So the people of Greece are enjoying their strikes and their demonstrations just as they enjoyed the good life when they were spending very many billions of other people’s money. If they behave like this when they are just asked to move towards living within their means what will happen when they are actually required to pay some of the money back? Yep, you guessed it. They just aren’t going to.
Anyone who lends any person or any institution in Greece any money is deluded if they think they have any prospect of seeing any of it again. It just isn’t going to happen. This is not a normal northern European country and it is very silly indeed to treat them like one. You cannot even believe the Greek government’s figures, they have a long history of making them up to suit themselves.
All that is happening right now is that they are trying to grab as much of everyone else’s money as they can so that they can carry on regardless. The Greek people are simply not going to stop spending more than they earn and they certainly aren’t going to pay the income taxes that they should.
The reason the Greeks got into the EU in the first place was on the insistence of France, so it is only fitting that French banks are holding 56.7 billion euros of Greek debt. They don’t expect to see that money again, surely? So we are going to see a domino effect, when Greece finally runs out of gullible lenders and is forced to default the French financial system is going to be in the deepest merde.
And what are the Greek people going to do? Certainly very many of them will simply move to another EU country and just walk away from the debt mountain they have created. Such are the wonders of how the EU works.
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Bang-on correct.
Now imagine if the Greeks put all that revolutionary zeal and energy into actually working? What a concept…
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Auditors interesting findings at the Greek banks: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_12/09/2011_405793
However, because in most cases the values booked in the balance sheets are the purchase prices – and, therefore, overvalued in relation to current levels – the differences are expected to pose a serious problem. The formula also takes into account the present likelihood of the borrower’s bankruptcy, which was especially weak when the loan was granted. They have asked for updates.
For loans in the lower tier, which are much more numerous, the strategy is different: sampling. For example, they ask for a batch of some 100 loans granted during a specific period. Interestingly, the rate of problematic loans in such specific periods always seems to be high, and this strongly suggests that the American auditors arrived in Athens extremely well-informed and prepared.
Some loans are now considered a total loss but for various opaque reasons Greek banks have found ways of listing them otherwise. This is another category which the auditors findings are bound to impact lenders’ net worth.
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Greek 1 year debt now yielding 120%
Still not high enough for the risk.