Banks prepare for the return of the drachma

[BillBoard]

How is this for news?!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/banks-prepare-return-drachma-083804551.html

By Douwe Miedema and Sarah White

LONDON (Reuters) - Banks are quietly readying themselves to start trading a new Greek currency. Some banks never erased the drachma from their systems after Greece adopted the euro more than a decade ago and would be ready at the flick of a switch if its debt problems forced it to bring back national banknotes and coins.

[Sparky]

These two sentences stood out to me (emphasis mine):

"Many banks have been simulating a rupture of the euro in "war games". But little is known about how an exit would work, and legal departments are poring over financial contracts, raising questions about the very nature of a currency."

So, this question is starting to emerge from all of the financial turmoil: What is money?

The ultimate beneficiary of this question being posed in high financial circles will be gold and silver.

[gunDriller]

http://www.goldeneaglecoin.com/productimages/greecekingso.jpg

http://www.goldeneaglecoin.com/productimages/1281377732_2.jpg

if it was me, i'd bring back a 2012 version of this silver coin. Greece's obligation is to their people, not the bankers. they could use their limited resources to stock up on silver - and today's Gold Silver Ratio of 55 would help in that regard. i think they have about 100 tons of gold.

when i was a kid we lived there. 30 drachma was about $10. 1 drachma would buy a souvlaki/ Gyros sandwich, containing protein from God Knows What.

i would love to hear Greece say, "we are defaulting on our debt and bringing back the Drachma. we will have a 50/100/? Drachma silver coin containing about .36 Troy Ounces of silver, convertible to 50 Euro's. our resorts on Corfu & Crete are now taking reservations."

there were lots of German tourists on the beaches there when i lived there. as long as their safety can be guaranteed and Northern Europeans can get some of that decent Greek red wine & olives & the wierd pizza they make (don't use a lot of tomato sauce) - i don't think it would take too long after a default for recession-stricken northern Europeans to re-discover bargain vacations in Greece.

but the security issue is important.


i found one of those coins on eBay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GREECE-1963-GREEK-30-DRACHMA-5-KING-SILVER-XF-UNCIRCULATED-/280876656171?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3D UA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D320748513939%26ps%3D63%26clk id%3D8345596723472418179

[mamboni]

when i was a kid we lived there. the drachma was about $10. 1 drachma would buy a souvlaki/ Gyros sandwich, containing protein from God Knows What.



Thanks to an excellent posting by Silver Rocket Bitches, we know what it contained: Beaver anal gland juice and crushed African beetles - yum!;D