dpb

Thyre playing the rest of europe for suckers !

David Lock

Perhaps "stuck between a rock and a hard place" might be a more accurate phrase?

And talking of rocks one could liken Europe to that poor sod who got his arm stuck and had to chop it off to save himself.

dl

TelBoy

Don't forget, the Euro and £ aren't the only currencies in the world. There's another pesky minor currency, the $, which confuses the picture. In isolation yes the £ might devalue slightly, but why should it collapse, as you're insinuating? Europe likely to cut rates, maybe even an emergency measure, whereas the BoE aren't likely to do anything of the sort. Puny Pound perhaps, but look at the competition...

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Jesus, bollocks to them, they are being given a lifeline and are now deciding whether its the right kind of rope, More Cayennes than people on 43 grand, they are indeed taking the ****, years of nobodies home ever being finished to avoid tax, retiring at 58 and obviously not declaring income as you cant afford a new Cayenne on 40 grand a year.

Now they want to decide whether 50 percent write down is enough ?

TelBoy

There are apparently more people in Greece over 100 than any other European country.

That's because you're still paid a pension until somebody tells the Government that the person has died. Strangely, quite a few people seem to forget.

Time to wave the gravy train goodbye, Greece.

Martin2005

Yeah sod them all

Let the next 3 generations grow up in grinding poverty... that will teach the unborn!

TelBoy

That's about as Left Wing as i've heard so far, Martin


Tell you what, YOU subsidise their soft landing then, tell me how you like it after the first ten years or so.

Martin2005

Which bit was left wing?

Well fortunately neither you or I need to.


It nonsense to talk about 'letting them stew' or making them pay it all back.

That simply will not and cannot happen.

Greece is undoubtable guilty of severe financial mismanagement. It is wrong to want to punish everyone for the mismanagment of the political class. And ulimately they cannot pay so there is no good way out for anyone.

Let us not forget that it will largely be Germany that needs to 'bail-out' Greece. This would seem right to me as they have benefitted unfairly and enourmously by effectively being able to dominate export markets with a cheap currency. Greece and much of southern Europe has been effectively bled dry by having an entirely inappropriate currency.

TelBoy

Totally agree, but the flip side of that coin is that Greece desperately cooked the books in order to gain entry, on the hope they would be swept along with the promised Eurozone prosperity. They can't have it both ways. If it wasn't a political dream, Germany would run a mile.

Luan Pra bang

What is the Problem for the Greeks to say Thanks very much now we have your Euros we are going to write off all our debts and start again. They don't really need foreign investment as much as the world thinks they do.

TelBoy

How exactly can the Greeks just print money to write off all their debts? Sorry i must be missing something.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Seems to me that the alternative to not accepting the bailout plan and its associated austerity measures is not being explained to the average Greek in the street at all. If they think they have social unrest now it will be nothing compared to what happens when their country is declared bankrup and they exit the Euro.

jef

iTrader: (13)

i dont understand, are they having a vote to see if there going to accept all this money?

whats there alternative, say its not enough we want more?

dpb

Its a double bluff on the part of the pm , to buy more time from the hordes in the street

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

I guess at least he is prepared to have a referendum.... unlike someone we know

jef

iTrader: (13)

but buy more time for what, before he looses power and his position?

i dont get it.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Perhaps all Cayenne owners in Greece should be investigated by the SS ?

Seriously, its the same as over here but much worse, over here we have people who operate totally above the tax system and do as they want, those who operate in the cash economy and dont pay any tax, those who claim benefits they aren't entitled to and work and the PAYE monkeys that pay for it all with the government spending all their time thinking up new ways to squeeze another few quid from them.

The whole system across Europe needs examining, too many people getting away with not paying their dues.

Luan Pra bang

If I was Greek I would just say we are not going to pay squat, see you later cheers for coming. I would then nationalise any foreign owned assets and see what they think they could do about it. I am not sure what value the re introduced drachma would have on the world money markets though, they would have to find away to keep enough Euros around to puchase items on the international markets. If they don't pay what can anyone do, the Germans will probably have to bail out French banks.

TelBoy

If the Greeks did that, i'd suggest with a straight face that they could be invaded and the government overthrown forcibly. Stranger things have happened in history. The Greeks are pushing their luck with this referendum charade.

Luan Pra bang

I can't see the Germans having the stomach to invade anyone again, as much as they want to, we could see Greece allied with the new soviet bloc that Putin is trying to create, perhaps even Greeks trading in Roubles. I don't think the Greeks have the bottle for it but the Greek half of Cyprus has some very strong connections with Russia.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I think you've misunderstood me, tel.

What I'm trying to get my head round is WHY the € is still valued so highly against the £, when the € is apparently in so much sh!te.

When the € came into being, parity was £1 = €1.62.

Now we struggle to get €1.11.

That means the £ has lost 50% of it's value.........and not managed to pick any up against an ailing €.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

So how much will a referendum cost to a country that has no money?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

The pound is just seen as a funny Euro by other countries and is directly affected by it.

Martin2005

Mainly because the German economy is so powerful.

If they left the Euro is would absoultely plummet in value