Greece...

Thrugelmir

Exiting the Euro maybe ultimately be Greece's solution.

cogito

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Exiting the Euro maybe ultimately be Greece's solution.

Leaving aside the obvious that Greece should not have joined in the first place, it has been obvious for the last seven years that returning to the drachma would have eased a lot of pain for the Greeks.

It's still on a downward spiral with no sign that things will improve as long as the Germans have their boots on its windpipe.

buglawton

cells wrote: »

is this due to a lot more people spending their own money using the tubes and buses in London or government subsidy?

Also what are the secondary impacts, eg if the government is subbing £1 to TFL is it gaining £5 additional economic output of which £2 goes back to the government in additional taxes?

It's due to assumptions and policy decisions by London-centric government. We'll never know what the beneficial secondary impacts might have been in the North.

westernpromise

cogito wrote: »

Leaving aside the obvious that Greece should not have joined in the first place, it has been obvious for the last seven years that returning to the drachma would have eased a lot of pain for the Greeks.

It's still on a downward spiral with no sign that things will improve as long as the Germans have their boots on its windpipe.

The Greeks don't want to leave the Euro and nor does the EU want them to.

cogito

westernpromise wrote: »

The Greeks don't want to leave the Euro and nor does the EU want them to.

The Greeks know that they should leave the euro but prefer to stay because they are more afraid of the way their polititians would exploit the return to the drachma.

The EU knows that they should leave the euro but are afraid that it would be the first breach of the artificial currency construct.

Neither of these things are good reasons for the Greeks to remain within a currency which is causing untold misery for its people and is fundamentally unsuitable for them.

Thrugelmir

westernpromise wrote: »

The Greeks don't want to leave the Euro and nor does the EU want them to.

Politics over economics. Revaluing currency while extremely painful. Historically has been the way forward. As allows adjustment to be made.

mwpt

cogito wrote: »

The Greeks know that they should leave the euro but prefer to stay because they are more afraid of the way their polititians would exploit the return to the drachma.

The EU knows that they should leave the euro but are afraid that it would be the first breach of the artificial currency construct.

Neither of these things are good reasons for the Greeks to remain within a currency which is causing untold misery for its people and is fundamentally unsuitable for them.

I thought the will of the people was what mattered?

cogito

mwpt wrote: »

I thought the will of the people was what mattered?

Do you remember what happened when the Greeks voted to reject the terms of the EU bailout package in accordance with their government's advice? They voted 60% against and then the government accepted worse terms than had been on offer.

CLAPTON

cogito wrote: »

Do you remember what happened when the Greeks voted to reject the terms of the EU bailout package in accordance with their government's advice? They voted 60% against and then the government accepted worse terms than had been on offer.

the people failed to the kick the government out but meekly to accept the government's proposal.

mwpt

cogito wrote: »

Do you remember what happened when the Greeks voted to reject the terms of the EU bailout package in accordance with their government's advice? They voted 60% against and then the government accepted worse terms than had been on offer.

Yes. My advice is to blame the EU.