New Greek proposals were e-mailed (!) to Dijsselblom last night. Bottomline: te Greek government wants another 53 billion Euro... Oh yes, they did mention some reforms that they might consider taking (like raising the retirement age to 67 by 2022) and raising taxation on the shipping companies (yes, the 100 or so families in Greece that factually run the country)...

 

A recent IMF report (which the EU tried to suppress) concluded that the present debt burden of Greece is unsustainable. Obviously some serious fiscal reforms are necessary in Greece, but without a significant writedown and rescheduling of the existing debt, Greece will not climb out of the hole it's in.
Merkel, in particular, is under pressure from her electorate who don't want to see more of their taxes going into this hole.
So - is there the political / economic will to keep Greece in the EU?

 

Just found this article from the NY Times....

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/business/economy/germanys-debt-history-echoed-in-greece.html?_r=0

 

I for one hope that the leaders of the various EU countries that have bled their taxpayers money into the Greek 'black hole' will listen to their constituents and tell Greece to go fly a kite! I still pay taxes in my home country

I don't know what history books the author of that terrific piece of garbage reads, but I do seem to remember that a nice chunk of Greece's debt has already been written off in the recent past. Statements to the effect that Greek pensioners have been reduced to the beggar state are absolute nonsense and not based on anything but heresay. Sure, the picture of a crying man sitting against the facade of the bank makes nice news for the social media but it also makes one wonder where the billions and billions of Euro's have disappeared to that were taken from the Greek banks prior to them running out of cash. Only the happy few? Seriously doubt that. Let Greece first prove that they can and will implement measures that will reduce its spending significantly and enable it to pay the interests due its creditors before any debt-restructuring can be discussed. Until that happens, all their plans are no more that nice ideas and a whole lot of hot air, and I for one am not willing to donate any more of my cash into that black hole...

 

Really appreciate the perspectives shared on this issue. It seems the press is all over the place with this.

nwlivewire

 

Talking to a Greek guy in Cebu in Thursday, He told me that he has had to re-apply for his European Pension as his Greek element has been withdrawn.
JP

 

WOW!

Will his pension be less? Wonder by how much percentage if less than anticipated?