Only a quarter of the 300 to 400 sex shops that once existed in Athens have survived the crisis, and business looked bleak for those who brought their wares to Greece's biggest sex fair-the Athens Erotic Dream- last Friday..."Things look really bad," said stall holder Donatos Passaris, 38, standing in front of a long bench of vibrators, lotions and other items. "We're making just €20 [£16] a day, if at all," said Marianna Lemnarou, another retailer. "Some customers just don't feel like having sex - others can't afford to buy our stuff in the crisis." Just as other manufacturers have suffered from soaring wage costs since Greece joined the euro, local makers of erotic underwear have found it difficult to compete with cheaper rivals abroad. "The Chinese and the Turks are killing us," said Lefteris Papadopoulos, 55, who offers discounted hot pants, garters and stockings for €5 to €10 apiece...But a return to the drachma currency - feared by many - would deal the industry a further setback. Almost all sex toys sold in Greece are imported from countries such as Germany or Poland, and a devalued drachma would make them unaffordable. "A vibrator that now costs €20 would then cost €50," said Passaris. [Telegraph]
Things Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis Isn't Sweating Right Now: Getting A Deal Done With Creditors, Getting Invited To The Euro-Area Fin-Min Potluck Dinner
Most people would be freaking the f*ck out. Yanis Varoufakis isn't most people.
So Maybe Greek CDS Will Be More Than Fine?
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Greece. Okay so all systems appear to be go on the Greek debt exchange, which means its time to decide What This Means, and, I just. Really. Greece. Come on. All I want is to talk about 13D reporting requirements, and now I have to pay attention to Portugal? No. Just no.* Still here is arguably a fun factoid: On Wednesday, Swiss bank UBS AG started quoting a "gray market" in new Greek sovereign bonds ... using as a guide details of the debt swap Greece has put on the table for private investors to accept until Thursday evening. The "bid" price for a batch of future Greek bonds due in 2042, or the highest price the dealer was willing to pay, was around 15 cents on the dollar; the "offer" price, or the most the dealer was willing to sell at, was 17 cents on the dollar, the first person said. ... The prices quoted by UBS imply that losses private creditors to Greece will take are more like 79% of face value, not the original haircut of 70-75% many had expected. Yeah but. If you believe this horrible CDS mechanics stuff that various people including me have been yammering about for weeks - here is the best explanation - that means that if for some reason you had the foresight to be long Greek bonds and hold CDS against them you'd end up with a package worth (1) 21 on the bonds and (2) 83 on the CDS (assuming that the 17 offer for the 2042 bonds represents a real price for the cheapest-to-deliver new bond in the Greek auction) for (3) 104 total which is (4) more than par, so you win this particular game, yay. Which you were at risk of losing - a week ago one of our fearless commenters spotted the longest new bonds at 25ish vs. 24ish for the old-bond-y package, for a total of 99 for the hedged holder - losing 1 point versus par.**
Greek Prime Minister Sees Happy Ending In His Future
Pessimists might beg to differ, but Tsipras has a good feeling about this bailout business, down in his plums.