Summary of Why Greeks/Italy are in Deep Shits

[neddy]

This is Greece:

* Economy contracted 5.2 per cent in past year.

* Government debt is 145 per cent of GDP (Italy is 115 per cent, Ireland 95 per cent).

* Unemployment to 18.75 per cent but closer to 25 per cent because 115-a-week benefits stop after a year.

* Budget deficit 15.4 per cent of GDP, well above eurozone limit of 3 per cent.

* Public service employs 20 per cent of the population.

What has dragged Greece to its knees?

* Tax evasion amounts to 22 billion ($29 billion) a year or 10 per cent of GDP.

* Corruption is worth 20 billion a year or 8 per cent of GDP.

* Black economy accounts for 25 per cent of GDP.

* Protected industries mean no competition. For example, there hasn't been a new trucking licence issued since 1970.

* The big interest bill on government debt is killing the economy.

How are they fixing it?

* Social security payments to be slashed by 5 billion over four years.

* Public service wages cut by 20 per cent.

* Pensions above 1000 a month cut by 20 per cent.

* Retirement age raised to 65. It's currently 50 years for public servants.

* Deregulate industry to promote competition.


The key to all of this is convincing Greeks to pay their fair share of tax.

• Would you believe 900,000 Greek people or businesses owe 41.1 billion in back taxes and 14,700 of them owe 3.7 billion, or an average 150,000 each?
  
  
• They have a tax on swimming pools in Greece and in one of the rich Athens suburbs only 324 households admitted to having a pool and paying the tax. So the Finance Ministry sent up a helicopter and photographed 16,974 pools in that area. One of the hottest items for sale in Athens is camouflage pool covers.
  
  
• A good reflection of how nervous Greeks are about the future of the country is 9000 people sent 4.9 billion overseas last year. But 5000 of those people declared a taxable income of under 20,000 a year.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/david-...nk/story-fn7kicty-1226200753994#ixzz1eIyfr8ta

 

[neddy]

This is Italy:

* Eighth largest economy in world and fourth largest economy in Europe.

* Government debt of $2.6 trillion, which is 120 per cent of GDP.

* French banks have $400 billion exposure to Italian bonds, while German banks have $150 billion.

* European Stability Fund to save debt-ridden countries is $1.3 trillion, which is not enough to save Italy.

* Nightmare to do business. Italy is ranked 87th in an Ease of Doing Business index, which puts it behind Sudan.

* Lots of corruption. It's ranked 67th in the Corruption Perceptions Index, behind Rwanda and several other African countries.

* Over past 10 years, economic growth has gone backwards. Italy's economic growth over the past 10 years is ranked 179th in world, behind Zimbabwe.

Italian austerity measures:

* Public servant wage freeze until 2014 and pubic service headcount slashed. For every five people who leave, they'll only be replaced by one.

* Freezing aged pension and making it tougher to get.

* Increase healthcare fees and cut family tax benefits.

* Increase value-added tax from 20 per cent to 21 per cent.

* Tax surcharge on high-income earners.

* Limit cash transactions to under 2500.

* Crackdown on black economy and tax evasion.

* Cut government red tape.

* Deregulation of labour laws.

* Implement privatisation of government enterprises.

What will save Italy?

* Government debt high but private debt low.

* It makes a budget surplus before interest. The interest on government debt is the killer.

* Has a strong industrial base.

* Italians are traditionally good savers.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/david-...nk/story-fn7kicty-1226200753994#ixzz1eIzgMDE2

 

[Windsor]

Not forgetting "The Pain In Spain."

20 November 2011 Last updated at 23:11 GMT

Spain election: Rajoy's Popular Party declares victory

Spain's centre-right Popular Party (PP) has won a resounding victory in a parliamentary election dominated by the country's deep debt crisis.
With almost all the votes counted, the PP, led by Mariano Rajoy, is assured of a clear majority in the lower chamber.
The Socialist Party, which has governed Spain since 2004, has admitted defeat.
Mr Rajoy, who is expected to tackle the country's debts amid slow growth and high unemployment, said he was aware of the "magnitude of the task ahead".
He told supporters there would be "no miracle" to restore Spain to financial health, and that the country must unite to win back respect in Europe.

"Forty-six million Spaniards are going to wage a battle against the crisis," said the 56-year-old PP leader.
The PP won about 44% of the votes and the Socialists 29% in Sunday's election, according to near-complete official results.
The PP is expected to take about 186 of the 350 seats in the lower house.
As the results were announced, jubilant, flag-waving supporters danced outside party headquarters in central Madrid.
Socialist Party spokesman Jose Blanco congratulated the PP on its victory.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid says the right is headed for its biggest win since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975.
Parliament is expected to meet next month to confirm Mr Rajoy as the new prime minister.
'Sacrifices ahead' The new government will have little time to show results and people are bracing themselves for a new wave of spending cuts, our correspondent adds.
Over the past week, borrowing rates have risen to the 7% level which is regarded as unsustainable. Unemployment stands at five million.

Miguel Arias, the Popular Party's campaign co-ordinator, said Spain was "going to make all the sacrifices".
"We have been living as a very rich country," he told BBC News.
"People are used to a very high level of public services and it takes time to them to acknowledge the realisation that we now are a poor country, that we have lots of debts and in order to pay them back we must reduce public expenditure and then we must recover the confidence of the markets."
Outgoing Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was not standing again at this election.
His successor as party leader, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, has accused Mr Rajoy of planning severe cuts to health and education.
"Spain is at a historic crossroads," he told reporters in Madrid.
Correspondents say many are angry with the Socialists for allowing the economy to deteriorate and then for introducing tough austerity measures.
Spain's is the third Eurozone government in as many weeks whose fall has been attributed to the debt crisis.
The socialists in Greece and Silvio Berlusconi's Italian conservatives have also been swept from power.
Earlier this year, the governments of debt-stricken Ireland and Portugal also fell.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15809062

 

[Leongsam]

"Shit" is a non countable noun. You do not add an "s" to make it plural.

 

[neddy]

"Shit" is a non countable noun. You do not add an "s" to make it plural.

Sorry bro, you are not completely right this time.
because some "shit" is never singular it always comes with something In this case, the debt diarrhoea is ongoing and annoying every angry investors.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/shit

EmailCiteText size: AAPrint options:Example sentencesSynonymsCategories
shit(shit)
Line-break:OnOffPronunciation:/ʃɪt/vulgar slang

noun
[mass noun]
1 faeces. [in singular] an act of defecating. (the shits) diarrhoea. 2 [count noun] a contemptible or worthless person. 3 something worthless; rubbish; nonsense. unpleasant experiences or treatment. 4 personal belongings; stuff. an intoxicating drug, especially cannabis.

give someone the shits
chiefly Australian /NZ make someone annoyed or angry.

 

[Windsor]

Sorry bro, you are not completely right this time.
because some "shit" is never singular it always comes with something In this case, the debt diarrhoea is ongoing and annoying every angry investors.

It depends on the context and meaning of the word it replaces when forming the sentence. In this case I take it to mean "in deep trouble." Therefore it should be singular and non-countable.

 

[neddy]

Windsor,
This is really strange. I wanted to put "shit", but it reminded me of a brainless fat Greek woman who wore strong perfume and sprouted nonsense at the supermarche when I was in Europe this year.
I imagined muddy waterfall drowning her and her bankrupt country.

That is the story of the deep shits. But you and Sam are right. Unless Oxford will add this "deep shits" into its dictionary. I bet the Urban Dictionary has beat me to it.


*** I wanted to add, it gives me shits to think of that incident, and I do not give a shit about English spelling.

 

[Windsor]

I wanted to add, it gives me shits to think of that incident, and I do not give a shit about English spelling.

Bro...nicely put. No matter who, no one can be perfectly right as in some cases the language itself flouts it's own rules. New words are being added now and then when these are accepted as being common and there are no other words that can replace them. Being spoken as a first language in many countries, it takes a slightly different meaning to some words and phrases from the original. In short, the practice of speaking the language is like a religion being practice in different countries. They have the same tenets but there are some differences.

 

[red amoeba]

i read / hear somewhere - or was it in SBF that most of Italy's debts are domestically held...meaning the shit won't spread across Europe & more or less self-contained?

but based on the below, French banks having exposure of 400bn, may not be true...LOL

but Italy i feel, is a better shape than Greece and the next to come Spain.

 

[singveld]

both greece and italy problem is because their citizen evade taxes.

that is why they should be kick out of EU. why should german, dutch and english pay taxes to rescue those who evade tax?

 

[xenomorph]

big exposé

germany in bigger shit than spain.

Germany debt larger than Spain's, says Luxembourg PM
November 17, 2011 2:41am
0Email0 0ShareThisNew
BERLIN - The head of eurozone finance ministers has said Germany, before lecturing its partners, should remember that it, too, has a debt higher than Spain's, in a newspaper interview.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker called the level of Germany's debt "worrying", according to an advanced copy of an interview with the Bonner General-Anzeiger newspaper to appear Thursday.

"In Germany, people often act as if the country had no problems, as if Germany is free of debt and all the others had excessive debts," he told the German paper.

"I think the level of German debt is worrying. Germany has higher debts than Spain. Only nobody here wants to know that," he said.

"It appears to be more comfortable to say the people in the South are lazy and the Germans are grafters. But it is not so."

Asked about Berlin's influence on decisions taken in the eurozone, Juncker underscored that Germany was the leading economy and was an "engine" which nobody could replace if it broke down. — AFP

 

[singveld]

Viewpoints: What if Greece exits euro?

If Greece left the euro, inflation and unemployment would probably rise
Greek politicians are struggling to form a new government.

There are powerful factions that do not want the austerity measures imposed on Greece by its international lenders.

But unless Greece can satisfy the demands of the European Union and the IMF, then they will cut off Greece's last remaining lines of credit.

Without that, Greece will not be able to pay its bills and could drop out of the euro altogether.

Below are the views of several experts on what would happen if Greece were to leave the euro.

Carsten Brzeski, senior economist, ING Belgium

Chaos. Greek banks would go bust. Greek companies would go bust. Unemployment would go up. The new drachma loses lots of value.

Food and energy prices go through the roof. It would be an explosive cocktail.

The turmoil would weigh on growth. The outlook for the eurozone would worsen.

Michael Arghyrou, senior economics lecturer, Cardiff Business School

The drachma would be devalued by at least 50%, causing inflation.

Interest rates will have to double and all mortgages, business loans and other borrowing will become much more expensive.

There will be no credit for Greek banks or the Greek state.

That could mean a shortage of basic commodities, like oil or medicine or even foodstuffs.

A lot of Greek firms rely on foreign suppliers, who may cut off Greek customers. Greek companies could be driven out of business.

Greece will lose its only reference point of stability, which was its euro status.

The country would end up in a volatile period. There would be institutional weakness.

The worst case scenario would be a social and economic breakdown, perhaps even leading to a totalitarian regime.

Sony Kapoor, managing director of the Re-Define think tank

I think that either the Greeks or European policy makers talking about an exit in a casual blase way are being highly, highly irresponsible.

Total cost versus the total benefit remains overwhelmingly negative, both for the eurozone and Greece.

In one shot, a Greek exit could undo a large part of good work in Ireland and Portugal.

If you are a Portuguese saver with money in the bank, even if there is a small likelihood of losing that money, it would make perfect sense to move euro deposits while you can to a safer haven, like the Netherlands and Germany.

There would be a significant deposit flight in peripheral countries.

It would immediately weigh on investment in the real economy, because corporations would be very reluctant to invest anything at all.

Megan Greene, director of European economics at Roubini Global Economics

You would see cascading bank defaults in Greece and everybody would take money out of Portuguese and Spanish banks.

A big part could be plugged by the European Central Bank (ECB) through a liquidity operation that would backstop the banks.

The ECB has already done that several times and it would step up to the plate again.

But that would not stem the political contagion or unrest. We have seen four elections in two weeks. In Greece, France, Italy and Germany, electorates have voted against austerity at home.

However, Greece is a small country and the rest of the eurozone has been making provision for this for a long time now.

The eurozone could survive a Greek exit. Depending on the choreography, the exit could be better for everyone involved if managed in a co-ordinated orderly way.

But if it were done by a unilateral default, an exit would be a worse option for Greece.

Jeremy Stretch, head of forex research, CIBC

In the currency market, we are already seeing money fleeing to safe havens.

The alternatives are few and far between for those who want to stand aside from the euro.

The dollar is performing relatively well. The dollar index - the dollar against a basket of other major currencies - is at the highest level in two months.

A new drachma would not be the most widely trading currency in the world and would probably drop in value by 50%.

Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk, IHS Global Insight

What everyone is missing is a third possibility.

If credit is withdrawn by the EU and IMF, then Greece becomes a cash economy. It means the government can only pay what it collects.

The government starts shutting down, 10-15% of state employees don't get paid and unemployment surges from 20% to 30%.

But Greece can still use the euro.

It would be difficult for the ECB to keep banks afloat. The Greek banking sector would collapse as well.

That would cause more unemployment, as credit for companies would dry up.

What happens next is a political question.

European nations would probably not accept another Western European country descending into chaos and collapse.

The EU and IMF would probably negotiate some kind of aid. But Greece could continue with the euro.

 

[singveld]

Cost of Greek exit from euro put at $1tn

UK government making urgent preparations to cope with the fallout of a possible Greek exit from the single currency

The cost of a possible Greek exit from the euro has emerged as Mervyn King warned that Europe is ‘tearing itself apart’.

The British government is making urgent preparations to cope with the fallout of a possible Greek exit from the single currency, after the governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, warned that Europe was "tearing itself apart".

Reports from Athens that massive sums of money were being spirited out of the country intensified concern in London about the impact of a splintering of the eurozone on a UK economy that is stuck in double-dip recession. One estimate put the cost to the eurozone of Greece making a disorderly exit from the currency at $1tn, 5% of output.

Officials in the United States are also nervously watching the growing crisis: Barack Obama on Wednesday described it as a "headwind" that could threaten the fragile American recovery.

In a speech in Manchester before flying to the United States for a summit of G8 leaders, the British prime minister, David Cameron, will say the eurozone "either has to make up or it is looking at a potential breakup", adding that the choice for Europe's leaders cannot be long delayed.

"Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an effective firewall, well capitalised and regulated banks, a system of fiscal burden sharing, and supportive monetary policy across the eurozone, or we are in uncharted territory which carries huge risks for everybody.

"Whichever path is chosen, I am prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect this country and secure our economy and financial system."

Officials from the Bank, the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority are drawing up plans in the expectation that a Greek departure from monetary union – increasingly seen as inevitable by financial markets – could be as damaging to the global economy as the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

With a second election in Greece called for 17 June, King dropped a strong hint that the Bank would take fresh steps to stimulate growth if policymakers in Europe failed to deal with the sovereign debt crisis.

"We have been through a big global financial crisis, the biggest downturn in world output since the 1930s, the biggest banking crisis in this country's history, the biggest fiscal deficit in our peacetime history and our biggest trading partner, the euro area, is tearing itself apart without any obvious solution," he said.

Doug McWilliams, of the Centre for Economic and Business Research, said a planned breakup of the single currency would cost 2% of eurozone GDP ($300bn) but a disorderly collapse would result in a 5% drop in output, a $1tn loss. "The end of the euro in its current form is a certainty," he added.

Alistair Darling, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer under the former Labour administration, said: "This has the seeds of something disastrous. It is madness. If it spreads to bigger countries, this could be really disastrous for Europe. It could consign us to years of stagnation."

Capital flight from Greece has increased since it became clear that a coalition government could not be formed after the election earlier this month. The Greek president, Karolos Papoulias, said citizens were withdrawing their money amid "great fear that could develop into panic" at the risk of a debt default and exit from the euro area, according to minutes of their meetings posted on the presidency's website. In little more than a week following the election on 6 May, €3bn was withdrawn from bank accounts. The central bank reported that €800m was taken out in a single day earlier this week.

The head of the International Institute of Finance banking lobby, Charles Dallara, said money was leaving Greece at a growing pace due to political uncertainty. "There has been a pickup of deposit flight from Greece, but I think that is stabilisable once you get a new government in place, if that government reaffirms its intention to remain in the eurozone." The damage to the rest of Europe if Greece were to leave the euro would be "somewhere between catastrophic and armageddon", he said.

The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, told parliament that his country faced trouble financing itself as borrowing costs shoot up to "astronomic" levels. The Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, said Dublin's plan to return to capital markets in late 2013 might not be achievable because of the uncertainty.

The first meeting between French president François Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel helped to calm nerves in the markets at one stage, with suggestions that Berlin might be amenable to initiatives to boost growth in Greece and the other austerity-stricken nations of the eurozone.

But the jittery mood was underlined by a fall in European shares and the single currency late in the day amid reports that the European Central Bank was cutting off its funding lifeline to Greek banks that had failed to amass enough capital to protect them from future losses.

The ECB later said it expected the Greek central bank to use part of the €130bn bailout from the EU and IMF to ensure that the country's banks were safeguarded from collapse, and that they would receive additional help from Frankfurt only once this had happened. Already delayed by the political uncertainty in Greece, €18bn is now expected to be released to recapitalise the banks.

Sony Kapoor, of the Brussels-based Re-Define thinktank, said: "The high-stakes game of chicken between Greek and other EU politicians must end now. Those saying that a Greek exit from the eurozone will not be a big deal either don't know what they are talking about, or have some ulterior motives. The social, political and economic damage to the EU from a Greek exit is potentially incalculable."

At the G8 summit, which starts on Friday, Obama will press Merkel to lean more towards a growth package for Europe, instead of pressing so hard for the austerity measures that were rejected by Greek voters.

But foreign affairs analysts said that Obama's leverage with the European leaders is minimal. Although the US has the economic muscle to help Europe out of its mess, the Obama administration has taken the strategic decision not to become involved directly.

Instead, Obama is to use the Camp David summit for some quiet diplomacy, hoping to sway Merkel to endorse some immediate actions to help growth.

King, speaking at the publication of the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report, said growth in Britain was weaker and inflation higher than Threadneedle Street had expected three months ago. It would take until 2014 for output to return to where it was in 2008, when Britain's deepest post-war recession began.

"What is so depressing about it is that this is a rerun of the debates in 2007/08 – these are not liquidity problems, they are solvency problems," King said. "Imbalances between countries in the euro area have created creditors and debtors and at some point the credit losses will need to be recognised and absorbed and shared around," he said.

"Until that is done, there will not be a resolution. That is why just kicking the can down the road is not an answer. The European Central Bank has performed heroically in trying to buy time but that time hasn't been used to put in place fundamental underlying solutions."

 

[singveld]

Greeks withdraw €3bn in 10 days since election

Greece's savers making daily bank visits as analysts warn faster capital flight could push country out of euro before June's poll

Greeks are withdrawing large amounts of money fearing their country will leave the eurozone and return to the drachma.

Greeks have withdrawn €3bn (£2.4bn) from the banking system since the country's inconclusive elections on 6 May, with tellers saying savers were making two or three visits a day to local banks.

Savers fear Greece leaving the eurozone and returning to the drachma. An aide to the outgoing prime minister, Lucas Papademos, said there were "serious fears that the banks were running out of money".

Greece's president, Karolos Papoulias, warned on Monday that €700m had been withdrawn but said he had been assured by the governor of the Greek central bank, George Provopoulous, that there was no panic yet.

According to minutes of a meeting on Monday, Papoulias said: "Withdrawals and outflows by 4pm when I called him [Provopoulous] exceeded €600m and reached €700m. He expects total outflows of about €800m, including conversions into German bunds [bonds] and other such things."

Greeks have been slowly withdrawing cash from the banking system ever since the country first needed a bailout two years ago. Nearly a third of bank deposits were withdrawn between January 2010 and March 2012.

A crucial €18bn cash injection to stabilise Greece's banks has been held up at the European financial stability fund's Greek offshoot, the Hellenic financial stability fund (HFSF), for nearly two weeks with officials in Brussels refusing to release the funds because of the political instability in the wake of the elections. That had still not been released by tonight and is now not expected to be released for another four days despite the efforts of the Papademos government to expedite the recapitalisation of Greek banks.

The delay to the recapitalisation was said to have forced the European Central Bank to stop dealing with some Greece banks, leaving local banks to receive funding from the central bank until the banks received their cash injection.

Simon Ward, chief economist at the fund manager Henderson, said there had been a €11.7bn fall in Greek deposits in the first quarter. Domestic private-sector deposits stood at €170bn in late March, of which €66bn was in overnight deposits.

Ward warned this could be vulnerable. "It is reasonable to expect this instantly accessible cash to leave the Greek banking system amid current political and economic chaos, implying a heightened risk of deposits being frozen and/or redenominated in the event of EMU [economic and monetary union] expulsion," he said.

"Faster capital flight could push Greece out of the euro well before next month's elections, rendering current political manoeuvring irrelevant," Ward added.

Some bankers believe Cyprus will leave the eurozone at the same time as Greece and hope that contagion can be prevented from reaching other debt-laden countries such as Portugal when their people see the pain that the Greeks endure.

Anxiety about the strength of banks across Europe has reached the UK arm of Santander after local authorities – which lost money when Iceland's banks collapsed – queried the connections between the Spanish bank and its UK arm, which owns Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

John Simmonds, head of finance at Kent county council, said he concluded that the UK arm of Santander was "rock solid" after talks with the bank following the council's decision to stop using the bank for overnight deposits. He had been reassured that the UK arm could only transfer money to Spain through dividends.

A Santander spokesman said: "Santander's UK business is strong and has a standalone credit rating which is one of the highest credit ratings of any UK bank."

 

[Conqueror]

No Empire Last Forever

All empires have rising and falling edges. No one empire last forever. Europe has its fair share of good days while we, Asians were suffering and in turmoil.

It's our turn to be in this era of The Golden Age Of Asia.

The question is : how long ?


世上有千年金，但没有千年王朝。

 

[singveld]

Re: No Empire Last Forever

Europe’s Economic Suicide


On Saturday The Times reported on an apparently growing phenomenon in Europe: “suicide by economic crisis,” people taking their own lives in despair over unemployment and business failure. It was a heartbreaking story. But I’m sure I wasn’t the only reader, especially among economists, wondering if the larger story isn’t so much about individuals as about the apparent determination of European leaders to commit economic suicide for the Continent as a whole.

Just a few months ago I was feeling some hope about Europe. You may recall that late last fall Europe appeared to be on the verge of financial meltdown; but the European Central Bank, Europe’s counterpart to the Fed, came to the Continent’s rescue. It offered Europe’s banks open-ended credit lines as long as they put up the bonds of European governments as collateral; this directly supported the banks and indirectly supported the governments, and put an end to the panic.

The question then was whether this brave and effective action would be the start of a broader rethink, whether European leaders would use the breathing space the bank had created to reconsider the policies that brought matters to a head in the first place.

But they didn’t. Instead, they doubled down on their failed policies and ideas. And it’s getting harder and harder to believe that anything will get them to change course.

Consider the state of affairs in Spain, which is now the epicenter of the crisis. Never mind talk of recession; Spain is in full-on depression, with the overall unemployment rate at 23.6 percent, comparable to America at the depths of the Great Depression, and the youth unemployment rate over 50 percent. This can’t go on — and the realization that it can’t go on is what is sending Spanish borrowing costs ever higher.

In a way, it doesn’t really matter how Spain got to this point — but for what it’s worth, the Spanish story bears no resemblance to the morality tales so popular among European officials, especially in Germany. Spain wasn’t fiscally profligate — on the eve of the crisis it had low debt and a budget surplus. Unfortunately, it also had an enormous housing bubble, a bubble made possible in large part by huge loans from German banks to their Spanish counterparts. When the bubble burst, the Spanish economy was left high and dry; Spain’s fiscal problems are a consequence of its depression, not its cause.

Nonetheless, the prescription coming from Berlin and Frankfurt is, you guessed it, even more fiscal austerity.

This is, not to mince words, just insane. Europe has had several years of experience with harsh austerity programs, and the results are exactly what students of history told you would happen: such programs push depressed economies even deeper into depression. And because investors look at the state of a nation’s economy when assessing its ability to repay debt, austerity programs haven’t even worked as a way to reduce borrowing costs.

What is the alternative? Well, in the 1930s — an era that modern Europe is starting to replicate in ever more faithful detail — the essential condition for recovery was exit from the gold standard. The equivalent move now would be exit from the euro, and restoration of national currencies. You may say that this is inconceivable, and it would indeed be a hugely disruptive event both economically and politically. But continuing on the present course, imposing ever-harsher austerity on countries that are already suffering Depression-era unemployment, is what’s truly inconceivable.

So if European leaders really wanted to save the euro they would be looking for an alternative course. And the shape of such an alternative is actually fairly clear. The Continent needs more expansionary monetary policies, in the form of a willingness — an announced willingness — on the part of the European Central Bank to accept somewhat higher inflation; it needs more expansionary fiscal policies, in the form of budgets in Germany that offset austerity in Spain and other troubled nations around the Continent’s periphery, rather than reinforcing it. Even with such policies, the peripheral nations would face years of hard times. But at least there would be some hope of recovery.

What we’re actually seeing, however, is complete inflexibility. In March, European leaders signed a fiscal pact that in effect locks in fiscal austerity as the response to any and all problems. Meanwhile, key officials at the central bank are making a point of emphasizing the bank’s willingness to raise rates at the slightest hint of higher inflation.

So it’s hard to avoid a sense of despair. Rather than admit that they’ve been wrong, European leaders seem determined to drive their economy — and their society — off a cliff. And the whole world will pay the price.

 

[Conqueror]

The Bible Is Right

people taking their own lives in despair over unemployment and business failure.

Unfortunately, it also had an enormous housing bubble, a bubble made possible in large part by huge loans from German banks to their Spanish counterparts. When the bubble burst, the Spanish economy was left high and dry; Spain’s fiscal problems are a consequence of its depression, not its cause.

What we’re actually seeing, however, is complete inflexibility.

So it’s hard to avoid a sense of despair. Rather than admit that they’ve been wrong, European leaders seem determined to drive their economy — and their society — off a cliff. And the whole world will pay the price.

Every country will have its fair share of riches, fame and glory.

In those days, the Spanish armada and the Roman empire were the centre stage of the fame and glory of Europe. Later, the English empire also broke up after WW2.

Japan also had its fair share of the great and glory (70s and 80s ?), but now, Japan is vexed on every side including its current misfortune ie. nuclear crisis.

Korea is slowly replacing Japan's presence in term of learning a cool foreign language, or buying technological products from Samsung and LG, and perhaps, their media, movies, music scenes were also changing the way we perceive the unknown country, the Korea of today.

Read what the bible (prophesy in the book of Daniel) has to say regarding the changing time and empires that ruled Israel for a great span of time. So many foreigners came and went. But look, it has become independent finally.

The same thing goes for a person too. There will always be the Golden Period / Era / Age. Everyone will have the chance to see that. When its gone, you may not able to see it again. Maybe, your next generations down the line may see it.

 

[singveld]

Re: The Bible Is Right

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18115662

In a discussion about the economic crisis in Greece, comic Katerina Vrana has claimed her homeland has "nothing left to give".

Labour MP Diane Abbott said Greeks cannot say they would like to stay in the euro without further austerity.

Michael Portillo recalled finding aid agencies had moved from Uganda to working in Greece for his Great Euro Crisis documentary.

They were debating the comedian's This Week film on the future of Greece's position in the eurozone.

 

[singveld]

Re: The Bible Is Right

Greece, Bust and Broken
Episode image for Greece, Bust and Broken Watch

The world is currently experiencing the worst financial meltdown in living memory, but what is it like to be young and caught up in this crisis, and what lessons can be learned in the UK? To find out, reporter Stacey Dooley travels to Greece, Ireland and Japan, three countries each facing very different and very difficult economic challenges.

Stacey begins her investigation in Greece, where for years successive governments have failed to balance the nation's books. Crippled with one of the biggest national debts in the world Greece recently needed a multi-billion bailout from Europe to avoid bankruptcy, but to secure this loan the Greek government was forced to implement massive spending cuts and tax hikes. These austerity measures have dramatically affected the lives of young Greeks, leaving more than half unemployed and many more in only part-time or temporary work.

Stacey's investigation into the Greek situation comes at a crucial time. Still on the brink of going bust the government must decide whether to accept another bailout and introduce even harsher austerity measures, or let the country go bankrupt and leave the Euro.

Her journey begins with a street tour of Athens where she quickly learns how badly affected normal Greeks are as she encounters scavengers, soup kitchens and witnesses a suicide attempt. The woman is one of 700 civil servants working in social housing, but with the government department being shut not only are their jobs under threat, but so too are the lives of the million Greeks who rely on the service.

Stacey's investigation continues with a look at how new charges for receiving even basic medical help are effectively denying many poor Greeks access to their national health service. She visits the town of Perama where a charity-run clinic now treats sick locals in their hundreds and pays a home visit to a couple facing huge medical bills after the complicated birth of their newborn baby.

Against this backdrop of poverty and desperation many young Greeks are choosing to battle against the government and its austerity measures. Stacey accompanies one recently-formed group, called We Do Not Pay, as they take over an underground station in protest at recent price increases imposed on many public services. But whilst many Greeks are choosing to stay and fight others are opting to give up their dreams of city life, instead fleeing to the country. Stacey travels to the island of Chios to visit two former civil servants who have taken a massive gamble in an attempt to earn a living - risking their family's entire life savings to set up a snail farm.

Stacey's investigation reaches its climax on the day politicians decide to vote in favour of a second bailout and a further wave of harsh austerity measures. She attends a massive public demonstration gathered outside parliament that dramatically turns into a violent riot. It offers her a glimpse of how angry and desperate a people can become when pushed to breaking point by economic policies, and it gives an insight into what could happen in the UK if our debt gets any worse.

 

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