Greece has run out of OPM

Quote: Evenbob

Why is it always one extreme or the other.
Things will not 'collapse'. They didn't in
the Depression and they won't now. If
it gets bad, people will have to do with
less toys. They will learn to cook for
themselves again. They will live in the
same house for 20 years, buy new clothes
only when they need them. Things will
go on if you can't buy a new iphone
every year or one of the hundred other
things you can live without. The corn
and beef and wheat and pigs will still
grow. Have faith.

The difference is that we did not have the entitlement mentality in the 1930s that we do today. If you are under age 40 in the USA you do not know what it is to go to the store and what you want is not there to buy at any price. There were gas shortages in the 1970s along with some other short-term spot shortages. But even those were relatively short.

Then there are the things that you can't really cut. You can't make a 3,000 sq ft McMansion smaller so it is cheaper to run, for example.

People will adjust, but it will take much time and be violent along the way. I maintain that 20% of the population are incapable of running their own lives. This is over and above people with some kind of real handicap. They are able bodied but just can't get it together. They will riot. Another probably 40% are of very low skills. The remaining 40% can and will get by, as long as the first two groups are not such a drag that they cannot.

Interesting times, ye are here.

Be interesting to see how this plays out. Europe economy is approximately same size as USA. Greece economy is similar in size to metropolitan Miami area, according to what I saw on TV. If that is so, Greece may soon find out they are NOT too big to fail.

Quote: petroglyph

Either the federal reserve will have to bail Greece out [whether we are told or not] or Europe bails them out, or Russia/China, this can't play out like what appears on all the mainstream media.

This interconnectedness is going to bite everybody.

I get lucky once in a while? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-06/imf-ready-assist-greece-lagarde-says#comments

So the IMF [the US taxpayer] stands at the ready to assist Greece with loans, bwahaha. Thank you American taxpayer, thank you. Now the rest of the Greeks can retire at 50.

What won't be shown is the pass through of the money. It hardly even touches Greece's hands and goes right to the creditors. It won't help the economic situation but the world can breathe for another day. Collapse already.

Fifty million Americans on food stamps and our gov is loaning money to Greece so they can pay mega tbtf banks, who will buy Greek islands on the cheap with more printed money. This capitalism thing is great, if you own the printing press.

To the OP, "Greece has run out of OPM", well at least overnight when the Fed reserve was still out celebrating "Independence" day, lololol.

Somebody got back in the office and hit the "print" button, and now they are celebrating dependents day. sarc

Quote: AZDuffman

Then there are the things that you can't really cut. You can't make a 3,000 sq ft McMansion smaller so it is cheaper to run, for example.

Sure you can, my grandma did it every winter.
They had a huge house in DE and in the cold
months, she closed off the upstairs and part
of the downstairs and only heated the few
rooms they used. Today you could do the same
thing. And in the summer, get rid of central
air and use window units in the rooms you
want cooled.

As far as an entitlement society, hunger makes
a good incentive, it's amazing how it can motivate
people.

During the depression of the thirties the US was much more of a rural nation. Farms were still mostly family owned and they could survive on the farm with little or no money. People knew how to raise their own food. Even most people in the small towns had large gardens and knew how to can and put up food for the winter. Many people now don't have the knowledge or any place to try and get by on what they can raise. Getting through the winter on potatoes will mean having to buy fries everyday at McD's.

I know the Defense Department runs different war scenarios. I wonder if they run all kinds of general calamity possibilities? Stick it all on a super computer and let it play out. We certainly waste money in worse ways.

Even if they don't, they really should. We have the technology. (as they said on Six Million Dollar man)

I'm following this story closely. As some of you may know, I used to have a foreign bank account out of Cyprus because I couldn't get paid by Bodog/Bovada through US banks. That bank was heavily vested in Greece, who defaulted on bond payments as I understand it, which led to a run on the Cyprus banks, which led to me losing a lot of money, which led to the sale of my Wizard sites.

On the good side, that problem was pretty much successfully contained to just Cyprus and those who banked there. On the bad side, the government of Cyprus was never in trouble, just the banks. After that, if I lived anywhere in southern Europe I would have pulled most of my money out of the banks there, given that the EU did not rescue Cyprus. I don't know if Cyprus is too small to cause panic in greater Europe and Greece is.

Without knowing that much about it, if I lived in Greece I think I would have voted "no" and supported defaulting. At some point you have to admit you're too deep in the hole and declare bankruptcy. Argentina did it and survived. In fact, they may do it again.

I wonder why you never hear of Greece just selling some of its land to pay its debt. Talk about some great beach front property.

This could be the beginning of a very major story. As I said, I'm following it closely.

Quote: AZDuffman

People will adjust, but it will take much time and be violent along the way. I maintain that 20% of the population are incapable of running their own lives. This is over and above people with some kind of real handicap. They are able bodied but just can't get it together. They will riot. Another probably 40% are of very low skills. The remaining 40% can and will get by, as long as the first two groups are not such a drag that they cannot.

Interesting times, ye are here.

Everything is falling into place, just as I've planned. Bide my time, formulate a strategy, get a foot into .gov, await a disturbance, engender upheaval, strike. "From lowly country kid to ruler of the free world". They're gonna write songs about me...

Sit tight, friends. Good times lay ahead. The time of my coup draws nigh.

Quote: Face

"From lowly country kid to ruler of the free world". They're gonna write songs about me...

Sure. But what are you going to do tomorrow night, Brain?