Greece… yet again :)

Tags

crisis, Greece financial problems, Greek insolvency, speculation

I came across article in Austrian Profil magazine (who reads German, can find it here) which neatly summarizes Greek predicament. Many are asking themselves a question: when the inevitable (namely the bankruptcy or insolvency of Greece) will happen and many are asking also why it didn’t happen yet?

The answer can lie in speculations which can be made on markets due to their (and investors) reaction every time Greece is about to become new tranche of EU funds. Since the scenario is always the same: weakening of Euro, falling indexes on most stock exchanges etc, one can profit from it, especially if one knows what will happen and has huge funds at disposal. Can this be a reason for the postponement of what needs to happen anyway?

Greece Again…

Tags

cash, cash-less economy, economy, Greece, Greece financial problems

As a follow-up to my post from two days ago, please see article here. As it turned out, I was not the first with my idea, but as I also wrote about plans for Italy, I did not expect anything different.

I don’t think that cash is the source of all evil, humans are with their greed. Taxes are also at fault, it is widely known that bigger taxes cause bigger tax evasion. In this sense Greece has no chance – deadly spiral is already in full swing and everyone except stubborn politicians know that this story will not have a happy end.

Unfortunately although the money given to Greece now is ours we have no saying as per how this money should be spent. People throwing it away have no sense of ownership and, to top it off, some of them may actually have stakes in banks which did lend money to Greece in the first place. One of the ugly faces of so-called democracy…

I know how to save Greece!

Tags

debt, drugs, Greece, Greece financial problems, Mexico, money, solution

During my recent trip to Las Vegas I met (as usual at this time of the year) with some friends from the industry. Also as usual for Europeans, one of the topics of our discussion was Greece and its financial debacle.  During that discussion an idea has occurred to me – an idea, which apparently has already been jokingly discussed by some financial gurus with regards to Italy.

The idea is simple: forbid use of cash. Completely.

In case of Italy apparently it was discussed if transactions in cash should be allowed only up to certain limit, say 500 EUR. I think though that in order to kill corruption, or at least hinder it greatly, we should get rid of cash altogether. Install only government approved terminals using high-tech encryption, GPS and ID technology. Use only high security cards with owner’s data on them (whoever is allowed to use those for payment should be stored on the card, even if those are two people). Maybe even add fingerprints and retina scans to it. We add them to passports, why not to payment cards?

That way, when each payment is electronic, everything can be traced and transferred where it would belong, including debt payment. Of course tourists would have to buy cards registered to them – that could be done in banks or kiosks with automatic passport scans. Technology makes such things possible today. No cash – no over the counter payments, no shoddy deals…

There are few bonuses from this: one, Greek electronic industry would profit immensely from this change. Two, no cash means less maintenance (no ATM to fill, less collections etc). Three, Mexico and some other countries with huge drugs problem could solve it or limit it – it is still very difficult to buy drugs with credit (or any other) card. Four, terrorists would have problems as well with all sorts of purchases.

I wonder why no one ever thought about it? Or maybe someone did – then if yes, why no one ever tried it? Maybe powers that be are themselves afraid? Or maybe there are arguments against it? I wonder what those are…