by Jack
Greece is in the economic toilet and the rest of Europe is about to pull the flush handle. Can’t say as I blame them, Greece has been incredibly irresponsible in their debt accumulation to the point the nation was bankrupt. The austerity fix that came with bailout money from the EU was not well received by the Greek populace who have enjoyed living high on a credit card for many decades (not unlike the USA).
“The European Commission chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said he feels “betrayed” by the “egotism” shown by Greece in failed debt talks.” BBC 2 hrs ago.
Global stock markets saw big falls on Monday after the weekend’s events which saw Greek banks close for a week. Currently the DOW is off about 200 points.
What is your opinion on Greece, how would you handle the situation?
That’s what happens when you run out of other people’s money to spend . . . .
Memo to Clowngress: The US debt clock is ticking . . .
My guess is that right now, paper assets are more at risk than U.S. currency, but that could also change very quickly. Here’s a fair visual analogy—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjqIJW_Qr3c
Forget Debt As A Percent Of GDP, It’s Really Much Worse
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2014/07/12/forget-debt-as-a-percent-of-gdp-its-really-much-worse/
Off Topic : Has the evil, psychotropic drug addled lunatic Dylann Roof got his race war?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/29/six-predominately-black-southern-churches-burn-within-a-week-with-arson-suspected-in-at-least-three/?tid=sm_fb
It’s clear we need to elect a president who will be more responsible with our nation’s money. They need to make spending cuts and start paying off debt. They need to make job creation a priority instead an afterthought. They need to be more business friendly and put American interests first.
Not all Republican candidates fit the bill mentioned above. None of the democrat candidates do.
Greece has to pay the piper. They have run out the rope on taking private property (high taxes-stick it to the rich, the job creators, the entrepreneurs) to fund out of control government spending. Even if they confiscated every dime from the public they would still have debt.
A robust economy with limited government is ultimately the solution.
I was shocked to hear Puerto Rico may be the next Greece. I remember just a couple of years ago watching a TV show about its economy recovering big time under the leadership of Luis Fortuno a republican.
Then I see the new governor, a democrat who took office in 2013 has bankrupted the country in just two years with $72 billions in debt.
That has to be a record for destroying a country.
Padilla did it in two years what took Obama seven to accomplish.
Fortuno – From Wikipedia.
“Due to cost-containment and revenue generation measures, fiscal year 2009-10 ended with a $2 billion structural deficit, followed by a $1 billion structural deficit in 2010-11, $610 million in fiscal year 2011-12, $332.7 million in 2012-13, with a goal of achieving a structurally balanced budget by July 1, 2013.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Fortu%C3%B1o#Economic_crisis
Former Gov Fortuno: Unions Woes at Heart of Puerto Rico Debt Crisis:
“It’s hard to escape the headlines on Puerto Rico’s budget woes and harder still to comprehend why, the island’s former Gov. Luis Fortuno told Newsmax.
Had Puerto Rico maintained the spending cuts and fiscal discipline that were its policies from 2008-2012, the commonwealth island would not be facing the $72 billion debt that its present governor called “unpayable” on Monday.
Fortuno spoke to Newsmax hours after his successor, Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, made worldwide news by announcing that Puerto Rico might be unable to meet the roughly $400 million repayment that is due creditors on Wednesday.”
http://www.newsmax.com/John-Gizzi/perto-rico-deficit-budget/2015/07/01/id/653013/#ixzz3ehqmqhNZ
I wish Puerto Rico had demanded independence long ago, its been a money pit ever since we connected with it. I don’t know how they got into so much debt. If you were a banker would you loan them money? I sure wouldn’t.
Peggy, first thanks for the great links. Now regarding the dems destroying PR economy, it figures. You name a ghetto city in the USA and I’ll show you a democrat controlled city.
Jack, The democrat leadership has tried for years to get PR to become a state of the US, but the people keep voting it down. The dems in DC want them for the congressional members their party would get.
The global economy is collapsing. Greece will impact Europe and PR will impact us. Globally now one nation can’t sneeze without the world catching a cold.
Banks are loaning money on a very limited bases and I agree PR won’t be getting a bailout, at least not from the banks. At todays interest rates they’re making more on the stock market than they would in loans.
Will the US bail them out is another question with a possible affirmative answer.
Puerto Rico’s debt woes: Another black eye for S&P and its rivals:
http://fortune.com/2015/07/01/puerto-ricos-debt-woes-another-black-eye-for-sp-and-rivals/
My other point in bringing PR into the Greece discussion was PR was on it’s road to recovery under a republican governor, but with a democrat in charge its now going under, just like Greece.
The age old question of what happens when you run out of other peoples money? Now, the whole world, with a few exceptions, is out of money, with nowhere to go for help.