LIVE: Greece votes 'No' to EU debt proposals, meaning Euro exit+default highly likely

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-...-no-vote-wins/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/e...ults-live.html

Greek Referendum Day results live: Greek voters reject EU and IMF debt proposals meaning a default and exit from the Eurozone are now highly likely

'No' vote much higher than opinion polls initially predicted with a twenty percent margin.

Its government has left it for the people to decide whether to accept an austerity package put forward by international lenders in return for a further bailout from the eurozone rescue fund.

Greece will have to introduce another currency if the "no" vote wins in today's referendum on an aid-for-reforms deal, the head of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, has told German radio.

"Is Greece still in the euro after this referendum? That is certainly the case, but if they say 'no' they will have to introduce another currency after the referendum because the euro is not available as a means of payment," Schulz told Deutschlandfunk radio.

Well done everyone involved in the creation of the Euro. Terrific idea.

— Iain Martin (@iainmartin1) July 5, 2015

EU project is now dying. It’s fantastic to see the courage of the Greek people in the face of political and economic bullying from Brussels.

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) July 5, 2015

"The moment someone introduces a new currency, they exit the euro zone. Those are the elements that give me some hope that the people will not vote 'no' today."

His comments are some of the clearest made by a top EU official.

It looks like the Greeks have gone and done it.

The Eurocrats are terrified of a Greek exit because if Greece exits and recovers, we'll see a domino effect in Europe.

Thoughts?

[-:Undertaker:-]

40.17% of votes counted in Greek referendum.

NO 1,228,858 (61.08%)

YES 783,184 (38.92%)

[Firehorse]

Going to be a great time to invest in Greece very soon.

[-:Undertaker:-]

It's a done deal. Greece has voted 'No' to the EU.

88.4% votes counted, No has it by 61.46%. Done. Sealed. Delivered. pic.twitter.com/CkqjDlQNmS

— Constantin Gurdgiev (@GTCost) July 5, 2015

The BBC, having spent the week saying that Greece was voting on the euro, is now telling viewers that the vote wasn't in any sense anti-EU.

— Daniel Hannan (@DanielJHannan) July 5, 2015

The Greek elite who used Goldman Sachs to fiddle Eurozone entry and the euroelite which knowingly accepted this fiddle face day of reckoning

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) July 5, 2015

Belle et grande leçon de démocratie que ce NON grec. Les peuples sont de retour ! #Greferendum MLP

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) July 5, 2015

From what I read, it's all in the hands of the unelected and unaccountable-to-anyone ECB now.

[FlyingJesus]

What's their alternative plan for making coins

[-:Undertaker:-]

What's their alternative plan for making coins

That'll be secret and sudden to avoid speculation. I would be amazed though if the currency hasn't already been printed and is waiting.

The likelyhood is that Greeks will wake up, find out all banks/transactions have been closed and the Drachma reintroduced. Followed by devaluation once floated.

[FlyingJesus]

Oh I meant actually recovering financially not minting

[-:Undertaker:-]

Oh I meant actually recovering financially not minting

Oh, well defaulting will clear much of the debt and de facto devaluing (by leaving the Euro) will help exports. Imports on the other hand will become more expensive. That in itself is a huge restructuring of the economy that will take a few years to begin to work, as well as the structural reforms Greece needs to implement which probably only a right wing government will actually carry out such as highering the pensions age, cutting back subsidies etc. It's going to sting initially and depends on future Greek governments but ultimately they'll have their own future back in their own hands. That's the principle here.

The bigger question here is, once Greece leaves the Euro and begins to recover via exports, what will Spain/Italy/Portugal all do? It's the EU's worst nightmare.

[FlyingJesus]

So they basically just pretend they don't owe any money and try again maybe I should have a country

[-:Undertaker:-]

So they basically just pretend they don't owe any money and try again maybe I should have a country

Basically. But a default doesn't mean you can simply carry on as before as you'll then be frozen out of international gilt/bond markets making lending at normal prices very hard for a long time - as nobody would likely trust you for a long time to repay your debts again if you kept defaulting. Being unable to lend at normal rates for a long time consequently means you're then forced to live within your limits and have to undergo brutal economic restructuring.

Greece ideally needs default, exit from the Eurozone and some kind of right-wing military government or Margaret Thatcher-type figure to reform state finances.