DownWithTyranny!: Is It All Greek To You?

Zerohedge is certainly the blog with the most constantly updated unfolding of the Greek economic crisis-- and his twitter feed keeps reminding me of what conservatives seem to be trying to drag us into as well. The title of a post on his blog by Tyler Durden this week, Greek Economy Implodes: Budget Revenues Tumble 7% In January On Expectation Of 9% Rise sounded dire-- and it was.

While hardly surprising to anyone who actually paid attention over the past two months to events in Greece (instead of just reacting to headlines) where among those on strike were the very tax collectors tasked with "fixing the problem," we now get a first glimpse of the sheer collapse in the Greek economy, which also confirms why Germany is now dying for Greece to pull its own Eurozone plug (predicated by a naive belief that Greece is firewalled as was discussed before. As a reminder Hank Paulson thought that Lehman, too, was firewalled on September 15, 2008). And what a collapse it is: according to just released data from Kathimerini, budget revenues lagged projections by €1 billion in the very first month of the year. "Revenues posted a 7 percent decline compared with January 2011, while the target that had been set in the budget provided for an 8.9 percent annual increase. Worse still, value-added tax receipts posted an 18.7 percent decrease last month from January 2011 as the economy continues to tread the path of recession: VAT receipts only amounted to 1.85 billion euros in January compared to 2.29 billion in the same month last year." This it the point where any referee would throw in the towel. But no: for Europe's bankers there apparently are still some leftover organs in the corpse worth harvesting. Unfortunately, at this point we fail to see how this setup ends with anything but civil war, as the April elections will merely once again reinstate the existing bloodsucking regime. We hope we are wrong.

Civil War? Don't be a drama queen? Well, he's not. The protests and general strike are getting ugly enough so that even CNN has noticed. Germany is demanding ever more stringent austerity for the Greeks, as though they were a subject people. And since the Greek government reports to them... it looks like the Greeks are a subject people.

Papademos was set to meet with party leaders Tuesday evening, but talks have now been pushed back to Wednesday, according to the Prime Ministers office.

It was the second delay since the leaders agreed Sunday on the "main elements" of the program, including a plan to reduce public spending by 1.5% of gross domestic output this year.

Meanwhile, Greek labor unions held a daylong strike Tuesday to protest the reforms, which they see as being foisted on them by foreign creditors.

The reforms are needed for Greece to receive a second bailout worth €130 billion from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.

Without additional funding, Greece will most likely miss a €14.5 billion bond redemption in March. The concern is that a so-called disorderly default could force Greece out of the euro currency union and shock the global financial system.

On Monday, Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos met with officials from the EU, IMF and ECB, collectively known as the troika.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Venizelos said the Greek people face a "dramatic and acute dilemma."

The austerity reforms under discussion will have "very high social costs," he said. But if negotiations fail, that would bankrupt the country and lead to "even greater sacrifices," he warned.

In fact, the Greek government is starting to dissolve over the steep costs-- costs to social cohesion and national unity-- Germany and the EU banksters are imposing on the Greek people. This morning the Deputy Foreign Minister, Marilisa Xenogiannakopoulou, resigned in protest against those tough terms.

The move by Xenogiannakopoulou, a member of the socialist party in the national unity government of technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, follows similar resignations by the socialist deputy labour minister and four far-right ministers.

Striking Greek workers denounced a new wave of austerity on Friday as an imposition too far by Europe and the IMF. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told the nation it faced a stark choice between sacrifices inside the euro area and bigger sacrifices outside.

Police fired teargas at black-masked protesters who threw petrol bombs, stones and bottles in central Athens at the start of a 48-hour general strike against planned pay and job cuts. But street protests were relatively small and mostly peaceful.

The biggest police trade union said it would issue arrest warrants for Greece’s international lenders for subverting democracy, and refused to “fight against our brothers”. A daily newspaper depicted German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a Nazi uniform with a swastika armband.

As public rage simmered, the leader of the far-right LAOS movement, the smallest of three parties backing Papademos, said he would not vote for the harsh austerity program in a crucial parliament vote due on Sunday or Monday.

“Greeks cannot be hostages and serfs,” LAOS leader George Karatzaferis told a news conference. “We were robbed of our dignity, we were humiliated. I can’t take this. I won’t allow it, no matter how hungry I am.”