A GREEK FARCE?

A mean they were pretty good with tragedies, boy marries mom and all that stuff.  But a farce?  Well, as of right now we have one and it is a beaut.

You see, there is this fellow, Jean-Claude Juncker floating about with the title of the President of the European Commission.  Now that doesn't mean a lot but it is a step-up from Prime Minister of Luxembourg which exists only because the rest of the Euros find it convenient to hide their money there from their own taxing authorities which sounds more than a bit insane but there you have it.  It's also a beautiful spot to visit if a bit austere.  Magnificent setting, great views and terrific food.  Everybody speaks about seven languages or so it seems.  Bring a lot of money.

Anyway, the star in this tale, Mr Juncker, also signed on early to creation of the Euro and has been a passionate supporter ever since.  He is a man of strong opinions among which is a visceral hatred of the Brits and a less than fond attitude towards the Germans.  He has accused both of banding together to destroy the Union without much to back it up but since everybody else doesn't like the Brits and the Germans either, his views are hardly dismissed out of hand.  Keep this in mind.

And so it came to pass that early this morning an unknown Greek news outlet published a report claiming they had received information from a close source that Mr. Juncker had cut the Gordian knot  in the Greek/EU negotiations by agreeing to loosen the conditions proposed by the Commission via the Troika and release a bunch of billions of Euros right away ending the crisis.  Bond yields crashed on the news.  Oddly, there was nothing but silence on either side--deafening as far as the Euros were concerned--with the Greeks only reiterating that things were getting close to  a solution.

The day proceeds with everybody calling everybody they know to see if there is any truth to the story.  Nothing, Nada, but at the same time no real, hard denial, just stuff like, "We cannot confirm..." or "We have no information..." There were whispers that Juncker finally let his prejudices get the best of him and actually did promise the Greeks something or that he'd finally gone 'round the twist...a point which he had approached a number of times in the past.  Oh, I forgot to mention that Mr. Juncker doesn't exactly have a big fan club among his colleagues.

Now the fact of the matter is the decision makers in this exercise do not reside anywhere near the office of the President of the Commission and could care less as to what Mr. Juncker said or did not say.  But the problem is if you create a title and a position that sounds grand, a lot of people are going to believe the guy in the chair has real stroke.  Soooo, if I were the Greeks the next thing I would do is play to the cheap seats, throw up your hands and claim you have been misled, lied to and treated with contempt.  They will have an audience.  Not exactly Eddie Rex, but remember, this is a farce.  And you know what?  It just might work.  Boy, would that leave 'em laughing.