Greek Stock Market, the Moments Before Drowning

The Dow Jones Greek Index is a good barometer of investor behavior. When a person is perilously close to drowning, they will grab on to anything. There are a few seconds of desperate panic. The same holds true for investors. They will grab on to any story no matter how ridiculous it may be. The former nation of Greece is in the news almost every hour. They have debt obligations that they cannot repay and the ECB is going to throw them another $100 billion in bailout money to keep their debt off the default report. To be accurate, the ECB is going to give the $100 billion to the German, French, and American banks that hold the credit default swaps tied to the Greek debt in question. They just needed to figure out how to steal it from the Greeks.

Stock investors don’t care about sovereignty. They rarely think about anything but making a buck. They rarely actually think! The chart below is the Dow Jones Greek Index. Why do I bring it up. Yes, it is down some 80% from its highs of a few years ago but I think it is a good example of a drowning market. Let us remember that Greece has a GDP of about $300 billion (US) and their economy is shrinking by better than a 4% annual clip. The government has already cut wages and benefits as the government controls more than 50% of the overall economy. The new austerity rules will increase the tax rate on the population by 1% to 5%. The threshold of income that begins taxation will drop from $12k per year to $8k per year. Even the poorest people will feel the oppression of higher taxes. Business owners will be accessed and extra $300 euro penalty for being stupid enough to own a business and hire workers. Like Americans to the American government, the Greek citizens are now enemies of the state.

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