So, Greece

[Tgo01]

What does everyone think about Greece? Are they going to form a government on time? Are they going to default? Are they going to balance the budget? Are they going to continue to accept loans and thumb their noses at austerity measures that are being demanded of them? Are they going to be kicked out of the Euro?

Seems Europe is kind of fucked at the moment because of Greece. Do they bail Greece out and allow them to ditch the austerity measures and let them stay in the Euro anyways? Kind of makes the whole single currency bloc look like a huge joke.

Or do they kick Greece out of the Euro and let them default, potentially fucking up the Euro anyway because it becomes a little weaker then perhaps a couple more of the debt laden countries follow shortly afterward, possibly making the whole thing dissolve.

Maybe I'm just an ass but I kind of hope Greece does abandon their austerity measures and they get kicked out of the Euro.

[Androidpk]

They have a huge (400m+) payment that is due tomorrow but because of an oversight they will be given a 30 day grace period instead of the normal 7.

[Atlanteax]

Greece was subsidied for the longest time due to the Cold War ... to keep the Soviets out of the Meditearran ... now there is little incentive to continue doing so, and Greece failed to reduce its social spending (a common theme here) in light of reduced financial support.

So apparently old spending habits die hard... cetainly does not help that 40% of Greece's economy is black-market ... they probably COULD pay the debt if they were able to tax 95% of their economy instead of just 60% ...

[Androidpk]

Why exactly do they have such a booming black market? And I hear what you're saying about cold war spending and all but.. they spent over $9 billion last year on defense. Fucking crazy.