A bit off topic but how did Cyprus cope with out flows of capital a few years ago?
Did they have the same sort of economic problems as Greece?
British humour. Sigh.
What the Greek government should have done is get the Greek house in order, which they will have to do whether they stay in the euro or not. I can't see much that they have done on the domestic front.
In summary deeply, deeply painful for the population but broadly successful in keep the banking sector afloat and averting the full scale meltdown of the economy that could have happened. For a number of reasons Argentina 2001 is a better example for Greece than Cyprus though.
https://economics.rabobank.com/publications/2013/august/the-argentine-crisis-20012002-/
Also note that capital controls don't really work if you have a lot of corruption and poor regulation.
It wasn't a joke. Integrate the country into Germany, and hence the greater EU state as that develops. Fundamental problems go away. Why would a Greek remove money from a Greek bank if that were actually also a German bank?British humour. Sigh.
What the Greek government should have done is get the Greek house in order, which they will have to do whether they stay in the euro or not. I can't see much that they have done on the domestic front.
It wasn't a joke. Integrate the country into Germany, and hence the greater EU state as that develops. Fundamental problems go away.
Greece. The father of democracy. Failing, as democracies world wide sail headlong towards similar implosions.
What lesson does the world take from this?
Well, we do have recent experience of integrating a country peacefully (the former GDR) and Greece is smaller than the GDR was (pop. ca. 11 million to 16.7 million), but you won't find many Germans (East or West) who would want to go through that process again anytime soon, not least because we paid through our noses for that integration and will continue to do so for decades.
Anyway, how about Britain rebuilding its empire by anschlussing Greece? Would certainly solve that pesky marbles problem.
But isn't this what the EU (and Euro) is about.... to bring everyone together and for everyone to share the same standards of living as each other with the richer nations paying/supporting the poorer ones to ultimately become a United States of Europe?
Some may view it that way, but it's definitely not Germany.[/quote]Nah......we gave up our ambitions years ago. On the other hand, I've read that some view the EU/Euro experiment as empire building via the backdoor rather than via conquest and conflict??
But isn't this what the EU (and Euro) is about.... to bring everyone together and for everyone to share the same standards of living as each other with the richer nations paying/supporting the poorer ones to ultimately become a United States of Europe.
The ECBs governing council met Friday to consider the request. Regardless of the outcome, Greek banks may not be able to open on Monday according to governing council member Benoît Coeuré, whose opinion on the matter was leaked by people close to the discussions. Yanis Varoufakis believes and we have suggested this on a number of occasions over the past several months that the troika is effectively colluding to incite a bank run in an effort to force Syriza into the types of concessions which will strip the party of its mandate and transform Tsipras into a pandering technocrat reminiscent of his predecessors. "Regrettably, no discussion of our proposal took place within the Eurogroup. Even more regrettably, instead of that essential discussion, we observed pernicious leaks to the press regarding Greeces banking system," the FinMin told Bloomberg.
Then you have to break up the EU.Well, we do have recent experience of integrating a country peacefully (the former GDR) and Greece is smaller than the GDR was (pop. ca. 11 million to 16.7 million), but you won't find many Germans (East or West) who would want to go through that process again anytime soon, not least because we paid through our noses for that integration and will continue to do so for decades.
That would, by definition, mean Grexit.Anyway, how about Britain rebuilding its empire by anschlussing Greece? Would certainly solve that pesky marbles problem.