I was delighted when I read the article Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds. All the quotes below come from it. While the author thinks the Greeks suffer from a unique moral disease. I think they’re simply farther along the road to collapse than us.

Greek government bonds are rated as junk bonds. This isn’t a problem for Greece, because it can still borrow money from other governments. Greece is now a ward of other states.

Here’s what a senior IMF official said about Greece, “Our people went in and couldn’t believe what they found. The way they were keeping track of their finances—they knew how much they had agreed to spend, but no one was keeping track of what he had actually spent. It wasn’t even what you would call an emerging economy. It was a Third World country.” Read the rest of this entry »

Intel CEO, Paul Otellini, says executives are most concerned with uncertainty. He says the government needs to, “Take the uncertainty out. Businesses can’t invest until they have fewer variables and right now there are just too many variables.”

Companies like Intel continue to invest because their future requires it (technology), but he says, “A lot of companies are sitting on the side lines.”

The economic environment is very uncertain. Otellini asks, “What are the ground rules? Give me some certainty.”

For example there is a significant R&D tax credit that must be renewed every year. Companies don’t do R&D for a year. As Otellini puts it, “You need to know the credit is going to be there if you’re going to make this investment.” Read the rest of this entry »