"If Britain were Greece..."

mystic_trev

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Wookster

vivatifosi wrote: »

Interesting article. I'd not want to walk a mile in their shoes. The more I see things like this and read similar articles the more I think default is inevitable.

They have defaulted... though it is too soft a default.

What they didn't say is that Barclays (and several others) would be allowed to continue to evade, avoid and just simply not pay tax.

The Euro has been an abject failure for the Mediterranean countries. Time to admit that and arrange for a controlled exit.

Rochdale_Pioneers

Yet another "we're like Greece" thread which ignores that as we control our currency unlike Greece its impossible for us to run out of money or go bankrupt. Greece needed repeated bailouts to have enough Euros to pay its bills. Britain prints its own pounds and seems to be doing so quite often these days.

vivatifosi

Honestly Roch, I don't see it like that. What the original article does is say what would happen if Britain was Greece. Putting their issues in a context which is relevant to our understanding of our economy helps give us a better steer on the austerity they are going through and why there is such dissent. It isn't saying the same will happen here.

StevieJ

vivatifosi wrote: »

Honestly Roch, I don't see it like that. What the original article does is say what would happen if Britain was Greece. Putting their issues in a context which is relevant to our understanding of our economy helps give us a better steer on the austerity they are going through and why there is such dissent. It isn't saying the same will happen here.

Unless Brownie was in charge according to ILW

If we had kept Brown for another term, we would be looking at a similar outlook to Greece.

Degenerate

I'm rather skeptical about the claims made in that little piece. They say that retirement age would increase to over 70. This hasn't happened in Greece (although it may when they exit the Euro...). It seems to imply that the comparisons are being made in relative terms, eg a 10% increase in retirement age or whatever. I don't think that's the right way to compare such things - why should we feel sympathy for people who are just catching up with out own "hardships", on the basis that they had it so much better before?

Whilst I do think Greece is being irrationally sacrificed on the altar of European politics, and must ultimately leave the Euro, I wouldn't trust any of the claims made in that piece.

StevieJ

Wookster wrote: »

They have defaulted... though it is too soft a default.

Apparently not

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has ruled that the proposed 53% haircut by Greece's lenders, and the insertion of Collective Action Clauses (CAC (Frankfurt: 924169 - news) ) into Greek bonds, was not a credit event - essentially a default.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/greece-not-defaulted-debt-124921069.html

purch

vivatifosi wrote: »

Honestly Roch, I don't see it like that.

Strangely enough, that seems to be everybody's reaction to every post by Rochie :eek:

abaxas

We'd actually get a summer.

Wookster

StevieJ wrote: »

Apparently not



http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/greece-not-defaulted-debt-124921069.html

Nup, some ruling by some opaque organisation that it isn't a default doesn't mean it isn't. We all know thw truth. It is a default, plain and simple.