Greece

[Gzette]

I'm curious what the euros think of the Greek bailout. Here's a good write up of the situation:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8508136.st

[vn_Tanc]

I think it could be the first death knell for the EU.

Things I find worthy of attention:
1) Goldman Sachs allegedly helping Greece cook its books to achieve acceptable debt levels and join the eurozone in the first place.
2) Greece needs to sort its shit out - retirement age of 53 and tax-dodging as a way of life has to change.
3) Greeks themselves rioting to protect their own interests - I have respect for that tempered ny the fact that half their problem is the tax-dodging.
4) Angela Merkel was completely prepared to put her domestic political concerns ahead of another member's problems that threaten to unravel the eurozone completely - this rather makes a mockery of the whole EU set-up in my opinion.
5) I disagree with the ECB "bailout mechanism" theyre trying to put in place but I can see it's necessary. Spain, Portugal and Ireland are on shakey ground and their central banks hold large portions of the Greek debt. So if Greece defaults it'll will probably start a chain reaction.
6) I expect Greece to default eventually as I can't see how a democratic government can survive the levels of austerity that will have to be imposed to dig their way out of this hole.

It's a mess but quite an educational mess. We'll be seeing fallout from it for decades.

[Sueven]

It is interesting. I'm curious about the psychology between the protests of the austerity measures.

On the one hand, it sort of feels like: Greece, your country managed it's fiscal house incompetently. Your neighbors are offering to ride to your rescue, but asking you to cut your spending as a contribution to your bailout. Isn't there something wrong with being unwilling to take even a relatively small part of the overall burden yourselves, via austerity?

But, I guess the psychology on the other side is: Most Greek citizens probably feel (accurately) as if they, personally, do not bear any blame for the country's crisis-- all they did was go about their daily lives, and a bunch of elite politicians, bankers, etc, made horrible decisions that bankrupted their nation from under their feet. Now that the nation is bankrupt, why should the citizens who don't bear the responsibility be shouldering the burden of paying for it?

[masteen]

Wasn't it the Greeks who figured out a couple thousand years ago that those who most desire power are the ones least suited to wield it? There's an irony here somewhere...

[Canelek]

All that crockery-smashing is coming back to haunt them.

[Gzette]

Now's a good time to take a European vacation or buy a nice German automobile.

[Aabidano]

4) Angela Merkel was completely prepared to put her domestic political concerns ahead of another member's problems that threaten to unravel the eurozone completely - this rather makes a mockery of the whole EU set-up in my opinion.

And shows the designed-in weakness of the EU. Can't really blame the Germans for being pissed that they'll have to bail out a nation that intentionally dug itself a hole it had no reasonable expectation of getting itself out of.

[miir]

) Greeks themselves rioting to protect their own interests - I have respect for that tempered ny the fact that half their problem is the tax-dodging.

Roughly 20% of Greeks are employed by the government.
Government employees receive 14 months pay per 12 months worked and their work day ends at 2:30!

Government eployees were the ones protesting against the government.