IMF To Tsipras: “Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?” (But Who Has the Gun?)
In the wake of the IMF walking out of negotiations with Greece, the Financial Times says the Pullout is Amid an “Air of Unreality”.
What’s Unreal?
Sure, everyone expected Greece to buckle. But what if Greece did buckle for the nth time? Greece was eventually going to default anyway.
There is not now, nor was there ever, anything “unreal” about the inevitable default.
Earlier today German officials said “European taxpayers have been generous” to Greece. What a hoot. Now, that’s “unreal”.
What’s also “unreal” is forcing €330 billion worth of debt on a tiny country, pretending that it can be paid back.
This alleged “generous” bailout did nothing but bail out banks while forcing a hellacious depression on Greece. Taxpayers have not foot the bill yet, but they will, thanks to bondholder and bank bailouts.
Some blame Greece. And to be sure Greece made mistakes. But the real culprits are the ECB’s one size fits Germany interest rate policy, the stupidity of the eurozone agreement itself, the lack of a fiscal union, etc.
Everyone knew Greece lied to get into the eurozone. They let Greece in anyway. Isn’t that “unreal”?
“Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?”
The Guradian reports the IMF walkout this way: IMF to Alexis Tsipras: ‘Do you feel lucky, punk?’
“You’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?” The lines spoken by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry sprang to mind when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that it had called its Greek negotiating team home from talks in Brussels.
The IMF’s message was short and brutal. There were still major differences between Greece and its creditors. There was no progress in narrowing those differences. The two sides were well away from an agreement.
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