Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by xyby 3993 days ago

    You wish poverty on millions?
How much does Greece have to pay per year? I think it's something like $5bn? AFAIK they have a GDP of $300bn and $100bn of that are converted into taxes. Why would paying $5bn result in poverty of millions then? Isn't their spending on military alone in the billions?
1 comments

The unemployment rate is well over 20%.

If more austerity measures are imposed the rate of unemployment will go up even more. This translates to increased poverty. Those repayments have to come from somewhere else within the Greek economy. That somewhere else will have a knock-on hardship.

If that is the case then Greece should default and leave the €zone. But that is not a great outcome. As the next weakest economy will come under fire. Also, others will be reluctant to join the €zone.

Restructuring and short- to mid-term solutions kick the can down the road. Ultimately a fair system of fiscal transfers needs to be put in place. Loans are _not_ fiscal transfers. Like it or not the €zone is in this together now.