That's it, they missed a payment. Somehow, I'm happy because now the Greek problem will move to another stage. For the better or the worse, but at least, things are changing. The negotiations have been far too long. Now, things will move at a much faster pace.
What I wonder is how long this default will remain, say, virtual. In my eyes, the most awful thing about the Greek crisis is that most people haven't understood what's at stake: they talk about the "troika". They forget that the troika is only a front, it's all the Europeans who are behind. me included, and possibly you, if you're an European citizen. Every Greek owes several hundreds euros to every other European citizen. Can I travel to Greece and claim a piece of land as a repossession? Hey, this is what bankers do!
Thought the troika was representing French, German and American banks, not the people of Europe. And did the bailout money ever go to the Greek people? Wasn't it all given to the government to be given directly back to the banks that had loaned the money? Meanwhile forcing austerity, huge unemployment and destroying the Greek economy to pay for that? This can't be solved by worsening the situation.
Much less then one tenth of Greek debt is to American banks. The bulk is to the European Central Bank or the European Financial Stability fund, with money coming the member states, and ultimately the citizens since no country has money by itself. If Greece doesn't pay its debts, that means the debt will be transferred back to the member states, then its citizens. In the end, that would make the situation more difficult for everybody non Greek, the Germans, the French, the Italians, etc...
