A new date has been given by the media for a Greek default, it is April the 8th. It is Easter here in Greece and the same day, Ash Wednesday, our Prime Minister will be visiting Russia. He was invited officially to visit on the 9th, I am not sure what they are celebrating but I do not think it is the Tbilisi massacre, Mr. Tsipras asked to begin his visit a day earlier. . So the 9th is given as the crunch day and supposedly we will be celebrating Easter Sunday with lamb on the spit paid in drachmas.
In this bluffing game that has been played since the Greek bailout of 2010 much has happened. Greece has restructured her debt of 90 billion plus interest and charges to a mere 330 billion total down from 570 billion in 2009. How does 90 become 570 you may ask dear reader. Well Greece was borrowing in drachma issuing eight and ten year bonds with an interest of five to eight percent. In 2002 the drachma locked at 340 drachmas to the euro and 400 drachmas to the dollar. Bonds bought in drachmas with dollars had to be paid back with interest at the locked exchange rate. In the meantime the dollar lost value against the euro and if you do the math, plus interest, you will see what needed to be paid back in euros. An extra 12 to 20 percent plus interest. Greek bonds sold like hotcakes. Greek debt after the bailout also sells well and in the last five years Germany has managed to make an 80 billion profit bailing out Greece. This according to German media and at a time when German bonds are stagnant or deflationary.
After a full week of trying to intimidate Greece into a bargain deal Merkel decides to invite her counterpart for an official visit but as you can see the plan goes awry. It was March 23rd and we had a lot of softening up of Greek positions by Schäuble the German finance minister. Unfortunately for him nobody in Greece was paying him any attention.
Instead of German threats of a Graccident the news was swamped with reports that Giakoumakis' body had been found in a swamp. For a full month volunteers and police had been searching for the missing young student of the Greek Dairy School. Yes there is such a thing and it is in the north of Greece outside of Iannena. Giakoumakis had been a victim of bullying and apparently had taken his own life. Greek society was so deeply shocked that the news dealt almost entirely with this story. German threats of an ensuing Greek default were barely noticeable. Tsipras asked for a meeting of European leaders and was granted it on Friday, along with Dijsselbloem Eurogroup president, giving a political solution to the financial crisis. So far it has been Germany that has had to double back and soften up. We wait for the results of our next bankruptcy appointment.
