[mfs1959]

Theodoros Pangalos conied the phrase "We all ate together" in 2010 to point that the people and politicians are all responsible for landing the country with its mountain of debt. He was vilified by the Greek people.

Where is out politician with the guts to stand up and point out that it's not just politicians and bankers, it's all of us: estate agents, journalists, broadcasters, watchers of property porn, mewers, and the rest?

This post has been edited by mfs1959: 26 April 2012 - 10:17 AM

[crashmonitor]

Well said Theo. Could equally go for the Brown boom too. We all want jam today and land the next generation in debt. Some even make out that this debt is an investment and somehow in the unborns interests, yeh right.

[Errol]

Default. Default.

[GBdamo]

mfs1959, on 26 April 2012 - 10:01 AM, said:

Theodoros Pangalos conied the phrase "We all ate together" in 2010 to point that the people and politicians are all responsible for landing the country with its mountain of debt. He was vilified by the Greek people.

Where is out politician with the guts to stand up and point out that it's not just politicians and bankers, it's all of us: estate agents, journalists, broadcasters, watchers of property porn, mewers, and the rest?

Not this nonsense argument again.

If you went to the doctor and he prescribed you medication, would you take the 'we're all in this together' approach if that medication was wrong and caused serious complications?

As with doctors and medicine very few people are knowledgeable enough to understand all the intricacies of government and economies and defer to elected representatives who claim to know what's best.

There may be a few people that knew and played the game but the vast majority just did as they were told. If they were properly educated they may have known things couldn't last but they weren't.

The blame for this mess lies with the politicians and the bankers.

[mfs1959]

GBdamo, on 26 April 2012 - 10:48 AM, said:

Not this nonsense argument again.

If you went to the doctor and he prescribed you medication, would you take the 'we're all in this together' approach if that medication was wrong and caused serious complications?

As with doctors and medicine very few people are knowledgeable enough to understand all the intricacies of government and economies and defer to elected representatives who claim to know what's best.

There may be a few people that knew and played the game but the vast majority just did as they were told. If they were properly educated they may have known things couldn't last but they weren't.

The blame for this mess lies with the politicians and the bankers.

No, it's with all of us. The reason why even those politicians who knew how bad things were could say nothing was that the great British public did not want to hear, and would punish those forthright enough to say.

[billybong]

IF some of them did all eat together then some sure got to eat far far more than others.

This post has been edited by billybong: 26 April 2012 - 11:43 AM

[GBdamo]

mfs1959, on 26 April 2012 - 10:58 AM, said:

No, it's with all of us. The reason why even those politicians who knew how bad things were could say nothing was that the great British public did not want to hear, and would punish those forthright enough to say.

Agree but you're looking five years further on than me. It should never have happened in the first place and politicians should not have allowed banks to prey on the public.

[OnlyMe]

GBdamo, on 26 April 2012 - 11:42 AM, said:

Agree but you're looking five years further on than me. It should never have happened in the first place and politicians should not have allowed banks to prey on the public.

That is the key, it was predatory. Just look at the credit card debt - different market, same issue. Bombard the population with zero percent offers, get the public to take it up until at some poit either the bank decides to up the rates having ensnared their debt pool or for the borrower to start defaulting on other obligations, miss payments and then hit them with charges.

Pure calculated greed and planned theft on the part of the banks, except it blew up in their face when they asked the taxpayer to pay for the bill, directly and through inflation, which the politicans and central bank obliged in spades.

This post has been edited by OnlyMe: 26 April 2012 - 11:47 AM

[mfs1959]

OnlyMe, on 26 April 2012 - 11:46 AM, said:

That is the key, it was predatory. Just look at the credit card debt - different market, same issue. Bombard the population with zero percent offers, get the public to take it up until at some poit either the bank decides to up the rates having ensnared their debt pool or for the borrower to start defaulting on other obligations, miss payments and then hit them with charges.

Pure calculated greed and planned theft on the part of the banks, except it blew up in their face when they asked the taxpayer to pay for the bill, directly and through inflation, which the politicans and central bank obliged in spades.

Sorry, this sounds like denial. "A big boy did it and ran away".

[OnlyMe]

mfs1959, on 26 April 2012 - 11:52 AM, said:

Sorry, this sounds like denial. "A big boy did it and ran away".

There is only one reason you douse a person with 0% credit - to ****** them over later. The same was done with housing with teaser rates and 125% loans.


It is not rocket science.

[Gone baby gone]

"We all ate together"

He forgot the last bit:

"But some of us came back for seconds, thirds, fourths..."

[mfs1959]

OnlyMe, on 26 April 2012 - 11:55 AM, said:

There is only one reason you douse a person with 0% credit - to ****** them over later. The same was done with housing with teaser rates and 125% loans.


It is not rocket science.

Apart from my mortgage I have only borrowed at 0% interest. I paid no interest, no PPI, nada, nothing. I didn't get ****** over.

Perhaps we should introduce a 'Financial Unawareness' card, like organ donor cards. It could say, "Don't lend me anything as I don't understand the concept of being required to pay it back".

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

Errol, on 26 April 2012 - 10:40 AM, said:

Default. Default.

Errol... do you have a pension... or any savings?

[mfs1959]

What, on 26 April 2012 - 11:56 AM, said:

"We all ate together"

He forgot the last bit:

"But some of us came back for seconds, thirds, fourths..."

In Greece that's most of the population, something like 90% of dentists declared earnings below 12.5k euros.

[Dorkins]

"We all ate together" ignores the demographic reality that Greek over-40s are even now mostly doing pretty well for themselves while the Greek under-35s are the most shafted generation in any country in Europe.