With Europe making it very clear that unless Greece folds in the next 48 hours, there will be no deal on which the Greeks will be conducting their "Greferendum" as Greece will be programless after June 30, there has been ample confusion about just what the wording of the ballot will be to which the Greek population will say Nai or Oxi. As the following latest snapshot confirms, even the Greek side is rather confused and is now essentially telling people to vote on a deal that was proposed once (on June 25) and may or may no longer be relevant.
This takes place even as moments ago Germany's minister for economic affairs Sigmar Gabriel explained just what a No vote would entail:
- GERMANY GABRIEL: GREEK NO VOTE A VOTE FOR EURO AREA EXIT
Even though there was clearly some confusion as the push to set the narrative begins:
- MERKEL SAYS NONE OF US WANT TO TELL GREEK PEOPLE HOW TO VOTE
A clear lie as just moment prior we got this:
- JUNCKER: I WOULD LIKE TO ASK GREECE TO VOTE 'YES'
Of course, Greece is quite aware of this, and it doing all it can to push voters in the desired direction as the front page of Syriza's newspaper today reveals...
... but at this point there is no alternative: since the bluffing game had to be taken beyond the point of no return and both Greece and the Troika have to last it out until the weekend.
However, the problem for Greece may not be one of wording or even maintaining the "game theory" bluff until the very end, but a far simpler one: not having the funds to actually conduct it!
According to Germany's FAZ, "the Greek Court also estimates that the referendum will cost around 110 million euros, according to a well-informed policy analyst. Money that in view of the strapped Greek Checkout simply will not be there, even if the country saves a EUR 1.6 billion full-scale default to the International Monetary Fund this Tuesday."
Furthermore, the Athens Chamber of Commerce added there is no paper to print some 20 million requred ballots!
So a question emerges: if indeed Greece is unable to fund a referendum will it be stuck with mailed-in responses? And how long would it take to tabulate those votes: 3 weeks, 3 months? Needless to say, the cash-based Greek economy, with its €60/day daily allowance of ATM will not survive nearly that long, something the government hopefully realizes as the next wave of anger will promptly turn away from the Troika once the natitonalistic passion has died down and refocuses on the local government itself...
No comments:
Post a Comment