“I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” -Homer

            

 Will the gods bless or punish Greece?

The Greeks, finally, have decided to dust off the Trojan horse and pull it into the city, where the Troika (Berlin, Brussels, IMF) stand in their luxurious garments lecturing the Greek ministry on how to run a country. They have lavished the Greeks with so much wealth and Ouzo to get them to join and stay in the Euroclub that the Greeks are in a no-lose position. It is either debt forgiveness or default, if they go back to the Drachma. A huge hit for the ECB and anyone else that holds Greek debt, but just a clean new slate for Greece. A land where their majority of income is tourism, and would make them the cheapest destination in all of Europe.  Their economy may not flourish immediately, but would certainly not be devastated. Greek banks would also default, so there would be no debts left to pay and there is always someone ready to take a chance at the very beginning in funding the next Greek Ponzi scheme.

Odysseus is alive and well!

Xavier

Rates Rally on Fed Patience?

San Francisco Fed President John Williams said yesterday “I see no reason whatsoever to rush to tightening” and that “This is a U.S. economy that although doing a lot better, still needs monetary accommodation for above-trend growth”. I won’t argue. Let’s think though about this next statement from Mr. Williams - “My view, that I've expressed previously in the past, is that the middle of 2015 is a reasonable guess when that discussion I think will become closer to, should we do it now (raise rates) or wait a little longer?" Apparently, having “patience” means about the same thing as “considerable time”.