Just Wait Til’ Next Weekend

By now, everyone is used to the predictable progression of the Eurozone sovereign debt and banking crises – a rather mundane week or two is followed by an "earth-shattering" weekend, only to give way to a few more mundane weeks, which inevitably leads us to the next game-changing weekend. And while this process may get very dis-alarming after awhile, like the boy who cried wolf, we should keep in mind that the internals of the Eurozone deteriorate faster and faster as this cycle progresses.

The current week is one marked by uncertainty over the political processes in various EZ countries, such as France, the Netherlands and Greece, and specifically over how the elections in these countries will impact various agreements that the pundits expected to be signed, sealed and delivered by now. Namely, the fiscal treaty compact reached in the Fall of last year (the only thing that was accomplished at that uber-hyped Summit in November), and the hyper-drive austerity programmes that were to be implemented across the Continent in earnest.

Yesterday, we discussed why the French elections and the dissolution of the Dutch government are throwing a major spanner into the works of those illusory agreements. Let's not forget about Greece, though. The tiny EU country that got this whole ball rolling back in 2010 is still in more dire shape than ever, and is still a razor-thin hair short of saying, "keep your bankster bailouts and mandated economic suicide… we want change!". The Greek people may finally get that opportunity next Sunday, May 6, during their national elections (also the date of France's run-off elections).

Both in the voting booths and out in the streets, the people will have the opportunity to take center stage in this tragically unfolding drama and tell their leaders that enough is enough. There is not a single credible analyst left who believes that current policies of bailouts conditioned on austerity will put Greece on a sustainable debt/GDP path, and all of the recent data coming out of Greece, and the Eurozone in general, hammers that point home. Next weekend may be the last [slim] chance the Greek people have to avoid being fed into the Eurocentric meat grinder, where all warm-blooded souls become property of the super-parasitic elite.    

George Georgiopoulos reports on this Greek tragedy for Ekathimerini, and I have highlighted the only points that really matter for the Greek people in bold:

BoG chief sees 5-pct recession; stresses need for reforms [Update]

Greece’s economy will contract a deeper than expected 5 percent this year, the country’s central bank chief said on Tuesday, piling more pressure on to a citizenry already battered by crippling austerity and record joblessness.

The projection topped a previous forecast the central bank made in March, when it projected the 215-billion-euro economy would contract 4.5 percent after a 6.9 percent slump in 2011.

Twice bailed-out Greece is in its fifth consecutive year of recession.

…

Athens is under pressure to apply more fiscal austerity to shore up its finances as part of a new rescue package agreed this year with its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert a chaotic default.

Its continued funding under the 130-billion-euro package will hinge on meeting targets.

Provopoulos warned that Greece’s eurozone membership was at stake if it failed to follow through on its pledges, especially after national elections next month.

”If following the election doubts emerge about the new government and society’s will to implement the programme, the current favourable prospects will reverse,” he said.

Greece is set to pick a new government on May 6, with the two main parties in the current coalition seen barely securing a majority in parliament, according to the latest opinion polls.

Whoever wins will have to agree additional spending cuts of 5.5 percent of GDP, or worth about 11 billion euros for 2013-2014, and gather about another 3 billion from better tax collection to keep getting aid, the IMF has said.

That is the only hope for the Greeks now – to create enough doubt over their "will" (ability) to implement the untenable austerity measures so that the populations (and, God willing, some of the politicians) of Northern Europe will finally understand what the Greek protesters on the streets of Athens have been trying to say all along – "we cannot continue to physically survive within this torturous Union, and neither can you".