or, “Can I have Greece, once it’s been emptied of people?”
ATHENS — Retirees throughout Greece mobbed banks as they tried to withdraw a maximum of 120 euros ($134) in pension payments on Wednesday, as the country teetered on the brink of economic collapse hours after an international bailout expired.
Emotions ran high outside a Piraeus Bank branch in downtown Athens as some 60 customers jostled impatiently after waiting for hours in the sweltering sun.
“This is humiliating,” said Athanasios, an 80-year-old former army officer. “I used to receive a monthly pension of 1,500 euros and now I have to line up for hours to receive 120? This is unfair.”
So for years and years the Greek economy seems to have consisted of everybody working for the government*, which paid them with truckloads of money from Germany**.
Then the Germans stopped putting money in the trucks. And surprise! The ATM machines didn’t fill themselves. No, seriously, this came as a surprise.
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*Briefly. They retire on full pensions at approximately 12 years old and spend the rest of their lives sitting around coffee houses and bitching.
**This might be slightly simplified, but nobody ever came to Uncle Joel for economics advice. And yet, somehow, I still manage to know more about it than a commie.
Hell, an ameoba knows more about it than a commie, Joel!
🙂
gfa
Socialism, communism and fascism are all related and each of them when tried meets with the same end results. Liberalism 60 years ago is very different from liberalism today. Today’s Liberalism is simply a cleaned up cross dressed version of good old fashioned socialism and will eventually bring to us what socialism brought to Greece.
The Greeks got what they deserved. They lied about their financial situation to get into the EU. They did not qualify using real economic numbers so the giverment used phony ones. When they couldn’t pay their debts, they went to the central bankers and borrowed more. They are dead broke, so they elect a Socialist who promised to give them more free stuff. HEY, that sounds a lot like the good ol’ USofA.
Makes me want to cash it all out and put it in the mattress. Of course, when the mega-inflation strikes that won’t be much comfort.
Sigh.
Ah, but Adam Selene, the EU knew FULL WELL what their financial situation was when they LET, nay ENCOURAGED, the Greeks to enter their union. And while there is no shortage of leeches on the Greek end, there is no shortage of leeches in the EU end and the IMF end as well. Except THOSE leeches have had their bets covered by others.
And just how much of the Greek financial troubles come directly from the EU “immigration” policy which requires the Greeks to admit any leech coming from ragheadland, and care for them indefinitely?
So Mark….why, if that’s really a problem, did Greece just make most of them from “Ragheadland” full citizens. The EU didn’t force Greece to do a dammed thing. They did it to themselves, entirely.
Actually Buck you are dead wrong. To be a member of the EU you have to adopt their policies.
Greeces biggest mistake was getting involved with the EU in the first place. The harsh truth is whilst many think the greeks live a life of reilly in reality the loans go to repay other loans hivem to its government. The man in the street sees nothing of this money. Most pensions are around 600 eiros a month and unemployment benefits less thatnthat received in the USA and only last for so long. Many greek islands have see a surge in population as people abandon the cities and go home to raise food on the few acres the extended family owns!
Going home to raise food does not sound like a bad idea, under the circumstances.
The Greeks didn’t need to be a member of the EU. They just figured they could have an easier life that way than with their crappy drachma, and they were right as long as it lasted. Both the Greeks and the ECB/IMF winked at the phoney numbers. No skin off either of their asses – the German taxpayers would foot the bill. What a racket…
It’s about time for those “good Germans” to stop going along with their fuhrers and put their foot (feet, heh) down. Only problem with that though, is that they are just as socialist as the Greeks are.
Socialism might actually “work”, sorta, in a place like Germany (or at least, not fall apart as quickly). But certainly not when attached to a place like Greece.