I’m at a bit of a loss, are they burning the flag because they really believe that the Germans should continue to bail them out?
Indefinitely?

Ah the famous paper is missing excuse, I see someone talked to Enda on the 30th January.

The Greeks are clearing ACTING as the Irish keep on talking……

Judge a society on how it treats the weakest judge the eu on how it’s treating Greece , not in my name at this price.
On a related point why does the eu require two expensive parliaments and where have meps shown leadership in taking wage cuts all politicians should be paid no more than the average industrial wage of the country in which they are elected with no expenses .

I.M.F. impossible mission force.Lets call a spade a spade,the european model is not working.There is a frantic obsession with vain attempts to return us back to the way things were .Well the way things were is when everything went pear shaped.The start of our recovery begins when we stand up and refuse to pay a cent to the banks,speculaters and bondholders,sounds like the usual rhetoric.I didn’t speculate,borrow,or make investments in dodgy deals,so why should I owe any money to anybody.Let the banks fail and let everyone else go to hell!

There was a Greek neurosurgeon on BBC News. He earns 1700 a month, Enda Kenny earns that in half a week, yet they want to slash his wages further. The Greeks work the longest hours in the EU according to OECD figures for some of the lowest wages yet Germany wants to screw the ordinary person more, I’m not surprised they are burning its flag. The root of the problem is Goldman Sachs falsifying figures to get them into the euro, something the Germans happily went along with as it kept the euro weak thus boosting her exports and also successive Greek governments appointing cronies to public service jobs in return for votes. Much like in Ireland the many who are not at fault are paying the heavy price.

Debt cannot be paid down on the strength of more borrowing. The ponzi scheme is unsustainable. Maybe it’s time the Germans gave back the gold they stole from the Greeks during world war 2. The new austerity proposed for Greece will bring anarchy and the politicians have a massive choice make. Remember the prime minister was not elected. He is a technocrat from a European central bank background and has been rumoured to have ties to goldman Sachs.

Whether or not the prime minister of Greece (unelected)is tied to Goldman is of no consequence. The point is that the banks are dictating terms. Politicians have lost their power. The years of unregulated ,neo-liberal policies have created a monster which is too big to fail. The chicken has come home to roost. The 0.1 of 1% are in control. If things continue like they are we are heading for serfdom where we can bow to our bank and corporate lords indefinitely. SAY NO TO AUSTERITY !!!!!!!!!
Stand up for our humanity!!!

nothing changes if nothing changes.. I too did not borrow a cent during the boom… we worked hard to educate our kids and looked forward to seeing them grow into contributing citizens… sadly they are now both contributiing to the Australian economy. The country is losing its future to pay for the mistakes of the people we had a right to trust.

Great to See Greece bring it to the wire.
If you’re gonna suffer you may as well make it worth you’re while!!!
Funny how the deadlines are so flexible – reminds me of college.

Check the stats:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696

Cannot see this ending well or peacefully.

Certainly would be “interesting” if they default and leave the euro. It will mean an instant end to austerity according to many on here, so let´s see if that´s really the case.

@Niamh
It´s just a throw of the dice for you perhaps, but if you ran the country you´d have to think about a little more than your own personal circumstances. If you can´t borrow then how do you pay PS salaries and SW payments when you currently need 10bn+ in borrowing to partially cover that at the moment?

If we had no primary budget deficit, or damn near close to it, and your only borrowing was to fund debt payments, then it´s an easier scenario.

But you´ve got to explain how you can keep PS, SW at the same rate, without any new taxes or spending cuts. I´m sure someone will just say “we´ll just tax the rich” to get that missing 10bn. But it´s a fairytale to say you´ll get that kind of cash from the real rich in this country. You´ll still end up raising taxes and cutting spending: austerity.