Comments on: THE GREEK CRISIS EXPLAINED - SORT OF

By: B.Poster

B.Poster — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:09:30 +0000

“…no self respecting first world country would be caught dead accepting loans from the IMF…” Greece could ask the IMF for help today and have the funds available by the end of the week but they want do this. They’d rather go under? The reason such “things are not done” is because of a fundamental hatred for America in the leadership circles of Western Europe.

For what its worth the Americans cannot afford to do this either. We are up to our eyeballs and beyond in our own debt. I think America would do well to withdraw from the IMF entirely. At a minimum, no more American tax payer dollars should be submitted to the IMF for a minimum of two years. This should allow us the time necessary to conduct a top down review of all foreign policy expenditures so we can make the proper decisions as to which programs we are able to continue and which ones serve American interests.

As has been pointed out in the thread, it appears that Germany has elected not to participate in the bail out. This appears to be a wise decision on their party. Why should they risk injuring their citizens in this project?

By: obamathered

obamathered — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:09:08 +0000

Exactly, funny man. Greece marginally was better than Turkey is today, but marginally.

Germany has opted not to participate in the bailout now. This will be a huge economic story if the other major EU financial powers follow suit.

By: funny man

funny man — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:12:05 +0000

We had a joke once about the EU if you compare it with a train how it should and how it should not be run. Anyways the No-no’s were England is in charge of the food, Germany of the humor and Greece of the finances.
The reason to admit Greece to the EU was merely historical, cradle of civilization etc; not at any time did Greece contribute anything substantial to the EU economically. It doesn’t matter who is in charge there, Greece is not going anywhere. So they should be given the chance to vote, stay in the EU and accept oversight from Germany and France or leave. It is so simple it will never happen.

By: Robert Bell

Robert Bell — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:11:11 +0000

You might want to look at what Brad deLong has to say about some of Fergusson’s math, and the conclusions he draws from it.

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2010/02/deficit-projections-ooh-boy.html

By: Allen

Allen — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:37:18 +0000

The Greek government debt exceeds their GDP, and has reached a point that no one thinks they can ever re-pay it. Thus, everyone is reluctant to lend them any more money. At this point I’m not sure they can be bailed out, unless Germany swallows Greek debt.

It would seem that debt passing the GDP of a nation is a huge psychological point. At our rate we’ll find out what that means in about 3 years. That is if our economy grows at 3.5% annually, if not, sooner.