Greece : The Straw that Breaks the Euro Area- Full Integration or an Amicable Split

I've been thinking about this for days now.. Knowing what I want to say and hoping it's understandable?In a nutshell Greece (Tsipras) is the straw being used to break the camel’s back. The camels back being the European nations, their distinct histories and identities, being forced into a totally integrated union. (Like the United States of America? See references below) Or 2 "unions"Oddly enough this has me thinking about all the phony Confederate flag hoopla- Erasing the history of people.... So despicable. Idiom

The idiom the straw that broke the camel's back, alluding to the proverb "it is the last straw that breaks the camel's back", describes the seemingly minor or routine action which causes an unpredictably large and sudden reaction, because of the cumulative effect of small actions.This gives rise to the phrase "the last straw" or "the final straw", meaning the last in a line of unacceptable occurrences, provoking a seemingly sudden strong reaction.

The use of Greece as the straw that over burdens the EU harkens back to the taking out of DSK, who was on his way to meet Merkel. Apparently Dominic Strauss Kahn and Angela Merkel had worked out some sort of deal with regard to Greece that was unacceptable to the New York Federal Reserve. DSK never made that meeting. It appears to me that Tsipras is playing an important role in this scheme. Either the EU integrates completely. Or they help the weaker member states to exit, perhaps into the poor cousin version of the EU.  This is why I see Tsipras as a player. A willing participant and not a victim. He get’s a huge voter mandate from the Greeks and then runs back to Brussels? It makes zero sense unless one understand Tsipras is participating in and pushing a different agenda. Germany appears to be the most resistant state in this one world order bankster agenda.That could be because they have the most to lose. Brief Digression-

Recall the creation of NATO (the global military for the globalists) and this infamous quote? Hastings Lionel "Pug" Ismay: British Soldier/Diplomat and Churchill’s right hand man1st Secretary General of NATO
    On the purpose of NATO: "To keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down."

        Presumably while Secretary General of NATO (1952-1957). See Nye, Joseph. The Paradox of American Power. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. p. 33

Is Germany resisting it’s complete subordination?  Is Germany choosing to oust the poor cousins starting with Greece in order to put off this total integration and subjugation to Brussels.CNN - DSK

As Martin Schultz, president of the European Parliament tweeted this week: "The U.S. have one currency, one central bank and one government. Europe has one currency, one central bank and... 17 governments! It cannot go on like this," before adding: "We cannot live with 17 individual policies on the euro. We need one single euro governance."

DSK believed there were other issues that needed addressing. You can read that in the linked article.Europe must integrate etc......Excerpt:

Unfortunately, it does nothing to address the fundamental issues that have repeatedly landed Europe in crisis since 2009. Former German economic minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg quipped that Europe has not been kicking the can down the road, it has been kicking it up a hill and wondering why it keeps rolling back on its foot.

The core issue: Although the European Union (EU) can handle economies of widely varying types and levels of development, the euro area cannot. Greece’s gross domestic product (GDP) per person was about half of Germany’s when it joined the euro in 2001. Since then, Greece’s competitiveness relative to Germany’s has slid by about 40 per cent.

For a currency union to handle widely divergent economies, they must be deeply integrated across multiple dimensions. In the United States, the average citizen of Mississippi makes just $20,618 (Dh75,833) a year, compared with $37,892 in Connecticut — almost as big a gap as between Greece and Germany. Yet, the US does not worry about a “Missexit”, because the country has various mechanisms for smoothing over differences among its states. The recent problems of Puerto Rico show the danger of being locked to a currency without such buffers.

The mechanisms include large fiscal transfers — by necessity currency unions are transfer unions. Last year, 28 US states sent the equivalent of 2.3 per cent of their GDP through the federal budget to the other 22 states. The biggest donor, Delaware, gave 21 per cent. The biggest recipient, North Dakota, got 90 per cent. By contrast, in 2011, Germany made a net contribution of 0.2 per cent of its GDP to the EU budget, while Greece received 0.2 per cent. Would German voters really support a tenfold jump in their contributions from 210 euros (Dh812) to 2,100 euros per person?

Large-scale fiscal transfers are not the only mechanism needed. Mississippi has probably run the equivalent of a current account deficit with New York ever since the Civil War. Every April, the banks in the Federal Reserve system reallocate assets and smooth over such regional imbalances. By contrast, when Greece runs a deficit with Germany — for example, due to trade with Germany or capital flight from Greece — its central bank accumulates debts to the Bundesbank indefinitely. The Bundesbank currently holds more than 500 billion euros in credits against other euro zone central banks. Again, would German taxpayers be willing to see the Bundesbank regularly write off some portion of those liabilities?

Another reason US states do not pop out of the dollar area is that they (with the exception of Vermont) have to balance their operating budgets. Only the federal government can run a long-term deficit. Again, Germany and other EU states have explicitly rejected any kind of euro-area sovereign-bond arrangement that would pool deficits. Finally, the US has a deep single market for products, services and labour and a true national banking union, all of which in Europe are only partially completed projects. The lack of truly integrated markets allowed real interest rates and inflation to diverge across the euro zone, leading to a loss of competitiveness and a credit boom and bust in the south.

Thus, the euro area is stuck in a dysfunctional netherworld between a fully integrated union and a more flexible exchange rate mechanism. So Greece has to become a lot more like Germany (unlikely), the euro area needs to become a lot more like the US (also unlikely) or we will have another crisis (very likely)

The euro was never conceived as an end in itself. It was created as a means towards greater growth and unity. It has failed badly on both counts. If US-style integration is politically unrealistic, then the only hope for long-term stability is a slimmed-down euro area of more homogeneous countries.

Conclusion:

Europe must get out of its halfway house of horrors. Repeated bailouts and austerity will not achieve that. Europe’s leaders may buy themselves a period of respite this week, but eventually they must choose: Either integrate far more deeply or help the euro area’s most troubled members escape.

Either integrate far more deeply or help the euro’s most troubled members escape. In other words to avoid further deeper integration Greece has to be cut loose. It appears to me Tsipras is pushing Germany and the European Union into a must choose situation. Deeply integrate or help the most troubled members to leave so the EU can continue to function.Flashback!

Greek Crisis: Taking down Germany, Shoring up Oligarchs and Worse?

 I'm going to direct you back to this comment:

AnonymousJuly 9, 2015 at 12:22 PMInsightfulYes Germany NSA scandals seem to be leaking fast and furious.Per nyse, A400 crash was also a software glitch and occured days after the NSA Corp espionage allegations on airbus implicating Germany. Heck of a lot of russian and us fighter planes crashing lately. Curiously the us backed the imf release of the haircuts for greece in what is a breach of bailout protocol. As you may remember days before DSK was arrested he allegedly advocated haircuts in Ireland and greece. At the time treasury felt the need to issue a statement on geithner behalf that the us did not intervene to block a haircut on the debt. So why would the us be backing a haircut now?

This commenter mentioned the 'scrutiny of Deutsche Bank'Deutsche Bank Suffers From Litany of Reporting Problems, Regulators SaidWhich reads like a pressure tactic- Cause let's face it all the banks are corruptFinally relinking

Banker vs Banker - Dominique Strauss Kahn vs Ben Bernanke?

 Was Strauss-Kahn biting the hand that feeds the IMF? Besides the SDR? By allowing the IMF to vocally express their disdain with the US?

I notice DSK is making a bit of a comeback. Has he been properly humbled? Not sure if the deal he had worked out with Merkel would have affected the present day bond bubble? Or if it would have made the present day situation the EU and Greece find themselves in an impossibility?Can't be sure. However, I'm sticking with what I see at this time. Greece (Tsipras) is being used to put pressure on the EU to fully and completely integrate or split into two factions.EU  & EU 2 the poor cousinsWhat do you think?As I said yesterday to jo- I believe this deal was designed to fail

PennyJuly 14, 2015 at 2:31 PMHey jo!I have an idea this won't pass because it wasn't designed to pass- but will see..

Greek MPs approve austerity package