The whole thing has been a really wretched farce

Big time.

who didn't have major regrets.

I never could really figure out why they made such a beast in the first place.

There are benefits to regional integration, but there are drawbacks, especially if it's executed poorly.

NAFTA countries kept their own currencies. Smart move.

I figured it was regional trade protection, but the part about one currency is crazy imo.

currency should be part of a bundle--if there's one currency, then there should be one fiscal policy and one political decision-making body. if you're all in it together, you need to be all in.

If it's just currency, that leads inevitably to conflict between states with diverging interests.

the germans have a giant bug up their ass about inflation. they've been that way for decades.

which is a problem when other countries using the currency are facing deflation

'global currency' like the dollar is around the world. As a matter of fact, I thought they built the EU to fight against the Yuan and the Dollar with their own form of regional currency.

What a total fucking mess!!

there was dual currency, but that went away.

Ironically, Germany was forced into the Euro by France, as a condition for the EU blessing German reunification.

What a mess indeed.

to do with the present situation anyhow.

part of "the continent?'

They've always been of two minds about that.

To fight the Yuan and Dollar on the world stage.

As I've said before, it was like the hostage threatening to shoot himself.

Once SYRIZA had committed to staying in the Euro, they pissed away their leverage.

Ah, democracy.

That's shocking to me.

turns out, taking the government's word at face value is generally a bad idea

want to be kicked out of the euro. What's left?

see also Obama, Barack "A new kind of politics"

people over there? Seems to me that everyone who is posting about this is talking about the corruption of the government - not just the present one but all of them.

They promised that they'd stop the austerity programs and that they'd keep Greece in the Eurozone.

They couldn't do both. Pretty obvious. They could stop the austerity, but they'd need to leave the Eurozone to have that ability.

Maybe they figured they could squeeze the rest of the EZ countries into letting them end austerity while staying in the Euro. But, the little don't squeeze the big.

Same deal with that referendum. Won lots of praise about democracy and standing up to the 1% blah blah blah, but a Greek referendum wasn't binding on Germany. So, what did that accomplish?

Turns out, nothing, probably made things worse.

The outcome of negotiations depends largely upon the relative power of those involved in the negotiations.

power.

The majority of Greek people apparently didn't realize that their only bargaining chip was their
willingness to leave the Euro if they couldn't get the deal they wanted. If they weren't willing to
do that it was all really a bluff and it appears to have been called.

to take their deal and shove it that they come back with an even worse offer.

So don't bluff if you're not prepared to walk away.

taken place. I heard a commentator on NPR say that Tsipras' days are numbered, and there will be calls for new elections no matter how this turns out.

I interpreted the No vote as "we want a less-austerity type deal". It would appear
they may be ending up with the opposite.

The fact is, the EU cannot afford to allow it to LOOK like Greek resistance worked; and I have to think the Greek gov. understands that.

But, but, he and Alexis were just playing 'good cop/bad cop', don't cha know?

All part of their finely-honed and ingenious negotiating strategy.