Preppers’ PING!!
Don’t forget to take notes!
However, I see some of this as equivalent to a drug addict borrowing money from the drug pusher. You get in deeper and deeper and there is just no way out.
Hey, the junkie was wrong to be a junkie.
The junkie was wrong to borrow from the pusher.
The junkie was wrong not to find a way to pay back the debt.
But right now, Greece is quitting the game. They won't borrow more, and they won't be getting the junk any more. Yes, they are failing to honor their obligation to the drug pusher, but they seem to be getting cleaned up.
Who is the real problem: Greece? or the EU?
Breaking free from what? They’ve been living on other people’s money since they joined the E.U.
What they voted against was losing free stuff.
No difference from L.I.V. in this country.
One of the most important lessons is that the bank shutdowns happen not long before the climax of the crisis. They are always positioned as temporary, designed to cool off a bank run.
There was ample warning in Greece. I don’t think we will get such warnings in the US, so one must be vigilant.
When the banks reopen, most if not all of the deposited assets will be gone.
What would have preserved wealth during the crisis? Oddly enough, stocks and foreign bonds. This was exactly the case during the German and Hungarian hyperinflations, the British devaluation in 1967, the US inflation crisis, and the Argentina collapse.
If a war breaks out, however, stocks and foreign bonds could be among the worst investments...
Right, they want the opportunity to fail outright all by themselves! I say let them! Socialism can only last as long as Germany and others in the EU let them.
—Collapse or survive, the voters loudly stated that the Greek people want their country back—
What a coincidence! The American people want their country back too...
I personally learned what that was in 2008 - a year before my husband lost his three figure job. Lots of pasta and very cheap vegetables - mostly green peppers. Monotonous for sure.
Greek Debt Crisis: How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt
School is definitely in session on several levels.
At one level, I’m taking notes to see what happens when currency is unavailable. Will they run to gold or silver? Will it be item for item barter? Will they use government IOUs or scrip? What will happen to essential imports, like medicine and fuel? Will I be able to get a great tourist deal?
At a higher level, one has to ask about the collective punishment at work here. I think the debts should be repaid, because they were accumulated in the past decade or so. But, it begs the question that is starting to occur here: When pensions come due (Teachers’, police/fire, Social Security/Medicare), and the funds are unavailable, should our children and grandchildren be expected to be put on the rack for debts they never voted for? How far down the generational chain does the moral obligation of societal debt go?
Going “Greek” meant something completely different in the 80’s...
I think we are all taking notes to one extent or the other.
L8r
This is absolutely the most ignorant analysis of the Greek financial collapse I’ve seen yet.
The author lauds the Greeks for rejecting additional loans, and “breaking free”, with no concept about what the consequences of that will be, namely printing unlimited New Drachmas that will be worthless internationally, rather than agreeing to “austerity”, which simply means the government not spending more than it collects in taxes.
The author then states “The banks aren’t going to take this lying down”, because they’re totally confused about the difference between insolvent Greek banks and the European Central Bank that stood to bail out the insolvent Greek banks, except the Greek people turned down that bailout because they turned down the requirement to cut deficit spending.
The author then acts like the failure of the Greek banks was an act of retribution rather than the fact that most people (smart and/or rich people) had already withdrawn billions of sound Euros from these banks during the last few months for fear of them being converted to New Drachmas by the Greek government, which is one of the main reasons the Greek banks shutdown, namely a good-ol’ fashioned bank run.
The author then states the Greek banks shut “in preparation for the very vote that occurred.” No, the Greek banks were forced to shut because all of that evil lending by the ECB was halted because the Communist Greek government walked away from talks and forced the referendum, and the evil ECB had to wait to see how the vote was going to go before considering keeping the Greek banks solvent during the run on Greek banks by Greek depositors because they didn’t trust the Greek government.
I really hate seeing this kind of ignorance being posted at FR.
This is sheer projection. The Greeks don't want to be 'free' of the EU or the Eurozone. They want to stay.
Six months ago they voted for Tsipras when he ran on the platform of refusing payments for the loans they had taken until they were given better terms, refusing austerity on new loans, and getting those loans with no guarantees of payment.
If it sounds insane, that's because it is. No one with even the slightest understanding of basic math, human behavior, or common sense would vote for a man who ran on such a platform, but he won almost a clear majority.
If you read his government's statements in the last few weeks, you will see them assure the people that they will not be kicked out of the Eurozone and definitely not the EU.
This idea that libertarians are spreading, that somehow the Greek people are rebelling against Brussels, is simply not true. They are rebelling against any responsibility to pay loans that they gladly took to extend their unsustainable financial behavior.
bfl
Always with the drama. Always with the promises that "I'm going to get myself together and all I need is just one more loan to get me through." (And a few breaks to come my way)
Eventually the relative shows up in your driveway in a beat-up Yugo with no way to see through the back window on account of all the paper bags and blankets stacked up in the back seat. Just needs a place to "crash for a while" while he "get his act together."
Besides, I've got this big house with all this room. Surely I can provide a corner of my basement. Just a corner. He'll promise to stay out of the way, get a job, and be on his way in just a week or so.
But then, you come home from work and find dirty dishes in your sink. Things in the refrigerator start disappearing. The level of the bottles start dropping in your liquor cabinet. Or worse, the contents of your liquor start getting replaced with water. Piles of dirty laundry start showing up near your washer. Surely you can toss those items in with your wash - since you're doing the wash anyway.
Suddenly all pretense is gone. You arrive home after a long day's work and your "lost" relative is snoring away in the living room in his underwear, with a half-empty bowl of chips on his chest, TV tuned in to sitcoms on rerun. The beat up Yugo is now boldly occupying your driveway, forcing you to take maneuvers to get to your regular spot.