John Mauldin's Latest
http://www.johnmauldin.com/frontlinethou....

Quote:

The ISDA (the International Swaps and Derivatives Association) declared today that Greece is in official default. This is a derivatives-industry committee of 15 members, representing the largest banks and derivative buyers – all the usual suspects. I started to write last week about their hesitancy, but it was very technical and I thought it likely they would issue the ruling they did this week. There are a few things we should note about this decision.
First, there is a widespread misunderstanding that the ISDA is the final answer to whether a nation is in default. The correct answer is, it depends. Credit default swaps are contracts between two private parties . The actual original contract is the governing document. While most contracts named the ISDA as the final arbiter of default, there are many that did not. Some experts told their clients there was a problem with choosing a self-interested industry group to be the final judge, and were very specific in their contracts as to what constituted a default. (Thanks to Janet Tavakoli, who spent an hour late one night patiently explaining the arcana and minutiae of credit default swaps. She literally wrote the book – and not just one but three of them – on swaps.)
It does not take a finance major to understand that if you do not get your money paid back to you, there was a default of some kind. If the ISDA had not confirmed a default by Greece, they would have ceased to be relevant in any future contracts that were written. It will be interesting to see how contracts are structured in future.

Secondly, the number that keeps showing up in the press is that there are only $3 billion of credit default swaps on Greek debt. That is only half true. The reality is that there is a NET $3.2 billion of CDS on Greek debt. The total or GROSS amount of swaps written is estimated to be about $60-70 billion (Dan Greenhaus, Chief Global Strategist, BTIG). This is in the 4,323 contracts that are known about.

Of the net exposure, the loss is likely to be less than the $3.2 billion, unless Greek debt goes to absolute zero. But that does not tell the whole story. For instance, just one Austrian state-owned "bad bank," KA Finanz, faces a hit of up to 1 billion euros ($1.31 billion) for the hole Greece's debt restructuring punches in its balance sheet. That loss, which will be borne by Austrian taxpayers, is someone else's gain. The net number means nothing to them – they lose it all, over a third of the expected total loss.

Every bank and hedge fund, insurance company, and pension fund has its own situation. Care to wager that the larger banks won't win on this trade? My bet is that there will be $30 billion in losses, out of which maybe someone will make $27 billion in gains.

Will the counterparty that holds your offsetting CDS be able to pay? Will all taxpayers be so accommodating as Austria's? Does anyone think that taxpayers will bail out a hedge fund that cannot pay its debt, if it sold protection and has to default?

Would that it was "only" a $3 billion loss spread among the largest losers. That would be trivial in the grand scheme of things. Will Greece really stress the system, as it was stressed in 2008? The answer is, not likely, since European taxpayers have found €100 billion to cover the debt and the ECB has printed over €1 trillion, which has postponed any debt crisis for the immediate future. But the question that we must ask in a few paragraphs is, how many more countries will have to restructure their debt?

List of ISDA Greek Deliverables (PDF, updates daily I think)
http://www2.isda.org/attachment/NDA4Mw==....
Note that not all of this stuff is Greek sovereign bonds - there's a lot of private transportation and bank bonds in there that were guaranteed by Greece - and there's a fair amount that is governed by English, Italian, and Japanese law. While this may not be IT, it is going to get rough I think

Edit: There's also rate swaps, interest swaps, and some securitizations of some sort in there. Not sure if this stuff counts towards the 3 billion net

Mark Grant's 800lb Gorilla
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/eight-hund....

800lb follow up from Grant
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greek-%E2%....

Quote:

When we have been given the data on Greek sovereign debt it appears we have been misled. I have added up now the ISDA debt issuances and I present them to you; all of these issuances are GUARANTEED by the Hellenic Republic; full faith and credit.

GREEK SOVEREIGN GUARANTEED DEBT AMOUNT

The New Economy Development Fund $139,000,000.00

The Hellenic Railway $2,240,000,000.00

Structured Notes (Not counting Floating Rate Notes) $20,683,000,000.00

Athens Urban Transportation $837,000,000.00

Greek Bank Guaranteed Debt $83,314,000,000.00

TOTAL GREEK GUARANTEED. DEBT $107,213,000,000.00

Here is $107 billion of OTHER debt; guaranteed debt that does not appear to be included anywhere in the official Greek sovereign debt figures. Contingent liabilities that are not counted any longer perhaps as the accepted manner of doing business now in Europe. Most of these issuances are governed under British law with “Default” clauses and “Negative Covenant” clauses. Greece defaults on €105 billion Euros and adds new debt, the IMF/EU loans, of 130 billion Euros and we are told that Greece is better off today than yesterday. What drivel! With the addition of the new IMF/EU loans of $172 billion and the revelation of the guaranteed debt at $107 billion Greece now has $279 billion of new and hidden debts.

Grant appears to be pulling this data only from the ISDA list I linked above, and of course there's stuff that will not be cleared through ISDA as Tavakoli notes above

Someone is pooping their pants. From BBTV:

Fitch Ratings raises Greece's long-term rating to B-, with a Stable Outlook.

Wonder how much that cost them and who at fitch got the biggest cut?

Cool, we're saved!

Italian PM Monti says "worst of crisis is over, but guard must be kept up"

Yeah right

They're all patting themselves on the back - morons

This is the apex of the culture of narcissism that has reigned since sometime in the 1960's. These guys truly believe they have the power to create reality.

The IMF approves a $36.6B loan for Greece:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-15....

From BB Radio:

S&P continues Greece's Selective Default rating, with the new bonds rated CCC.

Greece on the breadline: HIV and malaria make a comeback

Quote:

"Reveka Papadopoulos said that following savage cuts to the national health service budget, including heavy job losses and a 40% reduction in funding for hospitals, Greek social services were "under very severe strain, if not in a state of breakdown. What we are seeing are very clear indicators of a system that cannot cope."

The heavy, horizontal and "blind" budget cuts coincided last year with a 24% increase in demand for hospital services, she said, "largely because people could simply no longer afford private healthcare. The entire system is deteriorating"

.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/201....

He is absolutely delusional:

Greece over halfway to recovery

Quote:

Greece’s caretaker prime minister insists that a “large, silent majority” of Greeks are willing to do whatever is needed to stay in the eurozone, despite near-daily anti-austerity demonstrations.
Lucas Papademos said Greece was determined to avoid another debt restructuring and its political leaders were prepared to put aside differences to implement structural and fiscal reforms.


In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Papademos expressed confidence that Greece’s downward economic spiral would prove temporary. “I am convinced that we are more than halfway along the path to economic recovery – although the fiscal consolidation process will last longer,” he said. “Positive growth rates should be achieved within less than two years,” he said.
Mr Papademos’s defiance comes in spite of widespread fears outside Greece that its economic situation makes exit from the eurozone a distinct possibility. He admitted that Greece might need more outside support if it was unable to return to financial markets by 2015.

https://www.google.no/search?sourceid=ch....

'tis merely a flesh wound...

Bajorgensen - I had the same reaction.

As usual it is hard to tell what is really going on. The Greeks are at the mercy of the Germans. There are elections coming in France, Germany, Greece and later on of course the U.S.

The SLOG is convinced that Germany already has a backup plan for their banks (via the Bundesbank), Geithner and Brussels have 7 ways to back out of the "Accord" with Greece, and the EFSF has yet to find a single investor anywhere to partake in the fund.

Here is his take after weekend chats:

March 19, 2012

EXCLUSIVE: GERMAN BANKERS GIVE MERKEL ULTIMATUM: EITHER GREECE LEAVES THE EUROZONE, OR GERMANY MUST

Merkel….diminishing options

With the help of Frankfurt and Parisian sources, US contacts, and German readers of this site, The Slog has been able to put together compelling evidence of Greece being perilously close to ejection from the eurozone. Doubts in Brussels and the IMF, preparations in Berlin – and clauses in the bailout agreement – all point to a German determination to either amputate Greece, or leave the eurozone itself.

If there is a single investor left anywhere on the planet who thinks the Troika bailout of Greece was undertaken with any genuine commitment, then after reading this post, there won’t be. Late yesterday evening (GMT Sunday) I spent some time debating facts, signs and issues with The Slog’s longstanding source, the Bankfurt Maulwurf. This followed a series of steers from Slog readers and other sources.

I turn first to the bailout agreement itself…where some startling things come to light. For starters, the EFSF (for that’s the principal in this document) is already in breach of it. Early up in the opening clauses, the stability fund undertakes to use funds from its existing budget to bail out Athens. As The Slog showed conclusively last week, this isn’t what happened: the ‘funds’ released were ECB non-cash bonds. The EFSF has yet to find a single investor anywhere to partake in the fund.

Now let’s review the get-out, rope-cutting clauses that the EFSF has awarded itself. Mainly under Clause 13 sub section 5, they include the EU being able to withdraw the whole deal at any time if:

* Events reduce the funds available to help Greece

* If the IMF decides at any time to withdraw its support

* If ‘a market disruption event occurs’. (Almost entirely unqualified)

* Any single payment doesn’t arrive in the creditors’ account on time

* Any element of the Brussels Accord isn’t fulfilled

* Any new Greek bond issuance replaces old bonds with a lower value/package offer.

* Any consituional and legal requirements in Greece have not been fufilled.

Says a Washington source in relation to the IMF stipulation:

“That was very much at the Fed’s insistence. This was always going to be Geithner’s game-ending card….instruct Lagarde to be unable to partake on the grounds of IMF articles about unlikelihood of getting repaid. The fact that he hasn’t played it suggests that the White House is ok with the Greek thing rolling over a little….but not for too long”.

That the Greeks themselves bought into these clauses further suggests they don’t really take the agreement seriously. (Venizelos is a key, named signatory, but has since resigned to campaign in the elections). But the nature of the individual get-outs is pretty stunning: how hard would it be to create a lack of funds or create a market disruption (they happen twice a day in the eurozone)?

And of course, the dog’s testicles in there remain the two I’ve been harping on from the start: fulfilment of the Accord requirements, and getting the Constitution changed to cede some sovereignty. Greek sources confirmed at the weekend that several of these are still loose ends that have been barely addressed. At any point in the coming five days, the EFSF could raise these and pull out.

The Slog’s Bankfurt mole takes things on from there:

“Wolfgang Schäuble hoped that some of these and other clauses would stir the Greeks sufficiently to cause a rupture in the negotiations,” he asserts, “There is no doubt about this, I know it to be true. You will see the clause in there insisting that hundreds of officials may swarm all over Athens at any time and must be given a free hand. The people around Schäuble were convinced this would start a riot, but the Greeks barely blinked.”

Asked further about Schäuble’s inflammatory statements at the time, he confided, “Of course, yes, this was part of the same game, naturally he wanted to create an incident. He raised tiny points at issue constantly, and then referred to Greece as a ‘black hole’ or something similar. His aim was to make life impossible for the other side.”

What Schäuble actually said was that Greece was a “bottomless pit”, which if anything was even worse. But the intent is clear: at that time, the German finance minister was very hawkish on the amputation strategy. Later still he had the effrontery to assert that Greece should put off its elections until clearer evidence of Greek recovery was apparent. This did cause a considerable stir, but didn’t break the deal.

The Bankfurt mole again:

“What you must remember, what I have always told you, is that Germany always has a back-up plan. For a time I feared Merkel would put the country at risk, but she has been reined in since then. So these days I am more relaxed. Chancellor Merkel has chosen Germany over Greece.”

German Slog readers have pointed me at recent legislation that supports the Maulwurf’s contention. For some time now, the BundesRepublik has had a ring-fenced ‘bad bank’ leper colony, with funds set aside for disasters, and very close Government overseeing of transactions there. Angela Merkel rushed the necessary legislation through the Bundestag immediately following the first Greek bailout. Recently, however – and few if any foreign observers have spotted it – the Bundestag has also quietly upped the entire banking sector’s recapitalisation funding. Also largely unnoticed, the Berlin Finance Ministry has been extremely heavy with private banks on the subject of balance sheet reduction and deleveraging.

Then two months ago, Berlin confirmed that Germany’s private bank ‘firewall’ fund (the so-called Soffin) had been reinstated – with a budget of $625 billion. Again, while few have commented on this, I am informed that the old legislation has been amended to allow private banks to sell any ClubMed sovereign bonds to Soffin….aka, Soffin will write off the losses on any and all debtor bonds should future events require that.

This might suggest a reason why Germany remains less than keen on boosting the EFSF/ESM firewall with German money: Germany is already adequately protected, thank you very much. On the other hand, it might also suggest a Chancellery preparing for a departure from the eurozone itself. The Maulwurf has an interesting take on this:

“I think one thing has been made clear to the Chancellor by my colleagues in the German banking community. Namely, that we cannot have a Fiskal Union or indeed a eurozone where there is both Germany and Greece. One of them has to go, and she must make her mind up about that”.

Sooner rather than later, I suspect, this issue of who is or isn’t destined for the Fiskal Union’s Promised Land is going to get bigger and bigger. But Angela Merkel is a woman who prefers to let events develop and then see how the landscape changes. The Max Keiser site has predicted for some time now that Germany would have to exit the euro at some point: if he’s right, then the new legislation about eurobond dumping into Soffin would suggest that such a move has indeed been seriously entertained. But The Slog’s favourite Paris source doesn’t see it as a realistic option:

“Well, as you know here there has been paranoia about Berlin’s real plans for some time now. But on the whole, I would say our impression is that both Merkel and Schäuble would see the abandonment of the euro as a very retrograde step. They would much rather chop off the Greek leg than leave the [EU] Central Bank with horrendous debts after a German departure. She [Merkel] wouldn’t be trying to prop up Sarkozy if she had no intention of remaining in the eurozone. On the other hand, if Hollande wins and the Greeks elect a leftist Government which reneges on the bailout, things could change very rapidly.”

Whether or not the planned March 23rd default is still in play as an option, Washington remains edgy about the chances of a messy Greek default. Says a source there:

“The feeling here is that Geithner’s urgency and willingness to dig Draghi out of a hole [the dollar/euro swap line] made a real impression on Brussels, and even more so on the Frankfurters [German bankers]. But we still don’t know what in Hell Berlin might do, or when. The White House is nervous about things going through to the [Greek] elections [scheduled for April 29th]. My view is that the President is right to be concerned, and I’m sure he’s getting heat from Wall Street on that. Geithner is pushing hard for the creation of a controlled situation….and soon. But right now it’s up in the air.”

As I posted at the weekend, if one can be bothered, the thing to do this week is watch out for any of the seven signs I listed in that piece. This isn’t about Greece’s relatively tiny GDP, it’s about uncontrolled contagion and Barack Obama’s re-election. Bizarrely, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is quoted by the London Financial Times this morning as believing that Greece is “more than halfway along the path to economic recovery – although the fiscal consolidation process will last longer,” he said. “Positive growth rates should be achieved within less than two years”.

But then again, he used to work for Goldman Sachs. Whatever the more likely timing of Greek demise, what does seem to have emerged in German financial politics is that the eurozone choice is a stark one: either Greece goes, or Germany does. With local elections about to kick off in the BundesRepublik, one could argue that the last thing Angela Merkel needs at the moment is to chuck Greece over the side. Or, you could argue that throwing Athens to the sharks is exactly what most German voters want to see.

Things will develop sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/

CDS auction results are today. As FT pointed out last week the net notional is NOT 3B Euros - but it is hard to say if it is more or less. We'll soon see...

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/03/....

Heard something on Bloomberg this morning that they are already talking about another writedown on Greek debt.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_art....


Greece's ratings factoring in third bailout


By Paul Dobson

Greece's bonds and credit ratings are factoring in a third bailout for the nation that analysts and investors say will require greater concessions from its international creditors.

Within a week of euro-area member states giving their formal approval to a second bailout package for Greece, the International Monetary Fund said the country may require additional funding or a further debt restructuring. Pacific Investment Management Co, which runs the world’s biggest bond fund, said it remains “cautious” on euro-area government debt even after the largest-ever sovereign refinancing because the risk remains that Greece will leave the single-currency area.

“It’s still a very steep mountain to climb,” said Harvinder Sian, a senior fixed-income strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. The restructuring deal “doesn’t do anything to put Greece on a sustainable path,” he said. “A third bailout will become necessary.”...

Greece is like Fannie and Freddie. Many more future bailouts. How about the rest of the PIIGS? When are they going to come crying to the EU asking for a bailout?

Quote:

Geithner is pushing hard for the creation of a controlled situation….and soon.

Keep clapping, fella.

I know this should be in Soft Commd's, but since this is happening in Greece; well, I thought it interesting to add to the Discussion..

Greek farmers find cost-price spuds a hot item
Cheap potato fever is spreading in austerity-pummeled Greece.

It started last week when a producer from the northern Nevrokopi area, fed up with selling to wholesalers at a loss, offloaded 24 tons at cost prices directly to consumers in the town of Katerini. Now, he has been swamped by demand.

Lefteris Kessopoulos said Thursday he has been contacted by resident groups in Athens, the northern towns of Kavala and Larissa — even Pyrgos, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of Nevrokopi.

"We're getting phone calls from all over Greece," he said.

After more than two years of deeply resented belt-tightening, imposed to keep the country afloat after decades of profligate government spending, Greece appears to be heading for a social meltdown. Incomes have dropped dramatically, one in five workers is unemployed — double the pre-crisis figures — and state outlays on crucial sectors such as health care and education have been axed.

The country has been subsisting on international rescue loans since May 2010.

Academic staff and students at the University of Thessaloniki have arranged for a group of Nevrokopi farmers to sell 50 tons on Friday outside a campus building. The price will be €0.25 ($0.33) a kilogram (2.2 pounds), almost a third of the €0.70 ($0.93) that supermarkets charge.
.
Similar sales are planned in several towns over the next few days, while some resident groups are trying to organize deals with olive oil producers on the island of Crete.

Nevrokopi farmers say it costs about €0.20 cents ($0.27) to produce a kilogram of potatoes, but that wholesalers will only buy them for €0.10-0.12. Faced with making a loss, many producers say they have been unable to even get their products to the market.

Greece's severe financial crisis, now entering its third year, has seen pensions and salaries repeatedly slashed and led to skyrocketing unemployment with more than 1 million jobless. Incomes have been further hit by steep tax hikes imposed by a government desperate to boost state revenues.

More and more people have been turning up at soup kitchens run by the church or local aid groups, and homelessness has been increasing.

In the northern town of Drama, near Nevrokopi, a consumer association and the local labor council are organizing a sale of 20 tons of potatoes on Saturday.

"It's time profiteers get pushed out of the market," Drama labor leader Giorgos Savridis said. "In this way, we are helping potato producers, but also consumers who are having a hard time due to the crisis."

In the Athens suburb of Pallini, municipal officials have asked residents to send in order forms by March 8 before a forthcoming Nevrokopi potato sale — at €0.28 ($0.37) per kilogram to allow for transportation costs.

"Financial circumstances dictate our intervention to create a social solidarity and protection network for our residents," a municipality statement said.

Kessopoulos, the producer, said wholesalers have started offering farmers higher prices after the Katerini sale. But the best offer, €0.17 per kilogram, is still below production costs.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46593529#.T1....

Just to add...
(DATED)6/10/10

Greece starts putting island land up for sale to save economy

Desperate attempt to repay debts also driven by inability to find funds to develop infrastructure on islands


There's little that shouts "seriously rich" as much as a little island in the sun to call your own. For Sir Richard Branson it is Neckar in the Caribbean, the billionaire Barclay brothers prefer Brecqhou in the Channel Islands, while Aristotle Onassis married Jackie Kennedy on Skorpios, his Greek hideway.

Now Greece is making it easier for the rich and famous to fulfill their dreams by preparing to sell, or offering long-term leases on, some of its 6,000 sunkissed islands in a desperate attempt to repay its mountainous debts.

The Guardian has learned that an area in Mykonos, one of Greece's top tourist destinations, is one of the sites for sale. The area is one-third owned by the government, which is looking for a buyer willing to inject capital and develop a luxury tourism complex, according to a source close to the negotiations.

Potential investors also looking at property on the island of Rhodes, are mostly Russian and Chinese. Investors in both countries are looking for a little bit of the Mediterranean as holiday destinations for their increasingly affluent populations.

Greece has embarked on the desperate measures after being pushed into a €110bn (£90bn) bailout by the EU and the IMF last month, following a decade of overspending and after jittery investors raised borrowing costs to unbearable levels.

The sale of an island – or convincing a member of the international jet-set to take on a long-term lease – would help to boost its coffers. The Private Islands website lists 1,235-acre Nafsika, in the Ionian sea, on sale by private interests for €15m. But others are on offer by private owners for less than €2m – less than a townhouse in Mayfair or Chelsea. Some of the country's numerous islands are tiny which could barely fit a single sunbed.

Only 227 Greek islands are populated and the decision to press ahead with potential sales has also been driven by the inability of the state to develop basic infrastructure, or police most of its islands. The hope is that the sale or long-term lease of some islands will attract investment that will generate jobs and taxable income.

Told by the Guardian that such sales or leases were in prospect, Makis Perdikaris, director of Greek Island Properties, said that he would be unhappy at the prospect of any outright sale of state land:

Quote:

"I am sad - selling off your islands or areas that belong to the people of Greece should be used as the last resort,"

he said. But he was not necessarily against long-term leases: "The first thing is to develop the economy and attract foreign domestic investment to create the -necessary infrastructure. The point is to get money."

In its battle to raise funds, the country is also planning to sell its rail and water companies. Chinese investors are understood to be interested in the Greek train system, as they already control some of the ports. In a deal announced earlier this month, the Greek government also agreed to export olive oil to China.

After the socialist government of prime minister Geórgios Papandreou responded to the IMF bailout with draconian budget cuts, rioters took to the streets, costing three lives in May.

In the midst of the crisis, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, delayed her support as she faced local elections and popular opposition to any public-funded help to Greece.

As strikes almost paralysed the country and hedge funds bet against the economy, German politicians called for Greece to start selling islands, historic buildings and artworks. It now appears that the Greek government has heeded their demands.

The City, where investors are increasingly shunning Greek investments, welcomed any island sales. "It's a shame if it has come to this but it does at least demonstrate that Greece is prepared to take all actions necessary to try and meet its obligations," said Gary Jenkins, a credit analyst at Evolution Securities.

Property prices have fallen between 10% and 20% since the May riots in Athens, as bad publicity has drawn visitors away, Perdikaris said.

"We have experienced a very slow booking season. Most tour operators offer hugely discounted rates," he said. Britons account for more than 60% of his company's property sales.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun....


UPDATE to Story above
Dated 16 hours ago.....

One third of land in debt-ridden Greece is up for sale

One third of all land in Greece is up for sale as the debt-crippled country tries to raise money from state assets, a state official reportedly said Wednesday – but little of it will help those wanting to snap up a dream home in the sunshine.

Greek authorities are touting billions of euros worth of government-owned land in order to finance international bailout loans totaling $227 billion over the next few years.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
However, most of the sites are in industrial zones or tied to facilities such as airports, highways and energy firms, according to a report by Turkey-based news Web site Hurriyet Daily News.
The report said Greece is targeting its immediate neighbor, Turkey, as potentially a large source of investment.

“One third of Greek land is on sale,” the report quoted Panos Protopsaltis, head of the Privatization Program of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, as saying
The organization is offering some 50 billion euros worth of assets for sale, and hopes to generate nearly 19 billion euros in cash by as early as 2015, the report added.

A truck assembly plant, sewage works and ports are also up for grabs, along with land on some of the country’s islands popular with tourists.

But tough rules on property transactions in Greece, coupled with an absence of spare land in the most sought-after areas, make it unlikely the country will see a huge influx of private buyers looking to take advantage of the 30 per cent drop in house prices over the past three years.

“Unless you have the cash to buy outright it is very difficult because the Greek banks simply aren’t lending,” UK-based property investment consultant Simon Conn told msnbc.com. “In addition, there are requirements such as having the legal documents translated into your own language. Also, buyers need to be careful. There is a reason a piece of land or building plot is up for sale in the first place; if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
There are also concerns Greece could suffer further economic difficulties in the future, making it a risky proposition for anyone wanting a holiday home in the sun.

A spokesman for Internet property site Rightmove Overseas told msnbc.com: "When the Greek economy first hit the news back in June 2011, we saw a jump of 50 per cent in searches for Greek island based properties compared to the month before. Greece has been in the top 10 most popular countries ever since, potentially fuelled by speculative investors looking for a low priced investment opportunity.

"However, we see Greece mainly as an opportunity for experienced investors; if you want to buy an office block in Athens, rather than a retirement home overlooking the sea, then now is a suitable opportunity."


Greece has recently received the first installments of its rescue loans, including $7.8 billion from countries that are in the Euro currency zone and a further $2.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

In exchange for the support, Greece has agreed to deeply unpopular austerity measures such as cuts to wages and public services, including hospitals.

Signs of real capitalism - I like it.

All your sovereignty are belong to us.

Quote:

The report said Greece is targeting its immediate neighbor, Turkey, as potentially a large source of investment.

Anyone else see a problem with this?

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/greece-lik....

Partial quote:

Quote:

Greece is likely to push back a deadline allowing private-sector investors holding some EUR9 billion of foreign-law Greek bonds to participate in a debt swap deal due to low interest in the second leg of the restructuring process, two officials said Friday.