Greek crisis likened to a game of poker

[emmie]

glad i don't play then.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15584091

[DTCwordfan]

more like a game of craps.....

[emmie]

Last i heard was Papandreou has dropped the idea of a referendum, so what now for our little friends.

[DTCwordfan]

has he resigned yet? There was talk of that at lunch time.

[emmie]

no, i think he is waiting for a better offer.

[emmie]

Greek PM George Papandreou says he is seeking consensus with the opposition on a eurozone bailout as an alternative to holding a referendum.

[Philtaz]

Dunno about poker but dig deep boys and girls cos WE are gonna be paying the house!

[ichkeria]

There will certainly be no referendum. I suspect that the idea of a referendum will be dropped in exchange for the opposition supporting the government in the confidence vote.
I can't make my mind up whether Papandreou is a clever, calculating schemer or a failed prime minister who knows his number is up and is playing as though he might as welll go out with a grand gesture.
Or, he simply doesn't know what he's doing ...

[rov1100]

Don't worry! Obama has appeared on the scene to sort things out.

[ludwig]

I think Greece has been written off. The attention is already shifting towards Italy.

[jake-the-peg]

Papandreou could see that he was going to catch the blame for the austerity - as soon as it kicked in the opposition was going to blame him big time and say "you shouldn't have taken the deal" despite it being the only sane option.

So he's trying to force them to back the package.

The Greek electorate are looking for an easy way out that doesn't exist

60% are against the bail out but 70% want to stay in the Euro - But they can't stay in the Euro unless they accept the bail out.

If they leave the Euro and default nobody will lend them money and they'll run out of cash in weeks they'll print money like mad and there will be hyper inflation.

In some ways it's a bit like Cameron blaming Gordon Brown for the "Economic legacy" despite bailing out the banks the only possible course of action at the time.

In my mind the only question is whether the opposition parties will back the bail out with a different Prime minister to save face or whether they will stick to the fantasy of default and trigger a general election

[emmie]

it's all rather up in the air isn't it, and haven't heard any more this afternoon on the state of play, but wonder if Greece defaults, what happens, and who would be next, Italy perhaps.