If it is all Greek to you. Feb 2010

Greece is a great country and the Greeks have a certain “savoir vivre” (for Canadians lacking the French part of the equation that means , roughly, “understanding of life”). They are passionate about their affaires ( only a Greek like Aristotle Onassis would  have the guts, or grace, to pick up a Kennedy), hate their enemies equally ferociously ,particularly the Turks , but love throwing plates around the place as I learned in the Plaka while trying to escape without eating the appropriate desert. Also it is the last country on the European mainland to tolerate a dictator (Papadopoulos) long after Franco and Tito were de facto gone. Despite all that the economy’s basic  rules apply there too. Here is the chart (no less than a total return chart!) of the Athens stock exchange index.

Athens feb 2010

You already would have lost 75% (remember total return!) at the recent and now it looks like you are going there , and perhaps beyond, again. Of course Nana Mouskouri  makes up for all that, but what is more worrisome is that the State of California is only 1% less profligate than these fellows and all they have , for the moment, is Schwarzenegger.