Europe

[kamui]

Because the Germans don't want to foot the bill for their own cock ups? They should be kissing the Germans asses instead of being angry at it.

Hmm...if I had the money, I'd buy some of the best properties in the heaviest tourist areas on the cheap in Greece. Its still a hot tourist destination. Would that be a good idea as long term investment or is it one of those hairbrained ideas that has haunted me my whole life?

 

Bying property in Greece might be a good idea. If you know the market and the Greek rules 100%.

If Greece goes bankrupt, the Drachme (their old currency) will be so cheap, that you probably can buy whole islands.

 

Also in Spain condo's are super cheap at the moment.... But buyer beware.

[Guest lazyphil]

Because the Germans don't want to foot the bill for their own cock ups? They should be kissing the Germans asses instead of being angry at it.

Hmm...if I had the money, I'd buy some of the best properties in the heaviest tourist areas on the cheap in Greece. Its still a hot tourist destination. Would that be a good idea as long term investment or is it one of those hairbrained ideas that has haunted me my whole life?

 

 

wouldn't touch it with a barge pole unless you're versed in greek law 100% ...but nothing ventured nothing gained as they say

[Steve]

http://news.yahoo.com/voting-begins-greek-general-election-044821544.html

around half of the vote could go to 30 smaller parties from across the political spectrum, making the formation of a new government by likely poll winner Antonis Samaras of New Democracy (ND) a tall order.

 

"I am going to vote one of the small parties. I have had enough of ND and Pasok," psychology student Maria, 22, said on her way to vote. "Ever since I was born people have just voted for them."

 

Both Pasok and ND have said they want the "troika" of the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank to cut Greece more slack in their bailout deals.

 

For many of the smaller parties this does not go far enough.

 

"We need to break from this corrupt political system of lackeys of foreign imperialism," Petros Alachmar, 31, an activist from the far-left Syriza party, told AFP. "We have had enough of austerity measures."

 

Greece's creditors, not least paymaster-in-chief Germany, the main proponent of austerity before growth -- despite growing criticism -- have little appetite to loosen the bailout terms, let alone consider a third rescue.

 

Seems many of the Greeks are blaming not only their leading parties but outside groups who have influence over their budget like the EU.

 

The Greeks themselves can blame no one except their own government. Admittedly, I don't know the situation in detail and I maybe speaking out of complete ignorance but the way I see it is, their government f*cked them over. The Greeks themselves seem to believe some of their social benefits are God given and can't be altered.

 

If I were the EU I'd write them off. They will only abide by austerity measures kicking and screaming and continue to look for ways to maintain a system that obviously doesn't work (side note: America pay attention).

[kamui]

http://news.yahoo.co...-044821544.html

The Greeks themselves can blame no one except their own government. Admittedly, I don't know the situation in detail and I maybe speaking out of complete ignorance but the way I see it is, their government f*cked them over. The Greeks themselves seem to believe some of their social benefits are God given and can't be altered.

 

If I were the EU I'd write them off. They will only abide by austerity measures kicking and screaming and continue to look for ways to maintain a system that obviously doesn't work (side note: America pay attention).

 

Not only have the Greeks to blame their government(s), but all of themselves. Everybody cheated on taxes or VAT, every family wanted to have a member working for the authorities, with huge benefits and retirement at 55. Many business protected their turf with middle age rules. For example you could only run shipment business with a truck if you bought a license for ca. 100.000 EUR. As a result owning a truck was a very secure business, while shipments were extremely expensive and slow in Greece.

 

The whole nation participated in the scam(s) which brought the country down.

[Steve]

Spain is also in trouble and much, much more problematic than Greece. I don't know how the Spaniards are facing their problems so I will assume they will accept austerity measures.

 

Italy is another one with huge problems.

 

Interesting to see how all this pans out. Hmmm...could the global financial power shift to Asia? North America is in trouble. America and Canada are struggling. Europe has issues now. China and Korea are doing reasonably well in comparison and although Japan has been mired in an anemic economy for almost 20 years now its still the worlds 3rb biggesst economy. Asia now has the 2nd and 3rd largest economies.

 

Thoughts?

[Hugh_Hoy]

Spain is also in trouble and much, much more problematic than Greece. I don't know how the Spaniards are facing their problems so I will assume they will accept austerity measures.

 

Italy is another one with huge problems.

 

Interesting to see how all this pans out. Hmmm...could the global financial power shift to Asia? North America is in trouble. America and Canada are struggling. Europe has issues now. China and Korea are doing reasonably well in comparison and although Japan has been mired in an anemic economy for almost 20 years now its still the worlds 3rb biggesst economy. Asia now has the 2nd and 3rd largest economies.

 

Thoughts?

 

Irresponsible, liberal, fiscal practices by socialist governments...same as California and same as Obama wants to continue.

 

HH

[BelgianBoy]

Irresponsible, liberal, fiscal practices by socialist governments...same as California and same as Obama wants to continue.

 

HH

that is quite naive, even coming from you HH !

to put "liberal" and "socialist" in the same sentence is not really knowing the meaning of it.....

 

BB

[Steve]

Germany, Japan and the UK have a a 'socialist', 'liberal' government (compared to America and what we would collectively deem as such - national healthcare, worker rights, long vacations, tons of social safety nets, etc.) and their economies are fairly strong. Ours isn't doing too great.

China is still a communist country and has become the 2nd largest economy and is growing faster than America.

Korea as well.

 

Fiscal responsibility is fiscal responsibility. Nothing wrong with national healthcare, etc. if you are responsible. Germans get paid less than Americans in certain jobs I supposed but enjoy greater societal benefits. Its what they decided to do.

 

America doesn't have capitalism it has special priveleges disquised as capitalism.

[Dexi]

Saw an interesting doco on the tv last night about Greece.When asked all the Greeks interviewed wanted to keep the Euro and stay in the Eurozone,not go back to the Drachma.Seems like they want all the benefits of being in the Eurozone but don`t want the responsibilities.Looks like they might use the threat of leaving the Euro as a lever to get more concessions from the EU ,IMF etc,knowing that a default could spread the contagion to the other peripheral countries and cause a much bigger problem.As for Germany,they seem to be in quite a dilemma - on the one hand they are desperate to keep the Eurozone project going and are worried that if Greece leaves the whole thing will start to unravel,and on the other hand they dont want to encourage reckless irresponsible economic policies. So,in summary it seems the only region which is likely to do well in the next few years is.....Thailand

[kamui]

Irresponsible, liberal, fiscal practices by socialist governments...same as California and same as Obama wants to continue.

 

HH

 

Actually, Italy was run by conservatives including a right wing party (Lega Nord). Anyway, the problem in Italy seems to be that the political system is overly corrupt and waisting billions. Also the bureaucracy seems to be nightmare.

 

Germany, Japan and the UK have a a 'socialist', 'liberal' government (compared to America and what we would collectively deem as such - national healthcare, worker rights, long vacations, tons of social safety nets, etc.) and their economies are fairly strong. Ours isn't doing too great.

China is still a communist country and has become the 2nd largest economy and is growing faster than America.

Korea as well.

 

Fiscal responsibility is fiscal responsibility. Nothing wrong with national healthcare, etc. if you are responsible. Germans get paid less than Americans in certain jobs I supposed but enjoy greater societal benefits. Its what they decided to do.

 

France was run by a conservative government until Sunday. Germany has a conservative government. Spain had a conservative government from 2004-2011, UK has a conservative government.

Anyway a European conservatives would be a democrats in the USA. GOP politicians would be members of fringe parties without any support by the majority of the people.

 

In most (all?) West-European countries wealth is much more equally distributed than in the USA (but it is getting worse). The poor and middle class gets much better support. For example in Germany we have only a few hundred thousand people without health care (among around 100 Mio citizens).

 

Saw an interesting doco on the tv last night about Greece.When asked all the Greeks interviewed wanted to keep the Euro and stay in the Eurozone,not go back to the Drachma.Seems like they want all the benefits of being in the Eurozone but don`t want the responsibilities.Looks like they might use the threat of leaving the Euro as a lever to get more concessions from the EU ,IMF etc,knowing that a default could spread the contagion to the other peripheral countries and cause a much bigger problem.As for Germany,they seem to be in quite a dilemma - on the one hand they are desperate to keep the Eurozone project going and are worried that if Greece leaves the whole thing will start to unravel,and on the other hand they dont want to encourage reckless irresponsible economic policies. So,in summary it seems the only region which is likely to do well in the next few years is.....Thailand

 

Since the election last week Greece might have become un-governable. The major parties lost, while fringe groups (right and left) gained.

 

Now a leftwing politician has been asked to form a new government and he already said that he won't stick the forced saving measures, forced by outsiders (EU e.g.). Germany already shot back: if the Greek won't stick to the severe budget cuts and strong reforms all financial support would be cancelled. This would mean immediate bancruptcy of Greece and being kicked out of the Euro zone.

Greece has been so badly run, that even if Greece would stop paying any debt today the national budget would be still in the red...