World is Falling Apart Thread (Locked forever)

[ZeroAX]

Who has two thumbs and is glad he quit his job in Greece to come here? THIS guy

[Luke]

Who has two thumbs...

Braggart.
...


I'm glad the unmanned rocket was unmanned. It still is a disaster, but no lives lost.

[Pulsar_t]

I still don't fully understand the whole Greek situation. Finance is one flimsy field, that's how those fat cats get away with their shenanigans.

[BoringSupreez]

I still don't fully understand the whole Greek situation. Finance is one flimsy field, that's how those fat cats get away with their shenanigans.

I find in these situations it's best to boil things down to simple accusations, such as: Greece is a bunch of lazy 55 year olds who are trying to retire on pensions paid by Germany, or: Germany is a bunch of greedy Nazi scrooges who need to make reparations for WWII by paying for Greek retirements. Such phrases are easily understood and lead to great conversation.

[MrPopo]

I still don't fully understand the whole Greek situation. Finance is one flimsy field, that's how those fat cats get away with their shenanigans.

I was just thinking that it's been a while since rhetoric included the phrase "fat cats".

[Erik_Twice]

I still don't fully understand the whole Greek situation. Finance is one flimsy field, that's how those fat cats get away with their shenanigans.

This is my understanding of it:

Greece was in shaky ground before the crisis. It was a heavily indebted country before the crisis and saddled by corruption. For many years, politicans had won elections by promising well-secured jobs in the public sector or heavily regulating others. The result is that goverment spending comprises 50% of Greece's total GDP but tax burden is very low at 31%. Financial reports were doctored to disguise this and after the crisis hit, funding dissapeared and Greece found itself unable to meet its expenses.

Since it was impossible to secure private funding (Free market interest rates hit 30%!) and given the risk of contagion and the solidarity primciple of the Union,a bail-out was arranged, with other member states footing the bill (including countries that weren't doing too hot on their own, like Spain). The bail-out had a series of conditions, asking for public spending cuts, liberalization of heavily regulated sectors and so on.

The Greek goverment applied the measures poorly and late, because they were hugely unpopular and often attacked their own interests. Coupled with some of the measures being on the harsh side (like the need to hold a 3% superavit) the end result was the need for a second bail-out two years later and the need for some extra funding.

Still, interest rates went down and despite many issues Greece was doing better. However, the political pressure was high and elections were arranged, leading to the victory of Syriza, a fairly new far-left party whose main talking point was refusing the conditions of the bail-out. They were also huge dicks, bringing World War II into the discussion, getting chummy with Russia and so on.

The big problem is that they cannot refuse the bail-out because it's their only source of funding, it's biting the hand that bites you. But they don't accept them, either, because they promised they wouldn't. Hence all these months of senseless back and forth that have culminated in a referendum, because Syriza wants to wash their hands and doesn't realize how awful their position is.

That's mostly it.

[ZeroAX]

That and that Greek people are morons. Yes I'm quite bitter about this.

Also I had to spend 370€ on plane tickets to vote on this retarded referendum which will just lead to the country being destroyed....but at least I will have my concense clear, I will do my part.

[MrPopo]

No absentee ballot option?

[Ack]

No absentee ballot option?

Hey, this is Greece we're talking about here. They would have done it, but the far-left declared it might give the rich an upper hand and the far-right thought it meant foreigners were voting.

[Erik_Twice]

I fear this is the beginning of the end of the EU. After this, the issue is not just Greece announcing the print of IOUs but the mere fact that Cameron will inevitably call for a referendum and Britain will leave, even if it destroys itself in the proccess.

Guess we Europeans are destined to go back to killing each other trade tariffs. You can't imagine how depressed I feel right now.