Will Greek Financial Failure Set Off A Revival Of Fiscal Freedom Or Enslavement?

Post can be found on DollarVigilante.com: HERE Monday, July 06, 2015 Yesterday, the Greek people emphatically said "enough is enough" of this ridiculous European Union system, central banking and governments going into massive debt to be paid for by tax slaves and yet-to-be-born tax slaves. Could it be that the birthplace of  democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, political science, medicine and mathematics will be the place to set-off a new global revolution? The answer is still fuzzy but I'll try to answer it at the end of this article. Most people with any economic knowledge know that the EU would/could never really work... not for the people anyway.  The only real question is whether or not it was planned and set-up to fail to bring in an even more tyrannical one-world government. Now the people have spoken: They have told the EU, European Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF "no" to mortgaging generations of Greeks into perpetual debt and economic devastation. What happens next will be the question. The EU, ECB and IMF will either have to acquiesce or try to push Greece to the brink via closing off the Greek banking system to liquidity which is currently what they continue to try to do. All manner of issues have been discussed in regards to this. Cyprus style bank bail-ins have been considered.  Greece has considered using their Euro printing press to print enough €10 notes (the only ones they are capable of printing) to supply the banking system and even pay off their multi-hundred billion dollar debt (which, using €10 notes would require billions of notes to be printed!). The Greek government has considered a California style IOU system in the meantime (because starting up a new drachma will take months at the very least)... Anything could happen. But, sitting on the sidelines watching with wide-eyed curiosity are Spain, Italy and Portugal who are almost exactly in the same situation as Greece. If Greece can get away with not paying back its debts then they will be the next to try it. You can see how quickly this snowball turns into an avalanche. Even Austria, a country that is in much better shape economically and fiscally, has already moved forward toward potentially leaving the EU.  Last week, 260,000 Austrians signed a petition calling for the EU exit for the country, and now the Austrian parliament must discuss a referendum on the issue.  I can attest to the disdain to the EU in Austria as I was just there infiltrating the Bilderberg conference and everyone I talked to hated the EU. And don't forget the Scottish secessionist movement that only failed by a tiny margin... they are watching these events with great interest.  Even the City of Venice in Italy, which had a referendum with 89% voting in favor of forming an independent state last March has to be watching eagerly. Secession from the EU:  a beautiful thing! What we have been saying and predicting for years appears to be coming to a head.  We've stated that the younger generation will not see any need or incentive to stay with these archaic, bankrupt, tyrannical systems.  What does a young, unemployed person in Greece get out of it?  The answer was clear in this weekend's referendum: nothing.  So they'd rather take their chances with the unknown than stick with a system that they know offers them no hope. Most are waking up to the game.  Even in the US, 70% of people now believe mainstream media is intentionally biased.  In Greece, one of the biggest rallies last week was against the mainstream media! Mainstream media were being shunned on the streets.  We've seen that before in the US with people attacking CNN reporters and telling them to get out of their communities. Some may see this as a win of national socialism over tyrannical capitalism.  It wasn't.  The EU/ECB/IMF have nothing to do with capitalism.  They have everything to do with centrally planned fascist/communist systems.  True capitalism (not crony-capitalism or crapitalism) doesn't have central banks... it also doesn't have government, taxes or regulations. The only way for Greece to truly prosper would be to reduce the size of government by at least 90%, privatize almost everything, do without a monopoly central bank (private clearinghouses are OK provided they are not regulated), reduce individual and corporate taxes to 0% and allow for the market to decide what it wishes  to use as a currency. Then sell all government assets including gold, to the private market.  With the funds gained from that, pension payments could continue to be made while the entire national pension system is slowly wound down. If Greece were to do that it would be the richest country in the world within 2-3 years. But, let's take it a step at a time.  Greek voters have stood up to the banksters. That's significant. And we can tell it's significant because the mainstream media, like EU leaders themselves, are increasingly in denial about what's taking place.  An AP article, "After vote win, Greece's Tsipras Looks to Rebuild Talks," seems to make this clear. "Despite triumphing in a popular vote against austerity, Greece's leaders Monday faced the urgent need to heal ties with European creditors and reach a financial rescue deal to prevent it from falling out of the euro - possibly within days." "Time is of the essence," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after discussing the Greek crisis with French President Francois Hollande in Paris. "(Greek) proposals have to be on the table this week." The AP article goes on to inform us that Tsipras did receive a "bolstered mandate" but that it will hit the "hard reality of the country's deteriorating finances." In other words,  the vote changes nothing when it comes to actual negotations  - except that Tsipras (having received his mandate) is more inclined to be conciliatory! What a topsy-turvy world.  I'm not surprised. Top Eurocrats look at votes as mere inconveniences to be welcomed rhetorically and then promptly ignored. Not so fast...  A return to business as usual will likely set the Greek populace against its own government. As marketplace realities crack the facade of the EU experiment, we'll see this more and more starkly. In this internet era, the fundamental differences in goals and objectives between ruling classes and the ruled are becoming ever-clearer. Thus, the answer to the question asked in this article's headline may be "yes." It could be that in the cradle of democracy, the Greeks have once more begun to claim their birthright of freedom and independence. It may not yet be clearly visible, but this vote may well have sounded the first note in a new renaissance of "human action." To Grexit or Not To Grexit, Leave Your Comments or Guesses Here

Anarcho-Capitalist.  Libertarian.  Freedom fighter against mankind’s two biggest enemies, the State and the Central Banks.  Jeff Berwick is the founder of The Dollar Vigilante, CEO of TDV Media & Services and host of the popular video podcast, Anarchast.  Jeff is a prominent speaker at many of the world’s freedom, investment and gold conferences including his own, Anarchapulco, as well as regularly in the media including CNBC, CNN and Fox Business.

Is Greece The Precursor For What Will Occur In The US? Is The Gimme Entitlement Mentality Also Dooming America?

US Citizens beware – The natural consequence of gimme, gimme “entitlements”

Read More About: Addressing their financial problems in their usual manner: Greek voters January 2015 choose an anti-austerity party.

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(Every time I see that word “entitlements” it occurs to me that I never heard that word while I was growing up or well into my adult years. We were always taught you were given the right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  How and when this new order of business came about, I don’t know — but it is not working out so well. Greece here we come)  jsk 

Greece Will Close Banks to Stem Flood of Withdrawals

Redacted from article by LANDON THOMAS Jr. and NIKI KITSANTONIS

JUNE 28, 2015

ATHENS — Greece will keep its banks and stock market closed on Monday and place restrictions on the withdrawal and transfer of money, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in a televised address on Sunday night, as Athens tries to avert a financial collapse.

The government’s decision to close banks temporarily and impose other so-called capital controls came hours after the European Central Bank said it would not expand an emergency loan program that has been propping up Greek banks in recent weeks while the government was trying to reach a new debt deal with international creditors.

Mr. Tsipras said on Sunday night that the European Central Bank’s decision was an attempt to “blackmail’’ Greece. (Huh? I had the impression the Greeks did that to themselves?)

The debt negotiations broke down over the weekend after Mr. Tsipras said he would let the Greek people decide whether to accept the creditors’ latest offer. That referendum vote is to be held next Sunday, after the current bailout program will have expired.

People lined up Saturday at an Athens bank. Eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels, trying to salvage a Greek bailout plan.Greek Debt Crisis Intensifies as Extension Request Is Denied. By closing banks and imposing other controls on the movement of money, Greece is taking steps similar to those by Cyprus in 2013 to avoid a bank collapse.

But in that case, the Cypriot government acted in concert with other European governments as part of a new bailout program. In Greece, the emergency banking measures were be a result of a breakdown in talks with other eurozone countries. The breakdown has intensified pressure on cash-poor banks as jittery Greeks withdraw their savings.

There is still a chance that Greece and its creditors — the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the other eurozone countries — can come to terms before its current bailout program expires on Tuesday. On Sunday, the European Commission and I.M.F. issued statements indicating the door to further discussions might still be ajar.

And in Washington, the White House issued a statement saying that President Obama and the Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany had spoken by phone Sunday. “The two leaders agreed that it was critically important to make every effort to return to a path that will allow Greece to resume reforms and growth within the eurozone,’’ the White House statement said.

But the European Central Bank, for its part, declined on Sunday to raise the limit on its emergency funding for Greek banks — a level currently said by banking officials and analysts to be around 89 billion euros, or about $100 billion — even though businesses and consumers have withdrawn billions of euros in recent weeks.

That rate of withdrawals appeared to increase over the weekend, as long lines formed at A.T.M.s around the country, threatening a bank run that the Greek government could try to avoid by imposing capital controls. But at the same time, the European Central Bank did not cut off support entirely, giving the Greek government some extra flexibility in the coming days.

Before negotiations broke off on Saturday between Athens and its creditors, the Tsipras government had been hoping to reach terms that would free up a €7.2 billion allotment of bailout money that the country needs to meet its short-term debt obligations.

Because European officials said on Saturday that Greece’s €240 billion bailout program would not be extended, the big question had been whether the central bank’s president, Mario Draghi, would continue financing the country’s depleted banks.

Guidelines of the European Central Bank dictate that it can keep supporting troubled banks as long as there is a possibility that the country in question will come to terms with its creditors on a bailout — as was the case with Cyprus.

If Athens and its creditors do not resume talks before Tuesday, the promise of European support for Greece may no longer be on the table. But the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union and a key broker in the debt talks, seemed on Sunday to reach out to the Greek people, unexpectedly publishing the offer made to Greece before Mr. Tsipras ended the negotiations and announced a national referendum.
Addressing their financial problems in their usual manner:  In January 2015 Greek voters choose an anti-austerity party. Alexis Tsipras becomes prime minister.

May 2015:  Greece quells fears of an imminent default, authorizing a big loan payment to the I.M.F.

June 2015:  Greece defers a series of debt payments until the end of the month.

A publication was presented  to show the lengths to which the creditors, including the I.M.F. and the European Central Bank, had gone to satisfy Athens’s demands for a deal that avoided hurting ordinary Greeks, said one European Union official with direct knowledge of the decision to publish the offer. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the institutions had not ruled out a resumption of talks with Mr. Tsipras on the sensitive issue of extending the bailout.

Andrew Higgins and James Kanter contributed reporting from Brussels.

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