Greece - will this tip us into another recession?

[wahwahwah]

as I have been told today?

Either yes or no.

what's it done?

Defnitely given that Spain,Portugal,Ireland,Italy and the UK are in the same boat.

yes and then the govt will have something to blame for what's to come

BenHer - accept they aren't. Portugal's biggest problem may be low growth rather than high debt ^www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15959527, Ireland's debt reductions are SO FAR convincing the markets, the UK doesn't need to refinance as soon as Greece and isn't in the euro. I have no idea about Italy. Not so say they won't all go the same way, but they aren't the same.

"Portugal?s public deficit rose to a record 9.4 percent of GDP last year with a sovereign debt of 126 billion euros, some 76.6 percent of GDP.

Government officials project the sovereign debt to climb to 142 billion euros by the end of this year."

That looks like high debt to me ojf.

Aye, it just might not be their BIGGEST problem.

If this were a Greek problem only then no it would not affect the UK. However, the risk of contagion to other contries is high. Interest rates on bonds in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland have been forced up and if that spilled over into the UK it would raise costs of borrowing across the economy. That would tip the UK back into a recession.

Furthermore, if severe austerity measures are imposed as Govts desperatley try and cut deficit spending then unemployment will rise and wages and prices will fall. In that case, there is an increased risk of a deflationary Depression setting in.

Greece is just the canary in the coal mine of international bond markets.