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posted by
martyb
on Monday July 06 2015, @08:57AM
from the getting-what-you-asked-for-may-not-be-getting-what-you-want dept.
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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You are a fluke of the universe; you have no right to be here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @03:44PM
Different AC here.
They have to have money in order to pay money. That's what you and the idiots from the IMF seem to forget.
They've already received 240€ billion in loans, and are now asking for debt relief & more loans to pay back part of the the reduced amount that is due. If I told my loan shark that I needed him to forgive part of my debt and also lend me more cash so I could pay back a little of what I still owed him, well, once he was done laughing I would be crying.
Plus, Greece wants the IMF to increase the liquidity to their central bank because people are taking cash out of the Greek banks (limited to 60€ per day) and the central bank is broke too. Greece says it wants a "fair deal" but none of that "fairness" involves them paying back what they've already borrowed (or committing to pay back the new loans they keep demanding).
Blaming Greece's current financial disaster solely on the IMF, ECB and other lenders completely ignores the fact that Greece has been borrowing from one place to pay another for decades, and thinks living within a national budget is unfair. They don't enforce their tax laws on the wealthy, and hand out lifelong pensions like teenagers hand out promise rings. If they need "money in order to pay money" they should start with their upperclass tax evaders and get them to actually pay their taxes (which the upperclass feels is as unfair as having to pay back their loans).
(Score: 1) by Francis on Monday July 06 2015, @07:03PM
I'm not blaming them solely. I'm pointing out that the austerity measures aren't going to make it more likely that Greece will repay the loans, it makes it more likely that there won't be any money to pay the loans with. What happens if the people have a revolution over this?
Yes, they should pay the loans, but realistically, I'm not convinced that's going to happen without the loans being restructured so as to have more time. As it stands there's not much money left over for rebuilding the economy or other activities that would lead to there being money to pay the loans back with. The situation sucks for everybody involved, but further punishing people who may not have actually had any say is just plain childish. The people who borrowed the money are mostly not the same ones that are being asked to actually pay the money as it stands.