Fixing something that is broken on a fundamental level (The country of greece) by using abstract economic tools? This will end well.

Pancakes are now the Greek monetary unit?

Well, it's certainly an interesting picture the kid paints.

Some one should ask Herman Cain how he feels about this.

Cute idea, but if the Greeks know that their inflation is going to rise much quicker than the Euro, why would they convert their Euros to drachmas?

Tank_Fuzzbutt: Pancakes are now the Greek monetary unit?



Counterfeiting Kit

I was just coming here to submit this with a Grover Norquist-related headline.

He couched the solution in terms that an 11 year old would understand. He explained the process so that anyone could easily understand it. He had an intuitive grasp of the problem of not having enough to pay off the debt, and he solved that by implicitly defaulting and forcing lenders to take a smaller share of the debt.

It doesn't pay to speak in terms everyone can understand.

NuttierThanEver: Who know who else had a solution that involved ovens?

Hansel and Gretel?

Arkanaut: Cute idea, but if the Greeks know that their inflation is going to rise much quicker than the Euro, why would they convert their Euros to drachmas?

Because the drachma will be legal tender in the country, not the Euro. Although they could use paper Euros to get around it like US dollars are used in the Mideast/AfPak... but doesn't work as well in a developed country where there are a lot of electronic transactions.

I hope he doesn't paint himself into a corner

Came for The Shield, leaving disappointed.

Maybe he should focus more on his poker game

Got tired of bothering lesbians, I see.

LewDux: NuttierThanEver: Who know who else had a solution that involved ovens?

Hansel and Gretel?

Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet?

/there's dirt on those mushrooms but it's clean dirt...

YixilTesiphon: Came for The Shield, leaving disappointed.

YIXIL!!!!!!

Where you been man?

YixilTesiphon: Came for The Shield, leaving disappointed.

Would you settle for "The Wire"?

stickandmove: I hope he doesn't paint himself into a corner

Thank you! I don't know how sunny worked Dutch Boy into a headline without coming up with paint...

Edsel: Arkanaut: Cute idea, but if the Greeks know that their inflation is going to rise much quicker than the Euro, why would they convert their Euros to drachmas?

Because the drachma will be legal tender in the country, not the Euro. Although they could use paper Euros to get around it like US dollars are used in the Mideast/AfPak... but doesn't work as well in a developed country where there are a lot of electronic transactions.

I guess my objection would depend on the savings rate in Greece, which in retrospect might not be that high given the consumer credit bubble that they experienced after they joined the Euro. If someone has a lot of savings denominated in Euros, they would want to hold onto it (or if they were forcibly converted to drachmas as kbronsito suggested, they could convert it back to Euros) until they absolutely have to spend it. But if Greeks in general do not have a lot of savings, then I guess they have little choice.

Well, they do have a choice, and that's the black market. I understand that has a larger role in Greece versus other parts of Europe, but I don't have the numbers to back it up.

The other objection would be how you deal with the creditors. They want their debt back in Euros, and trying to satisfy them will create a lot of inflation. Although honestly, it's pretty bad as it is, and having a shiatty paycheck with 10%-20% inflation may be an improvement for the average Greek over not having any money at all.

I don't know. This whole plan seems rudderless to me.

Sliding Carp: Kid's solution that got him a 100 euro sympathy gift for being cute:

He explained his idea in brief, saying Greeks would "hand in all their euros and get drachma in return. The euros go to the government and it pays the debts."

"The Greek man gets back Greek drachme from the bank, their old currency. The bank gives all these euros to the Greek government.
"All these euros together form a pancake or a pizza. Now the Greek government can start to pay back all their debts, everyone who has a debt gets a slice of the pizza."

Robert Bootle and his team of Capital Economics in London (for which they got 10,000 pounds to keep working:

A country leaving the euro would convert its government and consumer debt into its own currency. The country would then deliberately default to bring its debt levels down to 60 percent of its economic output.

Isn't this one pretty much exactly what the kid said?

No, the kid pretty much says exactly what he saw on TV. All he did was write down what an economic analyst on TV said.

Diogenes The Cynic: YixilTesiphon: Came for The Shield, leaving disappointed.

YIXIL!!!!!!

Where you been man?

Busy.

SPLAMM: YixilTesiphon: Came for The Shield, leaving disappointed.

Would you settle for "The Wire"?
[i160.photobucket.com image 362x316]

No, that's obviously unacceptable.

SPLAMM: Would you settle for "The Wire"?
i160.photobucket.com

My read on the Euro situation is that it's Germany, not Greece, that needs to drop the currency. If Germany leaves, the value of the Euro drops way down, deflating the debt of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, et al. It'd hurt Germany a bit because their exports would be less attractive, and it'd hurt France a bit because their economy doesnt suck, but they're both strong enough to absorb the blow and move on.

As Dom Mazzetti would say, "I failed a semester of econ, so I know a thing or two about failing economies"

Tank_Fuzzbutt: Pancakes are now the Greek monetary unit?



"I'm rich, biatch!"

In his written entry to the competition, translated into English by his father Julius, Jurre goes into greater detail, suggesting that on top of Greek people exchanging euros for drachma, anyone trying to move euros out of Greece should be penalized.

Too late. Some large percentage of the country's private Euro-denominated deposits have already been moved out of Greece in anticipation of just such currency controls. The number I think I remember was 60% and that was months ago. So are you going to force Greeks holding Euro deposits in banks outside the country to repatriate their Euros and undergo a forced conversion to a currency that will probably be debased in the five minutes after they receive it? You think you had riots already, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

The Greeks are adrift and have no control over their direction.

If the Dutch were really interested in helping, they'd forgo the oven, and lend them some sort of aquatic steering device.

Arkanaut: Cute idea, but if the Greeks know that their inflation is going to rise much quicker than the Euro, why would they convert their Euros to drachmas?

To buy stuff

NuttierThanEver: Who know who else had a solution that involved ovens?

Gerald Gardener.

Oh, you said ovens, not covens. Never mind.

Jim.Casy: My read on the Euro situation is that it's Germany, not Greece, that needs to drop the currency. If Germany leaves, the value of the Euro drops way down, deflating the debt of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, et al. It'd hurt Germany a bit because their exports would be less attractive, and it'd hurt France a bit because their economy doesnt suck, but they're both strong enough to absorb the blow and move on.

This idea has been dubbed the Neuro-Seuro solution; split the euro zone in a Northern-Euro and Southern-Euro currency. Of course, this is more complicated than just 1 country leaving the euro zone, and it means all Southern euro zone countries will share the inflationary pain, with no regard for which country caused the most problems.

As it stands, Greece has just defaulted on its loans. Not much different from a company going bankrupt, really. And there's never been any suggestion that big corporations that fail (or are bailed out) have to leave the currency. Can you imagine General Motors employees being told they will henceforth be paid in GM Dollars, rather than real ones? Doesn't happen. Companies cut wages, fire people and sell assets; just like Greece is now forced to do.

A Greek default was supposed to be the end of the world (or at least the Euro), but I only found out Greece had defaulted the following Monday.

Oh BTW, according to a radio interview, the kid doesn't want to be an economist when he grows up. He wants to be a zoo director.

cgraves67: Some one should ask Herman Cain how he feels about this.

I think that the Germans should get final say.

"Nein nein nein!"

jjorsett: In his written entry to the competition, translated into English by his father Julius, Jurre goes into greater detail, suggesting that on top of Greek people exchanging euros for drachma, anyone trying to move euros out of Greece should be penalized.

Too late. Some large percentage of the country's private Euro-denominated deposits have already been moved out of Greece in anticipation of just such currency controls. The number I think I remember was 60% and that was months ago. So are you going to force Greeks holding Euro deposits in banks outside the country to repatriate their Euros and undergo a forced conversion to a currency that will probably be debased in the five minutes after they receive it? You think you had riots already, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

It wouldn't take 5 minutes for it to be debased. The drachma would have zero value outside of Greece as, under the plan, Greece would immediately use the euros to pay off their debt.

The reason that money has value is that it represents or is supported by something. In the U.S. our money is backed by a percentage of either gold or silver. Other countries back their money by holding U.S. dollars.

So if Greece used all the newly collected euros to pay the debt there would be nothing supporting the value of the drachma, it wouldn't be worth the paper it is printed on.

namatad: JeffreyScott: The reason that money has value is that it represents or is supported by something. In the U.S. our money is backed by a percentage of either gold or silver. Other countries back their money by holding U.S. dollars.

UM
WHAT THE FARK are you talking about?
1) you are a troll
2) you are so stupid that you dont even know how stupid you are
3) you are a troll

the US dollar is backed by nothing. period. (sure backed by the federal government)
the dollar, like the euro, yen and pound, are fiat currencies.
they are backed by nothing.

Now now, he could be a time traveler from prior to 1971...

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: ProfessorOhki: namatad: JeffreyScott: The reason that money has value is that it represents or is supported by something. In the U.S. our money is backed by a percentage of either gold or silver. Other countries back their money by holding U.S. dollars.

UM
WHAT THE FARK are you talking about?
1) you are a troll
2) you are so stupid that you dont even know how stupid you are
3) you are a troll

the US dollar is backed by nothing. period. (sure backed by the federal government)
the dollar, like the euro, yen and pound, are fiat currencies.
they are backed by nothing.

Now now, he could be a time traveler from prior to 1971...

JeffreyScott confirmed as either 1st or 2nd Doctor.

This just in: Money only has the value to which people assign to it - this is what we call the exchange rate of the x currency versus y (your) currency.

Practically, in the event of breakdown of civilization, all the paper money in the world wouldn't do you any good (except perhaps, as a shiatload of firestarting tender).

Yaxe: Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: ProfessorOhki: namatad: JeffreyScott: The reason that money has value is that it represents or is supported by something. In the U.S. our money is backed by a percentage of either gold or silver. Other countries back their money by holding U.S. dollars.

UM
WHAT THE FARK are you talking about?
1) you are a troll
2) you are so stupid that you dont even know how stupid you are
3) you are a troll

the US dollar is backed by nothing. period. (sure backed by the federal government)
the dollar, like the euro, yen and pound, are fiat currencies.
they are backed by nothing.

Now now, he could be a time traveler from prior to 1971...

JeffreyScott confirmed as either 1st or 2nd Doctor.

This just in: Money only has the value to which people assign to it - this is what we call the exchange rate of the x currency versus y (your) currency.

Practically, in the event of breakdown of civilization, all the paper money in the world wouldn't do you any good (except perhaps, as a shiatload of firestarting tender).

Legal tinder?

ProfessorOhki: Yaxe: Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: ProfessorOhki: namatad: JeffreyScott: The reason that money has value is that it represents or is supported by something. In the U.S. our money is backed by a percentage of either gold or silver. Other countries back their money by holding U.S. dollars.

UM
WHAT THE FARK are you talking about?
1) you are a troll
2) you are so stupid that you dont even know how stupid you are
3) you are a troll

the US dollar is backed by nothing. period. (sure backed by the federal government)
the dollar, like the euro, yen and pound, are fiat currencies.
they are backed by nothing.

Now now, he could be a time traveler from prior to 1971...

JeffreyScott confirmed as either 1st or 2nd Doctor.

This just in: Money only has the value to which people assign to it - this is what we call the exchange rate of the x currency versus y (your) currency.

Practically, in the event of breakdown of civilization, all the paper money in the world wouldn't do you any good (except perhaps, as a shiatload of firestarting tender).

Legal tinder?

English is a hard language. I'm a native speaker and I still don't speak it correctly.

/¿como hablas español?
//No sé, senor, no sé.