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Greece...
Comments
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Some years ago a small rural town in Spain twinned with a similar town in Greece.
The Mayor of the Greek town visited the Spanish town. When he saw the palatial mansion belonging to the Spanish mayor he wondered how he could afford such a house. The Spaniard said; “You see that bridge over there? The EU gave us a grant to build a four-lane bridge, but by building a single lane bridge with traffic lights at either end this house could be built”.
The following year the Spaniard visited the Greek town. He was simply amazed at the Greek Mayor’s house, gold taps, marble floors, it was marvellous. When he asked how this could be afforded the Greek said; “You see that bridge over there?”
The Spaniard replied; “No.”0 -
Eurozone finance ministers have reached agreement on a vital second bailout for heavily indebted Greece.
The deal, which came after more than 13 hours of talks in Brussels, will provide Athens with loans worth more than 130bn euros (£110bn; $170bn).
In return, Greece will undertake to reduce its debts to 120.5% of its GDP by 2020.
BBC News
£110 billion.....That's no doubt just an extra 110 yards down the street for that tatty, battered, crumpled, rusty, old, empty can!
Apparently Greek Finance Minister Evangelis Venizelos said that he now expects the "long period of uncertainty" to end. :rotfl::rotfl:
What's still unclear is how this new bailout will be divided up between the EU & IMF. That's what I'd like to know! How much I'm having to pay towards this folly and, absolutely no doubt whatsoever, later folly!There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more...0 -
Markets make money on the way down. People pulling money out of the markets hurts them. People shorting the markets hurts the countries. People demanding higher returns due to higher risk hurts countries. They can make money on the way up as well as the way down. They make money through market cycles.
well I don't believe that leaving the EMU hurt the country; in fact quite the contrary.
I don't blame the money markets for the situation but an stupid, vain, ignorant government that was more interested in grandeous schemes that the self evident good of the Britsh people0 -
well I don't believe that leaving the EMU hurt the country; in fact quite the contrary.
I don't blame the money markets for the situation but an stupid, vain, ignorant government that was more interested in grandeous schemes that the self evident good of the Britsh people
A massive amount of money will be lost and the markets will see more weakness in the EU. They will, as they have already started, increase interest rates route unsustainable levels for other countries. Markets want more return for more risk. When Greece fails risk will get higher for the other weak countries.0 -
So as expected the EU blinked first and gave the bailout to Greece, an end to uncertainty? no just a brief pause before it become clear what everyone really knows. The terms are unworkable.[FONT="]“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]0
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What a surprise....they got their money!! sigh!
Alistair Darling was on the radio this morning and he suggested: "People should be in no doubt that this bailout is buying time and nothing more. The EU, especially Germany has imposed years of hard recession on Greece. This is about buying time for the Euro and nothing more".
From a UK point of view he suggested that we will not be able to grow and mimic the US while the black cloud of EU meddling is hanging over us. He stated Greece need to be let go, but it will not be allowed. We can not do anything and anything we do do will be watered down by this cloud hanging over us.
He also stated Greece are now in a worse position with more to pay off. He suggested there is no possibility that Greece will ever be able to pay off it's debts.0 -
And some hard hitting words from Robert Peston...In the long and tawdry history of governments borrowing more than they can afford, this represents a remarkably huge, unprecedented write-off - all the more astonishing because Greece is a pretty small economy.
In the cold light of day, it is not clear which is the more depressing: that successive Greek administrations ever thought it sensible to borrow as much as they did, or that banks and investors thought it wise to lend to them.
Those who believe in the pure rationality of markets or of the state may need to re-examine their respective faiths.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17110089
But through the slightly weird financial engineering the central banks have chosen instead, they have created the bizarre concept that a bond can be worth more or less depending on whether it is held by a commercial bank or a central bank.
For reasons that I can't quite put my finger on, that makes me feel uncomfortable. I guess it's because it erodes one of the simpler truths of investing - that the value of a bond or security depends on the credit-worthiness of the issuer, not the political interests of the holder.0 -
Graham_Devon wrote: »What a surprise....they got their money!! sigh!
Alistair Darling was on the radio this morning and he suggested: "People should be in no doubt that this bailout is buying time and nothing more. The EU, especially Germany has imposed years of hard recession on Greece. This is about buying time for the Euro and nothing more".
From a UK point of view he suggested that we will not be able to grow and mimic the US while the black cloud of EU meddling is hanging over us. He stated Greece need to be let go, but it will not be allowed. We can not do anything and anything we do do will be watered down by this cloud hanging over us.
He also stated Greece are now in a worse position with more to pay off. He suggested there is no possibility that Greece will ever be able to pay off it's debts.
Never really warmed to Darling, but he makes sense. Wil be interesting to see how this all goes...0 -
I recommend Zero Hedge and Max Keiser on RT if you want to know what's really going down.
http://www.zerohedge.com/
http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/
Some say this is default by another name but as pointed out it is not sustainable anyway.
If I was Greek I would be keeping the bare mimimum in the bank right now. In fact that might be advised for all of us. Personally I don't think the UK savings protection is worth a can of beans in this scenario.0 -
Graham_Devon wrote: »Alistair Darling was on the radio this morning and he suggested: "People should be in no doubt that this bailout is buying time and nothing more. The EU, especially Germany has imposed years of hard recession on Greece. This is about buying time for the Euro and nothing more".
From a UK point of view he suggested that we will not be able to grow and mimic the US while the black cloud of EU meddling is hanging over us. He stated Greece need to be let go, but it will not be allowed. We can not do anything and anything we do do will be watered down by this cloud hanging over us.
He also stated Greece are now in a worse position with more to pay off. He suggested there is no possibility that Greece will ever be able to pay off it's debts.
Spot on Alistair! But it's basically what a lot of people have been saying for some considerable time now!
My biggest concern, as I've stated before, is that this onging uncertainty will blight any real organic growth. There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more...0
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