Greece and the Referendum

[LovelyLadyLux]

I really can't believe George Papandreou called a referendum. Is this man of sound mind? Everybody rallies around talks talk talks and then finally a bail out plan comes up and he calls a referendum!!! He should have at least had the courtesy to have informed all participants he was going to do this before a 'deal' was proposed.

[Horus]

Well I am not a big fan of the EU or the Euro, but what is clear is that the Greeks have been living well above their means for some time. The majority retire at 50 years old with pensions that the rest of us would envy, but they cannot afford to pay for it. So it seems that they wish to continue along this profligate route and ask the rest of us to pay the bill for their lifestyle. The majority of wealthy people in Greece pay little or no income tax, or indeed taxes of any kind, so the burden will again fall on the poorer people who do contribute some taxes.

Of course the whole thing is political and is all about retaining a Franco German pact rather than saving Greece and we may yet see these two allowing Greece to default and leave the Euro if that is what it takes to serve their own interests.

There is another side to this if one were to be cynical, during WW2 Greece did its best to remain outside of the conflict and only responded after Mussolini attacked the country in a vain attempt to prove his credentials to Germanys leader Adolf Hitler. Italy’s little foray was sent packing by the Greeks and in an attempt to shore up a fellow fascist dictator, Germany invaded Greece via Czechoslovakia.

The result of this German aggression was measured in a heavy loss of life and heavy fiscal cost to Greece. At one point Germany extracted a ‘loan’ from Greece that was in the region of 9 billion Euro, this ‘loan’ was never repaid. Although Germany made some war reparations to Greece, not unlike the ones it was forced to make to other countries it still owes the original loan which was extracted from an occupied country. If a small interest of around 3% were added to this loan over the intervening years, it would now be in the region of 60 Billion Euro if it were ever repaid. So one may argue that it would be cheaper for Germany to repay the 60 billion loan and allow Greece to address its problems and cut its debt or stand to lose over 80 billion if the Greek banks fail.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I've never paid much attention to the EU situation and/or particularly the Greeks but have to say when they came to world attention it sure seemed decadent to be retiring at 50 with lush pensions. I do agree that if one is in a particularly difficult profession i.e. law enforcement, fire fighting where one needs physical skill as well as mental smarts that retiring early (as in 55 or 60) is ok but retiring at 50 is ludicrous. The Greeks are living well above their means and so am sure are going to profoundly feel the pinch of having to pull back. This 'referendum' is, IMO, CRAZEEEEE!!!