The Greek crisis continued.

The votes are being counted and the Greeks will soon know which way their future lies.
Of course that is not really true since the ramifications of a "No" vote against a "Yes" vote have not really been spelt out in any sort of detail.
A "Yes" vote means probably more of the same. More borrowing with more debt leading to more borrowing.
Companies who set up up over in this country offering loans to people who could not get loans through the normal banking system came under intense scrutiny because the interest, interest on interest drove the debt into multiples and became impossible to repay. The word "Usury"comes to mind which is an illegal practice, illegal because it draws a person in a financial trap where they will never be able to get out of debt no matter what they do.
This of course is exactly the position of Greece, it can never extricate itself from its debt because the countries income  can hardly pay the interest, never mind the capital.
I was having a go at the IMF in my last blog on the Greek crisis, after listening to Christine Lagarde the head of the IMF. She supported Wolfgang Schauble the right wing German Finance Minister who was adamant  that the Greeks should be made to suffer.
Having returned to Washington someone must have had a word in her ear since the IMF have since put out a statement which mirrored what I had suggested was a solution.
The Greeks need two things.
1. A moratorium on the repayment so the country can be given the time to process realigning their tax take with their income from earnings.
2. An even more difficult and painful process, is that of bringing the Greek Pension system into line with what is on offer in other European countries.
These financial / social changes can not be changed overnight in fact it is the laxity of persuasion by the EU over the years that has allowed the imbalance to continue even when the Greeks were heading for bankruptcy.
3. The second IMF change of mind is that the Greeks get a much longer period to repay their debt, up to 25 years.
Why Christine Lagrange didn't say this before she departed a few days ago is a mystery but it's incontestable that the financial pockets of the Europeans and the IMF are deep enough and could  be induced to go easy on Greece in return for positive changes by the Greek government.  

In 2008  "for no changes" the Banks across the world were bailed out by the ordinary people to the tune of trillions of dollars.
No it's an ideological problem particularly on behalf of the Germans who, when faced with austerity and a valueless currency went  through hell to put themselves right and it's the memory of that effort and stoicism which asks of the Greeks,  if us why not you ?
Of course the Greeks have their own memories of the terrible time they experienced under Natzi occupation when their people were shot and tortured out of hand.
If the Greeks decided to exit the Euro what would happen.
1. Their Central Bank would revert to printing Drachmas. The Markets would decide on the price of their convertibility and a peg would be decided.
2. Income into the Greek exchequer from exports and the tourist industry would purchase services and negotiate contracts and the bank would avoid the crippling debt repayment schedule since they would no longer be liable to their creditors.
3. The immediate need, to cut their cloth to suite their income would be forced upon everyone and for many this would be better than trying to survive under the yoke of an ill thought out currency experiment which has divided Europe into two halves, the Northern Industrialist and the Rural South.
A 4th option would be to allow the Greeks to exit the currency but stay in the Union allowing them to trade with their own currency which would in some ways put them on parallel with the position of the UK.

Perhaps this is the moment when the "Capitalist hegemony",( which has been all powerful throughout the world ) is brought if not to heel but to re-examine its blind pursuance of profit above all else, if other countries such as Spain, Italy, even Ireland decide their future lies outside the EU currency and vote more "left wing" governments into power.