newbie

I wonder what percentage of people think it's a moral duty to pay tax, and what percentage think that it's their duty to minimise it?

It's now a million views. And he's milking it. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/alessio-rastani-makes-us-prime-time-tv-circuit

-0.3%

But the Russians can - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction They built a lot of stuff during the cold war, and didn't entirely stop at the end of that either.

Sure they'll be sliding. The creditors will force hikes when it proves to have worked.

It won't happen as the highly rated nations (eg. Germany) enjoy their low cost of funding and want to keep it that way. Danke.

The Greek property tax passed today. In summary, it seems to have the following features. (Useful link) 1. It will range from EUR0.50 per square metre per annum to EUR16.00 per square metre per annum depending on the neighbourhood. 2. The age of the property will influence the rate, with new properties being taxed up to 25% more. So the maximum rate for a new build in a top area will be EUR 20 per metre. 3. it will cover all other residential or commercial buildings that receive electricity (so there's an option to opt out if you generate your own or prefer candles). 4. It will be collected through electricity bills so the sanction for non-payment will be having one's electricity cut-off. 5. It won't apply to state offices, embassies, religious buildings, monasteries, non-profit organisations, charities and amateur sports clubs. It also won't apply to farms and factories. 6. Long-term unemployed will be exempt from the tax, if their family income doesn't exceed 12,000 euros a year and the value of their property does not exceed EUR 150,000. No doubt it will be passed straight on to renters under any well drafted lease. Is this the model for future property taxes elsewhere? How would you feel about something similar in the UK if it come down to a choice between this or more VAT or more income tax?

Argentina is still largely locked out of the international loan markets as a result of doing this. A comparison can be drawn with a screw up with the Consumer Credit Act requirements in respect of loans to individuals. Loans were made to individuals which contravened that legislation and so were legally unenforceable. But the lenders said: we can't sue you for the money but we'll put it down on your credit record that you haven't repaid us. This then locks people out of getting credit in the future, at least at normal rates. It's the same for countries, you can't really make them pay legally (unless you can seize their assets overseas but that's never going to be a lot). The best way of getting them to comply is to lock them out of the international markets if they don't. Governments love to borrow so they'll do whatever they can to be allowed back in.

Is he the new CEO of UBS?

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present. ~Niccolo Machiavelli

FTSE up 4% Everything's back to normal. 125% mortgages will be back soon.

They write off by swapping say a EUR 1,000,000 bond which they can't repay for a new EUR 500,000 bond which they now promise to repay. See re Argentina's default - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_debt_restructuring

Has anyone posted the details of the new Greek 'property tax' that went through today? The level of owner occupancy in Greece is surprisingly high at 70%, what is in the UK at the moment?

Brilliant. Now he'll get a job at Goldman Sachs.

The only jubilee that we'll see will be through inflation. But if that gets out of control, the government will try to reindex the debts (as per the earlier Weimar post) to improve the situation for the creditors/banks.