Euro Area

[gaelic cowboy]

Yes, self-interest. Your hypothetical example works fine on paper, but let's say that amounts aren't 100 and 90, but 100,000 and 90,000 respectively. Let's say that Furunculus owns a small business where two of his children work and he needs that money to keep afloat in these difficult times.

In this case he has to choose whether he and his children lose their jobs and their incomes or to give you more money... Not a difficult choice really.

Or to give you another example, Furunculus might owe banks or other businesses some money and he's must get it. Or he needs it to finish his house and stop paying rent.

You can't really cancel out debts that easy.



If they accept the measures there would be no need to go back to drachma.

I don't think you guys fully appreciate the gravity of the Greek inflation if drachma is reintroduced. We're not talking 10%, 20%, 30% percent a year, but 50%.... 100%.... 500%...... sky is the limit really.

No economy can function in that kind of inflation. Besides businesses going bust, it's even easier for corruption to spread...

We might see massive violence, uprisings, potentially revolution... none of that sits well with the biggest Greek export - tourism.

As long as the ECB does nothing to squash this thing like a bug then this problem will not go away.

The balance sheets of banks will not be saved by heaping more debt onto already indebted sovereigns.

Essentially Greece needs to be allowed renege on it's debt or else no one will get any money back at all.