Cliffhanger

From Trading Advantage

LARRY'S MORNING COMMENTARY Cliffhanger

You may or may not agree with George Soros and his politics.  But, when he starts talking about currencies and sovereign nations, it’s probably a good idea to listen.

We learn from Bloomberg:

The chances of Greece leaving the euro area are now 50-50 and the country could go “down the drain,” billionaire investor George Soros said.

“It’s now a lose-lose game and the best that can happen is actually muddling through,” Soros, 84, said in a Bloomberg Television interview due to air Tuesday. “Greece is a long-festering problem that was mishandled from the beginning by all parties.”

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government needs to persuade its creditors to sign off on a package of economic measures to free up long-withheld aid payments that will keep the country afloat. Since his January election victory, he has tried to shape an alternative to the austerity program set out in the nation’s bailout agreement, spurring concern that Greece may be forced out of the euro.

The negotiations between Tsipras’s Syriza government and the institutions helping finance the Greek economy -- the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund -- could result in a “breakdown,” leading to the country leaving the common currency area, Soros said in the interview at his London home.

“You can keep on pushing it back indefinitely,” making interest payments without writing down debt, Soros said. “But in the meantime there will be no primary surplus because Greece is going down the drain.”

Soros said in January 2012 that the odds are in the direction of Greece leaving the euro region.

“Right now we are at the cusp and I can see both possibilities,” he said in Tuesday’s interview.

It’s like what I have been talking about for months.  The Troika has taken the stance of kick the can down the road and “hope” things get better.  Sadly, that is the stance of a lot (if not all) of the Central Bankers.   How long can we kick the can before we hit a brick wall?  Or worse, kick it over the edge of a cliff?