Greece Approves Spending Cuts, Europe Keeps Head Stuffed In Sand

Here's the message EU should send to Greece (and especially the Greeks rioting in the street):
No Austerity? No Problem. No Bailout!.
Kick Greece out of the EU. The citizens want out, anyway.
No IMF or any other bail-out. Greek bond-holders take the beating they deserve for knowingly lending money to a country that never had a prayer of generating enough revenue to pay it back.
Greece, as a borrower, is no different than US homebuyers who falsified income to buy way bigger homes than they ever needed... and the Lenders are all the same. They turned a blind eye to the risk; sometimes even helping to gloss over the ugly truth, just so that they could make another deal, and collect another commission.

The genius of Greeks destroying their own infrastructure, effectively throwing a terrible-two's-temper-tantrum, will dawn on them once they realize that they are truly on their own. If Greeks think autsterity measures are tough, wait until they face life in a full-blown depression... completely on their own... because the world wants to quarantine them. There will certainly be collateral damage. The unpaid debt will force some stupid lenders to fail, and Sovereign foreign lenders & the EU will have to raise taxes to cover the loss. But it will only be a little pain, and well worth it to de-couple from Greece. It will also be a wake-up call for Portugal and, really, all governments to tidy up their budgets.

The Euro was a bad idea to begin with. Without a common government, how do you get a common currency. Besides, the non-Euro countries in Europe are easier for travel and far less expensive. I'll wait until Greece defaults - then take a visit.

Just how many government workers do they have?

In Iceland the government followed the will of the people, held a referendum on saving the Banks. The banks were defeated, they defaulted and allowed the Banks to fail. There were no riots, no burning buildings and the threat of market chaos never occurred. Democracy worked. In Greece, the Banking Cartel was bailed out and you can see the results...

i WILL NEVER FEEL SORRY FOR ANYONE WHO THINKS THEY CAN RETIRE AT AGE 50 WITH FULL BENEFITS . WE AMERICAN HAVE TO WORK TO AGE 65 TO 68 TO COLLECT FULL BENEFITS.

Correct..its over... They can not pay it back impossible...Its going to get worse Tax revenue shortage, huge debts, big future liabilities coming with aging population...NO HOPE...its over...just delaying the end result...read over and there is not enough money in europe to bail out countries...Time to blow taps...

When you have wasted all your money, sometimes you don't get to choose to keep partying on. Sorry Henry.

There's only one way out for Greece, start WORKING like a civilized society and pay your taxes instead of trying to screw your neighbour into doing it for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not just Europe who has their head in the sand...it's the markets. The worldwide bank exposure to this stuff is going to make Lehman brothers look like a blip in the radar.

The only long-term solutions to the problem are either that Greece withdraws from the Eurozone, which seems more and more likely and would likely be another devastating blow to the economy, or that Germany and other richer European states subsidize Greece's budget deficit.

Welfare for countries? It does not work, because they do not work instead of work they "Expect" It should be allowed to fail or they will never see the error of their ways and are doomed to repitition

Greece had negative GDP growth while borrowing money like an in-law BEFORE this fiasco came to light. Its what got them in this mess in the first place. I don't understand the inept argument that continuing to spend money they don't have and can't make is going to improve the situation, when it was this behavior that created the situation in the first place.

The problem with Greece is the Greeks.

When I lived in Greece, few of the wealthy I knew paid their fair share of tax. They all seemed to know someone that could help them "save" taxes.
Not that this could help Greece now, because the debts are just too great.
The current cuts in jobs and spending will just decrease the amount of tax, thereby increasing the initial problem. The law of diminishing returns kicks in.
Greece will leave the EEC, it's just a question of time.

Blodget and Task talk about how austerity isn't working in Greece. Well, guess what, austerity isn't some pill you pop and your troubles go away. Austerity is your last chance at turning your fiscal disaster into something manageable, but of course pain is part of process.

Greece could leave the EU and go back to using their own currency, but then they would have to hyperinflate that currency which would far from solve their problems. As volatile and risky the Greek markets would be, who in their right mind would buy their bonds, especially since they would no longer have the EU to bail them out any longer.

So...this isn't some lesson of which fork in the road they should currently take that would be better, as much as it is a lesson of why you don't go down this path of fiscal irresponsibility in the first place. Whichever fork in the road they take, pain and chaos are all that is in their future.

Take notice Washington and get your act in gear.

Puzzled as to how henry Blodget could come out with the statement that the Greeks could not care less as to their government loan obligations, loans that resulted from the heavy welfare and high wages. Like in the US, people getting milked at infancey to take, to receive and to use and demand rather than share in the responsibility of production, austerity, and efforts. We are soon to see the same, so in fact Greece is our crystal ball for the future. And If we Americans, like the Greekes, as Henry says, do not care about our governments debt, than continiue to vote for the same idiots running Washington now. From both sides of the fence.

"Europe keeps head stuffed in sand". Well said. I could not agree more. We always hear about Greeks protesting, but I have never heard of Germans protesting. It is not the Greeks, it's the Germans who should protest whose taxes are keeping Greece afloat with no return in sight. To add insult to the injury, the Greeks are not even thankful. They simply act as if Europe owes it to them. A total entitlement mentality!

Although wealthy Americans pay taxes to subsidize their less wealthy countrymen, rich states do not write checks to poorer states..... In addition, in the US gov't entitlement programs (ss, medicare, etc.) are essentially uniform for all citizens. In europe they are asking the "rich" Germans who can't retire until their 60's to subsidize the laid back Greeks who want to retire at 55. The analogy between the European Union and the US just doesn't work.

Greece can not devalue the euro but they can work for less to become competitive. That is how the Chinese win work.and have become the largest manufacturing nation in the world. Labor is one perishable commmodity. A day's labor not sold is lost forever.

I disagree with Henry. I very much doubt the Germans will want to continue to subsidize the Greeks.
Germans are not going to be keen on working several more years until retirement and paying more taxes so Greeks can continue to retire at a much earlier age. Would we do that?

There is no "fix" for Greece. The government borrowed money, gave it to the people as inflated salaries for father-bedding jobs, and now the Greek people do not want to repay the debt. Every Greek government that tries to impose severe austerity programs will face rioting and no confidence votes that will eventually bring down that government. And a new government means we're back to square one. If Greece leaves the EU, they will default on sovereign debt. Ergo, there is no "fix." When something is this broken, everybody has to let the markets take their course. The market will fix the situation, and a lot of Greeks will move to Somali looking for better opportunities.