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posted by martyb on Monday July 06 2015, @08:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the getting-what-you-asked-for-may-not-be-getting-what-you-want dept.

The Greeks voted no to the European Union's terms, despite warnings from the EU that rejecting new austerity terms would set their country on a path out of the Eurozone. 62% voted "No" while 38% voted "Yes".


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by threedigits on Monday July 06 2015, @10:33AM

    by threedigits (607) on Monday July 06 2015, @10:33AM (#205545)

    All of the "aid" in the past few years has basically given them loans that let them make payments on other loans.

    Quite. In fact, said "aid" has only been a subtle way of rescuing private French and German banks (which had exposed themselves to Greek debt after "rocking the boat" to bargain for greater interests. See this, for a good understanding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_government-debt_crisis#Analysis_of_the_Greek_rescue [wikipedia.org].

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @01:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @01:20PM (#205609)

    If you're up to your ears in debt, and you come to me for help, do you think I can help you without paying off your creditors? Who is at fault here, me for giving you money to pay lenders you don't like, or you for entering into debt that you couldn't pay back?

    • (Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @01:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @01:29PM (#205613)

      It's pretty clear: if you step in to help me, you have made that voluntary choice. It's now you're problem that you're not getting paid back. Especially because you stepped in to help me only because of an anticipated interest you'd be getting by helping me. You're not helping me out of the goodness of your heart. You're helping me because you're about to make a buck.
      Don't come crying to me about a bet you made to make a buck which didn't pan out!

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @01:51PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @01:51PM (#205619)

        See, that's the problem. You make absurd comments about my motivation, insult me, and the very next day you're on my doorstep again to ask for more money. What do you think I am going to do?

        To make clear what I mean by "absurd comments about my motivation": The one thing you're right about is that bailing out Greece was not done out of the good of our hearts, at least not primarily. Absurd is that you think it was meant to make us a quick buck. The interest paid on those loans is minimal considering the risk, and still the interest from the loans was in fact planned to go back to Greece, until Greece failed to hold up its end of the deal. The main motivation was to prevent the collapse of the European financial system and of several countries in similar problems as Greece in the wake of the global banking crisis. Do you not agree that preventing a situation with bankrupt banks for 300 million people or more was a good enough reason to pay for Greece's debt with EU backed loans? It is bitter irony that Greece still threatens the very collapse that Europe sought to prevent by bailing out Greece at tremendous risk and, as it appears now, cost to its tax payers.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @03:38PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @03:38PM (#205669)

          The bailout money is not going to Greece, it is going to the banks that lend money to it. It is the member states of Europe bailing out their own banks and making Greece pay for it.
          I think my assumptions about 'your' motivation is accurate, you (the banks) wanted to make a nice buck from someone else misery.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @04:19PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @04:19PM (#205709)

            *sigh* You're walking in circles. Good luck with your bankruptcy.

            • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @12:05AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @12:05AM (#205911)

              Not the GP. Let me quote from Wikipedia:

              With regard to Germany in particular, a Bloomberg editorial noted that, before its banks reduced its exposure to Greece, "they stood to lose a ton of money if Greece left the euro. Now any losses will be shared with the taxpayers of the entire euro area."

              That appears to have been the whole damned point of the exercise: privatise the profits, socialise the losses, and have someone to blame.

              You're happily accepting that line.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @06:17AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @06:17AM (#206001)

                Again, that is not and was not the motivation of the taxpayers who are currently saddled with Greece's debt and from whom Greece asks another bailout. Why would the taxpayers want to privatize profits and socialize losses? I am fully aware that this was an effect of the bailout, but the motivation was something else: To prevent a situation like we're seeing in Greece now, with banks closed and bankrupt, but for all of Europe and possibly more. Without the bailout, Greece's bankruptcy would also, without a doubt and no delay, have crashed several other countries. As regrettable as the socialization of losses is, the taxpayer couldn't really let that happen just to spite the private investors.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @02:53PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @02:53PM (#206129)

                  the taxpayers currently holding the bag had nothing to do with the decision for the bailout, that was made by the top EU politicians and bankers, the public had no say

                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @03:28PM

                    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @03:28PM (#206140)

                    OK, you got me. We're evil slave drivers and seek to subjugate the proud Greek people to pay for our lavish lifestyles. Good luck with your bankruptcy. Maybe seeing how life is without Germany "exploiting" you will sober you up. In all of history, that has never happened though. It always takes at least two generations before people understand what went wrong.

                    Reminder: A big majority in Greece wants to stay in the Eurozone. Ask those people why, maybe they can explain it to you better than I can.