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Comment by dataker | Hacker News Reader

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dataker·

Using the problem to extend the problem.

Pragmatism is a scarce resource in our time.

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The EU found a very pragmatic solution which spares Greece to become a second Argentina.

The situation is different with IMF, South American political culture and Mercosul.

Still, assuming it was the case, Greece would just take more time to 'become a second Argentina'.

Isn't the Argentinean case lauded as an example of successful default?

I would argue it'll be prove more succesful eventually as well. It's better to start over from a clean slate (even if potential investors might become scared to invest in a defaulted country) compared to becoming perpetual financial slaves, which I think will be the future of Greece if they choose to stay in the Eurozone.

quite the contrary:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/in-hedge-fund-argenti...

At this point, I think that many Greeks would happily accept being a second Argentina. I guess that this is what they wanted when they voted Syriza and when they voted NO in the referendum.

Moreover, the outcome of the Argentinian crisis, after the "corralito", was not so extremely bad for Argentinian economy. This is the annual GDP growth of Argentina in the year of the crisis (2001) and the 6 years after:

-4.4, -10.9, +8.8, +9.0, +9.2, +8.4, +8.0. Average: +4.01.

This is the equivalent data for Greece starting in 2008:

-0.4, -4.4, -5.4, -8.9, -6.6, -3.9, +0.8. Average: -4.1.

I guess I don't need to comment further.

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG

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