Having returned to Greece today after an absence of 4 months, I immediately checked my two personal economic indicators for Greece: (a) traffic on Vasilissis Olgas, the major access road to Thessaloniki from the South and (b) the number or cargo ships in the Thessaloniki harbor.
Traffic on Vasilissis Olgas was very light and I couldn't spot one single cargo ship in the Thessaloniki harbor.
Greece seems to be in real trouble!
Traffic on Vasilissis Olgas was very light and I couldn't spot one single cargo ship in the Thessaloniki harbor.
Greece seems to be in real trouble!
Greece's creditors can play a part. If you can buy the same thing from two people and one of the people is your debtor - then it makes sense to buy from the one that is your debtor. As long you don't offend the other one too much, that is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your logic but this only works if lender and potential buyer are the same person and/or entity. Here, the lender is the government and the potential buyers are private individuals and companies; i. e. the potential importers of Greek products.
DeleteLender and potential buyer are the same entity. The government and the tax payers are one entity, when it comes to money lent by the government.
Delete@Dinero
DeleteYou confuse concept with reality. Imports from Greece are bought by a multitude of 'economic agents' who take their own independent purchasing decisions. Now it may well be that the German government and/or public sector entities also purchase Greek goods and there the government could issue a directive to purchase from Greece. But the government cannot issue a directive to independent 'economic agents' to purchase anything and where they should purchase it from.
Dinero, would you care to explain what that has to do with Mr Kastners observations
ReplyDeleteBecause there are two parties to the process of repaying a debt and two parties to a sales transaction. If Germany has the choice to buy olives that are grown and packed in Spain or to buy olives that are grown and packed in Greece, then if it chooses to buy from Greece then it gets the olives and increases the ability of Greece to repay the loan in one transaction. Or for that matter, take a product that is produced in Germany and also produced in Greece, its quite possible that it be concluded from such or similar considerations, that it is better to buy it from Greece.
DeleteMr. Kastner,
ReplyDeleteAside from what i feel about Mr. Varoufakis, his latest speech sheds some light on alot of things that prevailed in the last months.
http://blogs.mediapart.fr/en/edition/les-invites-de-mediapart/article/250815/our-athens-spring
Sincerely,
V
But V. The "socialist ‘fête de la Rose’". Well, well what should one expect from such an event than the usual socialist and populist soundbites we have heard from YV hundreds of times.
DeleteDo you really believe in this B... S...? I thought you were a reasonable person.
",,, a small nation chose to oppose this holy alliance ... Our dignity is not for auction."
"our Athens Spring was crushed..." "A very European coup"
"In us you will find trustworthy partners who do not see these meetings as a means of extracting something out of nothing, of gaining at anyone’s expense."
I had to chuckle at the phrase "nothing good happens in Europe when it doesn't start in France". Margaret Thatcher took a different view when she said "In my lifetime, all the problems started in Continental Europe and all the solutions came from the Anglo-Saxon world". But, then, I don't think Margaret Thatcher would have carried a lot of credibility at this feast. What the text does show, however, is YV's enourmous talent for arousing emotions with words.
Delete@AnonymousAugust 29, 2015 at 11:50 AM
DeleteMy friend, well i may be a bit guilable in truth. But i can't believe the last 6 months was only YV failure. I mean i am sure his and the syriza government contributed to about 90% of the failure but some mismanagment did come from the other side.
To be honest this summer i cleansed my head of everything and basically reading YV made things all the clearer. I am pretty much sure that the great majority of greeks have had some kind of cleansing as well.
Call it capitualation or call it a clearevoince that we can not manage ourselves without our partners, i believe it is obvious now. We need change and hopefully the new government will make the necessary changes.
I have hope that the program will be enforced and on the stressed pillars which i have mentioned many times. I think it will happen
But i can not ignore the pain for many compatriotes who will suffer the most fromt his program. We all will suffer to some extent but i can't feel nice when is see +80 senoir citizens with 350 euro a month. Single mothers, unemplyeed etc. it is just not fair.
Mr. Kastner,
Yes he does have a talent. And he said he will make his own european party. funny to see what he seeks to do. in the end he proved in practice that he can do nothing productive. Like you said in one article in german, "alot of hot air." Talented linguists should be nothing more than university professors who pose ideas to people who can implement the good ideas. they are incapable of implimentation.
Hoping,
V
So true, if Greece did if fact produce something.
ReplyDeleteYour economic indicators are off? There is an election on, and also a serious holiday.
ReplyDeleteThe Kathimerini joke today. Tsipras accuses EU of "institutional lack of democracy". Hmm, no doubt EU will counter with Greece as a "democracy with lack of institutions".
ReplyDelete