For a rather detailed discussion of what's happening with Greece and the rest of Europe (it's not just Greece), there is a good audio interview at Alasdair Macleod: All Roads In Europe Lead To Gold or on Youtube at Chris Martenson & Alasdair Macleod on YouTube 48 minutes

Alasdair Macleod indicates that the bank runs we've seen in Greece in recent weeks is just the tail, Greek money has been leaving Greece for a couple years. So what does a German who has been responsible & productive and has been saving his/her entire life do now that the Euro is being debased (LTRO) due to the irresponsibility of other non-German Europeans?

My fear is that it will not be limited to Europe. The big U.S. banks are also exposed to the European debt situation and Bernanke is talking QE3 based on problems that are lingering here already.

from what I can see ... Europe is breaking up and the dream of a "united Europe" is dead. The politicians in Brussels are fighting this idea tooth and nail - but the breakup is inevitable. The current economic and financial arrangement is just not sustainable in the euro community.

there has been much talk about how the exit of Greece will be "good" for the country. I think the exit will happen over the next few months. But it will hardly lead to salvation for the Greek economy. Much more likely is that the country will plunge into a full-fledged economic depression and a high level of political uncertainty i.e. anarchy.

We are witnessing the complete re-alignment of Europe.
These are events that will re-shape history books. Right now - they are our daily headlines.

Pete2

Greece has pretty much already reached that point, it seems. The economy has been contracting for the past four years (already one of the worst post-war depressions) and still shrinking and the national government is already in shambles and paralysis.

The unemployment rate is very high (officially 20%, 50% for the younger generation) but many people are technically still working but just not getting paid. Many Greeks have endured significant pay cuts and many others have gone on for many months unpaid based on the promise of eventually getting paid. Eventually, I suppose many of these workers are just going to stop going to work and then the wheels of society are really going to fall off. Who knows if there will be much of a safety net left at that point for all the unemployed and people needing health care.

The Greeks are still hanging in there. We haven't seen a physical run on the Greek banks (yet) but arguably, perhaps your average Greeks have already pulled their money out slowly over the past couple years and don't have money left to rush out and withdraw anyway. News reports indicate that companies wire their receipts out of Greece on a daily basis now, which looking back, probably accounts for the massive amount of money withdrawn from the Greek banking system and what the news article was reporting on.

Now there are reports of an impending energy crisis where gas and electricity supplies could be shut off to...any region in the country, it sounds like. The whole country? That's not clear, from the reports. Oil supplies are still flowing, for the time being, but only just. It's more complicated than this, but essentially people are not paying their electricity bills so the electric utility can't pay the natural gas suppliers so both the electricity and/or gas supplies could be shut down for lack of money/credit. I suppose that means your natural gas powered kitchen stove will also be affected (do they use those in Greece?)

According to ANSAmed (I saw it first reported by Reuters):

Greeks are still scrambling to secure loans to keep the lights on. I'm not sure if having national elections scheduled a week from now helps or hurt this process. Spain's floundering banking system and economy is increasingly in the news this past week so it's almost like a following the fortunes (or lack of it) of different teams in a sports tournament in the news.

I read an article about a trend for city-dwelling Greeks to return to the small towns they came from. Hard numbers are hard to come by, but one recent survey indicates two-thirds of Greeks have considered a move to the countryside, most of them permanently.

The article focuses on one young lady in particular, and points out one of the advantages of rural living--her ability to grow her own food, keep some beehives, etc. She hates small town living (and she grew up there), but she didn't really have any choice but to leave Athens. I don't have any roots in the countryside, nor do any of my close friends, so making this kind of move would be tough for me if things ever came to that.

You can read the article here .

Well, the Greek elections are tomorrow. Could mean everything. Could mean nothing, too, if there is no clear winner.

According to this news report, the lights will stay on for now after the government released funds frozen by the bankruptcy of a couple small utilities. Sounds like it is only a temporary fix, though.

This CNBC article mentions Greeks are stocking up on non-perishable food leading up to the election. Sounds like it's primarily a measure against a potential loss of purchasing power if the country leaves the Euro, or maybe a hedge against a disruption in supplies. Medicines are already hard to come by in Greece.


And according to this this CNBC article, sounds like a lot of major bank employees in the NYC area are working this weekend, preparing for a potentially volatile day in the markets on Monday, after the results of the Greek election become apparent.

I'm still surprised that there hasn't been any outright bank run there. Either most people don't think Greece will leave the Euro, or else most folks just don't have much money left in the banks. Maybe the results of the election will shed some light on this question.

My understanding is that everyone who had any money has already moved it into other currencies.

Here is a related article getting a lot of press.
It addresses the the impact of a banking holiday in America in a worst case scenario.


http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/06/20-r...-nightmare.html

Correct link is http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/06/20-r...-nightmare.html

I have found these recent articles to be quite thoughtful and useful. They are stark and sobering, but free of hysteria.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Euro...3389/story.html

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Fish...9223/story.html

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Fish...4430/story.html