SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 17 submissions in the queue.
SoylentNews
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".
Original Submission
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
First study the enemy. Seek weakness.
-- Romulan Commander, "Balance of Terror", stardate 1709.2
(Score: 5, Insightful) by threedigits on Monday July 06 2015, @05:03PM
Most of the loans to Greece came from other EU countries (nearly 200 billion)
This is technically true, but it's hardly the whole truth. Before the bailouts it was private banks that held most of the debt, specially French, German and Greek ones. All those were "rescued" by the EU taxpayers (by forcing Greece to take more loans). A big share of these "emergency" funds went *directly* from the EU to the banks, never to Athens. I find it obscene that there's plenty of money to rescue bankers, but not a dime for Greek people.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Monday July 06 2015, @11:42PM
I find it obscene that there's plenty of money to rescue bankers, but not a dime for Greek people.
This.
Many of these loans were debt traps, pure and simple, and when it became obvious that Greece could not pay, they looked for someone else to pay, because the banks were "too big to fail". (Hmmm, sounds familiar).
If the EU is in fact a union, then the union has some obligation for the predatory behavior of the lenders. If its just a bunch of bullies on the play ground pushing around the kid in shabby trousers, then why call it a union. Because it sounds like a mob.
Australia, Canada, the US, hell, even India have measures to take care of states/provinces that can not possibly pay their entire way.
Some states get massive amounts of national funds, far in excess of their tax revenue. Other states pay in more taxes than they get back.
The EU seems to be treating its member states like the old Soviet Union. Some states server only as buffer states to protect the homeland.
Its looking more and more like Greece was just a wrapper around the Bosnia/Serbia/Albania problem.
Its all good to talk of contracts and bailouts, and technical details of the mountains of paper constructing the EU. But at the end of the day, Greece has a balance of payments problem, and NOTHING other than selling off antiquities gets past that. Is that what the EU really wants?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday July 07 2015, @02:10AM
Its all good to talk of contracts and bailouts, and technical details of the mountains of paper constructing the EU. But at the end of the day, Greece has a balance of payments problem, and NOTHING other than selling off antiquities gets past that. Is that what the EU really wants?
It is not what the EU wants, it is what the banks and other moneyed interests want. Whenever you hear the term "austerity" in regards to government, behind it is an attempt to transfer public assets into private hands.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Saturday July 18 2015, @09:15AM
This happens intentionally or not but it has been driver which makes peripheral countries favorable towards expansion because it makes another country into a buffer zone. Unfortunately for Spain, Italy and Greece, the Mediterranean Sea forms a fairly definitive buffer between Europe and Africa. Furthermore, as an island nation, Greece has many routes to smuggle people. The more able people diffuse further into Europe. However, one of the relatively overlooked problems in Greece is the disproportionate accumulation of undocumented, low-skill immigrants who don't integrate into the local culture.
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:36AM
A big share of these "emergency" funds went *directly* from the EU to the banks, never to Athens. I find it obscene that there's plenty of money to rescue bankers, but not a dime for Greek people.
You misunderstand what was happening. The Greek banks were bailing out the government, lending it money. The EU was then bailing out the Greek banks by the same amount. The legal framework that meant it had to be done that way is complex, but basically it was just a way to funnel money to the Greek government and not the banks themselves. The money was only given on the condition that it was lent to the government.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)