gyros

The polls close in an hour to a referendum that nobody has a clue about. Nobody even knows what will happen if a yes wins or a no wins. Makes me question how this is even legal but its Greece so anything goes there. The laws don't get enforced.

Talked to some family members. They are voting NO but the funny part is they have no money now so they are living off of MY money that I get for rent LOL. Got to love the logic. But then again they want to stay in the EU so I'm not sure nor are they sure what they are voting NO on. This is a big cluster F***.

Agreed. This referendum is bizarre. Its 50-50 yet 75% want to stay in the Euro. It makes no sense. The die hard "No" people in here don't understand that 75% of Greece wants to stay in the Euro yet they might vote NO tomorrow. This is just a ploy to stay in power. The banks are closed and its getting rough. Straight out of South America political tactics.

Creditors is not individual banks like you imagine in this case. Banks hold less than 5% of the 240 bil debt. Germany and France are more than willing to write off this debt as its stretched over 30 years so in the general scheme of things, it will effect their bottom line very little. A person who is in debt never holds any cards. Greece is in tough trouble if they go to the drachma. Alone and isolated with money that is worthless. They will just be another vacation spot for people to get drunk at and then go home.

I hope they vote no myself so then Greece goes to Bulgarian wages of $150 a month. Europe is too good for Greece. Greece is a balkan country that belongs with Bulgaria, Romania, Albania etc... Go back to the drachma and leave the civilized world alone. They can trade Feta and Sheep with Bulgaria.

Its not "next couple of months", its next couple of days. The banks are closed. You can't continue this for the next 2 months. He needs to figure something out fast.

I don't personally attack members on this forum and would hope you adhere by the rules of this forum.

Maybe Europe can do food drops like they do in Africa. I can't imagine the bearded pony tailed youth are able to grow anything considering that Mommy and Daddy gives them an allowance at 35 years of age.

At this point the country has crossed that invisible line and they are at the point of no return. Social unrest is next when the grocery stores have no food in them next week and the banks can't be opened for weeks at the earliest. If it wasn't for the US, Europe would have dumped them.

The more I think about it and the more I see that the polls are split 50-50 yet 75% want to be in the Euro, I think the best solution is the following: Europe writes off all the debt. Greece figures out how to pay the IMF Europe then prints off drachma as a going away present for Greece to help them out and then tells them go on your own now. This would be the best solution. Clean start for Greece and the EU will be done with that country and move on. No point in throwing more good money down the hole. Syriza and the other pony tailed losers can figure it out then.

Fair enough. We both are on the same page about reforms. If I was in the EU's shoes, I would just let Greece go. Cut your losses and move on. Let PAME and Syriza figure it out.

I'm hoping you're a young kid because Greeks are not capable of reforming anything. You don't know the Greek mentality because you're too young. Go talk to the older folks who lived in Greece in the 50's and 60's. 50 years later Greece is still broke.

What is your hard question that I haven't already answered multiple times in the last 2 pages. Maybe English isn't your first language and you have poor reading comprehension skills. I don't know. But I've already laid out the scenario if the debt was cut to ZERO today that Greece couldn't make it through July because they spend more money than they bring in. Voting No or Yes does nothing. Greece makes $1 and spends $2.

Tantra I agree with you. The world is willing to help us but the leadership is offending everyone and acting like a bunch of spoiled kids so its gotten to the point that the EU wants us to just go away.

The Patra-Varda-Olympia roadway has no tolls. I'm not sure who the contractor was but of course Greece owns it. They don't fly "specialists" from Germany to fix broken guardrail. Stop with the nonsense. My family lives in a village as I mentioned earlier in the middle of nowhere and they got access to DSL (High speed internet) last year. That is amazing. I never would have imagined that ever happening. Also, all their roads are paved compared to the 90's when you were riding on gravel roads. If we were on our "own", I can't see any of this happening. But what do I know, I've never been to Caracas or Havana.

The people voting no unfortunately think that 1997 will return. 100 drachma souvlaki, 100 drachma bottle of water, 200 drachma beer, 150 drachma coke.

If the EU told Greece today that your debt is zero, do you realize that Greece couldn't make it through July because they spend more than they make. Greeks are really good at the "fall guy". In the 70's through 90's it was n Amerikani kai n evrei. Young Tsipras Scum would march to the US Embassy and say "Exo Ameriki". Now its moved to the Germans and the EU. Again. If our debt was wiped out to zero on July 3, 2015 we could not make it through this month because we SPEND more money than we take in. Greece stays in Euro and gets a certain standard of living and makes reforms. Greece goes to the Drachma, the pensions are worth $200 a month and makes reforms. Anthoula the hair stylist retires at age 50. Nikos the Clarino player also is able to retire at 50 because of his "hazard" job. Gianni the baker also can retire at 50 because baking bread is a "hazard" job. Then of course we have Gregori who went to school and became a doctor. Gregori makes 6 figures and has a nice house worth 400k Euros yet his tax return says he makes $10,000 a year. Don't forget Gregori's son, Vasili who is going to college and can stay there for 20 years to finish his degree. This kind of stuff is unacceptable in any civilized country but not in Greece. Oh no. Don't forget you can't work Sundays either or PAME will come out and shut the whole country down.

Another interesting stat. The EU has paid for 7.7 Billion euros worth of infrastructure projects in Greece during the past 5 years. If they leave the EU, who is going to fix the sewers, roads, bridges. The EU gave greece $400 mil Euros last year to expand internet access to rural areas and put government data online. Greece will be like it was in the 90's with freeways that were 1.5 lanes (Yes a half a lane) and the weekly power outages that I remember vividly.

You don't have control when you're broke. You don't understand that. Greece will have no medicine, gasoline, diesel etc... unless countries donate it. I think you need to take a deep breath and look at reality. Greece will be a third world vacation spot like the Dominican Republic. This lawyer said something interesting on Skai tv today. He said if the EU told Greece that they would wipe off all their debts to zero but told them they are cutting them off with no money, that Greece could not survive month to month because they spend more than they take in.

I wonder how Greece will get medicine if they leave. Germany is a big medicine exporter. I wonder how Greece will even have a military after they leave. You can't fill your jets with Ouzo and Tzatziki. Parts for repairs aren't free. Hmm. So no medicine, no military, and social unrest. Yup, welcome to Greece. The sister country of Venezuela.

Its not even about yes or no. Its the mentality of the people of the country. We are rotten to the core.

Urinating in public is not tolerated in Germany, US, Canada. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but in Canada you aren't going to see someone pull off the side of the 401 freeway and urinate yet in Greece take the freeway between Patrai and Achaia and you will see people pulling over urinating all the time. I went with my cousin a couple years back for him to take a written test in Patrai for his drivers license so I waited in the car while he went in. Once the test was done, everyone was urinating under a tree in a parking lot. You just don't see that stuff in civilized countries.

You have to remember that Greece is not a "westernized" nation. You go to Greece and its common to see people pulling off on the side of the freeway to urinate (Patra-Achia freeway) or outside of buildings in major cities, lying, asking "Posa lefta kaneis to mena", etc... Greek people are no better than the Turks they make fun. Greeks are no where in the same class as France and Germany in terms of manners and expression. You have to remember most of the big cities in Greece are filled with vlahi who one day were creating bales of hay and the next day they are walking Athens or Patra.

The only people that can save Greece are outsiders who don't care about votes. The train of thinking in Greece is one out of a communist playbook written in the 70's. Anti business, Anti Euro, Anti America Pro Russia Pro Libya Pro Palestine. The pony tailed bearded youth who wander to the kaffenio everyday with a backpack and laptop are of no help either.

He lied to get elected by saying everyone is going to get bigger pensions, expansion of the government to hire thousands, and free electricity and the people voted for him. Now there is no money and the old people are fainting in lines to get $120 Euros.