The IMF just said to Greece “Screw you guys, I’m going home.” (Note: For the full effect, you have to say the preceding in the voice of Eric Cartman.)
The International Monetary Fund said it was halting bailout talks with Greece in a stark signal of its exasperation about a lack of progress toward a deal needed to avert a Greek default, as European leaders suggested the negotiations were nearing their endgame without an agreement in sight.
And keep in mind that these are transnational bureaucrats whose entire job description is long, drawn-out economic negotiations. And they’ve finally had enough of talking to Greece.
That’s not the fat lady warming up, that’s the fat lady striding boldly on stage and waiting for the cue to open her mouth.
The Greek debt crisis was always going to come to a bad end. The least bad alternative was introducing real austerity when the crisis hit, paring back their welfare state, reforming their economy, and living within their means for several years until their economy started growing again.
But by electing the far-left Syriza party, Greece has ended up opting for a far worse fate: They’re going to end up absolutely broke, absolutely in debt, and they won’t even be able to fund the day-to-day operations of their bloated welfare state. Unless the Greek parliament can somehow force a snap election and replace Alexis Tsipras’s lying, farcical government with one actually capable of recognizing reality, Greece is in for a level of economic pain that’s going to make the Great Depression look like a picnic…
(Hat tip: Zero Hedge.)