Will there be a Grexit?

[d000hg]

Why DID the Greek bailout come as loans, rather than just giving them the money?

[GlenW]

Why DID the Greek bailout come as loans, rather than just giving them the money?

Because they would have taken it, spent it, then asked for more.

[d000hg]

Because they would have taken it, spent it, then asked for more.

And that's different to now because?

[GlenW]

And that's different to now because?

The Germans can get on their high horse and inflict some pain on Zorba and his mates.

[Unix]

The problem is the debt and the chronic overspending, not the currency. Okay so if they had their own currency maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, and what you say isn't wrong, but what should be learned is that the Eurozone should have had stricter criteria on who could enter. No matter what, the northern Eurozone countries are likely to continue successfully with The Euro even if it does lose a few members.

If you hadn't noticed, the UK also has problems with a debt mountain, unpopular austerity, and political instability as a result. It's not a Euro problem.

As Sal says, a Grexit isn't exactly going to solve their problems overnight, though it might make Greece a cheap place to go on holiday again (as long as you don't mind all the beggars).

But they could only borrow so much because they had the Euro and low interest rate that sharing the German's currency allows. If there was also fiscal policy then the EU would have dictated Greece's spending/borrowing.

[BrilloPad]

You have obviously never lived in a country with high/hyper inflation caused by currency devaluation. Even if there is no some sort of mandatory currency conversion of the bank deposits from Euro to Drahma (or w/e), what will happen is that people will start getting paid in Drahmas. The problem comes with all the imported goods as the importers will have to pay Euro (or w/e) to the supplier but only get Drahmas in return. So the first month a Greek will be able to by X amount of goods with his salary of Y Drahma, as the Drahma quickly devaluates against the Euro due to the insane money printing, the second month they will be only able to afford less and less goods, causing them to dip into their savings in Euro. At some point their Euro savings will run out and they will be feked.

And the big problem is that even if they manage to please the masses for a while printing Drahmas and trowing it at the people, this doesn't help their debts which are in Euro, IMF doesn't want their stinking Drahmas.

It's like being a household that racked a mountain of cc debt, went to Wonga to cover the monthly cc payments and now thinking that using monopoly money will help them get out of the mess... No what will help is to shackle the entire family with ball and chain and bring them to the quarry to crush stones until they pay out their debts.

Why is Athens still refusing the free lunch of a Grexit? - Telegraph

HTH

[BrilloPad]

Why DID the Greek bailout come as loans, rather than just giving them the money?

Indeed. For the Euro to work there would have to be a modern day Marshall plan. A Merkel plan?

German voters have been told that Greeks need a loan to get them back on their feet. The reality is they need long term fiscal transfers.

[DodgyAgent]

Y No what will help is to shackle the entire family with ball and chain and bring them to the quarry to crush stones until they pay out their debts.

As long as I get my 20% who cares?

[EternalOptimist]

the talks collapsed on saturday over lunch when they found that someone had broken all the plates

[sal]

Indeed. For the Euro to work there would have to be a modern day Marshall plan. A Merkel plan?

German voters have been told that Greeks need a loan to get them back on their feet. The reality is they need long term fiscal transfers.

The Marshall plan wasn't some selfless act on part of US, it was used to stop the spread of communism and set the Western Europe for the cold war. On top of that most of the money went back to US anyway spend by recipients on raw materials, food and industrial equipment.

Giving free money to the Greeks will achieve nothing, even worse it might encourage the other ailing southern economies that they can rely on free money and hamper their improvements. Forcing the Greeks to squirm and pay for the decades of uncontrolled borrowing/spending is a sign to the likes of Spain and Italy to get a grip or face the consequences.