Why does everyone care about Greece so much?

[jacknapier]

Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... .. Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... .. Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ... Greece ...

That's all we've heard in the news since like 2006. At least it seems like it. OK, Greece can't pay off their debt. We get the idea. Why doesn't the market just shrug it off by now? It's like the financial equivalent of the boogey man or something. Everytime they want to scare the market so they can buy they flood the news with BS about Greece's debt.

 

[tomorton]

You're right in a way, the Greek economy isn't that important (outside Greece and the adjoining neighbour countries who will be their major trade partners) but it's the significance of a Greek default from the Euro that is going to be the key. If Greece have to pull out of the Euro, it will show the EU put in a faulty system design, the people who run it can't detect rule-breakers or help the members who are struck by circumstances. If the EU Euro countries can't help one of the smallest economies in the system, which was known to be sick and corrupt before the credit crisis, what can they do for any larger problem? i.e. we will all see the Emperor has no clothes.

 

[Hoggums]

People don't care about Greece. They care about their money - which directly or indirectly is invested in Greece.

 

[scose-no-doubt]

because it involves vast sums of money and could lead to a liquidity crisis as global institutions attempt to calculate their exposure.

 

[Liquid validity]

Does make you wonder how long this farce will continue.
Other that outright failure, the only sensible option to me
is to dump the single currency and move to at least 2,
preferably 3 or 4 eurozone currencies.
That way global trade is still simplified compared to the multiple splintered
currency system of old.

If that happened though, Germany wouldn't rake in as much for selling arms
and cars to the eurozone...

 

[Martinghoul]

People care about Greece not because Greece itself is important. It's because the outcome of the Greek debacle has implications for the rest of the Eurozone.

 

[new_trader]

WTF? Can you imagine what a pizza would be like without Kalamata olives?!

 

[Hoggums]

WTF? Can you imagine what a pizza would be like without Kalamata olives?!

Nice ?

 

[eoincasey]

and if you think the media & markets go nuts everytime Greece "spooks the horses", imagine how they'll be when Spain & Italy follow. And I really do think it's only a matter of time. An Italian friend of mine told me you only receive dole money for 2 years if you lose your job. And that's it. OK, extended family will help to a certain degree but there's huge numbers being let go in the last year or so. I can see serious social unrest in that country. And it could all be prevented (or certainly lessened) if we had our own currencies + let the crony capitalists go bust. I think the Germans like the idea of having debt slaves though. Achtung!

 

[Liquid validity]

Thats why it drags on and on.
Not because there is no solution.
Not because no one can agree.

It drags on because any solution will
leave someone with a destructive parcel of toxic debt / liabilities
when the music stops...
No one is going to volunteer to take it on are they
Cue political wranglings and other associated BS.

Every Govt. and bank wants to be the ones on the sidelines looking at
whoever does land the poisoned chalice with a wry smirk, thinking thank f**k its not me.

 

[Liquid validity]

WTF? Can you imagine what a pizza would be like without Kalamata olives?!

An Olive would be a good emblem for a new PIIGS euro note.
Wouldn't bother Ireland, half of them are spanish ancestry anyway

 

[scose-no-doubt]

these are both metaphors for the situation. It should make things a bit clearer.

 

[rsh01]

Rehypothecation = contagion = global recession

 

[new_trader]

He Is Off His Barnet - YouTube

these are both metaphors for the situation. It should make things a bit clearer.

Clarke and Dawe - European Debt Crisis - YouTube

 

[scose-no-doubt]

Can anyone please tell me what options other than default are open to Greece at this point? If the Eurozone politics aren't allowing for a bail out of course.

 

[BeginnerJoe]

Can anyone please tell me what options other than default are open to Greece at this point? If the Eurozone politics aren't allowing for a bail out of course.

More hair cuts until there is no longer a debt. Essentially every individual within the euro zone will be paying. The cost will be spread over a long period of time to lessen the shock. Euro/Euro-zone failing is not an option.

 

[scose-no-doubt]

That's a default. I want to know what other option(s) there are if any cos I'm in the dark.

 

[tomorton]

Options to Greek withdrawal from Euro?
1. Greece becomes a client state to EU, effectively a colony or protectorate, until the debt is worked off. Politically incredibly delicate.
2. Greek and others stay in Euro but northern Euro states move up into a northern league currency - they could call it the Neuro! The Euro and Neuro zones are run independently, so Greece etc. effectively devalue their currencies but the Neuro states underwrite the Euros. You heard it here first.

 

[jacknapier]

They could get kicked out of the EU. I'm not an expert in European politics, but I'm quite sure the Right Wing parties in Europe would have a field day with that, demanding that their country to be removed from the union.

 

[Liquid validity]

One way or another they will default.
The only thing that will prevent that is lending them more money that can't be repaid.
Greece probably would be better exiting and going back to the Drachma.
Pretty much any solution involves a write down of the debt, no matter how it is disguised.

The mechanics of how that happens, how it is dressed up, and who ends up with
the debt is anyone's guess.
Could be Greece then the rest of PIIGS go back to old currency.
Could be the introduction of more than 1 eurozone currency.
ECB start printing.
Eurozone say F**k it, let the Euro spiral down and let everyone else devalue.

Which one is most likely, or how unlikely some of those events are, who knows.
I'll just go and dust off my crystal ball