"I see now why Reggie Love is his best friend and I'm not!"
Posted on 07/05/2015 1:25:08 PM PDT by SamAdams76
Apparently there was a "referendum" in Greece and the results are surprising. The Greeks rejected some sort of measure to impose "austerity" in exchange for EU bailout.
It is being seen as a "shocking rebuff" to the European leaders and the Euro is taking a tumble on the markets.
Drudge says "EU on brink." Others say Greece is a "beleaguered country."
Is this what happens when socialism runs out of "other people's money."
I must regret to say I have not been following this story as much as I should have on account of the summer routine. So I'm hoping that some more astute Freepers will fill me in on whether or not we in the United States should worry.
I do know one thing. I'm buying my olive oil from domestic sources. I used to get olive oil from Greece but no more.
What else does Greece export to the United States besides olive oil? Other than short politicians with garlic breath who are for big socialist government (i.e. Mike Dukakis).
He went long GREK (an ETF that owns Greek stocks) in the belief the Greeks were going to vote YES in order to avoid losing their shirts in the chaos expected to follow a NO vote.
Oh well.
Very well stated.
LOOL! True!
It appears that a very large turnout of young Greek voters (who are suffering 30%+ unemployment) have voice their discontent with "Austerity Measures".
Sadly, the retired population in Greece are going to go begging for the means to replace their previously generous pensions... Fast forward a decade or two when young people in this country rebel against the tax rates required to maintain SSA, SSDI, Medicare, etc., etc. This is but a glimpse of "Christmas Future" for us in the USA!
Damn. She never misses!
The EU was enherently unstable. They standardized their currency but not their fiscal policies. So the individual countries can’t print money like we do when the government overspends. (Government spending is fiscal policy. Governments printing money is monetary policy.) So, if Greece implodes it will likely start a chain reaction taking down Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy. The “monetary” union will likely blow apart. The impact will probably be worse than the US housing bubble burst which sent the entire world into a depression which we have not come out of yet. (Only about three percent of the mortgages went bad, but they’d been sold as derivatives thus multiplying the effect.)
We can probably expect the stock market to do some wild gyrations. But, so long as the US doesn’t try to stabilize the Euro we should be okay.
Is the one in front male or female?
Is the one in front male or female?
With our Supreme Court it does not matter.
It would be more politically tolerable, especially when it affects a smaller percentage than an across the board taking and looks like a “yeah, we’re saving Social Security without raising taxes!”
What do you mean we’ve been sold to the Chinese?
Greece’s repudiation of debts won’t measurably affect us, but our own default process will.
Was a “no” vote completely unexpected from a country full of Socialized idiots who felt entitled to other people’s money that they ran out of?
I’m sure there were currency speculators who knew the Greek mindset and shorted the Euro.
It is all simply basic Economics 101. Greek governments for many years borrowed beyond their means. The Greek citizens loved it because they got more “free” stuff. The idiot lenders loved it because they made a nice interest rate on those funds they lent.
So now, the piper has to be paid. Greece cannot pay the piper without subjecting the country to horrible economic consequences. Just like a family that lives beyond their means and borrows and mortgages their home to the hilt, Greece must essentially declare bankruptcy. It is the only way to rid itself of debt which can never be repaid without economically destroying the country.
The result will be that the lenders will have major writeoffs but then they took the risk. The Greek citizens will go throug a several year period of economic challenges such as lowered pensions, and loss of some of their bank deposits. However, in the end, the country will be better off PROVIDING the Greek citizens do not make the mistake of putting socialists in control of their government. So, the last move is for the Syriza socialists to be thrown out.
Just wait and see what happens when the USA runs out of other people’s money!
“Just wait and see what happens when the USA runs out of other people’s money!”
In 2008 there was $900 billion dollars in the whole world. Every war had been fought, every plane, bridge and house had been bought with that money. In 2009 Obama had the Fed ad another $900 billion. In 2010 they added another $900 billion. Since then they’ve added $87 billon per month; quantitative easing. We won’t run out of other people’s money because our country has control of both monetary policy and fiscal policy. They will just keep printing money until it has no value at all. But we won’t run out.
What about the quadrillion dollars worth of derivatives out there? Who’s gonna pay that?
“What about the quadrillion dollars worth of derivatives out there? Who’s gonna pay that?”
There is, apparently, many more times the “money” floating out there as derivatives than all the cash on the planet, in all currencies. I have no idea how to answer your question. I think the answer is it’s a can, like all the other cans, Social Security and the like, being kicked down the road.
"I see now why Reggie Love is his best friend and I'm not!"
Nah, Greece is really just a pimple on the behind of the world economy. They can do themselves in without causing much economic damage.
Now, if they turn to the arms of Putin, however, things could get interesting from a geopolitical perspective.
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