Comments on: Greece Looking To Sell Bonds to US Investors – Are You Kidding?

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:47:31 +0000

The hairdresser, musician & TV anchor examples do sound excessive. But the NYT article says that just 14% of Greek’s have the early retirement pension deals so its not anywhere near the majority. And thats not nearly enough to cause all of Greece’s debt problems, just “contribute” to them. Lets not paint all of Greece with such a broad brush. Theres plenty of people in the USA with sweet pension deals too.
+1

By: Daddy Paul

Daddy Paul — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:38:07 +0000

Never underestimate the power of a high interest rate. People were buying GM bonds just before the bankruptcy.

By: Money hints

Money hints — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:13:25 +0000

I would never invest in greece. I don’t see what they could do for me and I only invest in things I believe will get better. I don’t think Greece will get better, I just think they will just come along with the rest of us slowly.

By: Smarter Spend

Smarter Spend — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:40:20 +0000

You’re being to hard on Greece… even though they are in heavy, the country won’t default on its loans. A few days earlier, Greek investors bought 3 times as much bonds as needed (based on government projections) to allow solvency for at least 6- 12 more months. Also, the EU has a lot riding on Greece- it knows this can set off a domino effect to Italy, Portugal, and Ireland.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:30:47 +0000

By: ctreit

ctreit — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:07:09 +0000

The Greeks will wake up eventually just like we will wake up eventually. The current deficits are not sustainable. Like you, I would not want to buy a US bond or a Greek bond, even if it yields twice as much as Germany’s does right now. Greek bonds at 25% would not even make sense, because in the case of such high yields we would know that a default is only a matter of minutes. I would only buy TIPS these days.

By: Investor Junkie

Investor Junkie — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:20:35 +0000

@Investor Junkie, Let me add I won't invest in our (USA) 10 year right now unless it's in the 6% range.

By: Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:17:18 +0000

The returns would need to be at least double 6.5%…so, no, we’re not interested.

By: Investor Junkie

Investor Junkie — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:01:44 +0000

I could go either way, either let it die a horrible death with their dumb government policies or pay me 15%+ return. 6.5%? I wouldn’t touch it with a 10′ pole Much less riskier investments at that ROR.

Either way, Greece will default, it’s just a matter of when.

By: Blair MacGregor

Blair MacGregor — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:18:29 +0000

As insane as this is, I’m sure other European countries are probably not far behind in terms of their debt ratios; many of them subscribe to the same policies of endless pension obligations & job-killing restrictions on businesses.

Even in the U.S., we’re not immune from it. While we still have (or at least claim to have) a pro-business outlook, clearly the amount of debt that we’re piling on year to year is unsustainable without suffering severe inflation down the road. States & cities around the country are already feeling the pinch and are having to cut back out of necessity.

Maybe it’s crazy to say but I don’t think there’s any country in the world I’d feel particularly safe holding bonds in.