Greece....how can they...

[Crispy]

Quote from d08:

The countryside depends on EU subsidies.
In 2004, Greece had 2% of the farmland in the EU but got 6% of the subsidies. While these statistics are skewed because of the enlargement, it does illustrate the point.
I agree with the rest though.

The funniest thing is that the Eurozone countries who joined EU in 2004 have had to fund the Greek bailout. These countries have much lower living standards, think about that for a second.
For the Americans, that's like Alabama paying billions to bail out California.

I should have been more clear. I was referring to small self sufficient family farms. Not commercial business. The people who feed themselves. But yes, there is disparity for sure.

 

[Martinghoul]

Quote from Crispy:
Good piece. Thanks for posting, I had not seen it.

It is a very good piece... Grim reality, with occasional glimmers of hope here and there. That's probably what life is like.

 

[morganist]

Quote from Martinghoul:

It is a very good piece... Grim reality, with occasional glimmers of hope here and there. That's probably what life is like.

I guess. I think it is just saying people will go back to how they lived pre second world war.

 

[Humpy]

Like the song says " one day older and deeper in debt"

It's capitalism gone mad. The many suffer so the few have got so much money they can't spend it all.

or

was it those socialists over spending again ?

a bit of both imho

 

[intradaybill]

Quote from d08:

The countryside depends on EU subsidies.
In 2004, Greece had 2% of the farmland in the EU but got 6% of the subsidies. While these statistics are skewed because of the enlargement, it does illustrate the point.
I agree with the rest though.

The funniest thing is that the Eurozone countries who joined EU in 2004 have had to fund the Greek bailout. These countries have much lower living standards, think about that for a second.
For the Americans, that's like Alabama paying billions to bail out California.

No, you are of course wrong and it seems you have no idea how the EU works. Please do not make false analogies.

When Greece joined the EU they were offered money packages to reduce their agricultural production so other countries could compete with the Greek cheap products. They were offered incentives to destroy farmland in exchange for cash to buy German cars. As a result the high current account deficit.

When they got the euro they lost the right to devalue currency and be competitive, they were left with reduced farmland, privatized industries bought by Germans and cash incentives not to grow certain products so that Spanish, Italians and other countries can have a competitive advantage. The Greek politicians accepted all that possibly in exchange for positions and support from the EU while the country current account balance was growing along with the debt.

Similar situations happened in other countries. The result was Germany owing the Greek Telecommunications, main Athens Airport and other key businesses they bought by forcing Greeks to do privatizations in the name of free markets while keeping their own industry under heavy government control.

The story is much more complicated and it shows the way the Germans handled power within the EU and drive other countries to default with the objective of buying them cheap and getting their resources.

Also, some of you do not know that Germany defaulted in 1952 (I think then) and Greece was one of the poor and destroyed countries by Nazis then that actually shared the cost of the funding to rebuild Germany.

Germany still owes Greece about half a trillion dollars from war reparations and refuses to pay it.

 

[Eight]

Greece owes so much it's impossible for them to ever pay it.. They also have a history of defaulting a few times per century so who loaned them so much that it's twice their GNP?

Are there intervention teams that can operate on an international level? You trick the leaders of Greece into going to a meeting and when they get there all the other countries leaders have prepared letters that they read out loud about how loved they are but if they won't stop being credit addicts they are getting cut out of everybody's lives...

 

[GTS]

Quote from intradaybill:

When Greece joined the EU they were offered money packages to reduce their agricultural production so other countries could compete with the Greek cheap products. They were offered incentives to destroy farmland in exchange for cash to buy German cars. As a result the high current account deficit.

When they got the euro they lost the right to devalue currency and be competitive, they were left with reduced farmland, privatized industries bought by Germans and cash incentives not to grow certain products so that Spanish, Italians and other countries can have a competitive advantage. The Greek politicians accepted all that possibly in exchange for positions and support from the EU while the country current account balance was growing along with the debt.

Similar situations happened in other countries. The result was Germany owing the Greek Telecommunications, main Athens Airport and other key businesses they bought by forcing Greeks to do privatizations in the name of free markets while keeping their own industry under heavy government control.

The story is much more complicated and it shows the way the Germans handled power within the EU and drive other countries to default with the objective of buying them cheap and getting their resources.

Also, some of you do not know that Germany defaulted in 1952 (I think then) and Greece was one of the poor and destroyed countries by Nazis then that actually shared the cost of the funding to rebuild Germany.

Germany still owes Greece about half a trillion dollars from war reparations and refuses to pay it.

Its really hard to tell from your post which side of the issue you stand on, could you make your biases more clear?

 

[noone3]

Quote from intradaybill:

No, you are of course wrong and it seems you have no idea how the EU works. Please do not make false analogies.

When Greece joined the EU they were offered money packages to reduce their agricultural production so other countries could compete with the Greek cheap products. They were offered incentives to destroy farmland in exchange for cash to buy German cars. As a result the high current account deficit.

When they got the euro they lost the right to devalue currency and be competitive, they were left with reduced farmland, privatized industries bought by Germans and cash incentives not to grow certain products so that Spanish, Italians and other countries can have a competitive advantage. The Greek politicians accepted all that possibly in exchange for positions and support from the EU while the country current account balance was growing along with the debt.

Similar situations happened in other countries. The result was Germany owing the Greek Telecommunications, main Athens Airport and other key businesses they bought by forcing Greeks to do privatizations in the name of free markets while keeping their own industry under heavy government control.

The story is much more complicated and it shows the way the Germans handled power within the EU and drive other countries to default with the objective of buying them cheap and getting their resources.

Also, some of you do not know that Germany defaulted in 1952 (I think then) and Greece was one of the poor and destroyed countries by Nazis then that actually shared the cost of the funding to rebuild Germany.

Germany still owes Greece about half a trillion dollars from war reparations and refuses to pay it.

Thank you! I could have not put these facts more accurately.
This is exactly what has been happening for the last 10+ years
As for the war reparations, you are 100% right but I never understood why they were never claimed and collected.

 

[noone3]

Quote from GTS:

Its really hard to tell from your post which side of the issue you stand on, could you make your biases more clear?

These are facts, not biases

 

[athlonmank8]

Quote from noone3:

IMHO, there is vast interest in this country, and this is exactly why all this is happening right now.
There has been Asian and Russian interest already. There are other ways to fund the debt in ways sustainable for the ppl, but for now it is under western control unfortunately

asia stated they're not going to bail anyone out from europe. Western control has very little to do with it.