Greece
missed a $1.8 billion payment to the World Bank for its $360 billion mortgage
and all hell broke loose…but only for the citizens, retirees and depositors.
The
playbook for this type of event is the same for every country. The government overspends and piles up an
unsustainable debt, misses a payment and punishes the citizens for the
governments’ misbehavior. It makes you
go hmmmmm…. See below:
"Heartbreaking"
Scene Unfolds At Greek Banks As Pensioners Clamor For Cash, by Tyler Durden on 07/01/2015 09:41 -0400
1,000 Greek
bank branches chanced a stampede in order to open their doors to the country's
retirees on Wednesday. The scene was somewhat chaotic as pensioners formed long
lines and the country’s elderly attempted to squeeze through the doors in order
to access pension payments.
As Bloomberg reports, payouts were
rationed and disbursals were limited according to last name. Here’s more:
It’s a day of fresh indignities for the people
of Greece.
About a third of the nation’s depleted banks cracked
open their doors after being closed for three days. But all they did was ration
pension payments, hours after the country became the first advanced economy to
miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund and its bailout program
expired.
On the third day of capital controls, a few
dozen pensioners lined up by 7 a.m. at a central Athens branch of the National
Bank of Greece, an hour before opening time. They were to receive a maximum
of 120 euros ($133), compared with the average monthly payment of about 600
euros. Many left with nothing after the manager said only those with last names
starting with the letters A through K would get paid.
“Not only
will I have to queue for hours at the bank in the hope of getting 120 euros,
but I’ll have a two-hour round trip,” said Dimitris Danaos, 77, a retired local
government worker who was making the bus journey from his home outside the
Greek capital to the suburb of Glyfada.
In chaotic scenes, thousands of angry elderly
Greeks on Wednesday besieged the nation’s crisis-hit banks, which have reopened
to allow them to withdraw vital cash from their state pensions.
“Let them go to hell!”
said one pensioner waiting to get his money, after failed talks between Athens
and international creditors sparked a week-long banking shutdown.
The Greek government, which closed the banks and
imposed strict capital controls after cash machines ran dry, has temporarily
reopened almost 1,000 branches to allow pensioners without cards to withdraw
120 euros ($133) to last the rest of the week.
The move has again sparked lengthy queues at
banks across Greece — and outrage from many retirees who are regarded as among
the most vulnerable in society, exposed to a vicious and lengthy economic
downturn.
Under banking restrictions imposed all week,
ordinary Greeks can withdraw up to 60 euros a day for each credit or debit card
— but many of the elderly population do not have cards.
Another customer, a retired mariner who asked
not to be named, told AFP he had no cash to buy crucial medicine for his sick
wife.
“I worked for 50 years
on the sea and now I am the beggar for 120 euros,” he said.
“I took out 120 euros
— but I have no money for medication for my wife, who had an operation and is
ill,” he added.
As we outlined in detail earlier this morning, the latest polls show a slim majority
of Greeks plan to vote "no" in the upcoming referendum (which, as far
as we know, will still go on). Many analysts and commentators say a
"oxi" vote would likely lead to a euro exit and with it, far more
pain for the country's retirees.
Indeed, as we noted on Tuesday in
"For Greeks, The Nightmare Is Just Beginning: Here Come The
Depositor Haircuts," Goldman has suggested that only once Syriza's "core
constituency of pensioners and public sector employees" sees the cash
reserves (to which they have heretofore enjoyed first claim on) run dry, will
they "face the direct implications of the liquidity squeeze the political
impasse between Greece and its creditors has created. And only then will the
alignment of domestic political interests within Greece change to allow a way
forward."
And so, as sad as it is, the scene that
unfolded today in front of the roughly one-third of Greek bank branches which
opened their doors to pensioners, may have been preordained by the powers that
be in Burssels because as we said yesterday evening, breaking Syriza's
voter base may have been necessary in order for the Troika to finally force
Tsipras to relent or else risk being driven from office, after capital controls
and depositor haircuts force public sector employees to collectively cry
"Uncle", beg Europe to take it back, and present Merkel with Tsipras
and Varoufakis' heads on a proverbial (and metaphorical, we hope) silver
platter.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-01/heartbreaking-scene-unfolds-greek-banks-pensioners-clamor-cash
Comments
We’ve seen cities in the US go bankrupt and
the pension checks for government employee retirees stopped and government
employees were laid off. This happened
in California last year and the departing Police Chief’s advice to citizens was
“Buy a gun.”
Our own federal government has a debt that
exceeds the US GDP, but they will just print more money to make their debt
payments.
Governments need to keep their expenses lower
than their revenue to avoid this kind of disaster. When government at all levels wants to spend
money on non-essentials these days voters need to say NO.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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