I have been searching the interwebs trying to find out why the Greek PM called for the recent referendum, so far all I have found are opinion pieces that are more speculation than actual fact. I have been following the story fairly closely but I just missed the whole bit where Mr Papandreou came out and explained why he was doing something so seemingly stupid. I assume he has a grand plan in mind that he explained but I must have overlooked it. So if anyone has been following the story and can give me an insight it would save me some searching.

Greek PM is f--k up. He... and his people don't give a shit about the Greece. They are trying to save their butts so when everything fails they can say: well, its country's fault not ours. they voted that way.

They are the lost cause anyway. 12M people and 338 billion Euro debt
http://nationaldebtclocks.com/greece.htm

It is worrisome because fall of greece is not really a big deal (for everyone else that is) Italy and Spain can follow. and they are much more important countries.

Yeah, I would agree with that last bit, Greece is a little hyped up. The Greek economy is the 12th largest out of 27 EU members, and the 8/9th largest out of the 17 Euro memebers, so roughly in the middle. Italy and Spain are 4th and 5th in EU and 3rd and 4th in the Euro, much more serious but they aren't doing things as stupid as calling for a referendum on economic issues.

It seems like a tidy and legal way of relieving oneself from all that cumbersome responsibility the taxpayers pay one to bear.

Greece is I believe going down the drain, they fiddled the books to get in in the first place and now they are fucked, if it isnt sorted greece will default and be removed from the EU.

And whats all this with China too, the EU want to have China back up the money lent to Greece but China wont till the Greece crisis is resolved added to that they want the EU governments to shut up about Chinas lack of human rights, not on

just so you know this is snippets ive picked up and I may have misinterpreted them

I'm not Greek, but the referendum is almost certain to go down unless it includes provisions for going after the rich people that don't pay their taxes. The PM seemed to be confident that the ref would pass and that they'd introduce austerity measures to comply with the agreement, but it's hard to say if he's deluded or if

That's what a lot of the rioting has been about, the poor are expected to actually pay their taxes why the wealthy and politicians don't bother. I don't think that that alone would solve the problems entirely, but it would probably help with the social unrest.

The referendum is essentially to decide if they should go back to their own currency, in other words leave the EU. And that isnt necessarily a terrible idea. In theory they could reverse some of the problems they have which they could never solve with the regulations on the euro.

In practice, it would suck to live in Greece for a while and you are relying on politicians to make the right choices they failed at for years, but they would control their own destiny at least. Not saying its the right path, but it is not some ridiculous idea other posters are implying. Didnt notice you were looking for specifics, sorry. Basically they can massively devalue their own currency and allow themselves to dig out economically. Cant do that with the Euro.


EDIT:
Aaaaaaaaaand its over. Nothing like rocking the global markets for the sh1t of it...

http://news.yahoo.com/greek-pm-scraps-referendum-greek-debt-plan-144719929.html

Can't say what his motives are but if I were in the situation of the Greek voter, I would appreciate having a direct say on a matter of that importance. I think that may be at least part of the reason: to give the citizenry their say in the most direct manner possible. Or it's to try to pass the buck. Either way, the people get to have a voice.

This is just political pressure from the Greek PM towards his opposition. It was viewed that way from the start. A referendum that basically says "Can I take away your money to pay off our collective debt k tnx bye - YES NO" will almost certainly fall through. The opposition knows that, and they can't realistically make a campaign against the bail out because as bad as the situation is it can get much, much worse. Being against these measures is just a way to oppose out of principle, and that's what the opposition is there for.

I liked the idea, but 85% of my fellow countrymen are mostly stupid people who were brought up with the notion that the political party they vote for has done the best for the country, and the rival party has sucked the blood of the people and has orchestrated all kinds of betrayals (yesterday I even heard Papandreou is a US agent commissioned to fuck up the EU and make the euro crumble as much as he can), so I am not sure whether they would actually make their vote count - they haven't made it count since 1974 at least.

Things are simple: Either we stay in the euro and eat shit for the next 10 years at least, or we revert back to our old currency and eat shit for the next 10 years at least. We'll have to eat shit eventually, however we have to choose whether it will be European or our own. As for what I'd vote, I don't really know yet... I don't want us to leave the euro, but in the end it's better to be a proud poor, than a begging poor, and we've been begging for the last two years now.

The PM is scared of a revolution in Greece and perhaps even his assassination. He knows that if the follows the plan, it will destroy the lives of millions of Greeks and they are going to want blood.....his blood.

Also, Italy and Spain are next and they are too big for the EU to save them from default. Thats when the real CHAOS will start in Europe. Its very scary.

If Greece would only be the only country with fiscal problems... Italy for instance is a far bigger boulder to move out of the way if we want to see any kind of relief in the future. And there's also Spain, Portugal, Ireland...

The referendum has been canceled.

Edit: Breaking news.

http://thecivilisingmission.com/2010/07/09/a-recurring-greek-tragedy/