"Let them eat drachmas." |
Posted on 10/09/2012 6:38:13 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is landing in Greece to show her solidarity with her Greek counterpart, prime minister Antonis Samaras.
Seven thousand police officers have been scrambled to clear the streets of central Athens along with rooftop snipers and commandos to protect the German leader. Greece's two largest unions threatened to defy a ban imposed on protesting in the city center, calling on their members to convene at Syntagma square.
But economists told CNBC that Merkel was the least of Greece's problems.
According to the latest economic forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), released on Tuesday, Greece will miss the five-year debt reduction target that underpins the country's 130 billion euro bailout.
The IMF forecast that Greek public debt will rise to 171 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year and 182 percent in 2013.
The IMF has also warned the Eurogroup of finance ministers who met in Luxembourg on Monday that Greece's debt would need restructuring and that it will be almost impossible to reduce the country's debt levels to a target of 120 per cent of economic output by 2020.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Greece comie paradise needs perpetual greasing.
Gimmme, gimmmeee......
Time for the GRExit.
They’re angry at Merkel for not giving them more free $$. Unreal.
"Let them eat drachmas." |
“Okay, so last month we gave them a heart/lung/liver/stomach/GI tract replacement, and those organs are all failing. So this month, we *need* to give them another heart/lung/liver/stomach/GI tract replacement. We should also throw in a new pair of kidneys, as the patient’s daily consumption of a gallon of Ouzo, dozens of pâté de foie gras and bacon pastries, a box of cigars, and multiple high priced prostitutes, are stressing them as well.”
“And we expect Germany to pay for it all, for the satisfaction of knowing they are supporting their EU ‘partners’ and the faceless, unelected bureaucrats that rule their hard working, but not very bright German subjects from Brussels.”
Has anyone proposed “waiving” all regulations on businesses that employ fewer than, say, 10 people?
That might start an economic RECOVERY.
Just saying...
The US is the next Greece. The welfare state is collapsing here and in Europe. It is unsustainable.
The economic problem in Greece was first noticed when a government official noticed all the private pools in Athens while looking at a satellite photo of Athens. Nobody was buying building permits to construct pools, but there they were, big as the Parthenon. The Greeks have been kidding themselves for years.
Eventually the only exit, since they want to keep the eu together, is outright forgiveness of debt. No sane person wants to have a business in a country with a tax system driven by socialist style austerity.
Because Greece is tied to the Euro; they can't print money like we do.
Grasping at straws, (restructuring) might mean getting out of the Euro. - Tom
Kind of like Democrats. Yeah, unreal.
We desperately need that in the USA!
Actually it just became a system where bribary is the norm.
you bribe for permits.
you bribe for a better place in line to see a doctor or have a surgery.
you bribe a judge to have the case you will lose go on
forever so you outlive the old man/woman whose property you stole.
you bribe the tax collector to take less.
you bribe the politician with money from the job HE arranged for you.
you bribe the admissions at the university to ensure your child is admitted. (and you outlaw private universities)
Merkel is going to require a massive real estate transfer.... German training bases and large swaths/tracks of land for panzer manuvers. Oh, and about 1,000 islands complete with mineral and fishing rights and the demand that one deep water port be built by Greek Labor (gotta help the locals).
you have about 6-8 families that have run the greek ecconomy. They actually want to return to the drachma days so THEY can control the central banks.
Consider this is the first time period where a prime minister has not had the same last name as a father or grandfather. It was getting silly with the switching back and forth.
Spain and Italy will probably go before us... That said, you're right - if we don't change direction - and soon, we're on the list...
I doubt we will change direction. We are too far gone. The politicians will try to keep it afloat a little longer. First they will rape defense (guns versus butter) and hike taxes in a vain attempt to get more revenue. Eventually, the entire house of cards (over $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities) will come tumbling down. Obamacare was the last nail in the coffin. The last thing we needed was another entitlement program.
We do, indeed.
I wonder if someone can persuade Mr. Romney to appoint a “Czar” responsible for “waiving” silly regulations?
I believe it would take a long time to “legally” repeal or cancel such regulations — although that must be done.
“Waivers” would allow our economy to benefit even before the legalistic processes were completed.
You're right kabar.
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