Posted on 03/04/2010 9:57:07 AM PST by RedDogzRule
"The Greek state must sell stakes in companies and also assets such as, for example, unpopulated islands," Frank Schäffler, a member of parliament for the pro-business Free Democrats, told the Bild daily.
Marco Wanderwitz, an MP for Merkel's own conservative Christian Democrats, said Athens should provide collateral for any money it receives from the European Union to help it out of its debt crisis.
"In this case, certain Greek islands also come into question," added Wanderwitz.
"We give you cash, you give us Corfu," the Bild commented.
Greece has around 6,000 islands off its coast, of which only 227 are inhabited, according to the country's National Tourism Office website.
The cash-strapped country Wednesday launched a fresh round of draconian austerity measures in a bid to rein in a ballooning budget deficit that is more than four times above EU limits.
The Socialist government increased sales, tobacco and alcohol taxes and cut public sector holiday allowances to save €4.8 billion ($6.5 billion), equal to about two percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Pensions in the public and private sector were also frozen.
Merkel is set to hold talks with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Friday to discuss the situation in Greece.
I hope someone instead of Rosie and Ellen. That’s the home of ouzo!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/101853/three-sheets-lesbos-greece#s-p8-sa-i0
They aren’t trying to steal them, they are saying if you want money don’t expect to get something for nothing. It’s the Greeks who are trying to steal by expecting to be bailed out for free. I think the US should be selling it’s public lands to pay off it’s debts too. Land, like companies, or collective farms, that are publicly owned is a communist idea and should be constitutionally prohibited.
I guess I wasn’t too clear that I was speaking tongue in cheek. My apologies. I’ve corrected my comment below:
“I’m sure the rich spoiled German politicians would be happy to buy some of Greece’s property. After all, Germany tried before to get some of the islands, so why not try again?”/TIC (tongue in cheek)
Re: “Land, like companies, or collective farms, that are publicly owned is a communist idea and should be constitutionally prohibited”
Uh ... land ownership by the feds is, in fact, mostly constitutionally prohibited. Federal land ownership is constitutionally permitted only to the extent that congress may control “Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings.” All other land ownership is unconstitutional in terms of the 10th Amendment.
Not that constitutionality has mattered much for the last 100+ years.
thats the problem with socialism, sooner or later, you run out of islands to sell
Did Germany ever compensate Greece for the costs of the Nazi occupation?
They would be, if those lands weren't already pledged to China as collateral against any future decline in Treasury value. :)
Yes! they could be called the $$.
Mt. Rainer, Mt. Hood, Mt. Shasta and dozens of other active volcanoes dot America's Left Coast. Most carry far more destructive potential than the relatively puny Mt. St. Helen's eruption.
My point: you don't have to travel to Italy to face the dangers of a Vesuvius or Etna. We live on a very dynamic and violent planet and the residents of Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco (to name a few) face many of the same risks as Pompeii.
I’d be real happy if Texas picked up Catalina Island. Y’know, an island of sanity, here on the left coast.
This is what I was alluding to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete
after they run out of islands, what will they sell of next?
the women ?!?
They could sell the Elgin Marbles to the British Museum. Ummm.....wait....the museum already has them. Nevermind.
Here we go again...
lord elgin used fake documents and bribes to move them.
Then Duveen made copies and sold them as originals
Who actually loaned this money? If is the germans and the french, how about just simple loan forgiveness in the name of EU unity....( not so /s)
Well, I don't know. In any human-like span of time -- say a few hundred years -- the risk to residents near the Cascade volcanoes is more of relatively smaller eruptions (such as Helens), ash, and mud flows then it is of catastrophic eruptions creating great calderas. Yes, the latter can occur (as it did in central Oregon) but not often or recently.
Our methods of predicting earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are so primitive as to be nonexistent in any practical sense. While Pompeii is an historical reminder of relatively recent volcanic devastation, can you give me an iron-clad assurance that Portland and Seattle won't be buried like Pompeii in say the next 50 years?
I LOVE IT! After taking the wrong side during the cold war and Papandreau’s family taking all kinds of pot shots at the U.S. they are finally getting their just desserts. The people of that country could not have hated us as much as they do without the government stirring up public opinion. Remember the Russians shooting down the KAL airliner in 1983? They supported the Russians on that one. I say offer to purchase the islands at fire sale prices. Have some fun with them. If they were that desperate I don’t think that more money from Germany or China would be that appealing. Rub it in.
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