[Quinny]

I bought a commercial building back in the early noughties and invested a lot of time money and personal effort in refurbishing it. I got a few years good return from rental income from it when the crash came in 2008, the tenant went bust and the banks basically said 'tough s%&%'. New tenants couldn't be found so the building ended up being sold at a massive lost. When the banks make bad investment decisions they expect to be bailed out - by us!

They then play divide and rule games which unfortunately sometimes lead to war games and then the games stop, which is my main fear. We are being played by the system and the anti - Greek agenda is becoming 'gospel'. As usual we blame the powerless, not the powerful who cause the mess. All the youth of Greece have got from the 'bailout' is austerity and no prospects for the future. Meanwhile French and German banks were rescued by yet another 'mark'.

[onlooker]

Well that is what the sub-prime mortgage crisis was about. Bad investments affecting normal folks and guess who had to bail out the banks - the people. The level of corruption and irresponsibility now prevalent is amazing that in itself can bring down the whole system as the consequent widespread resistance and risk aversion continues to blossom to the point that business as usual becomes impossible to continue.

[americandream]

It seems to me that what Greece really needs is total overhaul of their culture. They are too accustomed to not paying taxes but receiving govt. jobs and benefits. There is no type of econ system (socialism, capitalism, etc.) where you can do this.

Culture change is almost impossible- even under the best of circumstances. But with left wing groups promising prosperity if they leave the Euro and disrupting daily life, I don't see that the deal- let alone culture change- has any hope.

A decent understanding of systems helps. The markets are basically top heavy with incompetents and hence we have to have all these half measures such as securitisation and hedging and of course black boxes . I suppose we ought to be glad the system is hobbled by nincompoops. If it was efficient, we would be in very deep doo by now.