The Greek Government Destroyed Their Printing Presses?!?!?

[AuH20]

Idiots.

http://news.yahoo.com/cant-print-dra...101035680.html

Athens (AFP) - With speculation swirling that Greece might be forced out of the euro and have to print its own money after a weekend referendum, its finance minister on Thursday said the country no longer had the presses to make drachmas.

"We don't have the capacity," Yanis Varoufakis told Australian public radio network ABC.

In 2000, the year before Greece joined the eurozone, "one of the things we had to do was get rid of all our printing presses" as part of the bloc's assertion that "this monetary union is irreversible," he said.

"We smashed the printing presses -- we have no printing presses," Varoufakis said.

[erowe1]

I wouldn't call them idiots for that. It may be a blessing in disguise.

[twomp]

on to Bitcoin they go...

[twomp]

They still have the Euro printer presses. What if they started printing those instead?

Syriza sources say the Greek ministry of finance is examining options to take direct control of the banking system if need be rather than accept a draconian seizure of depositor savings - reportedly a 'bail-in' above a threshhold of €8,000 - and to prevent any banks being shut down on the orders of the ECB.

Government officials recognize that this would lead to an unprecedented rift with the EU authorities. But Syriza's attitude at this stage is that their only defence against a hegemonic power is to fight guerrilla warfare.

Hardliners within the party - though not Mr Varoufakis - are demanding the head of governor Stournaras, a holdover appointee from the past conservative government.

They want a new team installed, one that is willing to draw on the central bank's secret reserves, and to take the provocative step in extremis of creating euros.

"The first thing we must do is take away the keys to his office. We have to restore stability to the system, with or without the help of the ECB. We have the capacity to print €20 notes," said one.

Such action would require invoking national emergency powers - by decree - and "requisitioning" the Bank of Greece for several months. Officials say these steps would have to be accompanied by an appeal to the European Court: both to assert legality under crisis provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, and to sue the ECB for alleged "dereliction" of its treaty duty to maintain financial stability.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...-currency-nati

[acptulsa]

It would make Paul Krugman happy.

He called for severely inflationary tactics this very morning on ABC's This Week. Instead, incidentally, of answering the question, which was, did debt cause this catastrophe?

[Zippyjuan]

Government spending in Greece has actually fallen quite a bit. Problem is that their GDP has also been falling.


http://www.global-beta.com/?p=63


http://redliontrader.com/greece-just...-really-means/

[devil21]

So do they have a physical printing press or don't they?

Am I to believe that a printing press that prints a euro note for some reason can't print a drachma? What kind of physical printing press can't change the plates and the ink and adjust the paper cutting mechanisms, as needed?

[acptulsa]

So do they have a physical printing press or don't they?

Am I to believe that a printing press that prints a euro note for some reason can't print a drachma? What kind of physical printing press can't change the plates and the ink and adjust the paper cutting mechanisms, as needed?

The kind that aren't in Greece, and are owned by someone who wants more demand for the confettimoney he prints so he can print more of it.

[erowe1]

Government spending in Greece has actually fallen quite a bit. Problem is that their GDP has also been falling.

GDP includes government spending though. If you didn't include that, would it still be falling? Private spending is what really matters.

[Ronin Truth]

Why not just melt down the fiat currency plates? DUH!

Stupid government, (oxymoronic, redundancy).

[fisharmor]

I can do this in my 1-car garage shop, geniuses.

[jj-]

You don't need a printing press to have your own currency. Remove all currency laws and legal tender laws, and the private sector will develop a number of currencies quickly.

[AngryCanadian]

You don't need a printing press to have your own currency. Remove all currency laws and legal tender laws, and the private sector will develop a number of currencies quickly.

Yup.

[Demigod]

You don't need a printing press to have your own currency. Remove all currency laws and legal tender laws, and the private sector will develop a number of currencies quickly.

No they will not ,all they will do is switch to the most stable currency and the one that most of their trading partners use ( euro or dollar ).On the other hand Greece will still owe 300 billion dollars while importing almost everything.

[Henry Rogue]

Nice chart, they keep that trend up and those lines might actually cross.

Government spending in Greece has actually fallen quite a bit. Problem is that their GDP has also been falling.


http://www.global-beta.com/?p=63


http://redliontrader.com/greece-just...-really-means/

[TheCount]

Nice chart, they keep that trend up and those lines might actually cross.

They elected a new government purely because those lines got close to crossing.

[Zippyjuan]

GDP includes government spending though. If you didn't include that, would it still be falling? Private spending is what really matters.

That is true but there is also a multiplier effect. The people getting government wages also spend that money which creates non- government jobs. They buy cars and groceries and clothes. Take away the government jobs and civilians lose jobs too.

[acptulsa]

That is true but there is also a multiplier effect. The people getting government wages also spend that money which creates non- government jobs. They buy cars and groceries and clothes. Take away the government jobs and civilians lose jobs too.

Not exactly. If you leave that money in the taxpayers' pockets, it'll burn a hole in those pockets. It'll probably wind up doing exactly what government was going to do, if any real people actually want that done. But three or four projects will get done for the price of one, because if they steal too much out of the kitty, they have competition to drive them under.

Historical fact.

If a society is churning it out well enough to have a multiplier effect in spite of government, then it could have an exponential effect if it could get out from under its government.

[tod evans]

That is true but there is also a multiplier effect. The people getting government wages also spend that money which creates non- government jobs. They buy cars and groceries and clothes. Take away the government jobs and civilians lose jobs too.

This is failed logic even if on it's face it's true.

Government, her employees and her hangers-on are more of a drain on the productive members of society than anything they might contribute.

[Madison320]

No they will not ,all they will do is switch to the most stable currency and the one that most of their trading partners use ( euro or dollar ).On the other hand Greece will still owe 300 billion dollars while importing almost everything.

What if Greece defaults on their debt, but still uses the Euro? The "downside" is that Greece would have to live entirely within their means (oh the horror!). But at least they'd be out from under the debt and they'd have a functioning currency. Nobody will accept drachmas.

[Occam's Banana]

That is true but there is also a multiplier effect. The people getting government wages also spend that money which creates non- government jobs. They buy cars and groceries and clothes. Take away the government jobs and civilians lose jobs too.

Where does the money for those government wages come from? And why couldn't the people who had that money have done exactly the same things with it?

[acptulsa]

Where does the money for those government wages come from? And why couldn't the people who had that money have done exactly the same things with it?

Don't be ridiculous. Of course the only way anyone can buy anything is if the government steals all their money and uses it to buy what they make!

Then they can buy the right to stay out of jail and make the next batch of taxes. And eat on food stamps.