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> I totally understand creditors need their money back. No they don't. They took a risk and lost. Other times, they get paid handsomely for taking the same ris
by drjesusphd 11y ago
> I totally understand creditors need their money back.
No they don't. They took a risk and lost. Other times, they get paid handsomely for taking the same risk. That's how it's supposed to work.
- mcv 11y agoThing is, Germany took over the debt from the banks, and Merkel promised the (understandably skeptical) German voters that she would get all the money back.
- laichzeit0 11y agoSo what happens when I borrow money from a bank to buy a house and I default on my loan? "They took a risk and lost"? Hooray. I get to keep my home.
- gyom 11y agoWell, your house is used as collateral for the loan, otherwise the bank would never lend you that money. I'm not an economist, but I don't think that, in the case of Greece, the "house" (whatever it stands for) was used as collateral. I don't think there really was any collateral. I guess lenders just hoped that Greece would pay back, or would be pressured into paying back.
- drjesusphd 11y agoCountries are not owned by banks in the way a mortgaged house is. At least, I hope not.
- koonsolo 11y agoExactly what I'm thinking. But when banks get in trouble, politics bail them out. They should have let them go bust, because now everyone is paying to keep them alive. Letting banks go bust will be though at first, but it's the only thing that will let the economy work properly in the long run.