What to do about Greece

[chemgear]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21916102

Eurozone finance ministers have agreed a deal on a 10bn-euro bailout for Cyprus to prevent its banking system collapsing and keep the country in the eurozone.

Reports suggest the deal will include a levy on deposits of more than 100,000 euros in Cyprus's two biggest banks.

The levy on deposits in Laiki (Popular) Bank - the country's second-biggest - could be as high as 40%, reports say.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by chemgear

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21916102

Eurozone finance ministers have agreed a deal on a 10bn-euro bailout for Cyprus to prevent its banking system collapsing and keep the country in the eurozone.

Reports suggest the deal will include a levy on deposits of more than 100,000 euros in Cyprus's two biggest banks.

The levy on deposits in Laiki (Popular) Bank - the country's second-biggest - could be as high as 40%, reports say.

To be clear, it looks like they are honouring the equivalent of CDIC insurance for deposits 100,000 euros and under and imposing losses on depositors over that amount. Something similar would happen here. Markets will probably like that consistency with normal practice.

Cowperson

[mykalberta]

I wish I had more than 100K in a savings account

[GP_Matt]

I wonder how many people are caught with that money in their account from a quick one time thing?
I have had that much in my account a few times on a very temporary basis. ie. transferring the money into a chequing account during the home buying process. The money sits there for all of three days before the paperwork clears on the down payment.

That would be a pretty terrible thing if it happened to someone who would never otherwise be in a position to have that cash on hand.

[CaptainCrunch]

I hope that my transfer from Prince Izzuka from Mobaza via the central bank of Cyprus gets here before these laws come into effect or it will reduce my holding commission.

[chemgear]

[billybob123]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Can you withdraw everything and stuff it under your mattress?

[mykalberta]

That list sounds like something out of a SciFi movie with all their draconian restrictions.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

That list sounds like something out of a SciFi movie with all their draconian restrictions.

I'm waiting for the next clause to include Soylent Green rations.

[chemgear]

LOL, Greece is amazing(ly terrible)

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/07/news...ges/index.html

Germany owes Greece 279 billion euros in compensation for war damage. At least that's what the Greeks say. The Germans say the claim is nonsense.

The Greek government has not made any formal request for reparations but opinion polls show a claim would have widespread popular support in Greece, which is struggling to avoid another financial collapse.

But Tspiras went as far as suggesting Greece could start confiscating German assets if Berlin refuses to pay.

That was described as "bizarre and impertinent" by German media.

[polak]

Greece: A Haiku

Hahahahaha.

Hahahahahahaha.

Hahahahaha.

[CaptainCrunch]

Wow, that's incredible.

I guess you could argue that the Axis powers slaughtered about 70,000 Greeks as reprisals for partisan attacks, but its a little late in the game and pretty transparent.

Plus doesn't Germany own most of Greek's debts?

Wouldn't the German's just seize Greek assets, that they kind of already own?

[burn_this_city]

A nation of scammers united.

[polak]

They were going to think of a better financial plan but it was time for a siesta!

[Itse]

Originally Posted by chemgear

LOL, Greece is amazing(ly terrible)

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/07/news...ges/index.html

Germany owes Greece 279 billion euros in compensation for war damage. At least that's what the Greeks say. The Germans say the claim is nonsense.

Eh that article is pretty much all wrong.

The 279 billion in question is NOT for war damages, technically speaking. It's actual unpaid debt. The number however is highly debatable.

During the Nazi occupation of Greece the Nazis forced Greece to "loan" them 476m Richtsmarks. A whole bunch of different numbers have been thrown around as to what the current value for that loan would be. 279 bn is on the high end, but with interest the number actually can go all the way up to 1 trillion.

As far as propaganda moves go, I actually think this one is quite interesting, and it's not without merit.

After all, if that loan had been made under any other circumstances, it would be considered obvious that the Germans should pay. Is it somehow more okay for them to not pay if they originally quite literally forced Greece at gunpoint to give that loan?

It's also not really a new issue, Greece has been on occasion asking for that money pretty much since WWII ended, without gaining much traction. There's of course very little Greece can do to pressure Germany to pay, as they would need international support for their claim, and Greece doesn't have much in the way of powerful allies. (It's actually a good example of the hypocrisy of western countries that nobody cares about the money Germans owe to Greeks, but once the Greeks own money it's a completely different issue.)

If you ask me it's really complete BS that Germany hasn't paid the debt, at least the 10 billion euros that is the low end estimation, which they could easily have done. At one point for example they argued that oh noes, only a unified Germany can pay that debt... But of course once there actually WAS a unified Germany and the Greeks came asking for their money again, the Germans just shrugged and went "oh noes well it's such an old debt now".

It's really pretty clear the Greeks do have a case, and probably they would win that case if there was court for such issues.

[CroFlames]

Germany never shies away from blame. If they are at fault for something in WW2, they never down play it or brush it off. They face it, deal with it, and pay out where necessary. Germany more than any nation in the world I'll warrant, admits it's mistakes. (Looking at you, USA).

The mere fact that the German government called this case 'dumb' leads me to believe it is completely bogus of Greece to seek war damages.

Not to mention the obvious fact that Germany has been propping Greece up since probably 1993.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32202768

Reacting to the Greek claim, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was "dumb" to link Greece's bailout by the eurozone with the question of war reparations.
"To be honest I think it's dumb. I think that it doesn't move us forward one millimetre on the question of stabilising Greece," he said.

[CroFlames]

And on the subject of Greece having any legal right to this case:

The budget spokesman for Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democrats, Eckhardt Rehberg, reiterated on Tuesday that "the reparations issue is for us closed, politically and legally - the same applies to the so-called forced loan"

[Weitz]

The last time they paid (139 million I think?) to Greece it was under the treaty that stated it was the final payment settling all debts did it not?

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Weitz

The last time they paid (139 million I think?) to Greece it was under the treaty that stated it was the final payment settling all debts did it not?

All Germanys debts were cancelled by agreement in the late 50's, Greece signed off on this. It was a very successful attempt to avoid what happened after WW1 when punitive debt and reparations led to the rise of hitler.

[chemgear]

You'd think they would try to clamp down on their rampant tax evasion abuse or the free money they're giving out to pedophiles, pyromaniacs and kleptomaniacs rather than try to dig up stuff like this.