Any Reason to Think There Will Be Deal With Greece?

     Based on what? If you take the last 5 years of such negotiations you are going to be pretty pessimistic. Yet we hare hearing that a deal is imminent:

    "Cash-for-reform talks between debt-ridden Greece and its creditors have dragged on for months now, and fatigue is starting to set in - but officials insist that progress is being made behind the scenes."

     "The European Commission's Economic Affairs Commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, told CNBC that there had been advancements, despite the lack of a concrete deal on reforms that Greece has to implement in return for more financial aid"

     "We have been progressing more in the last three weeks than in the previous three months," Moscovici told CNBC Thursday.

     "Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), told CNBC that if there was a will to strike a deal, a solution could be found."

     "My experience suggests that when everyone involved in the negotiation wants to strike a deal, eventually a deal is struck. I think this will be the case," he said Thursday.

      "Political leaders, the ministers, all understand the importance of arriving at a happy conclusion. I think the question is a lot in the details… The experts have to chip in, but my expectation is that there will be an agreement and that we will move forward."

     http://www.cnbc.com/id/102716401

     Ok so lots of optimism but with absolutely no specifics. Then you see comments like this:

     Talks were now focused on "serious matters," such as tax reforms, Moscovici said, but more needed to be done.

     "We are starting to discuss pensions (and) administrative reforms…But it's true that we are not yet there, that a lot needs to be done and that the conditions for a full agreement, a comprehensive agreement, are not yet met," he said. "This is why we need to work day and night because we want Greece to stay in the euro zone."

     And this:

     "Nobody wants it (a Grexit)…What we're all aiming for is a solution where Greece (the Greek government) accepts that they have to do what the previous (government) promised. At the same time, we want to keep them in," he said."

     http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/06/would-grexit-be-epic-tragedy.html

     And you wonder why Greece is still even bothering at all. Just pull the band-aid off quickly. 

     http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/06/who-loses-if-greece-leaves-eruo.html

     That comment about accepting the deal of the previous government says it all. Does the Dutch Prime Minister not realize that the Greek people voted that previous government out for a reason? Mainly because they didn't like the deal it agreed to with you folks running the EZ?

      So the Dutch Prime Minister doesn't think that Greek votes should count. This is the problem of the EZ in a nutshell.

      Despite all the optimism my guess is that anything that gets agreed to now is just going to put off the inevitable. Christine Lagarde sounds more realistic:

     "The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told a German newspaper that a Greek exit from the euro zone was possible but that this would probably not herald the end of the euro currency."

      "Read More No myth: Greece's debt saga festers"

      "A Greek exit is a possibility," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde was quoted as saying by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an advance extract of an interview due to be published on Friday."

      "She said such a step would "not be a walk in the park" but would "probably not" mean the end of the euro."

     http://www.cnbc.com/id/102695098

     It wouldn't be. The irony is that Greece would be better off without the euro and the euro would be better off without Greece. However, Germany would suffer as its export business would miss Greece holding down the value of the euro. 

     To be sure, the German people have been demanding a Grexit for years but the German policy makers know better: it would hit exports hard. 

     The problem is as always: where is the incentive for Greece? Why should they accept perpetual austerity and stagnation? So they can keep receiving euros? Then give up on the euro. 

     The solution is almost too obvious but if the Greek leadership understands this-that they are in the euro to help out Germany at their own expense- it shouldn't be difficult. It's a win-win as both Greece and the euro are better off without each other.