Posted on 02/17/2015 8:36:50 AM PST by Kaslin
In breaking news, the people of Greece voted to begin taxing the citizens of Germany.
“We voted on it and 74% of the Greek people are for it”, said a Greek government spokesman.
these idiots can not understand that they went broke because of all the freebies and now they voted in to get freebies again.
Good. F the EU
“The Greeks think they can go it alone and eliminate all that nasty debt.”
Not really. The Greeks are playing the old game of ‘chicken’. They think the threat of them leaving the EZone will force the EU to grant concessions to avoid a collapse of the EZone. They base this upon a perception that the decision makers consider the EZone to be more important than the cost of continued bailout of Greece.
The problem is this. If Greece gets away with this, then the rest of the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain) will want the same considerations backed by the same threats. The cost to the EU of granting Greece concessions is more than the cost of the concessions to Greece, it is the cost of granting concessions to the rest of the PIGS.
The EU has no better choice than to call Greece’s bluff. Let them leave the EU and suffer the consequences. The EZone will get over the loss and the example of Greece will serve as an example to Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
With sound free market policies, the Greeks might revive their economy and negotiate relief of their mountainous euro debt. The new socialist government though will do most everything wrong and blame heartless Germany for Greece's troubles. In time, Greece will return to the traditional arrangement of corrupt parties distributing patronage to their allies -- a rotten and dismal system to be sure, but better than being governed by socialists.
Of course they would be, just like the rats want the Useless Nations to tax the US
Greece owes the EU 172 billion Euros.
That’s 339 Euros for every man, woman and child in the EU.
1356 Euros for a family of four. ($1,546 American dollars)
EU banks will be bailed out. EU taxes will be raised. All Europeans will be hit to cover the lost money.
When Europeans come to realize how much they’ve given Greece, then there will be violence. This is what Europe does.
If what you said is true, then NOW is the perfect time for the EU to kick Greece out- they can blame it all on Greece and try to save the rest of the system.
However, you probably have two sets of policymakers within the EU arguing between themselves about which course to take. The “realistic” socialists (relatively speaking realistic they are still socialists after all) who realize that if they don’t cut Greece loose then the whole system will collapse, vs. the “pure” socialists who will not admit any failure no matter what.
An interesting question is which policy would be better for Europe long term. A quick collapse of the Eurozone by keeping Greece and bailouts going for now might be better than a slower decline by trimming out the PIGS countries one at a time.
I also would not be so confident that Portugal, Italy, Spain would actually “learn” the lesson of a devastated Greece.
What one should keep an eye on is what Germany will decide to do if the EU does continue to bail out Greece and the others. The EU can live without Greece (in fact it would be healthier), but without Germany it all collapses rapidly.
Yup. Nothing Spartan about them. Cretin is a more apt label. (h/t Mel Brooks)
“If what you said is true, then NOW is the perfect time for the EU to kick Greece out- they can blame it all on Greece and try to save the rest of the system.”
No, you cannot ‘kick’ them out. You need to let them choose their path. Live up to their obligations or leave. If they kick them out, the left will always blame the EU for the consequences.
“However, you probably have two sets of policymakers within the EU arguing between themselves about which course to take. The “realistic” socialists (relatively speaking realistic they are still socialists after all) who realize that if they don’t cut Greece loose then the whole system will collapse, vs. the “pure” socialists who will not admit any failure no matter what.”
One way of looking at it but I think it more like the policy makers will divide between those who think the EU must be preserved at all costs and those who do not.
“An interesting question is which policy would be better for Europe long term. A quick collapse of the Eurozone by keeping Greece and bailouts going for now might be better than a slower decline by trimming out the PIGS countries one at a time.”
If I’m correct, the consequences to Greece will convince PIS that they need to avoid leaving the EU at all costs.
I also would not be so confident that Portugal, Italy, “Spain would actually “learn” the lesson of a devastated Greece.”
The more catastrophic it is to Greece the higher the chances of learning taking place.
“What one should keep an eye on is what Germany will decide to do if the EU does continue to bail out Greece and the others. The EU can live without Greece (in fact it would be healthier), but without Germany it all collapses rapidly.”
Ah, that is the issue. The EU has always been about controlling Germany.
The PIGS claim that all this is Germany’s fault. Germans worked too hard and were too successful. Germany made too many goodies and sold those goodies to the pigs. Germany took the money from these sales and loaned it to the PIGS to finance more purchases. German benefited so much from all that hard work that it is the Germans who owe the PIGS, not the PIGS owing Germany. If Germany had been more lazy and not made so much money producing so many goodies for so many PIGS to buy this situation wouldn’t exist.
No, you may not recieve billions in annual subsidies forever
“This ain’t Sparta!!” comes the cry from their couches
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