time to let Greece exit the Euro zone?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It is in Greece's interest to remain in the Euro Zone, but only in the right circumstances. The Greeks can threaten to default in order to get the best terms possible until someone calls their bluff. At that point, the Greeks need to decide if they are bluffing or not. I don't think Germany, or to a lesser extent France, will allow Greece to default. Instead, they will concede to Greece's demands.

Oops.

The oops referred to "Instead, they [the EU] will concede to Greece's demands." It took about 15 hours from the time of this post for the EU to call the Greek bluff. Of course, all that can change in the next hour, so who knows?

I do think it's somewhat misguided to think that Greece holds the whip in this situation.

Greece has been suffering and will continue to suffer regardless. It is in a position to decide just how much additional suffering it will accept before it begins making others suffer as well. To that extend, they hold the plurality of the whip.

The European leaders, unlike our President, understand that you don't open negotiations on the other side of the table. Rather, you start with your hardest line and negotiate from there. As I said, let's wait until we see what deal is worked out.

[Anonymous]

One other PP referenced this, and I'm not sure what the answer is. If the rest of the EU redirected the aid they're targeting to Greece to mitigate the effects of Greek default/disavowal of the Euro, are we talking roughly comparable numbers? Anyone know?

[takoma]

It now looks like Papandreou will back out of the referendum to hold on to his position.