Not that almost any and all news today is enough to make you scratch your head, two pieces of news yesterday were bombshells! I am talking about Greece’s stance of staying IN the Eurozone and the Zerohedge article regarding JPMorgan “cornering” the global commodity markets.
Let’s first start with Greece, who could have seen this one coming? They are taking the stance “Greece and ONLY Greece” can decide if they leave the EU. Greece Threatens ‘Unprecedented’ Injunction Against EU To Block Grexit I believe this is correct, there is no law allowing the EU to kick someone out. The only way an exit can occur is if a nation decides to leave. This is incredibly interesting because Greece can default and put a moratorium on payments yet remain as a Euronation. I guess you might call it “squatter’s rights”, they stay …but don’t pay. Before going any further, I do understand Greece originally entered the EU “fraudulently” and with well cooked numbers. As I understand it, “too bad so sad” it is water under the bridge, was not caught upon their entrance and cannot be used to negate their inclusion now.
What is extremely interesting is this: the Greek debt has already been largely offloaded onto the balance sheet of the ECB. This was done to try to insulate private bank balance sheets from the risk of default and thus being underfunded. But a fork in the road now exists, as I understand it, if Greece leaves then the debt goes back to the original banks who own the debt. If Greece stays, the debt will stay on the ECB’s balance sheet. Do you see the ramifications? If Greece leaves, we have a banking failure through Europe ... but if they stay then the ECB eats the losses. Thinking this through, if Greece stays they will effectively force a mass printing by the ECB to cover up the losses. This will effectively dilute the euro and certainly hamper the ECB’s ability to function as they desire.
Call me crazy but I don’t think this is by any mistake at all. This is a financial chess match where Mr. Tsipras/Varoufakis and Vladimir Putin are using great gamesmanship. I believe it was decided Greece will stay, not pay ..and watch the ECB/Eurozone suffer with this. Eventually Greece will leave but that will be AFTER the fire and AFTER the smoke clears. I also believe a pipeline deal through Greece is a foregone conclusion and as this whole thing plays out, Europe will become “closer” to Russia, China, India and the BRICS …which means what exactly? They will be further away from the U.S.!!! This is not rocket science, we are watching socialists who have legally hacked into one of the West’s “cars” … and have the ability to control it! They can start it, stop it, make it go right, left or even just turn it off! Maybe I am giving too much credit and this was just a coincidence, I highly doubt it! To top this strategy off, I still believe we will be served a “truth bomb” by Mr. Putin which will effectively cut the dollar off at the knees!