by Calculated Risk on 2/08/2010 07:50:00 PM

From Bloomberg: Greece Says Aid Call Would Send ‘Worst Signal’ as Bonds Slide

“The worst possible signal which we could send out is one calling for outside help,” [Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou] said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Athens yesterday. “We will tackle the deficit,” he said, adding that tax revenues in January exceeded forecasts “by some percentage points.”

Maybe El Erian was right and it is a game of chicken:

"Europe has become a huge game of chicken, whereby the Greeks are waiting for help from the outside and donors are waiting for Greece to take a step forward."

Or maybe Greece will just muddle through as Martin Wolfe suggested a couple weeks ago in the Financial Times: The Greek tragedy deserves a global audience . Wolfe discussed three possibilities: Greece leaves the eurozone, Greece toughs it out, or Greece defaults - and concludes:

Given the horrendous difficulty of all alternatives, I am sure the effort will be made to tough it out for as long as possible. That will also be the case elsewhere. All will be forced to accept lengthy recessions.