A sleepy village in Greece solves the debt problem

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ioweddie

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It is a slow day in a sleepy little village in Greece. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everyone is in debt and the whole village lives on credit.

On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the village. He stops at the local hotel, approaches the reception desk and slaps a €100 note on the counter, telling the hotel owner that he wants a room for the night, but would like to inspect the room before confirming.

The hotel owner gives him the room keys and off the German goes to inspect the rooms. As soon as the visitor is out of sight, the hotelier grabs the €100 note & runs next door to pay off his debt to the butcher.
In turn, the butcher runs down the street & repays his €100 debt to the pig farmer.
The pig farmer then takes the €100 note and runs off the pay his bill at his supplier of feed and fuel.
The guy at the feed suppliers grabs the €100 note and goes to the local tavern to pay off his bill.
The publican then slips the money to the local prostitute drinking at the bar. She had also been experiencing tough times and had been forced to offer him, ‘services,’ on credit.
She promptly rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the €100 note.
The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter, so the rich German traveller will suspect nothing.
At that moment, the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the €100 note, stating that none of the rooms were suitable, pockets the money and leaves town.
No one produced anything!
No one earned anything!
However, the whole village is now debt free and looking to the future with a lot more optimism!
 
Neat...because the tourist did not charge for the use of his money.
 
but the hotelier is now out by 100 euro?
 
but the hotelier is now out by 100 euro?

Correct, the prostitute paid off her room bill of €100 to the hotelier, the hotelier then left the prostitutes €100 on the counter which was then taken by the German tourist so… the hotelier lost the €100 payment from the prostitute.

Dec
 
Dec said:
Correct, the prostitute paid off her room bill of €100 to the hotelier, the hotelier then left the prostitutes €100 on the counter which was then taken by the German tourist so… the hotelier lost the €100 payment from the prostitute. Dec

But reduced his 100 debt to zero so has broken even......?
 
I see, the Butcher is paid off... something is not right here?

Dec
 
Correct, the prostitute paid off her room bill of €100 to the hotelier, the hotelier then left the prostitutes €100 on the counter which was then taken by the German tourist so… the hotelier lost the €100 payment from the prostitute.

Dec

How?

At the beginning of the day he owed 100 and was owed 100...so had nothing. At the end of the day, he owed nothing and was owed nothing and still had nothing.

The tourist lost out, and was the only one who lost out...because everyone else used his money (without his permission) to clear their debts...and no one felt he should be rewarded.

In other words, everyone hates bankers (the tourist) but will use them when ever they can to get what they want...without paying for the privilege if they can (Greece).
 
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In other words, everyone hates bankers (the tourist) but will use them when ever they can to get what they want...without paying for the privilege if they can (Greece).

That's not quite correct though is it? The tourist (or banker as you put it) has lent money out unkowingly and without charge.

The issue with Greece is that, some might say, certain institutions were keen to lend money because Greece would never be ably to fully pay it back, leading to them forever being in debt and in hock to ze Germans amongst others.

Just like Wonga ie good old fashioned loan sharking, but on a larger scale.
 
That's not quite correct though is it? The tourist (or banker as you put it) has lent money out unkowingly and without charge.

The issue with Greece is that, some might say, certain institutions were keen to lend money because Greece would never be ably to fully pay it back, leading to them forever being in debt and in hock to ze Germans amongst others.

Just like Wonga ie good old fashioned loan sharking, but on a larger scale.

And if the Greeks paid their taxes and everything else that the rest of us feel we have to...I'd feel sorry for them.
 
And if the Greeks paid their taxes and everything else that the rest of us feel we have to...I'd feel sorry for them.

I don't feel sorry for them, I can just see the situation for what it is.

Many countries throughout history have done the same, it's certainly nothing new (the Treaty of Versailles spring to mind)
 
Debt is a construct with time--- its only becomes a problem when people want paid. :rolleyes:

A decade of overspending: how Greece plunged into economic crisis | World news | The Guardian
One major spender of money was the military, who still appear to maintain great political influence in Greek society. People have perhaps forgotten it was not that long ago that Greece was essentially ruled by a military Junta 1967-1974 --- backed allegedly at the time by the American CIA ! It was one of the reasons many Greeks were keen to join the EU to achieve some political stability. Looks as if its all coming unstuck again. :(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_military_junta_of_1967–74
 
I must say I do feel sorry for the ordinary Greek folk. Between the previous Greek governments, the EC and foreign lending institutions (awash with money and didn't know what to do with it) they all shafted the people of Greece.
 
Only a country who misrepresented their fiscal position to gain entry into the Euro, would hold a referendum on whether to accept the terms of a bailout that is no longer even on the table.
 
Only a country who misrepresented their fiscal position to gain entry into the Euro, would hold a referendum on whether to accept the terms of a bailout that is no longer even on the table.

Talking of fiscal misrepresentation try ‘fractional reserve banking’.:rolleyes:

quote :- At the time of the financial crisis banks held just £1.25 in reserves for every £100 issued as credit. Unlike Joe Public and contrary to the joke banks do actually employ " Monopoly Money"

Where Does Money Come From? | New Economics Foundation
 
If you really want to get to the bottom of all of this try looking at the swap notes and exchange rate "interpretations" by Lehman Brothers to find one of the main root causes of this problem, funny how it isn't mentioned too much at all....

The model above also forgets to take into account tax; income and VAT types....:):)
 
I must say I do feel sorry for the ordinary Greek folk.

Democracy kind of puts the responsibility on the ordinary people as well.

If people chose to use their votes properly then politics in general might work better.
 

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