Greece - A New Hope

Lithose

Buzzfeed Editor
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No interest on loans, where can I get that deal?
Well, to be fair to Greece, you'd essentially get no repayment infusions in most credit unions (Like the U.S.) where economic buying power is differentiated. This is the issue with Greece, the loans are being pushed by political measures; they aren't financially sound investments. They ARE politically sound investments, though. If you want to keep a fiat union, then you support the "weaker" economies. And this, of all things, is the main issue. Either Greece needs to be dealt with as a financial matter, in which case it would be absurd to bail them out again (As it was the second time). Or it needs to be a political one, in which case these should simply be money shuffling, like U.S. federal grants ect. This hybrid model, where financial institutions are compelled through political machinations, while still being promised an ROI? Is just absurd.
 

Gavinmad

Mr. Poopybutthole
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They had 16 billion marks written off, and the other put on a generous 30 year repayment plan.

An important term of the agreement was that repayments were only due while West Germany ran a trade surplus, and that repayments were limited to 3% of export earnings. This gave Germany's creditors a powerful incentive to import German goods, assisting reconstruction.
I can't find a resource that says what the value of the mark against the dollar was in 1953, but inflation on the dollar since 1953 is 879%, so it's probably not that far off target to say they had their debt reduced by the rough equivalent of 130 billion marks, accounting for inflation.
 

Cad

scientia potentia est
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They had 16 billion marks written off, and the other put on a generous 30 year repayment plan.



I can't find a resource that says what the value of the mark against the dollar was in 1953, but inflation on the dollar since 1953 is 879%, so it's probably not that far off target to say they had their debt reduced by the rough equivalent of 130 billion marks, accounting for inflation.
Sure, but 50% of that debt in the first place was war reparations. The other 50% was to the US. So the Euros complaining about that debt is hilarious, since A> it wasn't owed to them since war reparations are ridiculous and B> it wasn't owed to them, it was owed to us.
 

fanaskin

Well known agitator
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Ask the Krauts - they had most of their WW2 debts written off in the 50s.
a lot of that debt was penatlies wasn't it, not loans? like the versaille treaty debt? those weren't loans unless I'm mistaken. all I was saying is usually loans come with interest.
 

Nester

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No interest on loans, where can I get that deal?
General motors, Ford, Honda, Toyota Etc...
wink.png
 

Gavinmad

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Sure, but 50% of that debt in the first place was war reparations. The other 50% was to the US. So the Euros complaining about that debt is hilarious, since A> it wasn't owed to them since war reparations are ridiculous and B> it wasn't owed to them, it was owed to us.
War reparations seem like a fine modern replacement for completely destroying a nation that lost the war and salting the earth afterwards. I just think it's funny that Germany is taking such a hardline stance on the Greek debt given their own history.
 

Running Dog_sl

shitlord
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Keep in mind that this isn't just about what happens to Greece. If they leave the Euro and crash and burn, then sure the Germans and the French will take a financial hit, but that will be bearable.

The bigger problem for the EU is that it establishes a precedent that a country can be forced the leave the Euro, and that puts the spotlight back on to Spain, Italy and Portugal. None of those countries is in anything like as much trouble as Greece, but they all have problems and Greece leaving the Euro is going to make their life more complicated on the financial markets, who will factor in the risk of any loan in effect not being backed by Germany.

On the other hand, if the EU writes off Greek debt, then those countries, and others like Ireland, might wonder if they could have got the same deal if they'd been a bit more belligerent. Populist anti-EU, anti-austerity parties will get a boost.
 

Cad

scientia potentia est
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War reparations seem like a fine modern replacement for completely destroying a nation that lost the war and salting the earth afterwards. I just think it's funny that Germany is taking such a hardline stance on the Greek debt given their own history.
We did completely destroy Germany
 

Nester

Vyemm Raider
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I think they were like 0.01% still had some interest.
Nope, many had 0.0% financing on end of season deals. I almost pulled the trigger on a new Silverado !

Sure they do things like max term is 24 or 36 months, there is also some indication the price of the vehicle is increased to compensate.

However on the face of the loan it is still 0%



Anyway lets not derail this anymore
 

Agraza

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Good article. My sense of german hypocrisy has been tempered, but I still feel that some of the loans granted to Greece weren't plausibly repayable. Greece shouldn't be in the euro.