Comments on: What’s Happening To Greece? http://weakonomics.com/2010/02/12/what%e2%80%99s-happening-to-greece/ Everything That's Wrong With You And Your Money Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:58:23 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: blue monkey http://weakonomics.com/2010/02/12/what%e2%80%99s-happening-to-greece/comment-page-1/#comment-3900 blue monkey Sat, 08 May 2010 02:19:02 +0000 http://weakonomics.com/?p=3832#comment-3900 Greece and Spain won't pay back. The only thing Germans can do is: REPOSES 170 Leopard 2AEX Battle Tanks from Greece, and 190 Leopard 2A6E Battle Tanks from Spain. U.S.A must REPOSES 170 F-16 Jet Fighters from Greece, … the rest is gone with the wind …forever … Greece must stop paying lucrative pensions with borrowed money, reform the free health care system, and cut down, 4 times the military budged. Greece and Spain won’t pay back. The only thing Germans can do is:
REPOSES 170 Leopard 2AEX Battle Tanks from Greece, and 190 Leopard 2A6E Battle Tanks from Spain.
U.S.A must REPOSES 170 F-16 Jet Fighters from Greece, … the rest is gone with the wind …forever …
Greece must stop paying lucrative pensions with borrowed money, reform the free health care system, and cut down, 4 times the military budged.

]]> By: Darwin's Finance http://weakonomics.com/2010/02/12/what%e2%80%99s-happening-to-greece/comment-page-1/#comment-3571 Darwin's Finance Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:18:51 +0000 http://weakonomics.com/?p=3832#comment-3571 The strikes and protests have already begun. The unions refuse to even consider a cut to their pay/pension obligations. Similar situations are occurring in many US states as well though. Public servants can work 25 years and retire on 90% pension for life - a much longer life now that life expectancy is much higher than when they started 25 years ago. Rather than face unemployment, debt defaults and other maladies, perhaps people living off the public largesse need to accept a more reasonable pay/retiree package in line with what the private sector is offering. The past argument was that govt employees forgo higher pay for the pensions and benefits, but now they're getting higher pay raises each year as well. Why? Businesses react to economic conditions. With unemployment at 10% and people scrambling to hang on to a job, nobody's going to complain about an average 2% pay raise across the company. However, unions will demand a 4% raise w more health care coverage at every negotiation. At some point, the balance is untenable - like what Greece is going through now. California and several other states are going to have to push some tough choices, if it's even legal (lawyers are mulling over just how bulletproof these union contracts are no matter what the economic conditions). The strikes and protests have already begun. The unions refuse to even consider a cut to their pay/pension obligations. Similar situations are occurring in many US states as well though. Public servants can work 25 years and retire on 90% pension for life – a much longer life now that life expectancy is much higher than when they started 25 years ago. Rather than face unemployment, debt defaults and other maladies, perhaps people living off the public largesse need to accept a more reasonable pay/retiree package in line with what the private sector is offering.

The past argument was that govt employees forgo higher pay for the pensions and benefits, but now they’re getting higher pay raises each year as well. Why? Businesses react to economic conditions. With unemployment at 10% and people scrambling to hang on to a job, nobody’s going to complain about an average 2% pay raise across the company. However, unions will demand a 4% raise w more health care coverage at every negotiation. At some point, the balance is untenable – like what Greece is going through now.

California and several other states are going to have to push some tough choices, if it’s even legal (lawyers are mulling over just how bulletproof these union contracts are no matter what the economic conditions).

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