Greece Tries to Squeeze Stone
February 18, 2010 9:02 am Economics and FinanceThe financial difficulties are forcing the hand of the Greek government and one of the steps being taken is to reduce the number of cash transactions. The amazing thing about this effort is the low threshold.
From 1. Jan. 2011, every transaction above 1,500 euros between natural persons and businesses, or between businesses, will not be considered legal if it is done in cash. Transactions will have to be done through debit or credit cards
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Arran Gold
Brian :
Date: February 18, 2010 @ 10:09 AM
It won’t work , there will just be multiple cash transactions each less than 1,500 euros by enough so as not to trigger an alarm.
I recall visiting Argentina in 1981 during one of their many financial crises. At that time the the IMF forced Argentina to devalue the peso by 10000 … one day a $1,000,000 peso note was worth $1,000,000 pesos … the next day it was worth $100 pesos.
On the way , the plan stopped in Rio de Janiero and an older retired man and his wife sat beside me. They were returning to Argentina from a holiday in Rio. He spoke excellent English and we had a good conversation about a lot of things including finance.
At the time inflation was about 10% per week in Argentian and I asked him how he protected his finances with the stringent export rules regarding money. He described how his son had set up a wine importing business in New York , and they had shipped their entire stock (he owned either a winery or a wine business) of wine to New York , where it was sold , and the company in New York declared bankruptcy … so he exported all his money legally via wine bottles to the US , turned it into $US and preserved his finances.
melwilde :
Date: February 18, 2010 @ 10:32 AM
The bottom line is that Greece has always given in to socialist spending.
They now face the problem that they can’t borrow more funds. Spain is in the same predicament. Unless Germany agrees to finance continued socialist spending habits in the EU, these countries will default.
All these tricks will not alleviate the basic problem. It’s hard to imagine any country wasting money
worse than the USA, but there you have it.