Have the Greeks Actually DONE Anything to Address Their Deficit?

atush

I agree, Greece alone is not a huge problem but there will be a domino effect as pressure will build on Spand And Italy.

Just saw on the BBC they are now prostesting/rioting about having to pay property tax. You know what we and the french have paid for decades. Saw people complaining they had to pay 700e for a very nice flat. Wish my rates were that low!

dtsazza

pqrdef wrote: »

Same when taking out a mortgage. How much would people want to borrow if they expected no promotions, no wage growth, no inflation? They'd panic if they had to pay off their mortgages in the same financial environment where they took them out.

Really?

I'd like to think you're wrong about that. But whether you are or not, I'd definitely call it irresponsible for anyone to sign a financial agreement that they can only fulfil based on unsubstantiated hopes, lollipops and rainbows.

Then again, the number of bankruptcies and payday loan threads on this board support your argument... :cool:

sabretoothtigger

America's debt woe is worse than Greece's

By Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Special to CNN
updated 3:36 PM EST, Mon September 19, 2011

http://us.cnn.com/2011/09/19/opinion/kotlikoff-us-debt-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t2



This what makes Tim G's comments quite funny, wouldnt Greece be as ok as USA if they had access to the same rates and confidence of their backers.
Is USA so great to lecture others or are their backers the ones whose words matter

pqrdef

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

This what makes Tim G's comments quite funny, wouldnt Greece be as ok as USA if they had access to the same rates and confidence of their backers.

For several happy years they pretty much did. The markets kind of assumed that the eurozone was organised. They assumed that if they shorted Greek bonds, somebody would buy more than they could sell and they'd end up with a heavy loss.

Then at some point they discovered that the eurozone has nobody in charge, no mechanisms, no decision-making processes, no nothing.

Wouldn't it be ironic if it were traders in French banks who cottoned on to this.

It certainly wasn't the credit-rating agencies. The ratings they used to give for eurozone bonds weren't based on the idea that each country had to defend its own credit independently.

Can't be too hard on them though, because it seems like most of the eurozone governments hadn't realised this either. They too thought that the existence of the euro implied some sort of mutual guarantees.

But then, we thought that about the ERM once.