Greece and Ireland - Two giant ponzi schemes

Here' a nice piece about the giant ponzi scheme in Greece. Greek politicians do not see the debt as being debt. They see it as income. So says Steven R. Earle in the Financial Post of Canada. "The problem with much of the opinion surrounding the Greek financial crisis is that few writers actually have any experience in Greece, in dealing with its politicians, its bankers, its systems, its cultural proclivities and its people," he says. He does, and his article makes very interesting reading. Eric Morecambe used to joke "How much does a Greek earn?" but I bet he'd be sobered in a second by such stuff.

And ponzi schemes are not just for the Greeks. The Irish have got a giant ponzi scheme going too. Rob Lyons writes in Spiked about how Ireland became a giant ponzi scheme. Well, if you can make money out of thin air, is it surprising that the wheels have come off these wagons.

Should Moody's be downgraded?

I saw Raymond NcDaniel, the Chairman & CEO of Moody's, being quizzed by the venerable interrogators of this financial committee, the FCIC, looking into the banking crisis and all things connected with it. When asked if any due dilligence was done over the subprime fiasco, McDaniel looked somewhat perplexed. After a bit of waffle, I think the answer was a basic no. It was likened to just going through the accounts of the Dairy Queen rather than sipping the blizzards on offer. Warren Buffet was sitting next to him, and Buffet owns the Dairy Queen.

Moody's have made a mint making rating the creditworthiness of other peoples' businesses their own business. They even take a considered opinion of the state of countries. They don't rate Greece too highly at the moment. They've just notched them down another peg. But what is the real purpose of Moody's and others like them? How come they were so undue in their own dilligence when it came to the subprime racketeers? Is it because McDaniel hadn't heard the word "derivative" before? This fancy word conjured up by bankers in order to turn bad money into good.

I like the way the questioning went, but I doubt it will do much. Both McDaniel and Buffet came across as completely devoid of any real sense that this financial disaster was much to do with them. And that's the problem. They don't really live in the real world. Far better for the committee to go down to the local Dairy Queen and ask the blizzard sippers what they would do to straighten things out. Now that's direct democracy for you!

Frau Merkel's Greek island real deal

The Greeks are in difficulty. Not only are they up to their eyeballs in debt, but they are getting further into the clutches of the EU mandarins. Nigel Farage was not wrong when he said Greece had become a subservient statelet of the European Union. Now the German Chancellor has come up with a good wheeze on the financial front. She's had a look at the map and spotted that there are plenty of Greek islands so why not flog off a few for extra cash?

Frau Merkel reckons the Greeks should sell uninhabited islands of which there are 227. I'm not sure if such real estate is worth much. Who would buy such an island? Richard Branson? The latest lottery winner? Or maybe Lord Ashcroft, to keep up his non-dom credentials? Definitely no doms on those islands.

Personally I think this crazy idea just about sums up the arrogant thinking of the EU machine politicians. It's gone past the absurd into the realms of fantasy. If implemented this could set a very bad precedence, leading to all manner of dodgy deals. Gordon Brown could be flogging off our islands including the inhabited ones. It's got an Ealing comedy flavour about it. Passport to Pimlico? Frau Merkel wants to see your visa!

Genitals of Briton given Greek-style torching!

I have noticed recently that young British men abroad are becoming increasingly loutish. Some are prone to drunken behaviour leading to street vomiting, others just see the young women of the locality as suitable targets for perverse innuendo of a sexual nature. Nothing remotedly charming about any of it. One wonders why so many people attempt to come to Britain when the exported manhood is well past its use-by-date.

In various cities of Europe inebriated young men, and sometimes women, act like alcoholically-charged vacuum pumps. It is little wonder local mayors want them out. Now there is a case where a Greek woman dowsed a Briton's genitals with alcohol and set fire to his crown jewels. She says she did so after being sexually harassed. I do not condone in any way what the young woman has done, but I have some sympathy for her. Perhaps this may be a message to young British males? Maybe. How would they like it if a drunken Greek molested their nearest and dearest female relatives? Not a lot, I suggest. So what makes it right the other way round?

The one mindblower in this story is the response from the Foreign Office. A spokeswoman said, "We can confirm that in the early hours of Tuesday a 23-year-old British male national was assaulted in Crete. We understand he suffered burns on his chest and abdomen. He has been receiving consular assistance." Chest and abdomen? With that kind of understatement one can appreciate how easy it is for ministers to get the wrong end of the stick with regards to Afghanistan!