Greece and their problems

[flip_flop]

Its that time of year when I start to consider booking my familiy's summer holiday and as a rule we generally like to go to Greece.

The price of everyday items, such as bread and milk, shocked us last year, so should we decide on Greece again this year, what can we expect?

I strongly suspect their bail-out will have a detrimental effect on the cost of everyday items as I understand they will need to increase their equivalent of VAT, but what else can we expect?

[Buenchico]

The 'bail out fund' Eddie refers to is an interest-bearing loan, not a gift. It will make money for British taxpayer's, not lose it.

As far as VAT goes, the current rate in Greece is 21%. However the rate of VAT on food remains at 10%, so there's no reason to expect any great price increases. Indeed, if the Euro continues to fall in value, prices in Greece should (from a Brit's perspective) seem lower than they used to be. (The same, of course, applies to other Euro-zone countries).

Chris

[buildersmate]

Trying to go to Greece this year may well recent in a disappointing holiday.
No sign of the unrest ceasing any time soon, so high probability of disrupted travel plans.
Not worth the risk, until the civil servants have got more used to the inevitable reduction in their living standards.

[Andyvon]

This isn't too helpful flipflop but over the last few years my wife and I have travelled abroad four or five times a year. We like fly-drive holidays and Citybreaks and we also have two or three touring holidays in the UK each year. However, things have got so bad lately with the states of the pound and euro, prices at home and abroad, the ash cloud, problems in Greece etc. that we've just stayed at home this year. We haven't been anywhere in 2010, nor have we booked anything for the summer or autumn. There just don't seem to be any prospects for care-free and enjoyable trips at the moment. Instead, we have plenty of day trips and treat ourselves whenever we feel like it (we went to Whipsnade Zoo last week - £42 for a couple to get through the gate!)

I think what we're seeing now isn't simply a 'recession' (that suits the politicians) but the situation is much deeper and far more serious. I think that Europe and the UK (and possibly the Western world as a whole) are currently undergoing a rapid economic collapse. We've allowed our economies to evaporate away into Eastern Europe and then Asia and now we live in impoverished states that are going bankrupt very quickly. Prices are going through the roof; housing, fuel, benefits, healthcare, pensions, savings etc are collapsing and children at school today have little hope of a prosperous future. Even New Labour called this a 'lost generation' recently. There's no way back I don't think. We've no manufacturing, farming, fuel production or industry left to fight back with. China rules the global economy now with India close behind as they've destroyed the West with their cheap and limitless labour forces. We can't compete with that.

I know that's not too helpful but prices will never go down flipflop - they'll just keep going up now. We can see that Greece is finished, as is the UK and EU. What about staying at home?