Greece Watch...

[UndercoverElephant]

Some countries are starting to introduce bans on cash payments over a certain value. The idea seems to be to stamp on the black economy.

Yeah...like it is actually going to work.

[woodpecker]

Quite. It tends to be countries where nobody obeys most laws that introduce these things: Belgium and Italy so far. (Belgium is well-known for having a massive black economy / cash economy - even people working in places like their equivalent of the Cabinet Office get paid in cash, no doubt owing to some social security fiddle.)

[DominicJ]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/an ... ndholders/

A fairly simple explanation as to why the greek "bailout" has doomed the rest of club med.

Probably worth a read for most on here.

[emordnilap]

Quite. It tends to be countries where nobody obeys most laws that introduce these things: Belgium and Italy so far. (Belgium is well-known for having a massive black economy / cash economy - even people working in places like their equivalent of the Cabinet Office get paid in cash, no doubt owing to some social security fiddle.)

Do you blame them?

[hodson2k9]

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcr ... -euro.html

As global companies draw up contingency plans for a Greek exit from the euro, we examine the feasibility of Athens’ departure– from new drachmas to illegality and €1 trillion costs.

[biffvernon]

Transition Nation Greece? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ma ... pe=article

[UndercoverElephant]

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. ... -bank.html

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/ ... bond-swap/

The illegally denied default of Greece entered a dramatic new phase this afternoon with the revelation by mainstream Greek public health website Health News that, shortly before midnight on March 8th – the eve of Greece’s psi completion on Friday March 9th – on average 70% of public utility funds in various large, interest-bearing accounts at the Bank of Greece were raided. These included most of the State’s regional hospital budgets, various universities and (it is alleged) at least one utility company.

The shortfalls came to light late last week and this morning as various hospital purchasing cheques in particular began to bounce. The monies – estimated by one source to total some 1.4 billion euros – appear to have been used to pay off the tiny minority of private sovereign creditors who, under the original terms of their bond purchase, were entitled come what may to full payment of the bond’s yield entitlement.

Setting aside the amoral audacity of this act, it does yet again raise the issue of a Greece so utterly lacking in any real funds in the real world, that to pay off a minute proportion of the bondholders it had to resort to such a desperate measure.

On March 28, The Slog wrote GREEK EMBEZZLEMENT UPDATE: SLOGPOST VINDICATED BY ATHENS NEWS REPORT.

From Athens News:

‘Six of the country’s universities say they face immediate closure after the recent bondswap reduced their assets to zero. An emergency meeting of university rectors on Tuesday heard that only 33m euros remained of 120m euros that 17 Greek universities had deposited with the Bank of Greece for their operating expenses, while six university accounts were now completely empty meaning they would soon be unable to stay

This can't go on for much longer. Not because of the suffering of the Greek people, and the audacity and immorality of the actions described above, but because there's only so many public funds you can raid like this before there's no more left to raid.

[UndercoverElephant]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162- ... trategies/

The primary aim of international lenders in ordering budget cuts is not aiding an ailing nation, critics content, but making sure the government continues to be able to pay its debt. After all, under these austerity policies governments don't curb their loan payments to foreign investors. Rather, they cut spending within their own borders, axing social services, wages, pensions, and all manner of government programs.

One of the ugly ironies of the Greek bailout is that much of the money Athens receives from these lenders is sent right back to those same institutions to cover debt payments. Indeed, the government has sometimes had to make those payments before the lenders will give them the money.

When that happened last month, the Greek government raided the bank accounts of state hospitals and universities. Blogger John Ward, who broke the story, reported that these institutions lost an average of 70 percent of their funds in these accounts. They didn't find out about the withdrawals until checks began bouncing. According to the Athens News, six universities that saw their accounts drained completely dry face immediate closure.

This creates a vicious spiral, as shrinking economies mean governments have less money coming in and so have to cut even more. This has been seen in many, many cases where the IMF has stepped in to "rescue" a government. It is well past time to come up with a new approach.

[emordnilap]

Some countries are starting to introduce bans on cash payments over a certain value. The idea seems to be to stamp on the black economy.

The way the Irish government are tackling this is through levies; they say they're not going to raise income taxes (yet, I suppose).

But a whole raft of taxes/levies/charges to be paid from remaining cash are gradually being brought in on every aspect of life. All are simply to pay off rich gamblers.

Things such as a 'broadcasting' charge to replace the tv licence, for every single household, even those receiving no services. There are numerous other levies in existence as well as planned. If you want to participate in any part of the system, there's a tax on it.

[Little John]

Some countries are starting to introduce bans on cash payments over a certain value. The idea seems to be to stamp on the black economy.

The way the Irish government are tackling this is through levies; they say they're not going to raise income taxes (yet, I suppose).

But a whole raft of taxes/levies/charges to be paid from remaining cash are gradually being brought in on every aspect of life. All are simply to pay off rich gamblers.

Things such as a 'broadcasting' charge to replace the tv licence, for every single household, even those receiving no services. There are numerous other levies in existence as well as planned. If you want to participate in any part of the system, there's a tax on it.

And given that the system is the only legally permissible show in town, there really is no escape from the matrix.

[UndercoverElephant]

http://rt.com/news/eggs-yoghurt-greek-presenter-522/

A Greek TV host has become the target of a massive egg-and-yoghurt attack carried out by leftist activists angry that he had invited a member of a neo-Nazi party onto his show the previous week.

­Panagiotis Vourhas was interviewing a local politician on Friday when a group of 17 intruders with their faces hidden behind handkerchiefs broke into the studio, Associated Press reports, citing private channel Epiros TV1.

The video from the Epiros TV1 shows the disgruntled presenter cleaning his laptop as protesters keep pelting him with eggs and yoghurt.

Last week, Vourhas invited a spokesman from the openly neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party onto his show. Its members have been accused of carrying out acts of violence and hate crimes against illegal immigrants, political opponents and ethnic minorities in Greece.

The ultra-nationalist party is credited with the support more than five per cent of voters in recent polls.

According to Greek translations on Youtube:

"TV Presenter "You all saw what happened, you see the scenery in the background, you see me. We have suffered an attack, we don't know how many of you watched it during the interview. We have suffered attack by hooded people with eggs and yogurts. Because in the past week during the show, we interviewed the representative of a Neo Nazi organisation, my partner and lover."

[Aurora]

http://rt.com/news/eggs-yoghurt-greek-presenter-522/

A Greek TV host has become the target of a massive egg-and-yoghurt attack carried out by leftist activists angry that he had invited a member of a neo-Nazi party onto his show the previous week.

­Panagiotis Vourhas was interviewing a local politician on Friday when a group of 17 intruders with their faces hidden behind handkerchiefs broke into the studio, Associated Press reports, citing private channel Epiros TV1.

The video from the Epiros TV1 shows the disgruntled presenter cleaning his laptop as protesters keep pelting him with eggs and yoghurt.

Last week, Vourhas invited a spokesman from the openly neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party onto his show. Its members have been accused of carrying out acts of violence and hate crimes against illegal immigrants, political opponents and ethnic minorities in Greece.

The ultra-nationalist party is credited with the support more than five per cent of voters in recent polls.

According to Greek translations on Youtube:

"TV Presenter "You all saw what happened, you see the scenery in the background, you see me. We have suffered an attack, we don't know how many of you watched it during the interview. We have suffered attack by hooded people with eggs and yogurts. Because in the past week during the show, we interviewed the representative of a Neo Nazi organisation, my partner and lover."

There's no shortage of eggs and yoghurt in Greece then?

[JavaScriptDonkey]

So are the fascists the ones that are sitting down and talking or the ones that have broken in to private property and attacked the presenter?

Foreign politics are so confusing.

[biffvernon]

Foreign politics are so confusing.

Seems pretty clear to me.

[Catweazle]

So are the fascists the ones that are sitting down and talking or the ones that have broken in to private property and attacked the presenter?

Foreign politics are so confusing.

I, too, find that eggs and yoghurt are confusingly similar to petrol-bombs and bricks.