Future of Greece

[angus]

I voted for the first option a couple of days ago without thinking much about it, but this morning I had a conversation with a Greek colleague about this.  She had spoken with her mother, who lives in Greece, on the telephone yesterday and they talked of this topic at some length.  What I found most striking is that she used the phrased "kicked out of" the eurozone rather than the phrase "exiting" the eurozone.  She also talked quite a bit about the Church, which apparently has enough holdings to pay off the entire national debt.  Anyway, she and her mother favor major concessions over all other alternatives.

[angus]

The real question is would they rather get minor concessions or leave the Eurozone entirely?

I agree.  

I wouldn't put too much stock in an unscientific poll of yankees who value political fora over having social lives, and I wouldn't put too much stock in one data point gathered by one obnoxious yankee from a green card-holding permanent US resident from Greece.  

I am a little bit sympathetic toward the greeks given the fact that the interest rates suggested are so high compared to most other rates of return nowadays.  Portugal seems a little on the high side as well, but that's probably best reserved for another thread.

I do think that if I were Greek I'd rather have a drachma that my own government could at least partially control.  Then again, I also think that if I were German I'd rather have a Deutschesmark that my own government could at least partially control, so you may not want to take my opinion too seriously.