http://pix04.revsci.net/H07707/b3/0/3/0806180/312082053.js?D=DM_LOC%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.themuslimtimes.org%252Fwp-admin%252Fpost-new.php%26DM_CAT%3DNYTimesglobal%2520%253E%2520General%26DM_EOM%3D1&C=H07707%2CH07707http://pix04.revsci.net/H07707/b3/0/3/0806180/46547232.js?D=DM_LOC%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.themuslimtimes.org%252Fwp-admin%252Fpost-new.php%26DM_CAT%3DNYTimesglobal%2520%253E%2520General%26DM_EOM%3D1&C=H07707BRUSSELS — European finance ministers increased pressure on Greek bondholders to take voluntary losses to ease the region’s debt crisis late Monday and took new steps to complete action on a new bailout fund as the International Monetary Fund had urged.
The ministers backed efforts by Greece to keep the interest rate on newly issued bonds below 4 percent, Jean-Claude Juncker, who represents the 17 nations using the euro currency, told a news conference. That is below the level offered by bondholders in exchange for their current holdings of Greek debt. Read more
Categories: Economics, United States
I attempted to find out how much interest Greece has paid on their gov’t debt but was unable to find any reference to this amount. If Greece is like most 3rd world countries, then it would have paid back the original amount borrowed many times over in interest, with the original amount still owed.
Another interesting statistic would be to calculate the profit that banks have made on the Greek debt, considering the fact that banks are allowed to create 90% of the money they lend through fractional reserve banking.
If these calculations were included in the write down cost of potential Greece defaults, we may be surprised to discover that the banks would still show a profit.
This only shows that our economic system based on interest is nothing but shear madness. Regards