Greece and the Eurozone

[Martin Holden]

Looks like a deal is done tonight to extend the Greek bailout payback plan. Just as well; the alternative would have hurt all of us eventually. For sure letting Greece drop out would have cost Germany a great deal more than the extension agreed tonight. The austerity they have initiated is truly horrible - think I read that 18-20 year old unemployment is over 50%! That's a cruel start to life! Thank goodness we didn't join the Euro as potentially we would have been in trouble too. Then again we have a bigger population so in theory we can "work" our way through this mess. Who's not looking forward to our election then?

 

[Robt]

So who actually owns all the money that every country in the world owes????
Is it those pesky people living tax free in the ocean....

 

[Robt]

If anyone other than conservative get in, we are stuffed! Labour may come fourth, ukip second.... But god would you want him and his team running our finances??? Immigration yes( to a point, as NHS and farming would die without immigration) but finance, no!

 

[spin cycle]

i'm a bit dissapointed TBH.....looks a fudge up....four months then what?.....greek needs out of euro simples

 

[Cowcalf]

sooner Greece is gone the better, they are just milking it. the end result is inevitable

 

[Robt]

Radio two was good today, two Greeks rang in and said, don't waste your time as everyone in Greece avoids paying tax by cheating and lying. It's almost the law there to be dishonest. So why will they be bothered if they default on loan. The drakmar will come back. They'll start again and be QE ing until they are back broke again..... Tourism will go crazy as it's always sunny and even cheaper now, tourists pay cash, job done

 

[KMA]

There is no money, its not based on anything since they abolished the gold standard, its just a mirage otherwise QE wouldn't work, there is nothing backing any western currency, all just smoke and mirrors to fool the great unwashed for as long as they can get away with it and pass the buck to the next bunch of politicians and bureaucrats, like some infernal game of pass the parcel.

 

[Exfarmer]

Add in retirement. At 50. 13 months pay per year for civil servants.
Pensions which are not only left to partners but adult children as well. The list goes on. Merkel is totally right to say no more money without controls
And note, the argument is not really about the repayments, it is about borrowing more , with little prospect of even long term repayment. If the Germams ever want there money back they will have to give the Greeks even more!

 

[Jackov Altraids]

The deadline approached, they looked for the long grass and gave the ball a thwack.
As with every major issue, there is no decisive response but a typical 'third way' of spend some more money, give everyone a little of what they want and wait to see what happens.
I do wish the EU worked.

 

[borderterribles]

The deadline approached, they looked for the long grass and gave the ball a thwack.
As with every major issue, there is no decisive response but a typical 'third way' of spend some more money, give everyone a little of what they want and wait to see what happens.
I do wish the EU worked.

Well, I wish all Socialism worked. Sadly, it never does!

 

[Martin Holden]

The deadline approached, they looked for the long grass and gave the ball a thwack.
As with every major issue, there is no decisive response but a typical 'third way' of spend some more money, give everyone a little of what they want and wait to see what happens.
I do wish the EU worked.

Very difficult to make it work in unison. How can the richer Northern European States equal out with the Mediterranean states? I can't see how this will ever work. As to the posts about tax evasion and retiring @ 50 as well as 13 months pay, "join the real world" if those comments are accurate. As I've posted before the more you understand economics the more you tealise the world can't be equal!!

 

[Yale]

All I know is it keeps buggering up the lamb trade at least once a year.

It's like now,lambs have been down but nothing has actually happened.

 

[Muck Spreader]

Add in retirement. At 50. 13 months pay per year for civil servants.
Pensions which are not only left to partners but adult children as well. The list goes on. Merkel is totally right to say no more money without controls
And note, the argument is not really about the repayments, it is about borrowing more , with little prospect of even long term repayment. If the Germams ever want there money back they will have to give the Greeks even more!

Had to laugh the other day on the radio someone was asking why all Greek hotels have some scaffolding permanently round them? Apparently they don't have to pay any income tax until all the building work is complete.

 

[Brisel]

Looks like a deal is done tonight to extend the Greek bailout payback plan. Just as well; the alternative would have hurt all of us eventually. For sure letting Greece drop out would have cost Germany a great deal more than the extension agreed tonight. The austerity they have initiated is truly horrible - think I read that 18-20 year old unemployment is over 50%! That's a cruel start to life! Thank goodness we didn't join the Euro as potentially we would have been in trouble too. Then again we have a bigger population so in theory we can "work" our way through this mess. Who's not looking forward to our election then?

The agreement is only until Monday evening, that's all. By then Greece must have submitted proposals for another round of reforms/austerity. Assuming that is accepted it only kicks the can down the road until later in the year when a big repayment is due.

If they don't pull this off Greece run out of money on Tuesday. We are really staring into the abyss here...

 

[Rob Holmes]

Sell all the wheat on monday???

 

[RobFZS]

Had to laugh the other day on the radio someone was asking why all Greek hotels have some scaffolding permanently round them? Apparently they don't have to pay any income tax until all the building work is complete.

if they're not paying tax, where's all the money going? lol it has to be going back in to the economy somewhere

 

[Brisel]

It's leaving the country at a rate of €1bn every day, unless you count the few € that the poorer population has left which is stuffed under the mattress & will be worthless when the Grexit happens.

 

[Goweresque]

The agreement is only until Monday evening, that's all. By then Greece must have submitted proposals for another round of reforms/austerity. Assuming that is accepted it only kicks the can down the road until later in the year when a big repayment is due.

If they don't pull this off Greece run out of money on Tuesday. We are really staring into the abyss here...

Unless something goes badly wrong, they will keep kicking the can down the road, because neither party wants Greece to leave the Euro. The Greeks because it would halve their standard of living overnight (a new drachma would be worth half that of the euro) and completely f*ck their economy, even more than its f*cked already, although ironically in the long term it would be the best option for them. And the Germans (and the rest of the eurozone nations) don't want Greece to leave because they'd all lose billions in unpaid debts, which they can ill afford at the moment, France and Italy particularly. So if its in neither parties interest for Greece to leave, Greece won't leave. Exactly what sort of cobbled together fudge they will concoct is yet to be seen, but the overall result is pretty much a foregone conclusion - they will continue kicking the can down the road as far as they can for as long as they can.

 

[milkloss]

Greeks are smart, they know the Euro gang doesn't want the euro to be seen as something that can be undone. I would like to see them leave the euro as it will give individual countries a little more power for themselves and warn all the noses in the trough to look out!

 

[More to life]

Unless something goes badly wrong, they will keep kicking the can down the road, because neither party wants Greece to leave the Euro. The Greeks because it would halve their standard of living overnight (a new drachma would be worth half that of the euro) and completely f*ck their economy, even more than its f*cked already, although ironically in the long term it would be the best option for them. And the Germans (and the rest of the eurozone nations) don't want Greece to leave because they'd all lose billions in unpaid debts, which they can ill afford at the moment, France and Italy particularly. So if its in neither parties interest for Greece to leave, Greece won't leave. Exactly what sort of cobbled together fudge they will concoct is yet to be seen, but the overall result is pretty much a foregone conclusion - they will continue kicking the can down the road as far as they can for as long as they can.

That's pretty much how I see it and it's certainly what's happened in the past. There are two small differences this time Merkel with an election around the corner can't and won't budge, the new Greek government do seem to be back tracking fast but they promised the earth how will this play out at home.