Merkel: Greek euro exit would be "catastrophic"

BERLIN (Reuters) - Back in May, as the euro zone veered deeper into crisis, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman penned one of his gloomiest columns about the single currency, a piece in the New York Times entitled "Apocalypse Fairly Soon".

Reuters reports Greek PM, Finance Minister Will Miss Summit Due to Illness. Illness means both Greece's new prime minister and finance minister will miss an anxiously awaited summit of European leaders later this week and delayed a visit by the country's international lenders.

German chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Greece this week in an alleged show of solidarity. Reuters notes it will take 6,000 police to protect her. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will tell Greeks she wants to keep their country in the euro when she visits Athens this week, but she faces a hostile reception from a people worn down by years of austerity and recession.

With every passing day, there is increased chipping away of support for the Euro. Please consider Linde CEO says Germany should mull euro exit Germany should consider leaving the euro if efforts to impose fiscal discipline upon indebted euro zone countries fail, the head of industrial gases firm Linde told German weekly paper Der Spiegel.

Greek elections are set for June 17th following the impasse of the last election where no majority government formed. The "Destroy Greece to Save the Euro" clowns led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel are out in force hoping to turn the vote into a direct referendum on the Euro. The election is of course a direct referendum on the Euro, but Greek citizens are under three Fantasyland ideas. Three Fantasyland Ideas

As the days progress, the strategy of George Papandreou has become increasingly clear. He does not like the terms forced on him by Eurozone bureaucrats especially French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Not only is he fed up with Eurocrats, he is fed up with Greek protests as well as pressure from political opposition.

In the past week, as I expected, the ECB, Troika, German officials and others have all warned Greeks to not vote for Alexis Tsipras and his radical-left party Syriza. The question is will it backfire. I suggest it already has. The pertinent question is whether it backfire enough to matter. Please consider Greeks rail against 'crude' German editorial.