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Point taken. I agree that there is a lot of waste of EU funds. I could tell you stories about my native Bulgaria that would surely make you very angry. I still

by lyudmil 15y ago

Point taken. I agree that there is a lot of waste of EU funds. I could tell you stories about my native Bulgaria that would surely make you very angry. I still think this is a separate problem. I think right now it would be more efficient to stimulate the Greek economy than it would be to just bail it out with austerity provisions. The analogy would be to finance your friend to go to school for a year or two and earn a degree to get a better job and pay you back - he wins (gets money in both the short and long-term) and you win (get your money back and a functional friend).

dimitar 15y ago
A story from our native Bulgaria: the Bulgarian state nearly went bankrupt in 78 as a result of stupid state-planned 'investment'. The debts which were repaid with the strategic gold reserve which were basically the savings tucked away for about a hundred years. The Communist government continued to spend unsustainably in IT (it was unsustainable because it was based on non-marked agreements with COMECON countries) and other sectors. Salaries were raised, people bought more Lada cars, times were good.. for a while. The USSR which gave us petrol to resell collapsed and we were unable to find markets for our goods (which apart from weapons were greatly inferior on the open market). So we had to pay back the debts with even crueler austerity measures. But it wasn't the worst thing. The economy was unproductive. The living levels collapsed in and they reached 89 levels again in 03. Oh and 1 million mostly young Bulgarians left the country. So instead of getting its act together the government just ignored the problems, made things comfortable for the populace and even worse problems came. Had the Communists liberalized the economy and be sure to pay debts in the 80s it wouldn't happen. But we didn't learn the lessons of fiscal responsibility. The Socialist government of Jean Videnov undid the austerity measures and got into an even huger mess (never mind that enterprises continued to fail). Yes, he also yet huge money printing to begin which, the Greeks don't have to deal with, so we can leave this out. Our governments have more or less learned their lesson, even the former Communist, but the temptation is huge. The Greeks don't have such recent history and if they don't restructure only a much bigger mess will come.

by lyudmil 15y ago

dimitar 15y ago

A story from our native Bulgaria: the Bulgarian state nearly went bankrupt in 78 as a result of stupid state-planned 'investment'. The debts which were repaid with the strategic gold reserve which were basically the savings tucked away for about a hundred years. The Communist government continued to spend unsustainably in IT (it was unsustainable because it was based on non-marked agreements with COMECON countries) and other sectors. Salaries were raised, people bought more Lada cars, times were good.. for a while. The USSR which gave us petrol to resell collapsed and we were unable to find markets for our goods (which apart from weapons were greatly inferior on the open market). So we had to pay back the debts with even crueler austerity measures. But it wasn't the worst thing. The economy was unproductive. The living levels collapsed in and they reached 89 levels again in 03. Oh and 1 million mostly young Bulgarians left the country. So instead of getting its act together the government just ignored the problems, made things comfortable for the populace and even worse problems came. Had the Communists liberalized the economy and be sure to pay debts in the 80s it wouldn't happen. But we didn't learn the lessons of fiscal responsibility. The Socialist government of Jean Videnov undid the austerity measures and got into an even huger mess (never mind that enterprises continued to fail). Yes, he also yet huge money printing to begin which, the Greeks don't have to deal with, so we can leave this out. Our governments have more or less learned their lesson, even the former Communist, but the temptation is huge. The Greeks don't have such recent history and if they don't restructure only a much bigger mess will come.