4 ms·
You and I are neighbours. I ask to borrow your chainsaw. You lend it. Next month you come knocking wanting it back. I point to the corner where it lays broken a
by phs318u 4y ago
You and I are neighbours. I ask to borrow your chainsaw. You lend it. Next month you come knocking wanting it back. I point to the corner where it lays broken and shrug.
Some time later I ask to borrow your lawn mower. You give it. When you ask for it back I regretfully explain that I had to hock it to pay off my bookie.
Later still, I ask to borrow your Mercedes. You look at my front yard where a beat up old Toyota is sitting on blocks. I swear on my mother’s grave that I’ll look after your car and treat it just like my own. You then hand over the keys.
There is (or should be) a moral hazard attached to lending irresponsibly. It was an open secret back then that the books were cooked to let Greece in. Certainly nothing in the history of the modern Greek state gave any confidence it would be different. Yet you would have us believe that Deutche Bank [0] were utterly naive and blind to history. That they were poor, unsuspecting, honest fools who didn’t have a clue what they were getting into.
[0]. https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-banks-5-biggest-scandals/a-46510219 https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-banks-5-biggest-scandals/a-46...
- looping__lui 4y agoGreeks lied about their finances and took loans they couldn’t pay back. I don’t see how they are the victim in this discussion. Deutsche Bank or anybody else giving money to Greek is stupid imho. Lacking “street smart” for sure. Still I paid for this bullshit w/ my taxes and could t do anything about it. Do I dig this entire “oh poor Greek got screwed by Germany and Greek is the victim” nonsense? No. Greek lies and screws over their neighbors and then threatens to tank the entire EU / Euro over their bankruptcy: not a victim. Not to be trusted. Thats what you imply with your post: don’t trust the Greek, they lied in the past, they will lie in the future. No sympathy from my end.
- phs318u 4y agoFriend, firstly please don’t conflate Greeks with Greek governments. Secondly, yes Greek governments lied with some great help from Goldman Sachs. I promise you the Greek people found that all prices rose when the Euro was introduced. Finally, if German banks did the wrong thing, then perhaps your beef should be with them and with the German government that chose to bail them out and not let them fail. Because the “Greek bailouts” were indeed bailouts of the (mostly) German banks. As I said in another post, DB gambled, confident they would be bailed out - there was no moral hazard attached to their actions. They were right.
- arisAlexis 4y agoIn a democracy, 60 years of electing corrupt politicians mean Greeks or the Greek society or whatever you want to put it are guilty too along with all their corrupt governments. It runs deep in the society. I am Greek.
- phs318u 4y agoOk. But that works both ways. The Germans then are culpable for their government’s actions as are the Americans for theirs.
- looping__lui 4y agoI still bear the consequences of the German government’s action three generations ago - as the Greek keep reminding my country on a regular basis…
- planetis 4y agoNext time an invading force in your country, murders all civilians, starves the rest to death, maybe you'll have different opinion. Greece has the highest death toll on WW2 in normalized to the total population.