Greek capital controls put squeeze on iCloud, iTunes, App Store subscriptions
In a move to preemptively thwart a cash exodus as its economy implodes, Greece earlier this week enacted capital control restrictions to titrate the outflow of money, limiting international credit card payments to Web services like Apple's App Store and iTunes.
The preventative measures began to affect Apple customers in Greece on Tuesday when iCloud storage subscribers up for plan renewal were met with disruptions of service, reports Bloomberg. Many iCloud, iTunes and App Store customers pay monthly fees to Apple's international payment processing companies, but those accounts are not located within Greece.
One Bloomberg staffer based in Athens was alerted to an issue with their monthly iCloud subscription via email.
"On June 30, we tried to charge your account for your iCloud space of 20GB, but there is a problem with your payment details. If we don't manage to renew your subscription, your account will be downgraded to the free 5GB space program," the email said.
Apple customers in the region have little recourse but to let subscription service payments lapse, at least until Greece lifts the blanket ban on lenders. The situation is unfortunate given Tuesday's release of Apple Music.
Greek capital control limitations officially went into effect on Monday, prohibiting lenders from sending payments to international account holders and severely capping domestic bank withdrawals. In essence, the indebted nation is on lockdown after defaulting on debt to the International Monetary Fund.
Greece's current economic conundrum falls primarily on the shoulders of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who must weigh the consequences of accepting another international bailout against strict economic reforms. On Wednesday, Tsipras asked citizens to reject the proposed deal in lieu of better terms, a move with which many are in agreement, according to a poll cited by Reuters. Support against a bailout is weakening, however, and public sentiment is in decline after this week's bank closures.
The preventative measures began to affect Apple customers in Greece on Tuesday when iCloud storage subscribers up for plan renewal were met with disruptions of service, reports Bloomberg. Many iCloud, iTunes and App Store customers pay monthly fees to Apple's international payment processing companies, but those accounts are not located within Greece.
One Bloomberg staffer based in Athens was alerted to an issue with their monthly iCloud subscription via email.
"On June 30, we tried to charge your account for your iCloud space of 20GB, but there is a problem with your payment details. If we don't manage to renew your subscription, your account will be downgraded to the free 5GB space program," the email said.
Apple customers in the region have little recourse but to let subscription service payments lapse, at least until Greece lifts the blanket ban on lenders. The situation is unfortunate given Tuesday's release of Apple Music.
Greek capital control limitations officially went into effect on Monday, prohibiting lenders from sending payments to international account holders and severely capping domestic bank withdrawals. In essence, the indebted nation is on lockdown after defaulting on debt to the International Monetary Fund.
Greece's current economic conundrum falls primarily on the shoulders of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who must weigh the consequences of accepting another international bailout against strict economic reforms. On Wednesday, Tsipras asked citizens to reject the proposed deal in lieu of better terms, a move with which many are in agreement, according to a poll cited by Reuters. Support against a bailout is weakening, however, and public sentiment is in decline after this week's bank closures.
Comments
I’m happy for the first time in seven or so years (unrelated, interestingly enough, to the state of the economy back then). I shouldn’t be–still nothing is going right for me–but we finally have a chance to destroy the scam of fractional reserve banking and the fiat currency scam. So this has me in fairly high spirits.
If not now, September for sure.
I’m happy for the first time in seven or so years (unrelated, interestingly enough, to the state of the economy back then). I shouldn’t be–still nothing is going right for me–but we finally have a chance to destroy the scam of fractional reserve banking and the fiat currency scam. So this has me in fairly high spirits.
If not now, September for sure.
I'd love to see the Fed shut down permanently. If Rand Paul gets elected, it would be awesome for him to put Ron Paul in charge of the Fed so he could end it.
Plus... term limits. We need those across the board in Washington.
Ron Paul as SecTreas is like the best fantasy in the world.
Somewhat related; I assume Chicagoland's new 9% fun tax applies to Apple Music as well?
The Greeks were screwed by derivatives, something that is also trying to be foistered upon the American people!
http://moneymorning.com/2011/10/12/derivatives-the-600-trillion-time-bomb-thats-set-to-explode/
The Greeks did this to themselves with levels of corruption that made Chicago look like Mayberry.
Exactly, and huge pensions for the retirees at the state retirement age of late 40s, and borrowing endlessly with seemingly no intention of paying it back.
Not sure it's going to really put a "squeeze" on Apple subscriptions in the grand scheme of things though, since Greece isn't exactly a massive Apple hub nor a sizeable economy at all. A few percent of the total European economic output. Tsipras is looking pretty stupid too, since him & his government keep making mistakes and moves that're seen as rather undiplomatic. Calling a referendum after their current bailout expired without informing their creditors, then trying to cancel it but finding out they can't due to their constitution. Clever. Talk about biting the hand that feeds.
The Greeks did this to themselves with levels of corruption that made Chicago look like Mayberry.
Agreed. Greece gets no sympathy from me.
The EU and Eurozone is a joke. Greece will hopefully be the first of a long line of countries to break up this power-grabbing sham. Ireland has gotten completely f******* by Europe.
I hope so too. Many do, I'm sure. One thing the Greeks say that I do agree with is that the EU is undemocratic. Rejected ex-politicians who fall into a position of power in Europe with no recourse.
Brilliant, Rand Paul and Ron Paul, Dumb and Dumber. I wouldn't put them in charge of replacing the urinal cakes in my office. Good thing neither of them will ever get near to hold public office outside of some garbage state nobody cares about.
The Greeks were screwed by derivatives, something that is also trying to be foistered upon the American people!
http://moneymorning.com/2011/10/12/derivatives-the-600-trillion-time-bomb-thats-set-to-explode/
The Greeks were screwed by a combination of facts.
- First, their leaders reporting incorrect numbers, either by guile or incompetence.
- Second, American banks "helping" them out with creative accounting and advanced baking techniques, among which derivatives.
- Third, Germany and France using the exact same practices, and being therefore very unmotivated to call their Greek colleagues out on that.
- Fourth, "austerity" practices imposed by the anglo-saxon world (e.g., America and the UK), which multiplied Greek debt by two.
- Five, and that one is vicious, an American-led ideology calling for the privatisation of the public sectors of health, energy, and other critical sectors, which is entirely incompatible with the existing law and social systems in most of Europe (and is the never-called-out main reason for our current woes).
- Six, non-negligible levels of corruption and cheating, but however this one must be taken lightly, since independent audits seem to show similar levels of cheating in France, Germany and the USA, albeit at higher levels in society. (That one is, to me, very interesting...)
- Last but not least, where is the money? It would seem a lot of money was channeled into American weapons, American financial systems, and German-French industry (for example, during the creation of massive and useless sports architecture).
The People of Greece here are probably just like the French, the Germans, or the Americans: screwed over by extremely rich, extremely dishonest people.
Fun fact by the way: Greece was of no concern until the Greek Prime Minister decided to tell the truth about the state of the country he had just gotten the reins of, causing a massive backlash of American notation agencies (which calls both the competence of said agencies, and the wiseness of telling the truth as a political, into question....). In other words, while the 6 previous causes are the root causes, the outlying causes are American notation agencies incompetence and American ideologies of austerity and privatization.
Whenever I see Americans (or, to be fair, British, French, or Germans) being all riled up after the Greeks, rather than after the system that will f**k them too when their turn comes, I feel sad for us all.
Exactly, and huge pensions for the retirees at the state retirement age of late 40s, and borrowing endlessly with seemingly no intention of paying it back.
Not sure it's going to really put a "squeeze" on Apple subscriptions in the grand scheme of things though, since Greece isn't exactly a massive Apple hub nor a sizeable economy at all. A few percent of the total European economic output. Tsipras is looking pretty stupid too, since him & his government keep making mistakes and moves that're seen as rather undiplomatic. Calling a referendum after their current bailout expired without informing their creditors, then trying to cancel it but finding out they can't due to their constitution. Clever. Talk about biting the hand that feeds.
That's only part of the picture. Either you watch too much right-wing news reports, or you are being dishonest here. Creditors had taken several engagements they did not hold to, forcing Tsipras' hand. Not to mention that German politicians like Schaübler are pushing too hard, which is concerning since they were the main cause of the austerity practices that killed the Greek economy in 2009. This crisis is political, the causes are political at heart, and in the end people like you and me are at risk.
Do you really think our money is safe from the exact same situation in our own countries? What if the next US President announces that, sorry, numbers have been underestimated and debt is unsustainable (wait, I mean, MORE unsustainable... OK, doesn't matter. The US have been living on borrowed money forever, why would it change?) What I mean is, as long as it's too risky to sacrifice the US economy to making a megapile of quick cash, the USA inhabitants are living lives of spending money they believe they have.
Each US taxpayer owes 161,022 dollars in 2015. Each Greek taxpayer owes 35,024 dollars. It seems quite clear from sheer numbers that Americans should side with the Greeks. The rules they make now will bite them back.
As for the "squeeze", I agree with you. Greek input is irrelevant to Apple in the short run.
^^^ FYI, the U.S. is currently $18+ TRILLION in debt! I seriously doubt the public appreciates the magnitude of this problem. Spending like lunatics won't solve anything.
Yes but unlike Greece the US has it's own currency, so it can use the time honoured way of getting out of too much government debt: money printing.
When Greece, Ireland, Spain and other European countries joined the Euro, they should have realised they were leaving behind further use of this grand tradition, and been fiscally responsible from then on.
Exactly, and huge pensions for the retirees at the state retirement age of late 40s, and borrowing endlessly with seemingly no intention of paying it back.
Don't believe any racist BS you hear on the news.
For "paying it back": Greece's loans have been repayed many times over (2-3 times for most) -- the additional burden is from extra piled up interest.
Furthermore, Greece (until the default 2 days ago that is), never stopped paying back its loans and interest, until 2010 on its own, and since then with a "bailout" programme that basically just siphons money from Greek and EU taxpayers to the EU banks (think Wall Street "too big to fail" bailout),
Note also that the bailout money (which don't get to Greek government -- they go directly to dept repayment, except a small amount (10%) that goes to Greek banks), are in the form of further loans, not some "gift", essentially worsening the dept.
To pay its share, Greece had cut wages by 40%, sold assets, shrank the economy, and drove unemployment to 30% (up to 50% for younger workers), with efforts that have been lauded as "extreme sacrifices" by the IMF AND the E.U.
Contrast that with Germany, who invaded Greece in WWII, took a compulsory loan from the occupied government, and never repaid either the loan or war reccuperations as it had the obligation under international law to do so. It was let to do so without repurcursions because post WWII the ex-Nazi Germany was suddenly valuable Cold-War US ally (and the other half of it valuable USSR ally).
As for the BS about "lazy", "early pensions" etc, don't believe any old racist thing you hear. They extrapolate from special catagories of the population (e.g. like in US, France, etc, were e.g. military personel can get an early retirement starting at 47), pretending it holds for the majority and never even putting down the numbers.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17155304
Actually we have our currency and the Federal Reserve to thank for the development of Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto, the person or group behind Bitcoin was disgusted by central banking and currency manipulation. Out of the corrupt and collapsing past and present comes the future.
Evidently you have no idea what "racist" means. You really should stop using it.
Also, Greeks had been massively over-employed by their own government. An economy based almost completely on siphoning funds is unsustainable.
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Did you know that the debt has been illegally frozen for the last 15 weeks?
Don't believe any racist BS you hear on the news.
You can’t be racist against a country. Are you Greek and just offended at the thought that you should have to have personal fiscal responsibility?
I did not know this. Evidently our government and economy runs on magic now. Nice to know. ????
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Did you know that the debt has been illegally frozen for the last 15 weeks?
You can’t be racist against a country. Are you Greek and just offended at the thought that you should have to have personal fiscal responsibility?
Sorry, but do you actually have a reputable source for that story? I Googled it, and all I got were either tabloid sites or ultra right wing blogs like Newsmax.