Reuters, woke up the tired Greek MPs especially those of coalition government partner PASOK. Those loyal to leader Evangelos Venizelos who allegedly has a natural aversion towards Stournaras.

In his office overlooking parliament – where a window still bears a large crack from a bullet fired by angry anti-austerity demonstrators in 2010 – Stournaras confirmed Greece was on track to produce a budget surplus this year before interest payments and said economic risk had abated.
Instead, he said the biggest challenge ahead was mainly a political one tied to austerity fatigue.
“I don΄t see any economic risk – it΄s political risk and it has to do with the fatigue of MPs,” he said.
“MPs just reflect the average man or woman in the street – they have to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. If they believe it they will continue voting the few necessary measures left over, if they don΄t they are not going to. This is the great risk.” (full story here)

Stournaras’ interview to Reuters, violently woke up the coalition government MPs especially those of coalition partner PASOK. Those loyal to leader Evangelos Venizelos who allegedly has a natural aversion towards Stournaras. PASOK parliament group chairman proposed the “detzarization *of the political agenda” and noted that it’s not possible that everything pass though the strainer of the finance Ministry.
Tired PASOK MPs let Stournaras know that they don’t plan to vote in favor of the lifting of the ban for primary residence evictions.
On Wednesday one ‘tired’ PASOK MP downvoted a bill aiming to privatize the Athens Water and Sewage Company (EYDAP).
Also lawmakers of  Samaras’ Nea Dimocratia rebelled against Stournaras’ allegations, with one stressing it was “pure nonsense”, while another proposed “those who are tired should go.”
Tired or not, rebel or not… neither PM Samaras, nor deputy PM Venizelos can afford to get rid of tired or rebelling lawmakers. The majority the two coalition government parties have in the Parliament is dangerously thin: 155 seats in a Parliament of 300.
*tzar of Economy: title for the Greek Finance Minister. Any finance minister…