Exit Polls Suggest Syriza Has Won Greek Election

[Dinner]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/02/22/387757419/a-greek-city-nervously-watches-its-fur-trade-falter

Paiktis's might like that one. It is about a town in NW Greece that makes fur coats. It is nice to see some small businesses have been able to survive the epic mismanagement and bad policies of the last several Greek governments. That said, they survive on exports and what do you suppose will happen to those export markets if Greece goes protectionist? What do you think will happen to the average Greek worker when prices double because of protectionism?

[Imran Siddiqui]

I mean seriously though, regardless of what side you may be on - from HC all the way to C0ckney, one has to admit it is really amusing seeing Oerdin so aggressively advocating for austerity like some sort of neo-liberal ideologue. By these statements, you'd almost think he was a deficit warrior in the US...

[Hauldren Collider]

It is entertaining, yes. I think he may actually be to the right of me on this.

[Dinner]

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/17/investing/greece-europe-grexit/index.html?iid=SF_INV_River

Seven reasons why a GREXIT wouldn't be as bad today as in 2010. It is a good read and the Euro zone really is in a much better place to let Greece go if their demands get to disconnected with economic reality. The Greeks are fooling themselves if they think the EU isn't in a good position to drop them on their asses if they refuse to fill their side of the agreement.

Of course, the Greeks have always agreed to X, Y, and Z for reforms but then only partially does X, refuses to do Y & Z as agreed and then demands more money promising that this time they really will honor their agreement if only they are given still more free money. It is a pattern the Greeks have followed over and over so I don't know why anyone believes them.

[Dinner]

I mean seriously though, regardless of what side you may be on - from HC all the way to C0ckney, one has to admit it is really amusing seeing Oerdin so aggressively advocating for austerity like some sort of neo-liberal ideologue. By these statements, you'd almost think he was a deficit warrior in the US...

They can't find anyone to borrow money from at any price so they really do have no choice but to cut spending and deregulate their massively over regulated and state dominated economy. They have no other choice. To compare, when I advocated the US go into deficit spending to boost the economy the US had net negative interest rates when inflation adjusted so it was the perfect time to do some pump priming and complete some badly need infastructure projects.

That Imran can't understand the difference between those two situations says a lot about his own willful ignorance especially as it has been explained to him multiple times.

[Imran Siddiqui]

It is entertaining, yes. I think he may actually be to the right of me on this.

Oh, he definitely is. No "may" about it.

[Fake Boris]

Your one trick pony is getting tired.

The problem is it's true.

You live in a system programatically made for people to default, and where any monetary mass increase is automatically an increase in debt levels.

And yet, common sense is all about getting out of debt, or repaying debt, which is pure nonsense given the system.

[Dinner]

Oh, he definitely is. No "may" about it.

Only if you are an idiot, which I free concede you are being in this case. One country can't get credit at any price because it is a dead beat while the other has such good credit people are willing to pay them for the privilege of loaning them money . Obviously, those are dramatically different cases and the former simply must cut spending to be in line with income because they have no credit. It is sad how you keep playing stupid and pretending not to understand this fact.

This is nothing more than an acknowledgement of reality. Yes, deficit spending is good for the economy when you can get credit but Greece has no credit. That is not a left or right thing; that is a reality thing.

[pchang]

Is it Monday yet?

[Dinner]

Monday will be interesting.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Only if you are an idiot, which I free concede you are being in this case. One country can't get credit at any price because it is a dead beat while the other has such good credit people are willing to pay them for the privilege of loaning them money . Obviously, those are dramatically different cases and the former simply must cut spending to be in line with income because they have no credit. It is sad how you keep playing stupid and pretending not to understand this fact.

This is nothing more than an acknowledgement of reality. Yes, deficit spending is good for the economy when you can get credit but Greece has no credit. That is not a left or right thing; that is a reality thing.

A) It isn't true that Greece can't any credit elsewhere. That fact is what is making the United States so anxious and why they are pushing the EU to negotiate.
B) Considering the ever increasing US debt, I am interested in looking forward to the time when the US is so heavily in debt that you jump on the barricade in order to completely gut Obamacare - because that's what would be your recommendation if the US gets into massive debt trouble, right?

[Dinner]

No, my first recommendation would be to stop spending more on the military than the next 14 countries combined.

[pchang]

A) It isn't true that Greece can't any credit elsewhere. That fact is what is making the United States so anxious and why they are pushing the EU to negotiate.

If Greeks don't like the Troika's terms, they definitely will not like China's terms.

[Dinner]

It is going to be very interesting reading what the Greeks claim will fix their problems yet still reach the spending goals. Honestly, they are not off to a good start as they are just rehashing old promises which the Greeks having been making and breaking for the last half decade; crack down on tax evasion and streamline the massive state bureacracy. Syriza campaigned on rehiring fired civil servants who were getting pay checks despite not having any official duties and tax receipts are down 40% since they took office and stopped enforcing much of the tax collection rules. Further more when they claim they will collect $7.8 billion in new revenue by cracking down on fraud they only seemed to talk about targeting opposition supporters who own businesses or are wealthy. That is not a good sign.

Still, we've only had hints so far and it will be good to see their whole proposal. I have money on it being a complete fantasy crock of lies, none of which will be met, but that is just me.

http://m.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31580138

[Colon™]

If Greeks don't like the Troika's terms, they definitely will not like China's terms.

PLEASE! Respect Greece's wishes: it's called "the institutions" now.