Russia will be happy to give a big bear hug to Greece if Europe allows the Greek economy to go into a free fall. This is a big mistake for Northern Europeans. A big mistake.

This is not the moment for wealthy North European countries to discipline Greece.

reworking the payment schedule to stretch it out longer say to 100 years or so.
True the banks wont make anymore profit off those existing loans but they have made enough already and atleast they would get their money back eventually and imo thats a good deal for everyone or the EU can say no and watch the banks loose a few hundred billion as Greece goes totally bankrupt.

A lender is responsible for making sure that the borrower is solvent and can repay a loan. Northern Europe did not do due diligence.

They should share the losses. And Russia will take advantage of the situation. We can be sure of that. We should do our part to help Greece also to the extent that any of our banks or financial houses were involved in the misrepresentations that got Greece and the Europeans into this mess in the first place.

Greek Debt Crisis: How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt

Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature, and swell the country's already bloated deficit.

Greeks aren't very welcome in the Rue Alphones Weicker in Luxembourg. It's home to Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office. The number crunchers there are deeply annoyed with Athens. Investigative reports state that important data "cannot be confirmed" or has been requested but "not received."

Creative accounting took priority when it came to totting up government debt.Since 1999, the Maastricht rules threaten to slap hefty fines on euro member countries that exceed the budget deficit limit of three percent of gross domestic product. Total government debt mustn't exceed 60 percent.

...

Now, though, it looks like the Greek figure jugglers have been even more brazen than was previously thought. "Around 2002 in particular, various investment banks offered complex financial products with which governments could push part of their liabilities into the future," one insider recalled, adding that Mediterranean countries had snapped up such products.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-debt-crisis-how-goldman-sachs-helped-greece-to-mask-its-true-debt-a-676634.html

The Europeans should have done better due diligence before allowing Greece to join their Euro community. There is fault on both sides. Goldman is just unspeakably horrible for their part in this financial hanky-panky.

The people of Greece do not deserve to suffer so much because of the incompetence or perhaps dishonesty of a previous government.

Think of us and what Bush II did to get us into Iraq. He lied. We may disagree about what he lied about, but there is no question that he either lied by omission or by commission. And now we are caught in a war in Iraq that, if we fight it, we get sucked into quicksand and if we don't fight it, evil forces become stronger.

That's kind of the same dilemma that the Greek people face. And Northern Europe should share some of the loss caused by the mistakes made as we should share some of the loss due to the malfeasance and irresponsibility of some banks that are considered to be American.

if Greeks want to invite Russia in,
thats fine with me.

Athens will end up looking like
1960 in Warsaw (if it doesn't already)

Because I have, and I love that country. It is unique in the world. It's history. It's people. What an amazing place.

I do not want to see it go into free fall.

It's geography makes it strategically important to the security of all of Western Europe. You know, of course, that islands in the Mediterranean belong to Greece, islands like Crete and Mykonos and Delos, islands where myths were born, the myths and the culture that contributed so much to our culture and even our system of government.

The history, culture, landscape and climate of Greece make it a wonderful for tourists, but a difficult place in which to live and thrive economically.

As I said, Greece is unique. And no, I am not Greek. Not at all.

I hope you had a good time there.

( I don't wish anyone ill, but)
.
the UN needs to pass some kind
of RICO like law, and put Greece down

Our bankers were complicit in fixing the books that led to this problem in the first place.

racketeering-influenced-corrupt-organizatiion.

perhaps the federal/national govt could just
disappear? and the area be operated from Brussels.

sorta like
PuertoRico
Guam
Jarvis Island

of the US

organization? If so, why?

with at least two working
brain cells knows
that Goldman-Sacks
are thieves