Greece have now become the first ever developed country to have defaulted on an IMF loan, and they have also exited the EU Bailout Program.
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We should have set up a Countdown clock at 30 seconds to 11pm.
H’on Greece.
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Too complicated with the leap second tonight.
Greece could become quite cheap for holidays shortly …
Is there a danger that the forum might explode at a second to midnight?
Hopefully.
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Informative
Hon the Greeks, shove that up yer jacksie Merkel
Serious question. Japan has a debt to GDP ratio of something like 246%. How is this possible and how do they sustain this situation?
This is half-remembered bullshit from stuff I’ve read long ago, but I think most of that debt is held domestically (institutions and possibly a fair amount held by individuals in bonds) so there is never an imperative to repay it. And I guess they could also just print money to repay it if needs be, given that most of it would then be denominated in Yen.
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A lot of it is domedtically held. As is Italy’s.,
So all the talk about the UK and US having unsustainable debt is rubbish given that they can print their own money.
Well it’s a fine line. You don’t want to completely debase your currency because importing would become prohibitively expensive and inflation could become rampant. But the dollar in particular is many moons from that, they could handily take on plenty more debt. Also, while I presume most of the US debt is dollar denominated, I’m not sure about UK and sterling. Probably mostly is, just not 100% sure
The reality is that this is a war by the EU against any politicians “stepping out of line”. Anybody who has seen “A Very British Coup” will have an idea of what’s going on. Germany are now quite clear about this. It’s a war on democracy.
The reality is also that all these problems have been caused by the so called “smartest guys in the room”, the supposed “centrists” (in reality hard right-wing) who believed the neo-liberal economic voodoo. They came up with the idea of the Euro. They came up with the idea of Greece’s creative accounting to enter it. They came up with the bailout plans that have destroyed the Greek economy and they completely underestimated the damage that would be done.
Kenny and Noonan are like secondary school kids who used to be bullied and are now trying to impress the bully (Germany) by aiming a few sly, cowardly kicks at his new target (Greece) from behind as he mercilessly beats him up. Grandstanding for political gain at home like the cowards they are.
Spin as many lies about Greece as possible and hope the gullible will swallow them.
They’re like Dougal Maguire here at 22:30.
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Reports Tsipras has caved in, and is willing to accept the offer given at the weekend.
More as we get it
Jean Claude Juncker has reportedly told Reuters “This is a farmer-esque climb down by the Greek Government”
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Quite surprising Juncker is so down on people not paying taxes given that he used to run a country that is pretty much entirely based on not paying tax.
If I had to give anyone any advice, it’s never trust a Greek
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.