Cyprus-Forum.com

[Lordo]

you boys are cluless. the problem is nothing of the kind.

the real problem is corruption and non-collection of taxes. the swiss authorities collated a list of tax avoiders and sent them to the griik government. the ministers removed their families from the list before handing it to the tax man. how the hell are you going to survive outside of the euro.

give a stupid enough person a long enough rope and they will hang themselves. problem solved. unfortunately it is the working class, the pensioners and the unemployed who will pay the price of this little stupidity.

[Cap]

the real problem is corruption and non-collection of taxes.

Nailed it.

[Jerry]

the real problem is corruption and non-collection of taxes.

Nailed it.

And paying pensions they could not afford, and paying too many government workers too much, and hosting Olympic games they could not afford, and being sold armaments they could not afford,

"Since the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Greece has spent an estimated €216bn on armaments, although I am 100% certain that in absolute terms its defence expenditure is much greater than official documents would show due to the so-called secret funds the state has access to," said Katerina Tsoukala, a Brussels-based security expert http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/a ... ebt-crisis (Hey, we can blame it on the Turks)

There's a multitude of reasons, some are the fault of the Greek Government, some of its people, and some of their "friends" in Europe.

[Nikitas]

Paphitis said:

"Put all your cash into your mortgage. Get it down by using any means available to you.

The transition will not be an easy one if Greece votes NO. But many people have already lost everything as well as be humiliated.

If the continue in the Eurozone, 3 generations will be unable to get a home loan unless they have backing. With the Drachma, then maybe Greece has a chance and without the unsustainable levels of debt."

You do not know the times of 36 per cent inflation under the drachma, the humiliation of having to apply for foreign currency to buy books, waiting SEVENTEEN years for a phone connection, and in the end having to buy it in the black market (I did, I know).

The Irish, Portuguese, Cypriots, Spanish, have tackled this problem in two years, the Greeks keep claiming a special case status, and imply that the others were lacking in democratic spirit,they were some kind of servile, spineless, lackeys to the "lenders" and that explains their progress somehow. Why are these other countries not seen as humiliated but somehow Greece would be if it gets its finger out and does something to get out of the mess is puzzling to many people.

[Get Real!]

From the European People’s Party (EPP) (center-right)

“It is outrageous that a country that was on its way to recovery was brought to the brink of collapse by the irresponsible extreme-left Syriza government. The Tsipras government jeopardised not only the efforts and sacrifices of the Greek people but also of the other 18 Euro area member states.”

“In my political career I have never seen a Prime Minister of an EU country entirely ignore the destiny and wellbeing of his citizens in order to push forward his political agenda,”

http://news.epp.eu/zNG4Vx

[B25]

the real problem is corruption and non-collection of taxes.

Nailed it.

[i]"Since the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Greece has spent an estimated €216bn on armaments, although I am 100% certain that in absolute terms its defence expenditure is much greater

Even today, NATO is insisting that greece maintains its 2% of GDP on Defence spending! hahahaha, hasn't any one told these idiots that Greece is having a few issues right now.

perhaps they should just give Russia a massive Naval Base in return for some hard currency, that'll F them up good and proper. That way they won't even have to worry about their barbarian neighbours.

[Jerry]

Even today, NATO is insisting that greece maintains its 2% of GDP on Defence spending! hahahaha, hasn't any one told these idiots that Greece is having a few issues right now.

perhaps they should just give Russia a massive Naval Base in return for some hard currency, that'll F them up good and proper. That way they won't even have to worry about their barbarian neighbours.

But Greece has been spending almost twice that figure.

From the link I posted,
Under the latest EU-IMF-sponsored rescue programme – which is propping up the near-bankrupt Greek economy with an extra €130bn in emergency loans until 2015 – Athens has agreed to cut defence expenditure by €400m. Even so, its military budget accounts for nearly 4% of national economic output, compared with the eurozone average of around 2%. The country has cited perceived security risks from Turkey and, in addition to state-of-the-art submarines, has bought hundreds of Leopard tanks, howitzers, Mirage fighter planes and F-16 jets from Germany, France and the US since the late 1990s.


Frankly, if the EU and Nato were real friends of Greece they should have been banging heads together and insisting on genuine rapprochement with Turkey rather than lick the Anatolian arse.

[Paphitis]

Paphitis said:

"Put all your cash into your mortgage. Get it down by using any means available to you.

The transition will not be an easy one if Greece votes NO. But many people have already lost everything as well as be humiliated.

If the continue in the Eurozone, 3 generations will be unable to get a home loan unless they have backing. With the Drachma, then maybe Greece has a chance and without the unsustainable levels of debt."

You do not know the times of 36 per cent inflation under the drachma, the humiliation of having to apply for foreign currency to buy books, waiting SEVENTEEN years for a phone connection, and in the end having to buy it in the black market (I did, I know).

The Irish, Portuguese, Cypriots, Spanish, have tackled this problem in two years, the Greeks keep claiming a special case status, and imply that the others were lacking in democratic spirit,they were some kind of servile, spineless, lackeys to the "lenders" and that explains their progress somehow. Why are these other countries not seen as humiliated but somehow Greece would be if it gets its finger out and does something to get out of the mess is puzzling to many people.

Nikita,

at one stage a long time ago, I was actually living in Greece as a very young kid, mid to late 90s.

I sat the examinations for Olympic Airways and was offered a position as a FO on B737-300. I was about to get a position in the Greek Public Service. The salary in those days for a FO on the 737 was 450,000 Drachma per month. It was considered a good wage by Greek Standards. Sim was in a B737/200. The instructor commented on my "steady hands" and made a comment about my schooling - a university which trained 8 OA cadets under contract when they had a fallout with their provider in the USA.

I have an idea how things are in Greece.

The only people to be appointed in our group had connections. Lal***** son was appointed, as well as sons of the Military establishment, some other politicians and even rich shipping tycoons (I have no idea why).

I had 250 hours in the logbook in those days. My claim to fame was my God Sister, married to a Surgeon who went to uni with the then Minister of Health of PASOK.

Inflation in those days I recall as being in the double digits. It's pretty tough but I fear some rely bad times for Greece if they accept the terms of the IMF, ECB and Eurozone.

[miltiades]

Greece will remain in Eurozone regardless of the referendum outcome. The repercussions for the Eurozone will be horendous if Greece was to leave the EZ, the Germans know this so do other lenders.

[Paphitis]

I agree with Pyrpo.
And even Kuru had the common sense to bring up the fact that Greece needs to start producing in order to become competitive in international markets.
The economy was a shambles pre Euro, in the 80's huge inflation something like 25% and huge debt, it sort of stabilized in the 90's and then they cooked the books to be let in the Euro thus exasperating the problem.
It all became evident during the global financial meltdown.
GiGs on the other hand (God bless her heart) is unwittingly trying to bury her country behind propaganda and anti EU rhetoric masking the problem which is for the most part internal.

Greece was doing ok in the 90s and between 2000 and 2008 it was even booming.