4 ms·

> For the welfare of the people in Greece the greek government is responsible, not Angela Merkel. That is correct, but one could ask that people don't go aroun

by sgift 9y ago

> For the welfare of the people in Greece the greek government is responsible, not Angela Merkel. That is correct, but one could ask that people don't go around and say "Germany saved Greece!", cause no .. it didn't. It saved its banks.

lispm 9y ago
There is a lot of propaganda involved. Sure Greek politicians did not blame themselves for taking huge amount of credit money and wasting it. Without paying back the money (-> to the banks), Greece would have been bancrupt within days. Thus saving the banks saved Greece from being bancrupt. Without banks and without government money from the outside, nobody would have given Greece any credits...
- StavrosK 9y ago
  I don't know if you've been to Greece recently, but, at this point, a one-off bankruptcy looks much preferable to this slow and constant descent into poverty.
- ahartmetz 9y ago
  The thing is, the Greek system mostly worked, corruption and waste and all, before it entered the Euro area. Cheap credit and no possibility of currency devaluation broke it. The currency union was just very badly thought out. A currency union without a fiscal union is probably a bad idea. That was recognized somewhat by the stability criteria for new members that were then swiftly ignored for various reasons.
  - lispm 9y ago
    > the Greek system mostly worked That's highly debatable and in a changing political landscape there was no future for that. A tiny country next to the EU and a large Eurozone? Greece needed reforms and some (not all) of them were long delayed. That's also the point of the EU and the Eurozone. It provides the framework for the reforms. The largest win for Greece is a stable democracy, after a long phase of political instability and military governments.
    - Deadolus 9y ago
      Not saying that it would have worked - but there is actually a tiny, tiny country surrounded by the Eurozone - Switzerland. And while surely not everything is perfect there, I think they are doing quite well.
readittwice 9y ago
Saving some affected banks would've been cheaper than saving Greece. Even if "saving german banks" might have been one of the reason, it wasn't THE reason as you claim.

by sgift 9y ago

lispm 9y ago

There is a lot of propaganda involved. Sure Greek politicians did not blame themselves for taking huge amount of credit money and wasting it. Without paying back the money (-> to the banks), Greece would have been bancrupt within days. Thus saving the banks saved Greece from being bancrupt. Without banks and without government money from the outside, nobody would have given Greece any credits...

StavrosK 9y ago
I don't know if you've been to Greece recently, but, at this point, a one-off bankruptcy looks much preferable to this slow and constant descent into poverty.
ahartmetz 9y ago
The thing is, the Greek system mostly worked, corruption and waste and all, before it entered the Euro area. Cheap credit and no possibility of currency devaluation broke it. The currency union was just very badly thought out. A currency union without a fiscal union is probably a bad idea. That was recognized somewhat by the stability criteria for new members that were then swiftly ignored for various reasons.
- lispm 9y ago
  > the Greek system mostly worked That's highly debatable and in a changing political landscape there was no future for that. A tiny country next to the EU and a large Eurozone? Greece needed reforms and some (not all) of them were long delayed. That's also the point of the EU and the Eurozone. It provides the framework for the reforms. The largest win for Greece is a stable democracy, after a long phase of political instability and military governments.
  - Deadolus 9y ago
    Not saying that it would have worked - but there is actually a tiny, tiny country surrounded by the Eurozone - Switzerland. And while surely not everything is perfect there, I think they are doing quite well.

readittwice 9y ago

Saving some affected banks would've been cheaper than saving Greece. Even if "saving german banks" might have been one of the reason, it wasn't THE reason as you claim.