Journalist Alan Kohler.

Reflecting on a recent trip he took to Greece

Well-known financial commentator and journalist Alan Kohler says Greeks have lost their way in contrast to their glorious ancient past, in an article for The Australian.

He refers to Greece as “not quite third world, but close” in the article entitled ‘How Greece’s golden age became a giant mess’.

Giving a brief timeline of modern Greece while showing the ups and downs, Kohler recalls how in the ’60s Greece was the “coolest nation on earth”, making reference to Maria Callas, Jackie and Aristotle Onassis, Olympic Airlines, and Anthony Quinn as Zorba the Greek.

Reflecting on a recent trip he took to Greece, the journalist sets the scene of the modern day capital, saying “the first thing that struck me about Athens was the graffiti: it was everywhere. And we’re not talking Banksy or street art here, but messy scribbles. The second was all the boarded-up buildings and the third thing was the rubbish in the streets,” he writes.

Highlighting social and political instability as two of the main issues of modern Greece, he concluded that Greece’s acceptance into the eurozone was a mistake – more evident in the current political climate than ever.

The harsh critique of Greece’s state of affairs is encapsulated in his final sentence, stating “individually Greeks truly are wonderful people, but together they are a total stuff-up”.
Source: The Australian

Housing affordability has eroded in Australia’s two biggest cities during the past year, as house prices rose sharply while wages remained flat.

Sydneysiders living in two-income households are spending 35.1 per cent — or more than a third — of their income on mortgage repayments, while Melbourne households are spending 28.2 per cent, Moody’s Housing Affordability Measure found.

Sydney households with only one income earner would be spending more than 70 per cent to pay the mortgage, which is not sustainable, Moody’s says.

Less affordable mortgages increase the risk of default and delinquency and these risks will grow when interest rates rise from their current lows to more normal levels, Moody’s says.

The average standard variable mortgage rate currently sits at 5.65 per cent, but the 10-year average is 7.18 per cent, the ratings agency said.

“The larger loan sizes and repayment obligations of new mortgages in Sydney and Melbourne are especially problematic since these mortgages are being underwritten at historically low interest rates,” the report said.

“Borrowers who took out loans at historically low interest rates are at a greater risk of not being able to afford repayments when interest rates eventually rise.”

Applying various stress scenarios, including further gains in house prices, rising interest rates and falls in household income, Moody’s found that Sydney would suffer the worst deterioration in housing affordability of all the capital cities.

Nationally, housing affordability remained steady over the past year with households spending 27 per cent of their income to repay their mortgages — lower than the 10-year average.

Affordability improved in Perth and Brisbane and remained steady in Adelaide.

PAYING OFF A HOME LOAN AROUND AUSTRALIA

* National average, 27 per cent of income in March 2015, unchanged from March 2014

* Sydney, 35.1 per cent, up from 32.8 per cent

* Melbourne, 28.2 per cent, up from 27.5 per cent

* Brisbane, 23.4 per cent, down from 24.4 per cent

* Perth, 21.9 per cent, down from 24.6 per cent

* Adelaide, 22.1 per cent, unchanged

(Source: Moody’s)

Έκθεση Παγκόσμιας Ευτυχίας: Στην Ελλάδα η χαρά αγνοείται Ελλάδα, μια χώρα που βυθίζεται στην κατήφεια (Πηγή: Νίκος Παλαιολόγου / SOOC)

Η Ελλάδα είναι η χώρα με τη μεγαλύτερη πτώση των επιπέδων ευτυχίας στα χρόνια της παγκόσμιας οικονομικής κρίσης, δείχνει η φετινή Έκθεση Παγκόσμιας Ευτυχίας. Οι απώλειες, όμως, δεν αποδίδονται μόνο στην οικονομία αλλά και στην κατάρρευση των κοινωνικών θεσμών.

Η έκθεση συντάχθηκε από οικονόμους, νευροεπιστήμονες και μαθηματικούς του Δικτύου Βιώσιμων Αναπτυξιακών Λύσεων (SDSN), μια πρωτοβουλία που εγκαινιάστηκε από τα Ηνωμένα Έθνη το 2012 αλλά λειτουργεί ανεξάρτητα.

Βασίζεται στην ιδέα ότι «η ευημερία και η ευτυχία είναι κρίσιμοι δείκτες της οικονομικής και κοινωνικής ανάπτυξης των εθνών, και θα πρέπει να αποτελούν βασικούς στόχους των πολιτικών τους».

Σύμφωνα με τους συντάκτες της έκθεσης, τα τρία τέταρτα των διαφορών ανάμεσα στις χώρες όσον φορά τα επίπεδα ευτυχίας των πολιτών της εξηγούνται από έξι βασικές παραμέτρους: το κατά κεφαλήν ΑΕΠ, το προσδόκιμο υγιούς ζωής, την κοινωνική στήριξη, την ελευθερία, την απουσία διαφθοράς και τη γενναιοδωρία.

Η τρίτη έκδοση της έκθεσης από το 2012 ως σήμερα καλύπτει 158 χώρες και βασίστηκε σε δεδομένα της Παγκόσμιας Δημοσκόπησης Gallup για το διάστημα 2012-2014. Οι ερωτηθέντες κλήθηκαν να βαθμολογήσουν τον εαυτό τους σε μια κλίμακα από το 0, που αντιστοιχεί στη χειρότερη δυνατή ζωή, μέχρι το μέγιστο βαθμό του 10, ο οποίος αντιστοιχεί στην καλύτερη δυνατή ζωή.

Η Ελλάδα έρχεται 102η στη λίστα με βαθμό 4,857 μονάδων, κάτω από τον παγκόσμιο μέσο όρο του 5,1. Αυτό σημαίνει ότι η χώρα υποχώρησε κατά 0,891 μονάδες μονάδων σε σχέση με το 2010, όταν βρισκόταν στην 70ή θέση με 5,435 μονάδες.

Αν μάλιστα εξετάσουμε το σύνολο των απωλειών από τη διετία 2005-2007 μέχρι το 2014, η Ελλάδα παρουσιάζει πτώση 1,470 μονάδων, μεγαλύτερη από ό,τι σε οποιαδήποτε άλλη χώρα.

Άλλες χώρες με μεγάλη μείωση το ίδιο χρονικό διάστημα είναι η Αίγυπτος (-1,231) και η Ιταλία (-0,764).

Οι πέντε πιο ευτυχισμένες χώρες είναι:

1. Ελβετία (7,587)
2. Ισλανδία (7,561)
3. Δανία (7,527)
4. Νορβηγία (7,522)
5. Καναδάς (7,427)

Και οι πέντε λιγότερο ευτυχισμένες:

1. Τόγκο (2,839)
2. Μπουρούντι (2,906)
3. Συρία (3,006)
4. Μπενίν (3,340)
5. Ρουάντα (3,465)

Η έκθεση δίνει σημασία στη δραματική πτώση της Ελλάδας, στην οποία «η απώλειες ήταν πολύ μεγαλύτερες σε σχέση με ό,τι θα μπορούσε να εξηγηθεί άμεσα από τις οικονομικές συνέπειες».

Η περίπτωση της Ελλάδας, λένε οι συντάκτες, ενισχύει την άποψη ότι η πτώση της ευτυχίας μπορεί να έλθει ως αποτέλεσμα της «κατάρρευσης των κοινωνικών θεσμών» και της «διάβρωσης του κοινωνικού ιστού».

Ένδειξη που συνηγορεί σε αυτή την άποψη είναι το γεγονός ότι η Ιρλανδία και η Ισλανδία, χώρες που επλήγησαν από την κρίση, δεν εμφάνισαν σημαντική υποχώρηση στα επίπεδα ευτυχίας.

Σε κάθε περίπτωση, το SDSN θεωρεί ότι η έκθεση θα πρέπει να ληφθεί υπόψη στη διαμόρφωση οικονομικών και άλλων πολιτικών από τη διεθνή κοινότητα.

Προτείνει μάλιστα να ληφθούν υπόψη τα ευρήματά του όταν οι χώρες-μέλη του ΟΗΕ συναντηθούν το Σεπτέμβριο για να καθορίσουν τους λεγόμενους Στόχους Βιώσιμης Ανάπτυξης.

Πηγή:in.gr

«We’re going bust.» «No, you’re not.» «You’re strangling us.» «No we’re not.» «You owe us for World War Two.» «We gave already.”

The game of chicken between Greece and its international creditors is turning into a vicious blame game as Athens lurches closer to bankruptcy with no cash-for-reform agreement in sight.

Europe’s political leaders and central bankers and Greek politicians agree on only one thing: if Greece goes down, they don’t want their fingerprints on the murder weapon.

If Athens runs out of cash and defaults in the coming weeks, as seems increasingly possible, no one wants to be accused of having pushed it over the edge or failed to try to save it.

Greece’s leftist government has already identified its culprit of choice – Germany, Europe’s main paymaster, accused of having inflicted toxic austerity policies on Greeks, causing a «humanitarian crisis».

Euro zone governments are preparing the ground to blame the novice government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for having blustered, obstructed, failed to meet commitments and evaded hard choices while Athens burned.

“We are doing everything we can to save Greece from itself, but in the end, it’s up to them,» is the message pouring out of Berlin, Brussels and IMF headquarters in Washington.

Tsipras and outspoken Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis tried at first to mount a coalition against Berlin, touring France, Italy, Britain, Brussels and media studios after their election. They found no allies outside the media.

Tsipras revived demands for reparations for the Nazi German occupation of Greece in 1941-44, which his government put at 279 billion euros ($303.5 billion) – more than its 240 billion euro bailout from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund.

Berlin responded that it had already compensated victims and a 1990 agreement with the four victorious World War Two powers on German unification had put an end to war claims.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been careful to express goodwill and tried to build a relationship of trust with Tsipras while insisting Greece must meet its lenders’ reform conditions, which include fiercely resisted pension cuts and labor reforms.

“Everything must be done to prevent» Greece running out of money, she said after talks with Tsipras last week. «On the German side, we are prepared to provide all the support that is asked of us. But of course reforms must be done,» she added.

Investors briefly hoped her pledge might be a turning point, similar to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s 2012 vow to do «whatever it takes to preserve the euro».

But Merkel’s comments could also be interpreted as an exercise in pre-emptive blame avoidance. Unlike Draghi, she did not say who should do everything to stop Greece going bust.

Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, is openly sceptical of whether Athens can avoid crashing out of the euro zone.

Angry euro zone finance ministers made clear they were far from a deal with Greece, rejected Varoufakis’ plea for early cash in return for partial reform and told him they would not even discuss longer-term funding and debt relief until Greece signed and implemented a full reform plan.

While Greece’s leaders insist Europe must heed and respect the democratic will of the Greek people, its creditors reply that they too have democratic mandates from their voters.

In Varoufakis’ narrative, euro zone countries did not lend all that money to save Greece in the first place but to protect their own banks, which had imprudently lent Athens billions.

Nonsense, say euro zone officials. Those banks took losses in 2012 when Greek debt to private bondholders was restructured.

Varoufakis has widened the circle of blame to the ECB, accusing it of «asphyxiating» Greece by starving its banks of liquidity and severely limiting their short-term lending to the government.

That prompted an indignant response from ECB President Mario Draghi, who told the European Parliament the central bank’s support for Greece amounted to some 110 billion euros, but it was barred by treaty from monetary funding of governments.

For weeks Greek officials have been telling their euro zone counterparts they have run out of money, only to find spare cash to make the next debt payment. «They have cried wolf so often that when they are really going bust, no one will believe them,» one EU negotiator said on condition of anonymity.

Insiders say the ECB is determined that the central bank will not be the institution that pulls the plug. If it considers support for Greek banks is no longer tenable, it will seek a political decision by European Union governments.

“This is not something unelected central bankers should decide,» a source in the Eurosystem of central banks said.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is eager to hold Tsipras’ hand until the last minute in the hope that he will impose an unpalatable economic reform deal on left-wingers in his Syriza party before it is too late.

For Juncker, one of the fathers of Europe’s single currency, the departure of a single member from the 19-nation euro zone would be a grievous blow to the bloc’s global standing and could set a dangerous precedent, encouraging investors to speculate against other member states in future crises.

Even if it stayed in the euro zone, a Greek default on other European governments or the ECB would be one of the most acrimonious moments in the history of the European Union.

Amid mutual recrimination over ruined Greek savers and cheated European taxpayers, some fear demonstrations by Greek pensioners or hospital patients and violence in Athens.

If it happens, there will be plenty of blame to go around, but no one to take responsibility.

source:ekathimerini.com

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a phone conversation on Sunday to maintain contact during talks between Athens and its lenders to reach a debt deal, a Greek government official said.

“During their communication, they expressed their common will for a steady communication throughout the course of negotiations in order to have a mutually beneficial solution soon,» said the official, who declined to be named.

Shut out of international markets and locked in talks with its European Union and International Monetary Fund creditors over its proposed reform-for-cash deal, Greece risks running out of cash within weeks.

But during a regular meeting at the Latvian capital of Riga on Friday, euro zone finance ministers warned its government that it would get no fresh aid until it agreed to a complete economic reform plan.

The official said that the technical teams from Greece and its creditors — the so-called Brussels Group — would hold a teleconference on Monday and convene on Wednesday to speed up negotiations.

Three months of fruitless negotiations have raised tensions between Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and euro zone colleagues in Riga on Friday.

Euro zone ministers – the so-called Eurogroup – bemoaned talks they felt «were going nowhere» and one minister said that maybe it was time governments prepared for the plan B of a Greek default.

Responding to reports that he was isolated in debt talks, Varoufakis tweeted a quotation by American statesman Franklin Roosevelt on Sunday which read «they are unanimous in their hate for me; and I welcome their hatred.”

Varoufakis said the quote expressed his feelings in recent days.

source:ekathimerini.com