First up is UK’s Nigel Farage lambasting Van Rompuy for his duplicitous handling of the Greece bailout. Watch the full clip, there is a bit of Farage humor at the end…you won’t be disappointed –

So, What’s Next Step Towards the Eurocalypse?

by Reggie Middleton

Okay, as I have been warning since the first quarter of 2010, Greece has defaulted. What I mean by default is that Greece did not honor the payment terms of its debtor agreements. I really don’t care what this or that association decides to call it, if you bought Greek bonds you ain’t getting the money that Greece promised when they promised they will give it to you. Just to add something official sounding to it, Fitch has declared it so, Fitch Downgrades Greece From C To Restricted Default. Of course, if you are on BoomBustBlog of following me, your probably smarter than to take these guys words for anything even remotely resembling predictive since they declared default status about three hours before Greece actually made it official they would default – plenty of time for interested parties to do something about it, no? Reference Rating Agencies vs Reggie Middleton, Part 3 and What Is More Valuable, The Opinion Of A Major Rating Agency Or The Opinion Of A Blog? Go Ahead, I DARE You To Answer!

But as I said in Greece = Kaboom! But Now Many Misunderstand The Consequences, the media, pundits, sell side analysts and unfortunately many investors fail to see the forest due to many trees standing in their way. Interestingly enough, Greece used coerce, retroactively applied, unilateral clauses to coerce a voluntary bond exchange! Yeah, it does sort of sound like bullshit doesn’t it? I commented on this foregone conclusion last year in The Banks Have Volunteered (at Gunpoint) To Get 50% of Their Money Taken – No Credit Event??? Irrespective of whether CDS are triggered or not, if Greece gets away with walking away from 74% of their debt obligations, what in the hell makes anyone who even remotely resembles a person who has neuron or two to jump start synaptic activity think that Portugal and Ireland will NOT jump in line to stiff their creditors? Come on now, have we suspended the rules of human nature now as well. Greece’s Problem Is Shared By Much Of The EU & Can’t Be Solved Through Parlor Tricks. The use of said parlor tricks will (have) simply make things worse. I have warned that Contagion Should Be The MSM Word Du Jour… not Greece. As Greece gets away with an economic stick up (at financial gunpoint), Ireland and Portugal are looking for their Glocks!

Read the rest of Middleton’s article over at Silver Bear Cafe by clicking HERE