eu and euro central bank hold alot of gold you know, oh an they still manufacture high end finished goods in europe i think they will do just fine, the crisis in greece has been blown out of proportion, sure they are in a recession but its not as bad as the media makes it out, my mother summed it up that its a similar vibe to Australia's recession in the 90s. europe has gone through worse, black plague, world war 1, 2, civil wars, the list goes on. much tougher than any crisis australia has had to face. if you can be arsed have a read of this article from last year http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/02/greece-is-word.html
I think Europe is in better shape like the US. If the US forced to pay the same interest rate like Greece, they would have to pay 1.5 trillion dollars on interest rate alone, or around halve of their total revenue.
I know they won't survive; I have seen it first hand. I had the misfortune to be travelling in Greece last May. Athens is the most miserable place I have travelled to in Europe. Smelly, dirty, infrastructure falling apart. During our stay, there were bomb scares, public sector demonstrations almost every day, a general strike that stranded us in the country, widespread gouging by locals and abysmal service. Not what you would expect from a country with high unemployment. Hotel accomodations in Athens was more expensive than Zurich. Got even worse once we travelled to the Greek islands. Was slugged 300 plus Euros a night for a room I wouldn't even rate 3 stars (the view was the only attraction). Tourism is the no 1 money earner and they can't even get that right. Stopped over on the way back in Bangkok and stayed in a 5 star hotel for a quarter of the price and 100 times better service.
This statement seems to imply greece wasn't like that before they got exposed for their massive economic fraud
The country has been through much worse than this economic situation. lets see.. 400 years of Turkish occupation in which there heritage, language and religion survived ottoman aggressors German occupation during world war 2 in which the population rose up and fought a 4 year guerilla war, not like other countries which they welcomed the krauts haha with open arms. Civil war after world war 2 Military dictatorship during the 70s economic crisis in the 70s Steve im sorry to say but they stiffed you regarding the accommodation (the greeks have a tendancy to do this) You would be surprised but they also earn alot of money through shipping, just remember that greek ship owners account for over 3/4 of world shipping tonnage, just because the ships are not registered in greece does not mean they do not contribute to the economy.
Are you kidding? Euro central bank's gold is only backing Euro by 5% (used to be 15% at the start of EU Zone) and the percentage is getting less and less as ECB printing more and more Euro currency to bail out PIIGS. By the time they finish, Euro gold backing is probably no more than 1% or less. Who's manufacturing in Europe anymore? Europe is drowning in Chinese cheap goods. The only country in Europe that above water and still manufacturing is probably Germany. In fact the reason why EuroZone still standing today is because Germany and Belgium are propping them up. How long these 2 countries can keep bailing out PIIGS before they themselves fall into the abyss?
Got stiffed by travel agents, hoteliers, restauranteurs, cab drivers, tourist sites, store owners et. al. You name a sector, I got stiffed. I am getting too old for this nonsense. A holiday should be enjoyable not fraught with danger, frustration and constant attacks on your wallet. Not all Greeks deserve such bad press. In the countryside the locals were fine but Athenians are not hospitable in the least.
For what it is worth, Lindsay Williams states that the Euro will collapse before the U$. http://lindseywilliams101.blogspot.com/2010/12/once-euro-collapses-3-weeks-to-get.html
After the public outcry, in Germany particularly over the bailouts it will be political suicide for the German government to do any more big bailouts. They could try and do it on the sly, but its pretty impossible to keep a national bailout quiet. I can only assume Germans, as well as the other euro countries have a stock of their old currencies ready to go if it becomes so bad they need to ditch the euro... if that were to happen then with Germany being the most robust economic power in the euro zone its not to much to predict the deutschmark becoming the main currency of Europe. While the Nazis couldnt conquer Europe through six long years of war, modern Germans are in a good position to succeed where the Nazis didnt by conquering Europe economically.
chimp the whole worlds drowned in chinese goods. france, spain, italy and the uk are still manufacturing. look at our local gorgon project and various mining and infrastructure projects taking place in oz. chances are the majority of these components were manufactured in the euro countries ive mentioned. the below manufactures are made in euro countries and importer to aus. iveco trucks andvans made in italy scania trucks and bus made in sweden fendt tractors made in italy case new holland agri tractors made in italy various high end boat manufactures and yachts made in the uk sandvik constrcution and mining machines made in sweden kalmar tractors used in most ports in aus made in finland there are plenty more to list
im sorry to hear that. Athens generally is not a good place, they even try and stiff you if you are of greek heritage. I wil be spending 2 weeks there in june, ive not been back since 2006 but i dont think much has changed. Alot of thesr strikes were even common prior to the crisis, its difficult for non greeks to understand the situation as its a build up of many years of bullshat.
Of course there bound to be "some" manufacturing going on in every countries. Even the US which are well known to manufacture "nothing" still manufacture something somewhat. I'm talking about ratio. Whatever they manufacture in Europe is no where near the level of manufacturing base being shipping overseas! Even those manufacturing base still in operation in Europe, they are no where near enough to provide jobs to all Europeans and no where near have the economic power to counteract the massive sovereign debt problems the countries have.
The fashion clothing will always be in euro! Where does the media look too? Arnette sunglasses even thou sounding like some kind of Terminator movie still holds high ground in the fashion stakes
i just dont see europe collapsing into anarchy and people going through extreme poverty like the 30s depression. if it does happen they will get through it, they always have and will. sure a currency default is possible but out of this we will see positives. i think the whole world needs to change. maybe im just too young and ignorant and see the world through rose colored glasses this is why i stack and prepare for these situations.
"Ask an Englishman what separates 'Men' from the animals and he'll tell you it's 'reason', ask a Frenchman and he'll say it's the Mediterranean sea" Anon
europe is already collapsing into anarchy. france, greece, italy... it's only going to get worse this year as the debt disaster unwinds and the folly of the euro becomes plain for all to see.
