Ongoing European Debt Crisis

Not much. It's been made grossly apparent to me by the various posters in this thread and in the European politics thread that a full political union is not on the table, nor is a dissolution of the Eurozone.

Since nobody's willing to do the things that would stop them from lurching from crisis to crisis like an alcoholic or being mired in perpetual stagnation, they're basically fucked. /shrug

Call me cynical, but I'm tired of arguing for solutions that I'm assured are "politically impossible". I'm reminded of the "Torches and Pitchforks" warning that was made recently by an American businessman. They're coming, it's just a matter of when.

edited 17th Jul '14 1:25:27 PM by Fighteer

Basically:

A) The Eurozone just stumbles along, the banks are basically insisting on "Please don't recharge the economy too quickly or our assets will go toxic and things will get worse. Please."

B) Let the banks liquidate and/or nationalize them. Basically do the Iceland.

C) Wait for the populace of one or more European Nations to go "Fuck this gay earth" and do something extreme due to pressure cooking.

D) Federalize and/or install an auto bailout system.

Ultimately a lot of the situation is how long can well meant but prudence obsessed German politicians and Technocratic EU Parliamentarians vs Southern States and a frustrated EU wide populace with high unemployment last in deadlock.

Also bonus surprise guests, Great Britain with its leave the EU referendum, Scotland with its leave the UK Referendum, and any other regions that decide to do the Scotland.

Gyres, Centers not holding, et al.

Kinda sorta relevant Polandball comic.

Greek economy expected to return to growth this year.

Right... (>_>)

Paywall.

Anyway, I can believe it. It'll just end the moment their parliament has another election. So it'll be back to square one.

I sure hope so. Our economy has been expected to grow for the past three years. It's like Jehova's Day. People keep screaming that's it near but it never comes.

We need some fresh air in the government. Even if they end up doing nothing, it's worth the try. We ain't got nothing to lose. I may not agree with many the Left's positions but they've never been in power before.

As a Portuguese, I feel almost the same way.

They say our economy is growing, but all evidence seems to make the government's claims all lies.

edited 24th Jul '14 6:26:04 PM by Quag15

At least you're done with the bailout.

However, we're still getting cuts in our pensions and wages. Only the Constitutional Court protects us from the government/elites' crazy measures.

I really hope we won't be needing another bailout soon.

edited 24th Jul '14 8:12:32 PM by Quag15

Germany is getting closer to lapsing into recession as the European Central Bank admits recovery for the country is extremely weak.

Bloomberg New York Times

Both of them indicate Italy HAS fallen back into recession, and Germany is hurting in terms of factory orders.

Clearly the only solution is MORE AUSTERITY.

And as if the economy wasn't in a bad shape already, those darn Russians decided to impose a food embargo. That's gonna rain a shitstorm over european food exports like we haven't seen in ages.

Though, admittedly, we kinda brought this on ourselves when we imposed those idiotic sanctions against Russia.

Austerity is like Dakka. There's never enough.

edited 9th Aug '14 10:14:52 AM by LogoP

Portugal will be among the least affected EU countries by the Russian counter-sanctions, so that's not my worry. I don't know how it is with your country, though.

But when Germany sneezes, everyone in Europe catches a cold all of a sudden. That's my main concern.

edited 9th Aug '14 12:32:52 PM by Quag15

Germany will be amongst the most affected counries.

Greece will be pretty affected too but nothing catastrophic.

What percentage of our food exports go to Russia anyway?

You mean EU as a whole? Around 5% Doesn't sound too big but when you consider that German exports alone were valued at 36.1 billion last year...

edited 9th Aug '14 1:06:24 PM by LogoP

If "our" means the UK, the UK is a net food importer.

And does anyone know what percentage of Russian's food imports come from the EU and US?

I mean the EU/EU nations that export to Russia.

edited 9th Aug '14 1:06:13 PM by Silasw

EU: (Almost) 10% .

US: 0.8%

Sources: Reuters and Público (Portuguese newspaper which is sort of an equivalent to the Guardian).

edited 9th Aug '14 1:12:48 PM by Quag15

Here's an interesting article about thed subject.

Worth noting that this topic is about the European debt crisis, not food trade with Russia.

In case we carry this topic we're currently discussing somewhere else, it might be best to talk about it in the European Politics thread or the Russian Politics thread.

edited 9th Aug '14 1:26:53 PM by Quag15

That is connected with the situation in Ukraine — Merkel is seemingly willing to lead to German economy into recession to stand up to Vladimir Putin.

edited 12th Aug '14 5:14:25 AM by Greenmantle

And yet she's unwilling to prop up the countries being led into recession financially, and that includes Germany.

This is a nice show for everyone who thinks that Europe is a left-wing paradise. Financially, they're listening to the same bunch of Very Serious People that the US is.

At least they're not listening to Vladimir Putin — all of this is tied into the uncertainty created by what is happening in Ukraine.