Greece...

mystic_trev

….and now it gets even worse. They've just announced Prokopis Pavlopoulos as candidate for President. This is the man who took public sector wage bill from €21.3bln in 2004 to €31bln in 2009 :eek:

GunJack

Generali wrote: »

If you only discuss you views with people that agree with you, it's impossible to understand the world. Instead of understanding you have confirmed biases.

I find this part of the forum to be interesting as we have many viewpoints from communist to libertarian. I guess you prefer to hang out with people that agree with you. Oh well.

hmmm... maybe you misunderstand somewhat...

I am not a raving Leftie, I just value a bit more fairness in society generally than is evident in particular on this section of the forum..

and as for house prices, is it any wonder I'm a bit cynical, living in an area that is still around 20% lower than 6-7 years ago, where negative equity is still alive, well and kicking. Not bitter & twisted, but the overall fairness of the situation is somewhat lacking... ordinary folks suffer while the well-off always seem to be laughing all the way to the bank...

Generali

GunJack wrote: »

hmmm... maybe you misunderstand somewhat...

I am not a raving Leftie, I just value a bit more fairness in society generally than is evident in particular on this section of the forum..

and as for house prices, is it any wonder I'm a bit cynical, living in an area that is still around 20% lower than 6-7 years ago, where negative equity is still alive, well and kicking. Not bitter & twisted, but the overall fairness of the situation is somewhat lacking... ordinary folks suffer while the well-off always seem to be laughing all the way to the bank...

Define 'fairness'. Is it fair for me, as a cancer survivor with a chronic illness to have to pay for people to sit around drinking and taking drugs which means I can't afford to payfor things that would ease my symptoms?

worldtraveller

An interesting article in the Telegraph last night about the "Target2" liabilities that Greece has, being "crystallised", should they default and the political consequences in Germany.

In normal times, Target2 adjustments are routine and self-correcting. They occur automatically as money is shifted around the currency bloc.

The Target2 "debts" owed by Greece's central bank to the ECB jumped to €49bn in December as capital flight accelerated on fears of a Syriza victory. They may have reached €65bn or €70bn by now.

A Greek default - unavoidable in a Grexit scenario - would crystallize these losses. The German people would discover instantly that a large sum of money committed without their knowledge and without a vote in the Bundestag had vanished.

Events would confirm what citizens already suspect, that they have been lied to by their political class about the true implications of ECB support for southern Europe, and they would strongly suspect that Greece is not the end of it. This would happen at a time when the anti-euro party, Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), is bursting on to the political scene, breaking into four regional assemblies, a sort of German UKIP nipping at the heels of Angela Merkel.

The Telegraph

michaels

No wonder the ECB kicked the can a bit this morning with more liquidity for the Greek banks as they are presumably the ones with this debt on their books.

As a Greek presumably as well as withdrawing all your Euros from the local banks you would be trying to borrow whatever you could from local banks against your assets and depositing this elsewhere in the hope that come default your deposited Euros would remain Euros but your debts would be converted into new drachmas....

mystic_trev

It would appear the Greeks are been given a masterclass on why it's not a very good idea to p1ss off the Germans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31532755

BlondeHeadOn

Anyone know what the current odds are on the Grexit? Must be shortening by the minute, I'd have thought.....

mystic_trev

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

Anyone know what the current odds are on the Grexit? Must be shortening by the minute, I'd have thought.....

Apparently only 20%

Uxb

mystic_trev wrote: »

It would appear the Greeks are been given a masterclass on why it's not a very good idea to p1ss off the Germans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31532755

or for a different take on it...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-19/greece-gives-europe-couner-ultimatum-accept-or-reject-our-offer

BlondeHeadOn

mystic_trev wrote: »

Apparently only 20%

Uxb wrote: »

or for a different take on it...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-19/greece-gives-europe-couner-ultimatum-accept-or-reject-our-offer

I've just looked at that zerohedge.com link, and in the comments it is suggested that Greece doesn't have to exit the euro but could just start using roubles as well instead - and effectively thus become 'allied' (?) with Russia as a kind of Putin back door takeover plan.


!!!!!!?

Now THAT had not even occurred to me - does anyone think this is a real possibility?