...and a tax-free existence until recently... I agree with all of the above, but not much of it pays bills, not even the Gods
I'm not sure what the olive industry is worth nowadays but the others just aren't enough to sustain a reasonably big country. I'm ****ed if I know what the solution is for Greece but I guess they have to try and specialise in other areas too.
I didn't really explain my thoughts very well there did i Goldie I understand that our economy is driven by completely different methods of income generation to the Greeks. The point i was trying to make ( albeit in my usual cackhanded way) was that with an increase or two in interest rates many people in the UK could well find themselves plunged into poverty by the financial institutes over here as is currently likely to happen to the unfortunate people of Greece when the ECB / IMF pull the plug.
The WWF 2002 report, based on scientific data from across the world, reveals that more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by humans over the past three decades and that the planets resources are expected to expire by 2050. Also - PhysOrg.com) -- Eminent Australian scientist Professor Frank Fenner, who helped to wipe out smallpox, predicts humans will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2010-06-humans-extinct-years-eminent-scientist.html#jCp
Quite a lot has happened in the last 13 years. Do you have a more recent prediction, like one which incorporates more modern methods for finding and extracting natural resources and the huge discoveries around the world since then?
Have a look at Professor Fenners article in the link as it is more pertinent............... irrespective of what has or hasnt happened in the last 13 years he and many other professors believe it is already too late to reverse the process. Basically. think Easter Island and apply that principle to the planet as a whole and you wont be far away. You asked who was to say when the earths resources would run and when................I've simply provided the answer to your question.
Yes, I agree about exposure on interest rates, Pils. There could be hardship if they go up too fast. However with house prices rising as they have over the last few years, and on the assumption that with foreign money still coming in, house prices won't crash, there should be little negative equity thankfully
Nicky Morgan Education Secretary, tying herself in knots about freedom of expression/ teachers actions where they suspect 'radicalisation' in schools on the wireless. Almost as if she hadn't been briefed on it at all. I certainly couldn't understand it.
Sadly, this says everything about modern Greece. It's all in the past. They need to reinvent themselves, especially commercially May be we should start their ball rolling by returning the Elgin Marbles...
Why? So they can be more like us? They should do exactly what their climate tells them to do - as little as possible, very slowly.
I dare say climate does come into it, and I'm not holding the UK out as a model necessarily, but the serious question is - is what is happening over there leading to a happy, contented people and the answer at the moment, when no one can get money from the bank and the future looks bleak, is no. We Brits go over there, laze on the beaches, and think what genial, relaxed people the Greeks are (and they are), and then come back and forget about their problems. If Greece gets kicked out of the euro and the drachma is devalued many times...well, you only have to look at Germany in 1929 to see the pressures this can create on a society.
Whatever scenario this will be very hard on ordinary people in Greece. But ecomonic stability, rather than prosperity, is more strongly aligned with happiness. Hence 7 of the top ten 'happy' countries being relatively poor latin American ones. Greece is currently way down on the next bit of the list. Iraq and Syria at the bottom.
