Greece is rejecting the European Rescue packet because its weak Government cannot impose even the minimal austerity measures required to pay back a small part of its debt. Clearly, the population refuses to accept discipline. They dont want to pay at all. Soon there will no Government to talk to.
Time to send in the gunboats.
14 comments:
Anonymous
said...
In the old days the US would send the Marines to various Caribbean or Central American countries and they would collect customs duties until their bonds were current.
On the other hand, the Greeks spent hundreds of years evading the payment of taxes to the Turks. The Turks ruled the port cities but the Greeks lived up in the hills where the Turkish tax collectors were afraid to go. In American terms they are hillbillies and ungovernable.
I think the Greeks are right to shun a deal that is really for the benefit of the rest of Europe (to keep the EU together). The Euro should be allowed to collapse, the Greeks can go back to drachmas and being a cheap resort destination. What they have now is unsustainable with or without a bailout. In Greek terms, why should they pay even 50% of their debt? They took the money, it is gone and now they should pay back nothing to the fools who gave it to them.
Sir, I dont think it is prudent to anger the Germans more than they can take. Today Dr Schauble said from his wheel-throne that "We Germans dont want to rule Europe", meaning that they are being forced to against their will. This time it is not Russia that is forcing them to attack and there is no danger of the NATO bombing Athens. Yet ...
Nobody hates Greeks. Why would they? The country is about as important as Morocco. Without them causing problems nobody would even talk about them -- excepting vacation periods.
Greeks OTOH seem to want to be hated. The problems are piling up and Europe is struggling. Now, there is hard-won compromise that even is gentle to the Greeks, finally, and what do the Greeks do?
One of the pleasures of my youth was to sit at some open-air restaurant in any one of a number of small Greek island ports, enjoying a retsina, fresh bread and olive oil.
For these memories, they can be forgiven anything, including the industrial-scale wasting of other people's money.
Greece today, Ireland tomorrow -its wonderful to see the EUSSR coming apart. And with it the whole panolpy of bureaucrats, busybodies, the thought police, the climate police, the fucked-up laws for faggots, Muslims and terrorists and the wholesale surrender of national sovereignty. Crash and burn baby. Crash and burn.
We'll see - maybe what comes next is even worse. When the rotten edifice falls, the ground that it is built on does not usually form a stable base for building a new one.
All bad loans are based on false pretenses - the lender is supposed to do "due diligence" to check out the data. Usually the bankers are anxious to collect the fees and don't want to look too hard - you don't get paid for NOT lending money.
K, you surprise me. You are confusing the victim and the criminal. In every murder in Philadelphia, the victim could have avoided the crime by, say, moving to Tokyo. You cannot fairly blame the victim.
I had a boss who always, always blamed the victim. If somebody died of cancer, she said it was a suicide. The victim had smoked, was fat, lived steaks or whatever.
Greece willingly cheated Europeans who are usually honest folk without experience with Balkan peoples and could not imagine their mentality.
14 comments:
In the old days the US would send the Marines to various Caribbean or Central American countries and they would collect customs duties until their bonds were current.
On the other hand, the Greeks spent hundreds of years evading the payment of taxes to the Turks. The Turks ruled the port cities but the Greeks lived up in the hills where the Turkish tax collectors were afraid to go. In American terms they are hillbillies and ungovernable.
I think the Greeks are right to shun a deal that is really for the benefit of the rest of Europe (to keep the EU together). The Euro should be allowed to collapse, the Greeks can go back to drachmas and being a cheap resort destination. What they have now is unsustainable with or without a bailout. In Greek terms, why should they pay even 50% of their debt? They took the money, it is gone and now they should pay back nothing to the fools who gave it to them.
K
Sir, I dont think it is prudent to anger the Germans more than they can take. Today Dr Schauble said from his wheel-throne that "We Germans dont want to rule Europe", meaning that they are being forced to against their will. This time it is not Russia that is forcing them to attack and there is no danger of the NATO bombing Athens. Yet ...
Why do you hate Greek people?
"Why do you hate Greek people?"
Nobody hates Greeks. Why would they? The country is about as important as Morocco. Without them causing problems nobody would even talk about them -- excepting vacation periods.
Greeks OTOH seem to want to be hated. The problems are piling up and Europe is struggling. Now, there is hard-won compromise that even is gentle to the Greeks, finally, and what do the Greeks do?
They give the finger.
The speciality of the Greeks is to blame their problems on others. Nothing is ever their fault.
K
I rather like the Greeks. Only that yesterday they spoiled worldwide jubilation that Europe had solved their problems refusing to be rescued.
One of the pleasures of my youth was to sit at some open-air restaurant in any one of a number of small Greek island ports, enjoying a retsina, fresh bread and olive oil.
For these memories, they can be forgiven anything, including the industrial-scale wasting of other people's money.
Anon.
Greece today, Ireland tomorrow -its wonderful to see the EUSSR coming apart. And with it the whole panolpy of bureaucrats, busybodies, the thought police, the climate police, the fucked-up laws for faggots, Muslims and terrorists and the wholesale surrender of national sovereignty. Crash and burn baby. Crash and burn.
Ivan
"It's wonderful to see the EUSSR coming apart."
We'll see - maybe what comes next is even worse. When the rotten edifice falls, the ground that it is built on does not usually form a stable base for building a new one.
K
Greece is irrelevant. They are only a symptom of the problem. There are 2 clear obvious problems:
1. Lending to governments without credible land liens.
2. Semi responsible people giving Greece more money, considering considering Greece's past performance.
Blaming Greece, is like blaming a difficult child for their parents' divorce.
It's like any other bad credit - is it the fault of the irresponsible borrower or the irresponsible lender? A pox on both their houses.
K
K, in this case, Greece borrowed on false pretenses, they falsified the books to borrow more than they could ever pay back.
All bad loans are based on false pretenses - the lender is supposed to do "due diligence" to check out the data. Usually the bankers are anxious to collect the fees and don't want to look too hard - you don't get paid for NOT lending money.
K
K, you surprise me. You are confusing the victim and the criminal. In every murder in Philadelphia, the victim could have avoided the crime by, say, moving to Tokyo. You cannot fairly blame the victim.
I had a boss who always, always blamed the victim. If somebody died of cancer, she said it was a suicide. The victim had smoked, was fat, lived steaks or whatever.
Greece willingly cheated Europeans who are usually honest folk without experience with Balkan peoples and could not imagine their mentality.
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