by Copper Catcher » Thu May 17, 2012 9:02 am
So lets talk about the facts and what people are seeing and not seeing in Greece.
Fact: $900 million was withdrawn in a single day
Fact: An interim government would take the country through to new elections on June 17, triggered by the collapse on Tuesday of talks to form a coalition between winners of the inconclusive May 6 election.
Fact: Greeks are withdrawing Euros from banks, apparently afraid of the prospect of rapid devaluation if the country leaves the European single currency and returns to the drachma.
Fact: Greeks have already been withdrawing their savings from banks at a sharp clip - nearly a third of bank deposits were withdrawn between January 2010 and March 2012, reducing total Greek household and business deposits to 165 billion Euros.
So we all think a bank run is seeing lines of people crowded outside the doors yelling and screaming but in reality that is not happening. Why you might ask?
In Greece many people are poor, for the average worker salaries have dropped by more than a third over the past year, but costs have not!
There are no lines to withdraw money, that is true at this point but maybe that's because many Greeks have precious little left in the bank to withdraw.
People do not have the money to cover their basic needs and every day more and more people get in that situation. (Interesting, does this sound like something we have heard before?)
So folks if you don't have money to buy food it is a little difficult to be worried about the future isn't it? Keep in mind you might have voted but still things are so screwed up and you don't feel like you vote really changed anything. (Wow, that hope and change didn't work after all did it?) People in Greece today are worried about survival!
I will give you a little inside scoop here: Greece is in effect finished and done...stick a fork in it! Because there is an interim government, it is like a ship without a rudder. The country will officially go bankrupt and fail. It is not a matter of "if" at this point but "when".