It's all Greek to me?

[cee-dee]

So Greece owes billions of €uro to several lenders, it didn't make it's June payment of €1.6 billion to the IMF and it now expects to be lent more money?

What have they done with all that money? Frittered it away on........ what? Where's it gone?

If you and I owed substantial sums to various lenders and didn't make repayments as agreed, what would the lenders say if we said we couldn't pay what we owe and asked to be lent more?

[electric*mayhem*band]

A Greek Tragedy to equal those of Euripides and Sophocles, innit ?

I blame Nana Mouskouri.

[astrologica]

😄😄😄

[******lynda******]

Bit similar to those who keep repeating the tory mantra "The UK could have ended up like Greece" of course that is totally false as a sovereign country issuing its own currency that could never happen,in fact it won't surprise me if Osborne mentions it again in his forthcoming budget !


What do you mean, it could never happen. It did nearly did happen here. And only by implementing the IMF regime did we get out of trouble. in 1976.
it was actually Great Britain, the cradle of the industrialized world, which in 1976 became one of the first countries ever to be "bailed out" by the IMF in the modern sense of the term.
In 1976 Britain faced financial crisis. The Labour government was forced to apply to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan of nearly $4 billion. IMF negotiators insisted on deep cuts in public expenditure, greatly affecting economic and social policy.

Back in the 60s under Harold Wilson, things were so bad here, people could only take £50 out of the country, if they went on holiday. I remember that well, as we went to Germany at that time and my parents were not happy.

[joe_bloggs*]

If you read into the history of the IMF loan,you'll find that the treasury overestimated the public sector borrowing requirements,and in fact if it had of given the correct figures at the time no IMF loan would have been needed.

What i was reffering to was the tories insistance that the UK was on the brink of bankrupcy and likened us to Greece, of course most people now realise was just scaremonging,bit like their "maxing out the credit card" outbursts,and not getting the "no money left" joke,wasn't it Osborne who lost our AAA credit rating?

Anyway i,m sure the Greek people will be made to suffer,just as a warning to the Spanish and others 

[mustard-tree]

Does Britain actually lend to anyone, or just give it away as Foreign Aid?

[joamur_gosof]

I dont think so joe, I think greece will be let off privately but media wide they are paying back ....to keep spain ,portugal Eire etc at bay.

I say this as I think that all in the know now know there is no real money left not in the hands of the asset grabs,who of course have long since lost interest in actual asset grabbing and moved on to world manipulating (for the better of us all of course) 

[lightblueberet]

As a Brit.expat. living in Greece for many years now, I can tell you one thing about the Greek people :

The majority are hard working, honest and hospitable people sold down the proverbial 'Swanee' by a succession of incompetent governments headed by con merchants !

It grieves me to see them now in such dire straits, through no fault of their own ! At least they're not suffering alone...included are us expats, of all nationalities !

[******lynda******]

ATHENS—Of all the challenges Greece has faced in recent years, prodding its citizens to pay their taxes has been one of the most difficult.

At the end of 2014, Greeks owed their government about €76 billion ($86 billion) in unpaid taxes accrued over decades, though mostly since 2009. The government says most of that has been lost to insolvency and only €9 billion can be recovered.

Billions more in taxes are owed on never-reported revenue from Greece’s vast underground economy, which was estimated before the crisis to equal more than a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product.

The International Monetary Fund and Greece’s other creditors have argued for years that the country’s debt crisis could be largely resolved if the government just cracked down on tax evasion. Tax debts in Greece equal about 90% of annual tax revenue, the highest shortfall among industrialized nations, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/greece-struggles-to-get-citizens-to-pay-their-taxes-1424867495

See also http://uk.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-real-reason-greece-has-a-massive-tax-evasion-problem-2015-...

The people have to bear some, though not all, of the responsibility.

We are the same over here in the blame game. The people accept no responsibility for taking out loans they could not afford and defaulting. If everyone who borrowed money pre 2007 had repaid their loans, the banks would not have had so much of a problem. The banks were only part of the problem, but we like to say it was ALL their fault.

[suzieseaside]

Interesting to hear from someone who is living there.

Is there optimism for the future, even though it may take a long time for things to improve?

[******lynda******]

I do hope the EU debts get written off but that will mean at least 3 other countries will follow suit and the rEU will be terrified of that. Greece needs to be able to rebuild itself, hopefully with a better system than before.

[lightblueberet]

"...I do hope the EU debts get written off..."

That is my hope as well lynda, but that is not what the Greeks want...well, the ones I've spoken to anyway !

They acknowledge only too well that there is a debt & it has to be paid, but, in simple layman terms, what they're asking is e.g.You want £500 a month over a 5-year period, I only have £100 to give you over a 15-year period !

I may be over simplifying things, but that's the general picture I get here !

[lightblueberet]

"...Is there optimism for the future..."

Yes there is, suzie ! The Greeks have a permanent smile, and we follow suit !

Whatever happens, at least we're blessed with glorious sunshine & stunning beaches, and that's something they can't take away from us...yet !  

[suzieseaside]

That's true vasos, it's very beautiful and that counts for a lot!

I haven't been to Greece since the 70s but have been thinking I would like to visit again.

I guess at present tourists need to take enough money with them if the banks are short of lolly.

[lightblueberet]

Bye the bye, two things I forgot to mention above which, as an Englishman based here for many a year, never cease to amaze me :

a) The tight 'family unit' i.e. In times of dire need, all rally round to help each other...parents, aunties, nans, cousins twice-removed, cousins thrice-removed come to that...the list is endless !

b) Neighbours...one of the most important word in the Greek language...as (a) above !

It's happening already, whether the country defaults or not !

[lightblueberet]

Yup...bring plenty of cash & Twiglets please...we've just run out !  

[suzieseaside]

  Then I guess you would like some Marmite too!

When you run out of twiglets you can dunk kritisinia in it!

[lightblueberet]

[malacandran]

Perhaps the Greeks should just accept that they don't want to work?

[upthecreekyetagain]

And who can blame them?  As you asked on the 'suicide' thread - who does want to work?

[malacandran]

Yes, but I don't keep asking the Germans to pay my bills.