Greece: "It's the Final CountDown".

Greece: "It's the Final CountDown".(KV).Via The Slog we learn of a document, circulating around two large American banks, which seems to be a time-table for the 'controlled default' and Greek exit from the euro.
The document asserts that Greece will officially be declared in default by all the ratings agencies after the close of business on Friday march 23rd . At the weekend all Greek bank accounts will be frozen, with emergency measures detailed to prevent the flight of capital. Included in the paperwork is a list of very limited exceptions to the ‘no withdrawals’ order. All major banks ‘are instructed not to deal with euro exchange as of open of business in Greece on Monday 25th march. All Greek markets will close for one day ‘at least’.
Mark your calendars: March 23rd, after business hours. That's supposedly when the world (or at least the EUnion) will get even more interesting.

The two banks in possession of the document are Barclays and JP Morgan. And if you're wondering why two US banks would have this document, but no mention is made of EUro banks with a similar time-table: Merkozy are *not* in control. This is the Obama administrations doing. Moreover, there seems to be a similar planned exit for Portugal.
Further enquiries have revealed allegations that first, “the White House played hardball in several meetings with top bank currency traders” to ensure that “the Greek thing didn’t get out of control and ruin Obama’s chances”; second, Portugal is described as being “in the frame” for a similar process; third, the documents are from the Federal Reserve not the Treasury; and lastly, both the IMF and senior members of the German Government are in the loop.

It seems to me there are black arts at work here, and I’ve no desire to be suckered by them. Some of the media information out today since The Slog’s original piece is potentially conflicting, as indeed is some of the history surrounding this story. The biggest of these is the ‘split’ now alleged to exist between Merkel and Schauble about “what to do with” (lovely choice of phrase, that one) Greece. The story put out – and run by the London Financial Times this morning GMT – is that Schauble wants Athens to default, and Merkel doesn’t.

I think the story is bollocks. Superficially it rings true, but in reality this is an obvious attempt to deflect the flak away from Merkel after yesterday’s outrage at Berlin’s suggestion of postponing elections in Greece.Read the full story here.

Now lets see What ZeroHedge has to say about all this.
Greece is Not Lehman 2.0... As I'll Show, It's Much Much Worse.By.Graham Summers.
Investors simply do not understand the significance of Greece. Comparisons are being made to Lehman, but these comparisons are mute for the following reason: Greece is a country not a private institution.
This is not a subtle difference. True, Lehman’s derivatives were spread throughout the global financial system just as Greek sovereign debt is. However, investors are missing the point of the fall-out a Greek default would create.
Firstly, let’s think about Lehman. When Lehman went under, half of the other banks that were in trouble had already been merged with larger entities (Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch). Those banks that were still standing after Lehman went under, changed to bank holding companies (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) in order to receive special access to Fed lending.
None of these options exist regarding the sovereign crisis in Europe today. If Greece defaults, Portugal can’t merge with Spain. And Italy can’t suddenly change itself to a new form of country that gets special treatment from the ECB (it’s already getting special treatment from the ECB by the way).

This cuts to the core issues for sovereign defaults in the EU. Here are the facts regarding those EU countries on the verge of collapse:

1) You cannot solve a debt problem with more debt

2) Austerity measures slow economic growth which in turn makes it harder to meet debt payments

This is simple basic common sense. But these are the policies being promoted by EU leaders: we’ll give you more money if you implement more austerity measures to get your finances in order.
The fact of the matter is that there is simply no way on earth that Greece can get its finances in order (short of a massive default). Greece has terrible age demographics, a lack of economic growth, and cultural issues (e.g. paying taxes is for suckers) that it impossible for the country to solve its financial problems.
In plain terms, Greece racked up too big of a tab and simply doesn’t have the means of paying it. End of story. The world needs to realize this. Because Greece will default and it will default in a big way,
The impact of this will be tremendous. For one thing, pretty much everyone is lying about their exposure to Greece. Consider Germany for instance. According to the Bank of International Settlements German bank exposure to Greece is only $3.9 billion (though they state this is only on an immediate borrower basis).
So, when Greece defaults, the fall-out will be much, much larger than people expect simply by virtue of the fact that everyone is lying about their exposure to Greece.
Secondly, when Greece defaults, the other PIIGS (Italy, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal) will have to ask themselves… “do we opt for austerity measures and more debt which obviously didn’t work for Greece and will only stifle our economies more? Or do we also default?”
That’s a very tough question to answer. But I’d wager more than one of them will opt for default. And if you think European bank exposure to Greece is understated, you don’t even want to know how bad exposure to Italy and Spain is (to give you an idea, the German bank I referred to earlier, again by its own admission, has total PIIGS exposure equal to 60% of its equity).
Folks, the European banking system is in huge trouble. This won’t be Lehman 2.0. This is going to be something far, far worse. Some of these countries are already sporting unemployment of 20%. What happens when their largest banks go under?
Also, remember that the EU is:

1) The single largest economy in the world ($16.28 trillion)

2) China’s largest trade partner

3) Accounts for 21% of US exports

4) Accounts for $121 billion worth of exports for South America

It’s clear the EU is already heading into a recession without a banking crisis hitting. What do you think will be the impact when Europe as a whole experiences its own “2008” only on a sovereign level?

We are literally on the eve of a Crisis that will make 2008 look like a picnic.Hmmm.......Europe must be thinking: "Not all of me shall die." ~ Horace. Read the full story here.