Courtesy of Mish.
Time Machines Appear in Brussels
Via the magic of time machines, it appears that midnight three weeks ago has still not arrived.
I say that because the midnight hour for a Greek deal came and went weeks ago. Yet, this evening, the New York Times says Greece Submits 11th-Hour Bailout Proposal to Creditors.
Only a day after grim predictions of financial and social collapse in Greece, a scramble appeared underway to work out the details of a new bailout package to bring the country back from the brink.
Germany’s truculent finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, finally gave a little on debt relief for Greece, admitting Thursday that “debt sustainability is not feasible without a haircut,” or writedown of debt.
Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland and the president of the European Council, said on Twitter that any “realistic proposal from Athens needs to be matched by realistic proposal from creditors on debt sustainability to create win-win situation.”
What was breathtaking, however, was how in a matter of hours the entire dynamic in the Greek crisis seemed to shift, from apocalyptic warnings of a Zimbabwe in the Balkans, to a fresh optimism that the basics of a deal could be worked out.
The question now is whether that apparent change of heart reflected a new political determination to cut a deal that keeps Greece in the eurozone.
Breathtaking About Face! Forward March!
Tspiras can likely force anything through Greek parliament following the massive “No” campaign.
But how does one explain the sudden “about face” by Wolfgang Schäuble?
The New York Times offers this explanation: “There is a group of people who have been sent to help the Greeks, to try to transform words into action,” said a French government official with knowledge of the effort.
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