The EU governments, if they want to avert disaster, need to assist Greece, and other countries as well, in an orderly default of their debt. A default is never easy to propose, but as I indicated in my last post when referring to the assistance of the United States government to Mexico in defaulting through Brady Bonds, this assistance makes all the difference between making the debt load manageable and total collapse.
There will be a lot of bellyaching from Northern Europe. Indeed, the finance minister of the Netherlands' right-wing government, Jan-Kees de Jager, has declared he takes pride in taking the toughest stand of all European countries on the terms that Greece will have to meet. That could be a costly position to maintain.
There is a difference between rebuilding on terms everyone can figure out, and terms that no one can figure out because the plan won't be kept. Creditors in Europe may look at a 100% repayment plan as only fair, whilst Greek critics will look at it as imposing unrealistic demands. The only part that is important though is: can Greece really pay 100%? If it can't, then an orderly default is better than a European shit storm.
There will be a lot of bellyaching from Northern Europe. Indeed, the finance minister of the Netherlands' right-wing government, Jan-Kees de Jager, has declared he takes pride in taking the toughest stand of all European countries on the terms that Greece will have to meet. That could be a costly position to maintain.
There is a difference between rebuilding on terms everyone can figure out, and terms that no one can figure out because the plan won't be kept. Creditors in Europe may look at a 100% repayment plan as only fair, whilst Greek critics will look at it as imposing unrealistic demands. The only part that is important though is: can Greece really pay 100%? If it can't, then an orderly default is better than a European shit storm.
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