One of the planet’s biggest lenders, Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO) is steering clear of the latest Greek bonds issue. This is the biggest sign yet of the credit markets having issued the country’s last rites.

PIMCO decisions are enormously influential: it manages some £25 trillion of loans. Partly as a result of this (but also, say US Slog sources, as a result of the overall market attaching no further credibility to the Greek debt position) the American bond raise target of $10 billion will now be missed by a huge margin.

One lender told us “They’ll do well if they get two billion”. Others confirmed that the shortfall of new loans raised will be in the region of at least 70%.

Nobody loves you when you’re down and out. First it was nerves, then nerves calmed by big rates of repayment. Now it’s ‘not at any price’.

All leaders everywhere in the western world should pay heed to this: it is a market dynamic that simply cannot be bucked.