a) you are right. I was only referring to the pre-euro accounting. Sorry if I didn't make myself clear.
b+c) I don't know the exact figure, but if I remember correctly, private loses were about 20% only.
"One estimate is that Greece actually subscribed to €156bn worth of new debt in order to get €206bn worth of old debt to be written off, meaning the trumpeted write-down of €110bn by the banks and others is more than double the true figure of €50bn that was truly written off. Taxpayers are now liable for more than 80% of Greece's debt.[219] James Mackintosh, Investment Editor at the Financial Times, noted a JPMorgan Chase estimate that "only €15bn of €410bn total 'aid' to Greece" actually went into the country's economy, the rest having been handed over to its creditors. " [1]
d) Yes, they can't 'force' any government to do as they say, but if they don't, they don't give them the money they need. They aren't open to negotiating at all. They want the gov. to sell profitable businesses and to reduce social spending. That is their 'sensible' way to deal with the issue. I don't have first hand experience of what they did in Greece, but if what they tried to do in Portugal is any indication, it was a loser's game from the start. They didn't care about economic recovery or sustainable growth. No, they were repo men trying to get as much of the money back as possible. Which is fine, it's their job and the countries accepted the money, but then, not for one second please tell me how these countries are lazy and spenders, and the damn hard worker Northern brethren has to act like a parent. Let's not forget Germany were one of the first countries to go over the 3% deficit target and got scot free through political pressure [2] [3]
Would you be happy if the your country lend them your taxes money, knowing that they decide the loan terms, not knowing when and if they will pay you back?
The foreign taxpayer is paying loans to the greek taxpayer, who is paying taxes to the greek government, who is repaying debt of private greek companies(mostly banks), who are repaiing debt to foreign private companies(mostly banks), who ignored or sidetracked the Basel treaty that clearly stated who can get loans or not. Deutsche Bank was one of the most hard hit from bad loans.[1]
The german media is misrepresenting their request for debt cancellation of private losses, by saying that german taxpayers would have to pay them instead, which ofcourse nobody said that but certain german politicians. (and I would not use spiegel as a credible source).
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/2011/09/28/book-review...
"When Goldman Sachs helped the New York hedge fund manager John Paulson design a bond to bet against — a bond that Paulson hoped would fail — the buyer on the other side was a German bank. Iceland, Ireland, Greece — all of their profligacy came from Germany."
But it did didn't it? It's close to 1am here so too tired for sources, but if I'm not mistaken, every country in the Eurozone contributed to the bailout in a certain proportion. Not sure how the IMF works, but I would assume something like that?
Again, no sources, but if I'm not mistaken, Germany is making a profit on these loans, as they can borrow at a very reduced (even negative) rate and lend that money to Greece.
a) you are right. I was only referring to the pre-euro accounting. Sorry if I didn't make myself clear.
b+c) I don't know the exact figure, but if I remember correctly, private loses were about 20% only.
"One estimate is that Greece actually subscribed to €156bn worth of new debt in order to get €206bn worth of old debt to be written off, meaning the trumpeted write-down of €110bn by the banks and others is more than double the true figure of €50bn that was truly written off. Taxpayers are now liable for more than 80% of Greece's debt.[219] James Mackintosh, Investment Editor at the Financial Times, noted a JPMorgan Chase estimate that "only €15bn of €410bn total 'aid' to Greece" actually went into the country's economy, the rest having been handed over to its creditors. " [1]
d) Yes, they can't 'force' any government to do as they say, but if they don't, they don't give them the money they need. They aren't open to negotiating at all. They want the gov. to sell profitable businesses and to reduce social spending. That is their 'sensible' way to deal with the issue. I don't have first hand experience of what they did in Greece, but if what they tried to do in Portugal is any indication, it was a loser's game from the start. They didn't care about economic recovery or sustainable growth. No, they were repo men trying to get as much of the money back as possible. Which is fine, it's their job and the countries accepted the money, but then, not for one second please tell me how these countries are lazy and spenders, and the damn hard worker Northern brethren has to act like a parent. Let's not forget Germany were one of the first countries to go over the 3% deficit target and got scot free through political pressure [2] [3]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_government-debt_crisis#An...
[2] http://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/nov/25/theeuro.poli... - sorry, its the guardian, but you can google other sources
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stability_and_Growth_Pact#Refor...