Can Greece Get It Done? Not!

After another missed deadline, in a long string of missed deadlines, one can only wonder, “Can Greece get it done?”  And the answer, unfortunately, is “not!, Maybe Not!”  At least, not yet.

And so, after two long years, we come ever closer to the end of the road.

All weekend long, the question has been, “Can Greece step back from the abyss and save itself and the world?  As the sun rises on Monday morning, the answer, apparently, and barring yet another 11th hour save, is “Not.”

After a weekend of ongoing negotiations, it's Monday morning and there is still no Greece deal.

The European Union, led by Germany and Chancellor Merkel, is getting impatient while the rest of the world awaits for an agreement that will avert a “Lehman Moment,” but on a much grander scale, on the European Continent.

Meanwhile, Greek leaders continue to debate the merits of increased austerity demands from Germany and others compared to the costs/benefits of leaving the European Union and the Euro Dollar.

The “troika,” the European Central Bank, IMF and European Union, apparently want more, a lot more, from Greece, and judging by the rhetoric coming from Greece's political parties, more austerity, cuts, pain, etc, won't be forthcoming and so, alas, we reach yet another point of impasse.

U.S markets start the week down on Greece nervousness while European ETFs reacted to major Continental indexes dropping on Monday morning in response to the Greek stalemate:

ETFs Watching Greece:

Vanguard MSCI Europe Index: (NYSEARCA:CGK) : Vanguard Funds Europe ETF fell 0.83% in opening action on Monday in response to the Greece stalemate.

iShares MSCI Germany Index: (NYSEARCA:EWG) -0.6% as Chancellor Angela Merkel demands that Greece step up to the plate.

iShares MSCI Italy Index: (NYSEARCA:EWI) -2.8% as Europe's other really big problem child declines because investors know that Italy and Portugal are next up on the radar after Greece.

SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF: (NYSEARCA:SPY) the largest and “Grandaddy” of all ETFs, down just 0.3% with U.S. investors remaining in denial about Greece's inability to strike a deal with the European Union and sure that Dr. Bernanke will save them, yet again.

SPDR DJ Industrial Average ETF: (NYSEARCA: DIA) formerly known as the “Diamonds,” this ETF tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened the week down 0.30% as its followers also followed the ongoing Greek soap opera that won't seem to end.

So here we have Greece which is in the midst of a deep recession being dictated to by Germany, France and others about how it needs to feel more pain while its people riot in the streets.

A deal was supposed to have been reached by the end of the weekend, but things don't seem to be going well as the talks yielded no results and have been reschedule for Tuesday.

In Europe, major indexes mostly declined, with the DAX adding 0.03%, the STOXX 50 dropping 0.5% and the FTSE shedding 0.25% near the end of the trading day.

Germany and France are pushing Greece to accept even greater austerity measures in order to get the next round of $170 Billion in bailout money that the country needs by March 20th to satisfy debt coming due, but  Greek continued its infighting and postponed any decision until Tuesday, another delay, like so many delays before.

Ms. Merkel is reaching the end of her rope, apparently, as she and Sarkozy added a new demand that Greece needs to establish an escrow account to pay interest to its creditors while, at the same time, she said she wants to get the deal done.

Greek banks apparently believe they can get the deal done and get recapitalized as the sector rallied while the Euro fell.

Strikes continue in Greece in protest of the cuts that have already happened and those that are planned, and so no one seems happy in Europe today.

Bottom line: Another “deadline” has come and gone with no resolution to the festering Greek debt crisis.  It should be clear to everyone by now that, after two years, Greece apparently does not have the leadership or national will to take the bitter medicine necessary to right their economic ship and stay in the Euro.  As they lurch towards a chaotic default with potentially disastrous consequences for the whole world, global markets react mildly, seemingly in denial that the “unthinkable” might soon become the unavoidable.

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