Greece must introduce another currency if 'no' vote wins: Schulz

[Bosonic]

Source: Reuters

The head of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, told German radio that Greece would have to introduce another currency if the “no” vote wins in Sunday's referendum on an aid-for-reforms deal.

"Is Greece still in the euro after this referendum? That is certainly the case, but if they say ‘no’ they will have to introduce another currency after the referendum because the euro is not available as a means of payment," Schulz told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio in an interview broadcast on Sunday and taped on Thursday.

"The moment someone introduces a new currency, they exit the euro zone. Those are the elements that give me some hope that the people will not vote ‘no’ today.”

His comments are some of the clearest made by a top EU official.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/05/us-eurozone-greece-schulz-iduskcn0pf06o20150705

[FBaggins]

3. The determination re: who is part of the eurozone is not an internal affair of any one country. nt

[KingCharlemagne]

4. Nor is it the purview of any one single elected official, especially a fucking German. - nt

[7962]

5. A "fucking German" is who Greece expects to bail them out.

Good luck with that. At some point the adults have to close the purse to the whining kids

[KingCharlemagne]

7. Well, actually no, but Germany owes Greece massive reparations for what

Hitler did to Greece during World War II. Wonder if the self-righteous Germans will pony up to repay that historical debt? (I highly doubt it.)

Interestingly enough, the Bundesbank itself is warning that failure to bail Greece out could badly damage Germany, not that most of those fucking Germans are capable of understanding such a nuanced idea:

Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann has warned that the German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble faces a big hole, of several billion euros, in his budget planning if Greece leaves the euro. He issued the stark warning to the German government in a cabinet session last Wednesday, German newspaper Handelsblatt reports, citing a government source.

The Bundesbank has made provisions of €14.4bn to deal with the fallout of the eurozone crisis, but this would probably not be be enough in a case of a Grexit, the paper said.

Weidmann warned that the costs of a Grexit would hit Bundesbank profits, which flow into the German budget. Schäuble has factored in a Bundesbank profit of €2.5bn a year.

The European Central Bank holds €20bn of Greek securities, and the Bundesbank’s share of the ECB’s profits or losses made on them is about a quarter. But the costs of a Grexit would be much larger, as the ECB would have to make other write-offs.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jul/05/greeces-eurozone-future-in-the-balance-as-referendum-gets-under-way--eu-euro-bailout-live#block-55991558e4b00bdd27707d15

[Lucky Luciano]

11. A little late to suddenly ask for reparations now.

Last edited Sun Jul 5, 2015, 10:16 AM - Edit history (1)

Asking Germany for reparations is clearly a desperate move made out of no where. Had their finances been fine, the Greeks never would have requested reparations.

I would leave Greece the option of rejoining the Euro if they collected taxes properly - which means hitting their wealthy hard - doubt that will happen.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. The stories i am reading

Say that Greece intended to raise taxes on the rich, but that the ECB said that was unacceptable, they would have to cut funding for the poor and elderly.

[Aerows]

25. And that is exactly what happened.

They want to cut pensions, but the ECB is firmly against raising taxes. The IMF has a firm hand in this, too.

[Angel Martin]

39. Greece intended to raise taxes on the rich, but that the ECB said that was unacceptable

it's more sinister than that...

previous bailout agreements for greece and other countries had plenty of tax increases on the rich and everyone else, as well as spending cuts.

in June, when Greece made budget concessions with tax increases to meet their deficit targets, the EU/Troika started channeling Newt Gingrich and moving the goal posts, by demanded spending cuts, rather than increases.

there is a faction within the EU/Troika that wants to force Greece out.

on thursday, there was a leak from the IMF showing that the EU/Troika knew the first Greek bailout would fail at the time of the agreement, because Greek debt levels were unsustainable and needed debt forgiveness.

that leak really helped the "No" side in the final days.

ECB/IMF now control this process on the EU side. the ECB determines how quickly greek banks fail, the IMF is the creditor that has a defaulted payment due.

together it looks like they are determined to force Greece out.

[brooklynite]

27. So to clarify: Germany today is responsible for the actions of it's predecessor Government...

...but Greece today is NOT responsible for the actions of IT's predecessor Government...

Do I have that right?

[Igel]

8. Not the first person I'd think of when "Nazi" is mentioned.

Or perhaps all Germans are Nazis and always will be. You know, it's just the way those people are, it's in the blood?

Nah.

[KingCharlemagne]

9. Um, Schulz' barely-veiled threat is very Nazi-esque (as in "We have ways

of making you talk&quot .

Worst mistake George H.W. Bush and Gorbachev made was to allow for the peaceful reunification of Germany. We are now starting to witness the blowback of that ill-planned decision.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. You're repeating Berlusconi's slur against Schulz

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jul/02/italy.eu

[NutmegYankee]

15. So you don't believe in self-determination of peoples?

The German's deserved and wanted their homeland whole.

[KingCharlemagne]

17. Disagree about whether Germans 'deserved' their homeland 'whole,' especially with

their track record in the 20th Century to go by. They survived for 1,000 years as separate states (until 1866). Now Europe is finding out why a 'united Germany' is a mixed blessing.

[NutmegYankee]

21. Do you not understand the history of Europe?

Just about every major country got involved in massive wars for the last thousand years. Hell, France damn near conquered the continent in the early 1800s. The only distinguishing feature of the 20th century wars was the technology.

I'm trying to understand why you have such animosity towards Germans.

[KingCharlemagne]

22. 6,000,000 Jews and 25,000,000 Soviets might have something to do with it. Also, I maintain

a peculiar, fond affection for the notion of Belgian neutrality.

[NutmegYankee]

24. I still don't understand your position.

The war has been over for 70 years and the Germans were soundly defeated. The Nazis were evil, but most of the population were not Nazis. They are as responsible for the wars as we (on DU) are of starting Iraq.

Much of the country was leveled, one side was swallowed into a despotic regime, and the other was turned into a peaceful democratic state. Very few people alive today were even alive in WW2.

[Marengo]

41. Using that logic, does Belgium deserve a homeland...

after brutalizing the Congo? How many millions died? Or is that somehow different?

[Marengo]

16. Better to use violence to preserve an oppressive state like the DDR...

yeah, that's a progressive viewpoint

[KingCharlemagne]

23. You may come to see such an opinion as Pollyanna-ish when the full might

of a reunified Germany makes itself felt upon the Continent and upon the world.

Some violence is worse than other violence.

[former9thward]

31. Maybe because Greece wants his money.

Last edited Sun Jul 5, 2015, 02:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Or the workers of Germany's money to be more exact.

[iandhr]

32. Using the term Nazi is disgusting and offensive

[bemildred]

2. Or what? nt

[geek tragedy]

20. Bartering becomes the only means of exchange.

People will have to pay their doctors with chickens. Etc.

A real problem if there isn't enough domestic production of medicine, food etc.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Yeah, that's the official line

But if Greece votes to exit

it will be under no obligation to issue another currency

It may well do so for convenience but other currencies will
continue to trade alongside the new drachma just like
the US dollar is acceptable almost worldwide for local street
vendors

The Euro would trade at a black market price

The rest of Europe and most of the world's bankers
do not want to see a black market price for a major currency

It might fall in value because it would be seen as not willing to
support member states

Unclear what would happen to Greek debts to foreign banks

[KingCharlemagne]

10. The German booboisie who summer in Greece will continue to pay

for their Bacchanalian revels with the sainted Euro (assuming Greek merchants shed their dignity and agree to accept it).

[CanonRay]

13. Nothing like voting with a gun to your head

to really understand the will of the people.

[vinny9698]

14. A lot of countries have private printers print their money

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/03/anybody_got_a_mint.html

[former9thward]

33. Zimbabwe certainly has one of those printers.

[brooklynite]

46. Don't you hate it when you have to make change and you only have millions?

[Gregorian]

18. Bitcoin for a democratic currency. Fuck the banksters!

[brooklynite]

26. Right...because NOBODY loses money with bitcoin, right?

[Psephos]

35. Bitcoin is up 20 today.

(in dollars, that is)

https://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/coinbase/btcusd

Bitcoin isn't an investment to make profit, it's a currency. Its value rises or falls only as measured by its utility compared to other currencies.

[brooklynite]

36. Mt. Gox

Mt. Gox was a Bitcoin exchange based in Tokyo, Japan. It was launched in July 2010, and by 2013 was handling 70% of all Bitcoin transactions. In February 2014, the Mt. Gox company suspended trading, closed its website and exchange service, and filed for a form of bankruptcy protection from creditors called minji saisei, or civil rehabilitation, to allow courts to seek a buyer. In April 2014, the company began liquidation proceedings. It announced that around 850,000 bitcoins belonging to customers and the company were missing and likely stolen, an amount valued at more than $450 million at the time. Although 200,000 bitcoins have since been "found", the reason(s) for the disappearance—theft, fraud, mismanagement, or a combination of these—are unclear as of March 2014.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Gox

[Psephos]

37. Please.

John Corzine. cough cough
Bernie Madoff. ahem ahem
Lou Perlman. ummm

And uncounted thousands more.

No currency is immune to swindlers. But that has nothing to do with the value of them.

[brooklynite]

38. Bernie Madoff is in jail

who has prosecutorial jurisdiction over bitcoin?

[Psephos]

40. Look! A squirrel!

Meanwhile, get back to me when Corzine gets some gray bar.

[magical thyme]

28. hope Schulzie is prepared to eat some crow.

The EU can't afford to kick Greece out -- the exposure is too broad.

A "no" vote will force them to negotiate in good faith and to do the loan restructuring that the IMF told them was needed 5 years ago.

They thought they'd crush Greece and privatize it at bankrupcty prices. Fuck them. They will lose.

[sendero]

42. I wish this were the case..

... but I predict that the troika will, from this point forward, make everything in Greece as painful as possible to discourage Italy, Portugal, Spain etc from getting any ideas.

[magical thyme]

43. well it might make the Troika feel better right now to beat on Greece some more, but

they'll be in bigger trouble long term because Greece will be the first domino. Italy, Portugal, Spain and possibly even France will ultimately fail and bail.

Plus numerous banks in the EU are massively exposed, so they'll have major problems there as well. I read this morning that they had started preparing weeks ago for potential runs on a couple of Bulgarian banks with major Greek exposure.

[sendero]

44. Oh I agree...

... they have a shitstorm coming but being con men at heart they probably believe they can ride it out.

They can always get the ECB to QE them out of trouble, or so they think. It's going to be interesting.

[magical thyme]

45. tyler durden/zero hedge has hypothesized that it might have been their goal

(or goldman sachs' goal) to force a Grexit in order to force a new QE. Seriously, brought it up again today, but I've read it there a couple times in recent weeks.

But from the general reaction today, I don't think so. Hollande is heading to Germany Tuesday to sit down with Merkel. Has made it clear they want Greece in.

[MTJ]

29. Not so bad?

Like max keiser said, it could be a good opportunity for a clean start for the country.

[reorg]

30. This last-ditch effort to frighten the Greeks has apparenty failed,

and they voted: no, we are NOT stupid.

Congratulations to Syriza!

[BillZBubb]

34. Schulz can go shove it.

Greece doesn't have to do anything. They can do what they want on the currency issue. I'm sure plenty of Euros will still be in use in Greece going forward.

[roamer65]

47. Greece should just start printing more Euros.

To hell with Merkel and that POS unelected Schulz.