Greek Capital Controls Begin: Greek Banks, Stock Market Will Not Open On Monday

[Wiggs]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-28/greek-capital-controls-begin-banks-remain-closed-monday


Update 3: Bloomberg, citing Kathimerini, reports that Greek banks will remain closed until July 6.

GREEK BANKS TO REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL JULY 6 : KATHIMERINI
GREEK GOVERNMENT ISSUES CAPITAL CONTROLS, BANK HOLIDAY DECREE
GREEK GOVT LIMITS CASH WITHDRAWALS TO EU60/DAY AS OF JUNE 28
GREEK CAPITAL CONTROLS INCLUDE LOCAL BRANCHES OF FOREIGN BANKS
GREEK GOVT SETS UP COMMITTEE TO APPROVE PAYMENTS ABROAD

Update 2: Greece's Skai reports that if/when banks reopen (supposedly on Tuesday), a 60€ withdrawal limit will be imposed.

Update: In a televised address to the nation, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras assured Greeks that their deposits are safe despite an upcoming bank holiday and despite the fact that Greek stocks will not open for trading on Monday. Tsipras also said Athens has re-applied for a bailout extension and urged Greeks to "remain calm" in the face of what is sure to be a turbulent week.

GREEK PRIME MINISTER SAYS GREEK PEOPLE SHOULD REMAIN CALM
GREEK PM: BANK OF GREECE PROPOSED BANK TRANSACTION RESTRICTIONS
GREEK PRIME SAID GREECE RE-APPLIED FOR BAILOUT EXTENSION
GREEK PRIME MINISTER SAYS DEPOSITS ARE COMPLETELY SAFE
Earlier:

Despite the reassurances from any and all elected (and unelected) officials, given the run on bank ATMs in Greece has turned into a stampede, it is not surprising that:

GREEK BANKS TO REMAIN CLOSED FROM MONDAY FOR A WEEK: PIRAEUS BANK CEO
PIRAEUS BANK CEO THOMOPOULOS SPEAKS TO REPORTERS IN ATHENS
The announcement was made when Piraeus Bank CEO Anthimos Thomopoulos told reporters after a meeting of the government’s financial-stability panel on Sunday. The launch of capital controls just as the Greek summer tourism season starts, is sure to be the final crushing blow to Greece, whose entire economy will now grind to a halt.


Banks will remain shut until at least after a July 5 referendum called by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on whether to accept austerity in exchange for a European bailout, Kathemerini newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.

Reuters is also reporting that the Greek stock market will not open on Monday (leaving us wondering just what that will do to the Greek ETFs liquidity in US markets) as hedgers scramble to protect un-closable losses wherever they can.

More from Reuters, which reports that "Greece's banks, kept afloat by emergency funding from the European Central Bank, are on the front line as Athens moves towards defaulting on a 1.6 billion euros payment due to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday."

The ECB had made it difficult for the banks to open on Monday because it decided to freeze the level of funding support it gives the banking system, rather than increasing it to cover a rise in withdrawals from worried depositors.
 
Amid drama in Greece, where a clear majority of people want to remain inside the euro, the next few days present a major challenge to the integrity of the 16-year-old euro zone currency bloc. The consequences for markets and the wider financial system are unclear.
 
The head of Piraeus Bank, one of Greece's top four banks, speaking after a meeting of the country's financial stability council, said banks would be shut on Monday while a financial industry source told Reuters the Athens stock exchange would not open.
 
"It is a dark hour for Europe....nevertheless from where we're sitting we have a clear conscience," Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said earlier in an interview with the BBC.
 
Greece's left-wing Syriza government had for months been negotiating a deal to release funding in time for its IMF payment. Then suddenly, in the early hours of Saturday, Tspiras asked for extra time to enable Greeks to vote in a referendum on the terms of the deal.
 
Creditors turned down this request, leaving little option for Greece but to default, piling further pressure on the country's banking system.
 
The creditors want Greece to cut pensions and raise taxes in ways that Tsipras has long argued would deepen one of the worst economic crises of modern times in a country where a quarter of the workforce is already unemployed.
 
Pro-European Greek opposition parties have united in condemning the decision to call the referendum on the bailout terms, but people on the streets of Athens backed the decision.
 
"I want him (Tsipras) to knock his fist on the table and to say 'enough!'," said resident Evgenoula.
 
Many leading economists have voiced sympathy with the Greek government's argument that further cuts in spending risk choking off the growth which would give Greece some prospect of servicing debts worth nearly twice its annual national income.
 
The IMF has pressed European governments to ease Athens' debt burden, something most say they will only do when Greece first shows it is trimming its budget.
 
Long lines formed outside many ATMs on Sunday, including some of 40 to 50 people outside some in central Athens.
 
The Bank of Greece said it was making "huge efforts" to ensure the machines remained stocked.
The German foreign ministry said tourists heading to Greece should take plenty of cash to avoid possible problems with local banks and some tourists said they were joining the ATM queues.

"I am trying to go over to the bigger banks," said Cassandra Preston, a Canadian tourist. "I am here for another month and I would like to make sure I have some cash on me."

* * *

In other words, Greek speculators (and of course, those depositors who were dumb enough to still have money in local banks) just got CYNK'd - you can buy stocks all you want, but if the market is about to fall out of the bottom, you simply are not allowed to sell.

Which, incidentally, is coming to every centrally-planned, banana "market" near you...

[_aj_]

Don't worry Wiggsy. The SNB saved the EUR on FOREX last night and the Fed's PPT (Plunge Protection Team) will scoop a Hail Mary green close on the SPX by 16:00.

The only remaining Black Swan is how badly the Chinese misplay this...the ECB and the Fed have more than enough levers to contain this...for now.

[Overload]

Which way are you spinning today?

[Natural Man]

soooo...did you finally get a job wiggy?

[TuHolmes]

The problem is the Euro.

"Europe’s common market exemplifies a situation that is unfavorable to a common currency. It is composed of separate nations, whose residents speak different languages, have different customs, and have far greater loyalty and attachment to their own country than to the common market or to the idea of "Europe." Despite being a free trade area, goods move less freely than in the United States, and so does capital.

The European Commission based in Brussels, indeed, spends a small fraction of the total spent by governments in the member countries. They, not the European Union’s bureaucracies, are the important political entities. Moreover, regulation of industrial and employment practices is more extensive than in the United States, and differs far more from country to country than from American state to American state. As a result, wages and prices in Europe are more rigid, and labor less mobile. In those circumstances, flexible exchange rates provide an extremely useful adjustment mechanism."  - Milton Friedman


Basically, he's saying if Greece still had the Drachma, they could devalue their currency, raise inflation, make imports cheaper, stuff like that... They would be able to fix this issue economically... as opposed to the fact they have no control over the euro currency and they are basically screwed.

[Mazda323]

Our main problem is that we are "stealing" our own state...

We don't pay taxes as we should... we don't pay insurance as we should... we are avoiding the negatives of our those actions by finding someone we know in a public service saying "hey man, please help me i don't want to pay 100 euro, let's do something to pay 10 euro"... and our main reason that we do that is "we the richest people won't pay?! I will not pay either"...

Where the fucking state will find the money?! Sooo... the GOverments all this years would get loans and loans and loans to pay the people who worked at the public services to make them happy, so the would be in goverment again...

WE ARE SPENDING 5 euro, WE GET 1!!! This is our problem not the euro. The acts of us as Greeks, to our state.

At least I am 8% bodyfat ;-)

[Wiggs]

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/greece-shock-banks-shut-creditor-talks-break-down-100615371--sector.html

Greece in shock as banks shut after snap referendum call

By Michele Kambas and Lefteris Papadimas
ATHENS (Reuters) - Stunned Greeks faced shuttered banks, long supermarket lines and overwhelming uncertainty on Monday as a breakdown in talks with international lenders plunged their country deep into crisis.
With Greece's bailout expiring on June 30 and an IMF payment falling due at the same time, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pleaded in vain by phone with European officials to extend the programme until a referendum on July 5 on its future terms.
The frantic efforts to secure Greece's place within the euro zone followed a dramatic weekend. Tsipras's decision, early on Saturday, to put the aid package to a popular vote took the lenders by surprise and sent Greeks rushing to cash machines.
It also pushed Greece towards defaulting on 1.6 billion euros ($1.77 billion) due to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, which would take it closer to an exit from the euro zone. A Greek official confirmed to Reuters that the payment would not be made.
Greeks - used to seeing lengthy talks with creditors end with an 11th-hour deal - were shocked by the turn of events. Queues snaked outside ATMs and inside supermarkets while fears of disruptions to fuel and medicine supplies grew.

Drugmakers said they would continue to ship medicines to Greece in coming weeks despite unpaid bills, but warned that supplies could soon be in jeopardy without emergency action.
The breakdown of talks has pushed the European Union and euro zone into uncharted terrain. The Athens stock exchange was closed like the banks, but other share markets fell on fears that Greece could be heading out of the euro.
The blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index fell more than 4 percent, with bank shares down sharply. By midday, all three major U.S. stock indexes were down more than 1 percent.
"I can't believe it," said Athens resident Evgenia Gekou, 50, on her way to work. "I keep thinking we'll wake up tomorrow and everything will be OK. I'm trying hard not to worry."
After months of talks, Greece's exasperated European partners have put the blame for the crisis squarely on Tsipras for rejecting a package they consider generous. The Greek side argues that pension cuts and tax hikes demanded of it would only deepen one of the worst economic crises of modern times in a country where a quarter of the workforce is already unemployed.
A snap Reuters poll of more than 70 economists and traders taken on Monday put the probability of Greece leaving the euro zone at 45 percent, up from 30 percent a week ago.


PERSONAL BETRAYAL

Emotions were unusually raw among Europe's leaders. EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he felt personally betrayed and told Greeks a "No" vote would be seen as signalling an exit from the euro - a position that other European leaders lined up to echo.
"I will say to the Greeks, who I love deeply: you mustn't commit suicide because you are afraid of death," Juncker told a news conference.
Despite the acrimony over the weekend, the creditors said the door to negotiations remained open.
French President Francois Hollande appealed to Tsipras to return to the negotiating table and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was ready to restart talks with Athens after the referendum, including on how to ease its debt burden.
Hollande spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama, and Hollande's aide said they had agreed to work together for a resumption of talks and a solution to the crisis to ensure Greece's financial stability.
Greece's banks were shut after the European Central Bank rejected its request for 6 billion euros of additional emergency funding on Sunday to cope with massive withdrawals, though the ECB is expected to allow Greek banks to keep using existing funds until the referendum, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
As Tsipras announced the closure of banks and the stock exchange late on Sunday, long queues grew outside ATMs and petrol stations as people raced to take out cash before it was too late.
On Monday, cash machines remained closed until midday, and then opened for withdrawals of no more than 60 euros a day.
"I've got five euros in my pocket, I thought I would try my luck here for some money. The queues in my neighbourhood were too long yesterday," said plumber Yannis Kalaizakis, 58, outside an empty cash machine in central Athens on Monday.
"I don't know what else to say: It's a mess."


"DRAMATIC HOURS"

Pensioners hoping that they, at least, would be allowed to receive money were turned away from banks.
"I've worked all my life, only to wake up one morning to a disaster like this," said one shop owner queueing at a branch of the National Bank of Greece hoping to collect his wife's pension.
Businesses complained that they could not pay salaries or suppliers and had had to halt imports, while agricultural production was also expected to be affected.
"The worst has been confirmed by the nightmarish developments," said retail lobby chief Vassilis Korkidis.
Despite the financial shock, parts of daily life went on as normal, with shops, pharmacies and supermarkets opening and Greeks meeting to discuss their country's fate at cafes and restaurants. Tourists gathered as usual to watch the changing of the presidential guard outside parliament.
Tsipras's Syriza party called a rally for Monday evening to protest against austerity measures and urge citizens to vote "No" on Sunday.
The referendum poses a simple question: "Should the proposal which was submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund at the Eurogroup of June 25, 2015 which consists of two parts that together constitute their comprehensive proposal be accepted?"
The "No" box appears as the first option, above the "Yes" box. The says a "No" will strengthen its hand at the negotiating table, though other European leaders say it will instead push Greece out of the euro.
No public opinion polls were available, but the Economist Intelligence Unit said a "No" vote was more likely, raising the probability of Greece leaving the euro zone to 60 percent. ($1 = 0.9026 euros)


(Additional reporting by Deepa Babington, Lefteris Karagiannopoulos, Yannis Behrakis and Alkis Konstantinidis; Writing by Matthias Williams and Deepa Babington; Editing by Anna Willard and Janet McBride)

[Wiggs]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102795010


Greece could face social unrest soon: Wilbur Ross


The deteriorating situation in Greece—including long lines and a 60 euro ($67) limit at ATMs—could get much worse if voters there refuse to accept creditor-imposed reforms in a referendum this coming Sunday, said billionaire Wilbur Ross, who has a large interest in the country.

"Once there's social unrest, which there will be before too long if this thing continues, no tourist is going to want to go to [Greece]," Ross told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. "If the Greek people understand how limited those concessions that are requested are, and contemplate going into the abyss on other side, they're never going to pick the abyss."


Last year, the chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co. and other international financiers invested $1.8 billion in Eurobank—becoming the biggest shareholder of Greece's third-largest bank. He said Monday he made the bet thinking the current government would not be in power.

Ross said there are lines at Eurobank branches, but surprisingly they're "not totally out of control yet."

Debt talks between Greece and its creditors collapsed late Friday, after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a national vote for his people to decide on whether they're willing to accept reforms in exchange for more bailout aid. Sunday's referendum may effectively turn out to be a vote on whether Greece stays in the common currency.

"I don't see how Mr. Tsipras and the [leftist] Syriza party survives this. They promised people right along that they could get no problems, go back to the way it was, the EU would fold. The EU didn't fold and I don't think they will fold," Ross said.

Tsipras actually negotiated a lot of concessions from the European Union and should have stopped and declared victory, he argued, though acknowledged the leader's party would have never approved.



The deteriorating situation in Greece—including long lines and a 60 euro ($67) limit at ATMs—could get much worse if voters there refuse to accept creditor-imposed reforms in a referendum this coming Sunday, said billionaire Wilbur Ross, who has a large interest in the country.

"Once there's social unrest, which there will be before too long if this thing continues, no tourist is going to want to go to [Greece]," Ross told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. "If the Greek people understand how limited those concessions that are requested are, and contemplate going into the abyss on other side, they're never going to pick the abyss."


Last year, the chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co. and other international financiers invested $1.8 billion in Eurobank—becoming the biggest shareholder of Greece's third-largest bank. He said Monday he made the bet thinking the current government would not be in power.

Ross said there are lines at Eurobank branches, but surprisingly they're "not totally out of control yet."



Debt talks between Greece and its creditors collapsed late Friday, after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a national vote for his people to decide on whether they're willing to accept reforms in exchange for more bailout aid. Sunday's referendum may effectively turn out to be a vote on whether Greece stays in the common currency.

"I don't see how Mr. Tsipras and the [leftist] Syriza party survives this. They promised people right along that they could get no problems, go back to the way it was, the EU would fold. The EU didn't fold and I don't think they will fold," Ross said.

Tsipras actually negotiated a lot of concessions from the European Union and should have stopped and declared victory, he argued, though acknowledged the leader's party would have never approved.


"If they vote 'no,' then the kind of chaos we've seen today will compound," Robert Hormats, former Goldman Sachs international vice chairman, said Monday in a separate CNBC interview.
In advance of Sunday's vote, Greek banks and the stock market there will remain closed.

The Greek people have to make the decision, said Hormats, also a former undersecretary of state for economic growth during Hillary Clinton's tenure leading the department. "Do they want more of this chaos or do they want to take the kind of cuts that the creditors are asking them to take," he said.

Tsipras should have called for a vote earlier to avoid all this disruption, Hormats said.

The European Central Bank, which refused to raise emergency funding for Greek banks, wants the people of Greece to understand that if the creditor-imposed program is voted down, "they're not going to get any more money and they're not going to be part of the euro," said the vice chairman of international consultancy Kissinger Associates, adding most Greeks don't want to exit the common currency.



No matter what happens, Hormats predicted there will be little chance of major contagion because Europe has taken the steps over the years to insulate a Greece exit from the euro.

Ross said it's ironic that "Greece bought us democracy centuries ago, and now they're about to bring us chaos."

[Wiggs]

http://news.yahoo.com/greece-not-pay-imf-loan-due-tuesday-government-162215953--business.html

Greece will not pay IMF loan due on Tuesday: government official

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will not pay a 1.6 billon euro loan installment due to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, a Greek government official confirmed on Monday, highlighting the depth of the financial crisis facing the country.

Ministers have said repeatedly that Greece would not have the funds to pay the IMF unless it reached a deal with creditors to unlock 7.2 billion euros in bailout funds frozen while the two sides wrestled over the conditions demanded of Athens.

After talks broke down at the weekend, triggering the imposition of capital controls on Greek banks, it became a virtual formality that the IMF's June 30 deadline would not be met.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde earlier this month said Greece would be in default as of July 1 if it failed to the pay the money, though an IMF spokesman last week said a missed payment would classify Greece as "in arrears".

The missed payment would bring Greece closer to an exit from the euro zone currency if it prompted the European Central Bank to cut off emergency funding that Greek banks rely on. But the ECB is expected to maintain that lifeline at least for this week and analysts say Greece could default and remain in the euro.

Despite the shock of a default by a euro zone country, Greece's fate is likely to remain unchanged until after a snap referendum on July 5 on bailout terms presented by creditors in exchange for aid.

Euro zone policymakers have warned Greeks that a "no" vote against the aid package would be tantamount to a rejection of engagement with creditors and point toward a euro zone exit.

[Svengoolie]

Coming soon to a United States near you?

[TuHolmes]

Coming soon to a United States near you?

No, because we can control our own currency, unlike Greece.

[Wiggs]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-29/greece-imposes-capital-controls-banks-close-to-contain-fallout-ibh78tb7

Greece shut its banks and imposed capital controls in an announcement designed to avert the collapse of its financial system, heightening the risk it will be forced out of the euro. European stocks and Greek bonds tumbled.
The measures, which were announced in the dead of night, limit daily cash withdrawals to 60 euros ($66) and ban payments and transfers abroad. The stock market and banks will be closed at least until July 6, the day after Greeks will vote in a referendum on proposals needed to restore bailout aid.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras struck a defiant tone as he announced the move in a televised statement and on Twitter.

“A Greek exit has become our base case, which means the risk premia for holding European assets are going to increase,” Hans Redeker, global head of currency strategy at Morgan Stanley, said in an interview. “The European Central Bank will have to act against that.”

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who promised to return “dignity” to the people and reject budget cuts imposed by creditors, appealed for “calm” after weekend-long queues at ATMs and gas stations. The Euro Stoxx 50 Index fell 3.3 percent at 12:10 p.m. in Athens. Greek 10-year notes plunged by the most since at least 1998, driving the yield to 14.6 percent, the highest since December 2012. German bunds rose the most since 2011, sending the 10-year yield to 0.77 percent.
Franc Effect
The euro fell 0.6 percent to $1.1093. The currency pared its loss following purchases by the Swiss National Bank to curb gains in the Swiss franc.
The bank controls followed a weekend of turmoil that started with Tsipras’s shock announcement late Friday of a July 5 referendum on austerity. People rushed to line up at ATMs and gas stations after the breakdown of aid talks late Friday and an ECB decision to freeze its lifeline to Greek banks. Greece is the second euro-area country, after Cyprus in 2013, to impose capital controls.
Greek Capital Controls
Banks closed up to and including July 6
Wages and pensions will be paid
Daily ATM withdrawal limit of 60 euros ($67; £42)
No restriction on foreign tourists using ATMs
Electronic transactions unaffected: Greek debit/credit cards can be used
History shows capital controls usually don't work
But government insists deposits are safe
While markets have essentially stopped trading Greek default insurance, sovereign debt risk signaled by the contracts surged. Credit-default swap prices implied a 94 percent probability of default within five years, up from 71 percent on Friday, according to data compiled by CMA.
‘Patience, Composure’
“In the coming days, what’s needed is patience and composure,” Tsipras said on television. “The bank deposits of the Greek people are fully secure. The same applies to the payment of wages and pensions -- they are also guaranteed.”


German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to President Barack Obama on Sunday, agreeing on the importance of keeping Greece in the euro.
The developments marked an abrupt turn from last week, when markets rallied on hopes a deal between Tsipras’s government and creditors -- the ECB, European Commission and International Monetary Fund -- was at hand.
The optimism vanished after midnight on Friday with Tsipras’s call for the referendum just days before the June 30 expiry of the current bailout and a $1.7 billion payment due to the IMF. Greece also faces repayment of 3.5 billion euros of bonds held by the ECB that mature July 20.
Markets React
The ECB on Sunday froze the ceiling on Emergency Liquidity Assistance to Greek lenders at just below 89 billion euros, refusing for the first time this year to maintain a buffer as deposits sank.
Adding to the confusion is uncertainty over the contents of the referendum as there was no defined aid proposal. The European Commission on Sunday published a 10-point summary of what they said was the state-of-play when talks collapsed.
The list was published “in the interest of transparency and for the information of the Greek people” before the vote and included increases in value-added taxes, cuts in pension spending and primary-surplus targets through 2018.
In the aftermath of the Brussels talks, Greeks lined up to get access to as much of their money as they could from ATMs. Skai television reported as much as 1 billion euros was withdrawn.
“When you close the banks for several days, you basically trigger an economic depression,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “The government is going to have to issue IOUs and that’s going to become a parallel currency, so this is a tragic situation that is very difficult to control on the ground.”
Blackmail, Injustice
Tsipras moved to bolster confidence and focus blame on Greece’s creditors, who have demanded continued austerity after extending 240 billion euros in bailout commitments since 2010.
“The dignity of the Greek people in the face of blackmail and injustice will send a message of hope and pride to all of Europe,” he said in the televised statement, maintaining the confrontational tone that has characterized his six-month old government.
While Tsipras and his government urged a “no” vote in the referendum, he repeated his request to the European Commission to extend the bailout at least until the ballot.
“A very dark day for Greece,” Nicholas Economides, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said by phone. “The Greek economy, already at standstill, will go to deep freeze.”

[Teutonic Knight]

Greece beautiful ancient land , still 10 000 light years ahead of black Wiggzerland 

[HTexan]

Time to buy a vacation home in Greece?

[Teutonic Knight]

Time to buy a vacation home in Greece?

Why not in Nigeria 

[HTexan]

Why not in Nigeria 

First world vs 3rd world son. 

[FitnessFrenzy]

soooo...did you finally get a job wiggy?

no, but he sits outside Starbucks on cardboard, to use their free wifi.

[Teutonic Knight]

First world vs 3rd world son. 

Mud build bamboo hut vs Parthenon 

[SF1900]

Wiggs, have you nixed your plans about becoming a nurse?

[Teutonic Knight]

no, but he sits outside Starbucks on cardboard, to use their free wifi.

So who lost laptop/tablet 

[basil]

Ah, whatever.  The buses will still run on time. 

[Irongrip400]

Referendum on the 5th. If they vote against the austerity measures, they're out of the euro. Good times we're living in bros. nationalism is on the rise!

[blackpele]

I prefer to lose half of my buying power and bring back the power to the Greek gov.
To give you an example can you imagine Obama asking Merkel if she allows him to pass an XYZ law etc.
What is happening here in Greece is a disgrace and we gonna put a stop to it, even if it means going bankrupt.

[Mazda323]

OK blackpele... but we need to change our acts against our state. The state to be FAIR to the people, and the people fair to the state.

The Goverment opened the National TV, while was closing the Banks... No time to argue here, it's Getbig.

And I am a fucking proud Getbigger, so I have no money, but I have Varoufakis, an opened gym and an Iphone 6.

[dr.chimps]

Our main problem is that we are "stealing" our own state...

We don't pay taxes as we should... we don't pay insurance as we should... we are avoiding the negatives of our those actions by finding someone we know in a public service saying "hey man, please help me i don't want to pay 100 euro, let's do something to pay 10 euro"... and our main reason that we do that is "we the richest people won't pay?! I will not pay either"...

Where the fucking state will find the money?! Sooo... the GOverments all this years would get loans and loans and loans to pay the people who worked at the public services to make them happy, so the would be in goverment again...

WE ARE SPENDING 5 euro, WE GET 1!!! This is our problem not the euro. The acts of us as Greeks, to our state.

At least I am 8% bodyfat ;-)

This. Like the Italians, Greeks stealing/witholding from their own government is a point of pride, and paying up is seen as failure. This was a long time coming.