Quote:
Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce
Not sure why I'm not following the hilarity. Countries that run a surplus do not create a deficit. This should not be a difficult concept. So the 30B Canada pays in debt servicing would not be required if governments had not run huge deficits to begin with. In the same way, there would be no debt repayment necessary for Greece had the previous governments operated at a surplus, like they are now, instead of a huge deficit.
Regardless, glossed over by most is that this all has very little to do with money, loans or debt repayment - and more political blackmail of a democratically elected government. The EU will be the big loser if this goes badly. Will be interesting to see who blinks fist, when the Greeks once again say Όχι
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Ignoring debt obligations ignores what that debt previously purchased and how the economy would be affected had the money not been borrowed. To exclude it from financial calculation is foolish as its a fixed cost like pensions, or infrastructure - its just a deferred payment instead of upfront.
Its not blackmail, its a choice. And they arent trying to remove this gov in particular, the prev gov had the same choice and chose option (1) and the people of Greece voted them out.
(1) Stay in EU with the benifits it provides with a timeline to pay back creditors.
(2) Leave the EU with its benifits and the creditors likely get no return on their current investment and will likely make it up with CC style interest rates to Greece going forward.