February 2012 Greek Riots

[truman]

That depends on the investment; a deposit lodged with a bank cannot go down, it can only go up by the amounts paid in interest.

 

Yep it's not like buying shares in a bank is it...

[LeMaquis]

Our currency is being devalued by the money printing at the BoE.

 

The BoE isn't printing money. It's spending money on bonds that will give banks money that they can lend to businesses to stimulate growth. There is also an upside to a currency devaluation in that it makes your exports cheaper.

[NorthernStar]

Going bankrupt would make the austerity measures ten times worse. How does that help the Greek people?

 

But it seems the only people who don't want to admit that it's going to happen anyway are those with a vested interest. The Greek people would have been better off if they'd have taken the tough medicine instead of dragging out the inevitable because with every day that goes by merely weakens their position and ability to fix their problem.

[HeadingNorth]

But it seems the only people who don't want to admit that it's going to happen anyway are those with a vested interest. The Greek people would have been better off if they'd have taken the tough medicine instead of dragging out the inevitable because with every day that goes by merely weakens their position and ability to fix their problem.

 

Isn't that always the way? Our industries desperately needed modernising in the sixties; people wouldn't wear it, so we kept pumping in money to keep them afloat. They even more desperately needed modernising in the seventies, but people wouldn't wear it, so we kept pumping in even more money. Eventually we hit the buffers, and the early 80s saw bitter economic hardship while the modernisation went ahead anyway because there was no money left to keep them afloat with.

[Harleyman]

Greeec is a bloody nuisance. It's affecting the US stock market

[Vague_Boy]

But didn't Iceland go bust? I don't see them starving in the streets or anything...

Iceland is experiencing far more growth than those nations mired in unrepayable debt.

 

Here's Why Iceland Is Seeing A Really Quick Recovery

 

Don't look now, but Iceland's economy is growing. Tourism is up, the standard of living remains high, and unemployment is down to 7%.

 

"For a country whose entire financial system collapsed, Iceland is doing remarkably well," the IMF's mission chief there tells the Washington Post.

 

Why? In part because Iceland charted a unique course through the financial crisis: It let its big banks default and its currency collapse, and poured money into its economy and social safety net, raising taxes on the wealthy to do so.

LINK

 

It was tough for the Icelandic people for a while but things now seem to be on the up. At least they're not hemorrhaging money to pay off the banksters.

 

Key Lesson From Iceland Crisis: “Let Banks Fail”

 

Three years after Iceland’s banks collapsed and the country teetered on the brink, its economy is recovering, proof that governments should let failing lenders go bust and protect taxpayers, analysts say.

 

“The lesson that could be learned from Iceland’s way of handling its crisis is that it is important to shield taxpayers and government finances from bearing the cost of a financial crisis to the extent possible,” Islandsbanki analyst Jon Bjarki Bentsson told AFP.

 

“Even if our way of dealing with the crisis was not by choice but due to the inability of the government to support the banks back in 2008 due to their size relative to the economy, this has turned out relatively well for us,” Bentsson said.

 

Nobel Prize-winning US economist Paul Krugman echoed Bentsson.

 

“Where everyone else bailed out the bankers and made the public pay the price, Iceland let the banks go bust and actually expanded its social safety net,” he wrote in a recent commentary in the New York Times.

 

“Where everyone else was fixated on trying to placate international investors, Iceland imposed temporary controls on the movement of capital to give itself room to maneuver,” he said.

LINK

 

 

The choice is clearly between the people and international investors. By their actions, our MPs have clearly shown where their true loyalties lie. Never mind their weasel words, "by their deeds you shall know them".

 

They'll claim it was for your benefit. Of course! Every shyster, huckster and con-artist would tell you the same thing.

 

(To those saying "what about the savers", it would have been far cheaper to fund the FSCS deposit protection scheme up to the maximum amount [£85,000 per saver, per authorised institution] than to carry on with the current policy of Moral Hazard.)

[*_ash_*]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QyYkxSZn8w

 

Athens burns.

 

The crowds cheer only when a policeman is ignited by a molotov. Further austerity measures are put in place.

 

Austerity is soon to hit our shores.

 

Will we avoid such trouble?

 

Only last year we had riots, before we have even had austerity!

 

Our currency is being devalued by the money printing at the BoE.

 

Has anybody been to Greece recently?

 

A great way to solve economic problems is to start torching businesses.

 

I wonder how many people are going to Greece this year for their holidays? (apart from taxman, I just noticed )...

 

If no one goes there, it could help Spain/Italy and Portugal if they see how well Greece has done with wrecking town centres.

[Anna B]

Yep it's not like buying shares in a bank is it...

 

No it's not like buying shares at all. It's called saving.

 

Nearly everyone has a bank account. It's almost impossible to function without one.

 

It's not recommended to keep your money under the mattress, although these days it might be the wisest option.

[Ghozer]

Thats funny... the date in the video title is 15.02 2012 - it's not even the 15th yet....

[Anna B]

The Greek minimum wage has been reduced by 25% to just over 500 euros a month, (Is that about £450?)

 

They are claiming it's impossible to live on that.

 

Now I don't know what their cost of living is like, but last time I was there, there already seemed to be a fair number of people living on the streets and begging. This will surely only get worse.