Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And moomins, Ariete must have lot of stuffed moomins
Nah, I watched them, but I outgrew quickly. What's funny is that the creator, Tove Jansson, was openly lesbian in a time when homosexuality was technically a crime. But we just tolerated it, like we did with Tom of Finland.
Honestly I don't really care whether you see Greece as a crappy country or not since I'm not Greek. However, IDK why you're defending Northern European countries so much, when they are also to blame? You know the money given to Greece and other Southern European countries have to come from somewhere...
I don't see why Northern European countries are to blame for the indebtedness of Greece. Greece payed pensions, that were way to high and employed way to much workers in the public sector. To finance this they issue government bonds that were bought mainly by Northern European banks and investors. Through the high public spending in Greece the people were able to buy a lot of foreign made goods. The whole country has since decades a current account deficit. I don't see why other countries are responsible for the misery in Greece. Should the German government forbid German banks and investors to buy Greece bonds?
Every Greek had to know that the country runs constantly current account deficits and they also had to know that their salaries were way to high. Most Greek people thought and they still think that they had deserved such unsustainable high incomes.
The Greek people have lived very well on the cost of other countries. Without the sacrifice on consumption and investments of the people in other countries Greece would never be able to live so well. The worker at a BMW plant have build cars that were exported to Greece. But Greece has never paid for those cars. The worker at the BMW plant will get a lower real pension in the future, because Greece refuses to sell for those cars with a service in return. All those goods we have delivered to Greece aren't paid for so far.
The northern European countries have already renounces of a very high double-digit Euro sum. The workers in other European countries have worked for nothing, because they will never get something in return for the delivered goods.
I am so glad that Finland is on Germany's side, and that we (Germany) are not alone.
The current government in Greece would be comparable to a fictional coalition of third rate politicians from the far left and far right in a small town somewhere in Saxony (Germany). The current Greek government is completely insane. And I am extremely upset, that most Greek politicians claim that the misery in Greece is mainly the fault of Germany. For me Greece is no longer a part of the civilized world. They should try to become a region of Russia or an asset position of Goldman Sachs.
Greece has a lower per capita GDP than West Virginia, one of America's poorest states. You can't have a worse economy like West Virginia and live like you're in The Netherlands or Germany. And that's what they tried to do.
Greece has a lower per capita GDP than West Virginia, one of America's poorest states. You can't have a worse economy like West Virginia and live like you're in The Netherlands or Germany. And that's what they tried to do.
Exactly.
I don't know why people don't get this. If the retirees need to lose 30% of pension, or public servants suffer a 30% pay cut, so be it. Not enough, what about cancel the free healthcare? What's to whine about?
In sum, just live the way you can afford, why is it so hard ?
Hey, I did not write the above. While reading through comments though I could see a lot of anti-german sentiment being prevalent. It seems the more Germany insists on austerity, the more they are seen as the warmongers of the past who caused 60 million deaths (WWII).
You missed what was written by that user at the end. "off-spring of a snake will remain a snake." I thought it was interesting.
Also,they are bailing out the banks, not Greece. 90% of the $ goes towards paying interest off. In fact, with a 145% of GDP, Germany is just as irresponsible (actually the majority of today's Western world functions the same way(Casino style markets)).
Another couple interesting articles(one from Germany). Talking about who's corrupted..
How many people were killed by Nazi Germany is 100% irrelevant to this issue. I don't know why you keep talking about it.
Speaking of offspring of a snake will remain a snake, well, why not apply to the Greeks? The older generation spend recklessly, so will the new ones, so what's the point of saving Greece since it will bankrupt itself anyway?
Exactly.
I don't know why people don't get this. If the retirees need to lose 30% of pension, or public servants suffer a 30% pay cut, so be it. Not enough, what about cancel the free healthcare? What's to whine about?
In sum, just live the way you can afford, why is it so hard ?
It's worse than that, even. I was in a couple of backwater towns in Greek Macedonia a few years ago and you should have seen how nice they were. Compare them to, say, Wheeling West Virginia and you can easily see that they maxed out the national credit card. Marble subway stations, bronze manhole covers ... I have nothing against nice things, but when you make less money than West Virginia, it's obvious you can't afford these things.
On another thread somebody said that the EU mandates that everything has to be to the same standard, but I don't completely buy that. Nobody was holding a gun to their head and forcing them to take out loans.
Exactly.
I don't know why people don't get this. If the retirees need to lose 30% of pension, or public servants suffer a 30% pay cut, so be it. Not enough, what about cancel the free healthcare? What's to whine about?
In sum, just live the way you can afford, why is it so hard ?
Exactly! What has historical accomplishments got to do with it, at all? They lived way beyond their means for decades. Way too hight pensions, way too early retirement. We've been retiring for years at 65, and recently it was raised to 67. I couldn't believe my ears when I first heard they're still going at 55. And the worse of all, they still didn't want to change that! Only until now when they got a knife on their throats..
I have absolutely no problem bailing anyone out, I think as a union we should help each other out, but when you help someone financially you'd expect that someone to make some changes of their own too. Not doing so is disrespectful towards the one that helps you. Especially to those helping countries that made big changes of their own.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
