Posted on 01/25/2015 6:01:49 PM PST by Lorianne
Voting in Sunday's much-watched Greek elections has ended, and exit polls suggest that the far-left Syriza party has captured nearly 40 percent of the vote. While this may not be enough to ensure a parliamentary majority in Greece's electoral system, it's now clear that Alexis Tsipras, a fiery 40-year-old once considered too radical for national politics, will lead the next Greek government. Tsipras has promised to end Greece's "austerity program," a series of spending cuts and tax hikes designed to reduce the country's enormous bailout debt, which equals 175 percent of its GDP. Freed from this burden, Tsipras argues, the Greek government will implement policies to generate economic growth.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, Greece has endured an extreme version of the troubles plaguing Europe as a whole. One in four Greek adults do not work, and the unemployment rate for the country's youth exceeds 50 percent. The black market is estimated to comprise half of Greece's economic activity. More than 200,000 have voted with their passports and emigrated. Given these conditions, the appeal of Syriza—once considered a fringe leftist party—has grown markedly.
Tsipras' victory presents the troika—a consortium consisting of the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund—with a series of unappetizing options.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Actually, it happens fairly often. Upon victory, China's Communists repudiated infrastructure-related debt (railroads, bridges) that amount to $100b, just counting (1) interest payments missed, (2) principal and (3) interest on interest and principal payments missed (and not factoring in inflation). Latin American governments did partial repudiations of their debt, taking Citibank and Chase to the cleaners in the late 80's, such that Citibank almost collapsed. The question is how hardline the creditors want to be.
Which is what happens when the government tries to tax productivity out of existence
Ha...the Italians invented double book keeping...
and the Greeks invented triple book keeping...
one set of books for the business owner...
another set of books to show his spouse...sans "funny money" for gambling and mistress...
and the final set of books to show the tax inspector....
Some years ago there were very profitable computer/software companies in Greece that specialised in such systems.
Greece thinks it can spend its way out of debt.
This is going to be fun to watch. :)
I see stories everywhere about how hot JA is, how sexy she is (she’s often in various top ten lists), how guys want her - God’s Holy trousers! She a horse-faced, skinny, flat screecher with no talent!
She must have the best publicist on the planet.
Bingo!!!!!!! Right on the money. A square horse face at that. Yours is the coveted seven ex. bingo for the night. Congratulations.
Yep. More people should be doing that.
Austerity = not living off of other peoples borrowed confiscated money.
Austerity was instituted because Greece and Europe ran out of other people’s money.
The economy has not recovered from the excesses of living off other peoples that resulted in the institution of austerity enough to allow people to begin to live of other peoples money once again.
And the solution is to end austerity and begin living off other peoples money again?
I think you guys are thinking of Sarah Jessica Parker, the original horse face skank from Sex In The City fame.
Indeed, austerity meant to cut government spending. What they want is a communist leviathan. Greece is about to be shafted big time.
No. If you were the last man on earth, which would you choose?
That is putting it lightly!
If Greece was out of the Eurozone with a weak Drachma then tourism and an influx of manufacturers looking for a (non-Muslim, Turkey’s problem) lower cost base with access to Europe and the Middle East might bring a revival to their economy. And forget Jennifer. In Greece she would be considered average.
“Groundwork for WWIII continues to build”
Lots of conjecture, based on the Syrza leader’s comments from last fall, could make Greece be the first to officially recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk governments in Europe.
“Yep, good for Grease - they are telling Germany and others to SHOVE IT. I love it.”
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Good for Greece? Actually it’s bad for Greece...VERY bad. Germany and other northern European economies have been subsidizing Greek consumption for many years. That will be coming to an end I would suspect. I think that the Greeks will be looking back upon their “austerity years” as the “good old days” before all is over.
They’ve run out of other peoples’ money...they’ll have a hard time finding other suckers to give them things in the future.
“Tsipras has promised to end Greece’s “austerity program,””
Well, that’s nice but I wonder how he’s going to fund that? Greece can’t print Euros, only more bonds, but if he’s not going to pay back their existing bonds, who in their right mind will buy new ones?
This is going to be LOTS of fun to watch! Getting the ol’ popcorn popper tuned up right now!
No. No. No. No.
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