Keiser Report: Grexit already happened? (E768) June 9, 2015

[mother earth]

Published on Jun 9, 2015

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss leaving the Troika to gloat over the devastation that is Europe. In the second half, Max interviews Ross Ashcroft of RenegadeInc.com about crowdfunding his own content in order to educate the population about the economic news the BBC refuses to tell and they discuss the fact that there has already essentially been a Grexit, Greece is gone. What else can be done.

[mother earth]

1. Why the battle between Athens and Brussels matters to all of you (June 4, 2015)

There is a lot being written about the current negotiations between the Syriza government in Greece and the EU/IMF. The distance of most journalists from the Greek reality and atmosphere and the sheer volume of competing information, makes for a lot of white noise. I want to filter much of it out and boil the issues down to some very basic points. This is by no means a definitive list, but it is one which I think captures a number of “big ticket items” which I have not seen made clearly and explicitly.

1. The crisis is not an economic, but a political one. In the grand scheme of things, the sums which are the totality of the difference between the government’s proposal and the EU/IMF’s counterproposals are tiny and risible. Stripped of their political significance, they would not even show up as a blip on the European, let alone the global economic radar. A solution has not been achieved, because the EU/IMF are defending austerity in general. To concede, would be to accept they got it wrong.

2. The measures being counter-proposed by the EU are undeliverable and punitive. One only has to look at the proposals on VAT to realise that the EU is either clueless or not interested in a deal. Proposed VAT rates of 11% on staple food and 23% on electricity/water are not only regressive and unaffordable, but would plunge Greece into an inflationary death spiral, discouraging tourism, encouraging illegal trade and costing many times more than they raise in lost revenue. The proposal to scrap the relief to islands shows a lack of understanding of basic economic realities regarding the cost of shipping goods to thousands of small, remote islands. It is blindly trying to apply German policies. The proposals are not economically realistic; they are a punishment beating for having elected the “wrong” government.

3. The entrenched position of the players has to do with domestic rather than international policies. The battle between Merkel and Schäuble behind the scenes for leadership of their party before the next German election; the threat Rajoy faces in Spain from Podemos, underlined by recent municipal results; resistance to Dijsselbloem’s programme of ultra-right-wing economic policies in the Netherlands within his own Labour Party; the failure of Renzi to stimulate a stagnating Italian economy; – all these factors, and many besides, play a much bigger part in shaping players’ position towards the Greek crisis, than anything to do with the Greek crisis.

4. A fundamental misjudgment of Syriza in general and Tsipras in particular. There was a catastrophically widely held belief among the European establishment that, once elected, Tsipras would “play ball”. There is still palpable shock at his sticking to his election commitments, often expressed as the accusation that he is being unreasonable. Every statement out of EU institutions for the last five months has been practically underlined by the subtext “shit, he wasn’t bluffing”.

5. A Grexit would be disastrous for the EU. Tsipras understands this. Given current geopolitical circumstances, Putin’s expansionism, the powder keg that is North Africa, the Middle East on the brink of all-out war – strategically, Europe could afford to lose practically any single country from the Union, except Greece. Greece is the geographic and military key to all those conflict zones. Greece slipping by default into a China/Russia alliance would be nothing short of a global game-changer.

MORE:
https://sturdyblog.wordpress.com/

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Appears Greece is toast.

Only thing left will be privatized and the Country will just be a Huge all inclusive resort.

[mother earth]

4. Don't count on it. Syriza is pro its people, pro humanity...this is so important & it is so

deserving of our attention for multiple reasons all of which will have global impact.

None of us know where this all leads, but I trust Greece is in the best hands they could be during this time. They've done everything humanly possible to reflect the mandate of their people. A great lesson is unfolding...it may just be beginning.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Greece was and is one of Greatest Money

laundry jobs since the our so called Housing Crash. Did not the Russian Oligarchs move billions to London through Greek and Cyprus Banks? And then they get the IMF thieves loading up the Country with high interest loans. When a country owes two and half times it's annual GDP,how in the hell can they recover cause the 1%ers don't give a rats. All their wealth has fled to the States or England.

[mother earth]

6. For sure it's a damned mess, largely due to corruption from all ends, not just Greece's past. What

is going on in Greece is a blatant example of predatory, disaster capitalism at work. You are absolutely right, they don't give a rat's backside. This is completely by design of banks, IMF, just as Keiser says.

Having said that, Syriza does care deeply, we are just beginning to understand all that is at play. I like the way its been spelled out on this episode, with MK & pals.

Ross Ashcroft (Renegade Inc.com) is great too, go to his website. He speaks of decentralization in this video, and the end of an economic cycle.

While we are being told Grexit has happened, we aren't aware of under what details, and from all I've read it still remains confusing. We need to understand what Grexit entails, which is why I hold hope that Syriza may yet have taken if, even by force, what could be still a situation that is not written in stone, or at least the expected outcome and those details may be shaped by what remains and EXACTLY what has been agreed to and what is yet to be. Iceland thrived, but they willingly forced the banks out.

It ain't over yet, but I see the glass as half full. Though, you are absolutely right on all you've said, I don't know about Russian oligarchs, specifically, but sure all the big money has moved, oligarchs see it coming before the peasants realize what went down. Every damned thing is corrupt, it's truly a sad state of affairs that all nations are in. We are dealing with the same banksters, as goes Greece...so goes the globe. Where is oversight, accountability, law? There is zero transparency in the entire system, BY DESIGN.

This whole "recession" just like the Great Depression is by design, it's the big heist on the back of the working class, the taxpayers.
And who brought this nation to its knees, Thanks, GW, Thanks, Cheney...and its been plucked at even since then...Tx TPP supporters, with more to come.

As Americans, can we honestly afford business as usual?

[Wellstone ruled]

8. You could see this thing comming.

We will never know the true amount of money that was washed through this nation. Like you,I do see a line in the sand coming and Greece will have to dump the Euro and bring back their original currency. There was a story on a financial web site stating many of Greece's people have stashed old money and ready to dump the German Backed bleed to death policy.

[mother earth]

10. Of course, when you live it, one might feel safer with money out of banks, and of course

much has been playing out behind the scenes.

It's like a chess game, so you've got follow all the moves.

There will be a domino effect, though it is reasoned this is why Greece has been treated so harshly, another question is, whether the Euro will survive, because whether they admit it or not, the EU has kicked their own can down the road, other countries are in dire need of debt relief too. We'll see how it all plays out. Also, let's not forget Jack Lew's concern, because it will affect us. How much debt do we have with China? It's a game, a game played out by oligarchy and banksters, but who pays for it? All of us.

As Warren Buffet has stated, this is class warfare and they are winning.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/111668107

[starroute]

9. Cyprus isn't part of Greece

I've seen a lot of mentions of money laundering going through Cyprus. Even the main Wikipedia entry on the country says "The 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis led to an agreement with the Eurogroup in March 2013 to split the country's second largest bank, the Cyprus Popular Bank (also known as Laiki Bank), into a 'bad' bank which would be wound down over time and a 'good' bank which would be absorbed by the Bank of Cyprus. In return for a €10 billion bailout from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Cypriot government would be required to impose a significant haircut on uninsured deposits, a large proportion of which were held by wealthy Russians who used Cyprus as a tax haven."

But although Greece isn't free of corruption, I don't think it's ever been known as a tax haven for Russian oligarchs.

[mother earth]

11. Thanks for that clarification, Cyprus is sometimes mistaken as part of Greece. They do have a

partly Greece population, and a long history, which is probably at play.

I had not heard anything about Russian oligarchs.

What I wonder about is if Russia will play a role in Greece's rise from the ashes, through their Gazprom deal that was shut down most likely to enable progress in negotiations.

[Wellstone ruled]

13. There is more to come in the next month or so.

Sounds like certain German Finance people want their pound of flesh BTW,notice how the Banks recapitalized them selves,40%of everyone's savings accounts. And this proposal is in the works for the good old USA Banks.

[mother earth]

3. Please watch the entirety, since part 2 goes to the Greece situation. Major kudos to Max Keiser, he

lays it out in plain English, doesn't hold back, gotta love him for that. And remember when he says it is all by design, it surely is, all of the suffering here and everywhere benefits....who? Yeah, that's right.

[bbgrunt]

7. thanks for posting. This is a very illuminating explanation of what is happening.

[mother earth]

12. It's a landmine out there too, authors lately seem to have an opinion that takes away objectivity

from any "reporting" that is done. TY, bb.