Posted on 04/03/2015 4:41:02 AM PDT by C19fan
Greece is drawing up drastic plans to nationalise the country's banking system and introduce a parallel currency to pay bills unless the eurozone takes steps to defuse the simmering crisis and soften its demands. Sources close to the ruling Syriza party said the government is determined to keep public services running and pay pensions as funds run critically low. It may be forced to take the unprecedented step of missing a payment to the International Monetary Fund next week.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
No shocker here. Expected for the past six months.
The curious thing will be if Greek business operations will want Euros/dollars from tourists. Guess I’ll find out by the end of April (I have trip reservations into Athens).
If this happens before your trip you will save a lot of money.
Better print those Drachmas on toilet paper because that’s all they’re gonna be good for.
CC
“Better print those Drachmas on toilet paper because that’s all they’re gonna be good for.”
Unfortunately Greece understands international (and US) bankers better than most people, even on this site. Once Greece formally defaults and renounces their debt completely that will start a 2-year waiting period. Once that ends, the loans will flow-in like the Mississippi, just as happened now, twice, with Argentina, and once with Iceland. Also happens every day in this country with people that declare bankruptcy - they barely make it home from the court house when the credit card offers again start flooding their mailboxes (they’re considered a better risk after declaring, than before declaring, since they have no debt after declaring, at least for Ch. 7).
Bankers make money by loaning other people’s money - they make nothing by not loaning to bad risks. They used to go to jail if they intentionally loaned money to entities that could not pay it back. Now we’re ‘beyond’ that savagery, and they get HUGE BONUSES for moving the money, and, of course bailed out when countries (or people) don’t pay it back. So Greece, like many countries in the past, will find things to be MUCH BETTER after defaulting. My only question is why did they even try to pay the money back?
Kind of like what's happening here.
Because the leadership and politicians are bought off by receiving all the benefits of the loans. How many places would vote themselves out of the EU if they were allowed to do so?
Fair point.
Whose losses are these should Greece go #7? You are correct lenders lend to discharged bankrupts but for two good reasons - you become first in line and the borrower can’t file again for a statutory length of time. A loan is just a piece of paper with some numbers on it and obviously the post #7’s are better pieces of paper than the pre-7 ones.
Banks USED to make money lending money. Now they make money servicing loans for the National Banks.
Can’t those slacker Germans get night jobs to help pay for Greek retirements?
Ping.
The only constructive moral lesson here is: when the richest guys in town ask the poorest guy in town to sit in on their Friday poker game, promising hors d'oeuvres and free drinks, the poor guy MUST learn A) to decline the invitation and B) to RUN the other direction.
Socialism ALWAYS fails, sadly later (than it should) than sooner. EMU wanted Greece in in order to expand the amount of carrion that the ECBite vultures needed to feed upon because socialism must ALWAYS have a fresh supply of OPM. I wonder which nation will be next in line for the hors d'oeuvres.
They have no choice but to leave the Euro! What all of these “analysts” don’t realize is that they will never be able to devalue their currency if they keep the Euro, therefore they will never be able to pay off their debt regardless if they want to or not! The flaw with the Euro concept is different economies are just that, different. The way countries like Greece, Spain, and Italy remained solvent in the past is by deflating their currencies. If they cannot do that, they will always be in debt.
It'll be best for the Greek government -- for the Greek people, not so much.
A return to the Drachma will initiate a round of currency inflation that will wipe out what capital remains in Greece.
In the dead of night re establish the drachma on parity with the Euro.
Pay the greek debts in the new Greek Drachma.
Make the announcement and watch the drachma fall.
And if Greece stays in the Euro they can look forward to decades of crushing unemployment and poverty, and never paying back what they owe. Better for the people to get out cauterize the wound and move on.
Nah... they will just remove many of those extra zeros and call it a “New Drachma”, just like France did pre-Euro...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.