Will Greece become the domino that sinks the Euro?

Forums: Economy, Europe, Inflation, Euro
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The Euro countries are afraid to let Greece go bankrupt, because it will be followed by Spain and Ireland. If that happens, the Euro's value will drop to unimaginable levels, and inflation will hit all their countries.

The European Central Banks Euro policies continue to exacerbate the problems for Greece and the other Euro countries with huge deficits.

France and Germany are trying their best to prop up Greece with more loans and forgiving of loans, but that seems like a losing proposition when Greece really doesn't have an economy that can pay back the loans they already have.

It seems like desperation times for the Euro zone countries, but the majority are in no position to assist Greece with their growing deficit.

How long will this plugging of holes in the dam last? Germany and France are in no position to save all of them when the water's rush gets stronger by the month (growing deficits).

Greece's debt is 179% of GDP. How will they survive?

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Type: Discussion • Score: 10 • Views: 4,222 • Replies: 38

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@cicerone imposter,

I believe we're on the rim of an economic maelstrom. Greece is only the latest symptom of a financial disease that has become pandemic.

(Hi, Tak!)

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@Lustig Andrei,

I believe that, too. Rather like an individual who works hard, produces useful work, and saves for the future suddenly finding himself wiped out because of the acts of a central bank, somewhere.

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@cicerone imposter,

You guys are depressing me. Can't I just go back to blissful ignorance?

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@rosborne979,

I can offer to buy you a drink. Wink

But, alas, two more banks in the US went belly-up today.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

I think that a good old 1930s depression is just what is needed as an introduction to better times.

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@rosborne979,

Yes. We've always muddled through by, um, muddling through before, and since it's beyond our power to influence. . . .

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@JTT,

Fast death, and fast recovery? LOL Probably preferable to the current slow death, and slow recovery.

Home sales are lousy, and getting worse. A symptom of what's bad with our total economy.

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@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

Home sales are lousy, and getting worse. A symptom of what's bad with our total economy.

Maybe a symptom of what's good, CI. Instead of having a boom and bust economy where huge edifices supplant what's actually needed as a home for most people, we can have some degree of sanity in the housing market.

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@cicerone imposter,

I wasn't around in the '30s. Was the recovery really that fast?

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@roger,

After WWII, the recovery was fast. There was pent up demand for everything after the war, because most civilians earned money building our war machines for four years, and there was hardly any consumer goods to buy. Even food was put on rations.

What was "funny" to some degree was the "cheap" junk we imported from Japan, because Americans were ready to spend money. I remember lighters from Japan were made from soda pop cans, and they must have sold millions of those.

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@cicerone imposter,

But after WWII wasn't in the '30s, and that depression lasted darn near a decade. In other, not sudden death followed by quick recovery.

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@roger,

I was born in 1935; too young to notice the condition of our living standard. All I know is that we lived in an upstairs apartment, and our mom worked at a restaurant. We seemed to have sufficient housing and food living in a small two room apartment with a small kitchen. My older brother and I shared one of the rooms.

We lived in what was then J-town where there were Japanese businesses, and a movie theater on our block. I never saw our father, who worked out on farms to earn a living, but he died when I was two years old.

I didn't even remember attending his funeral except for the fact that my uncle was carrying me at the front of the Buddhist Church where a picture was taken in 1937. He took our father's ashes back to Hiroshima to be buried at the family grave site before WWII. In 1982, my wife and I visited Hiroshima and my father's burial place to pay our respects.

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@roger,

roger wrote:

Yes. We've always muddled through by, um, muddling through before, and since it's beyond our power to influence. . . .

Ahhh, thank you. Your "muddling through" theory sounds quite hopeful. I feel much better now Smile

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@cicerone imposter,

The president has pledged U.S. support, both bilaterally and through the IMF, so, along with the news from Merkel today, I think the crisis will probably be avoided.

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@Irishk,

Sort of makes sense, since today's economy is a world-wide one, but like Germany and France, we are in no position to be "investing" money into another country when our own is also on the brink.

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@Irishk,

Deferred, not avoided is my opinion. Last I heard, their bonds could earn you 17% every year (except in case of default). There is nothing about their economy that would support the interest payments. They're done for, later if not sooner.

And look at them! Tourism is one of their biggest sources of income, but if anyone wanted to travel to watch the riots, France is pretty reliable and much closer.

1 Reply

@roger,

roger wrote:

And look at them! Tourism is one of their biggest sources of income, but if anyone wanted to travel to watch the riots, France is pretty reliable and much closer.

That certainly depends
a) on the individual residence,
b) what kind of riot you're interested in.

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@Walter Hinteler,

You mean the character of the riot, or the nominal reasons for the riot?

I'm at least halfway serious in asking. Are some riots more entertaining than others. I'm thinking of nimh in a mob of right wing demonstrators in Hungary. It kind of sounds like he had a lot of fun, but that may have just been his talent for writing.

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@roger,

Well, actually I'm not aware of any riots in France. (Which doesn't mean a lot, I agree.)
And then, I think that the demonstrations in Greece can't really be called riots.

Entertaining? Well, I would like to take some photos (I've done so even in some 1968-demonstrations).
But less for entertainment.

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Will Greece become the domino that sinks the Euro?

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