Inkwell Institute
European Desk
How many of you remember your Greek history? NO! I am NOT talking about the Spartans or Plato, Socrates or Aristotle or even the trials of Heracles ……NO! I am talking about the days of the 70’s…….
There was a time when I had to do a bit of travel and Greece was on my agenda….that was the Dark Ages of the 70’s…….a little of Greece’s recent history…..
After the end of WW2…Greece went through a bunch of social upheavals….mostly between the pro west forces and those darn pesky commies……it was a civil war that left the country in economic trouble as well as a hit to the social side of life….there were almost daily protests and violence….like shootings bombings and other assorted civil war thingys….it was not safe for Americans to travel to the country and in 1975 there were elections and a centrists won…..in the years after, the left was marginalized and there was rapid economic growth…most of it was from the remnants of the Marshall Plan…you know that plan to help countries re-build after the war…..and then all was quiet for a couple of decades…there was political and social progress that made most everyone happy….but in 2010 that came to an abrupt halt….(key sounds of screeching tires)…..
Fast forward to today……there are protests and violence and political woes…….
GREEK SOCIETY has exploded into protest against austerity measures, threatening to bring down the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou and his center-left PASOK party. Meanwhile, the country staggers to the brink of default and economic collapse.THE VAST majority of Greeks reject Papandreou’s attempt to implement austerity measures demanded by the European Union, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank in return for a bailout package negotiated in May 2010 that was worth nearly $160 billion. This “troika” is threatening to withhold further funds for the Greek government unless it accelerates the pace of the cuts.
As a result of the bailout deal, Greece’s population of 11 million is suffering its deepest social crisis in generations. Waves of draconian cuts, including a 20 percent wage cut for public-sector workers, reductions in pensions of up to 55 percent, and an increase in the retirement age have upended social life in Greece and decimated working-class living standards.
Now turn the page back…..the 70’s have returned….but this time it will not be communists vs anti-communists but rather banks vs people….the violence has returned, the shootings have returned, political upheaval has returned and the people have returned to the streets….how long before the cycle is completed?
As I see it, there is a way to avoid all this repeat of history…..my thoughts will piss off the banks and power elite….but it needs to be done to save Greece…..I know….what is my big idea?
Glad you asked! 1–leave the EU, 2–drop the Euro, 3–write down debt and 4–cut spending 5–raise taxes……this would NOT be popular with the bosses of the EU….but I think the people of Greece would be better off and maybe help eliminate the need for them to take to the streets….but as long as the answer to Greece’s problems is the people and what they must endure to make the economy whole again…there will be return of the days of yore….the 70’s.
Just saying!
Side note: Greek PM wins vote of confidence……more violence will follow closely…..
Up until the point where you said the banks versus the people, I was with you. The whole LOCAL problem stems (in my opinion) from the phrase you used to describe the government – “centre left”. In some ways, it’s the worst of all compromises. A centre RIGHT government as we have in the UK at the moment (let’s hope the media doesn’t try too hard to f*ck it up) DOES have a “human face” to it, a degree of consideration for the people, but aims for fiscal responsibility – it doesn’t always achieve that, but at least that is its guiding principle and they DO at least try.
It has little (again in my opinion) to do with the “people versus the banks”, though that is indeed how many of those causing trouble see it, but most of those people are WAY towards the left – like Americans wouldn’t believe! The situation is actually much simpler that you describe. The country has NOT been fiscally responsible – there was NOTHING held in reserve for “rainy day” and (like many state employees in both the UK and the US from the top on down to the cleaners) state jobs are paid WAY too much for very little highly inefficient work – plus pension and other benefits that ordinary people are expected to pay for and could NEVER afford for themselves.
Particularly in a country that really has little to offer the outside world apart from tourism, a few ancient ruins and olive oil and liquor, when the BIG one fails (tourism) as it has throughout much of Europe (and I guess the rest of the world) if there’s nothing in reserve, you’re screwed – and boy has Greece been screwed!
So, the result is that the economy is in collapse and the only thing they can do is go cap in hand to the the international banking community in the form of the IMF (assholes admittedly, but then it’s OUR money they are playing with, so good on them I say). THEY will require the sort of measures you describe, or they won’t lend the money…
YOU can say all you like that it’s “the people versus the banks” but it’s NOT. The banks are not in any fight. The banks don’t need Greece, Greece needs the banks because it’s f*cked up its own economy and they have to learn to live with the consequences because, BAD as what will happen under the IMF conditions may be for a time, the whole of Greece’s future will go straight down the tubes without the loans they are begging for – FOREVER!
The UK for one is saying that it will NOT put further money into bailing out Greece and why SHOULD we – we have enough overpaid, underworked and lazy, cheating bastards of our own to sort out, why would we want to pay for someone else’s?
Just a brief note: The UK was in the same state three or four decades ago and WE had to bite the bullet and “live within our means” until we got sorted out, but we did it and it did us no long term harm at all, in fact, without it, we might today be Greece ourselves. Sadly, without Gordon Brown and the Labour trash we’ve endured over the last thirteen years or so, that would probably mean we’d now be up there with places like India and Brazil, mopping up profits that would VASTLY improve UK lifestyle out of all recognition in the future, but GB (Gordon Brown) squandered much of what GB (Great Britain) had built up. However, the UK has a whole lot more to offer the world, so we should be OK if our government can stick to its guns sufficiantly.
In the nicest possible way, I think I should also point out that, though I don’t agree with about 80% of what the GOP says and 98% of what it does (not a lot that’s useful) it IS true that the US too (like ALL of us) is NOT “too big to fail” in the final analysis, when the brown stuff REALLY hits the fan!
They are asking the people of Greece to rollover so that the banks do not take a haircut……..if Greece were to write down their debt then the Banks would most assuredly take a huge hit……I think Greece would be better off without the Euro or the EU…..they will fail….but the country would copme out of it in a better position…..
There is a new edition to the post…..
I don’t agree. A big chunk of the money owed by Greek banks is owed to UK banks. I don’t really care much about that, except WE are NOT bailing THEM out again!
However, the Greek people are simply being asked to live within the means at the disposal of the country (which is close to f*ck all, admittedly). Personally, I don’t see a problem with that! If their politicians have failed them, then I can understand the anger and the frustration, but I do think that (in the case of Greece and a few others in Europe) the governments have been constantly weak in caving in to the demand to be paid and supported more than the economy can afford – nothing new there then… 👿
Personally, I think that the people are living within their means….the means that were given to them by politicians to gain their support on their way to political power…….most people took what was offered, like if I was offered a free 500 dollar check I would take it whether the offerer could afford it or not…….the problem is politicians created the problem by offering too much and now they want a giveback….I would fight it too within reason…..most people will do a lot to protect their country but not if it means they will make their family suffer…..it is a quandary…..
The people MAY be living within THEIR means, but they are NOT living within their COUNTRY’S means.
You suggest that the people just took what was offered and if it was more than the economy could afford then it’s not THEIR fault. You don’t know that at all, you are simply assuming “the people” are not at fault, because you think it’s always the fault of “the rich”. Well it isn’t automatically that way at all. Of course it’s the people’s bloody fault! It’s just NOT like the US – the big money does NOT in general own the majority of the politicians – therefore, the politicians have to go along broadly with what the majority wants (up to a point) and the VOTERS ALWAYS demand more than they earn or deserve, which is why OUR system is no better than your sh*t and I keep saying we have to SCRAP it ALL and start anew!
We could always go back to human nature……but that one is getting old…….let us blame greed, shall we? That way I can still blame the banks and politicians and you can blame the people……and yes the system sucks….but like I have said …the people do NOT have the cajones for change…..so in that incident …it IS the people’s fault….
However, I certainly do partly agree with your solution… 1. Leave the EU – SCRAP the bloody EU, you SHOULD say! 2. Leave the Euro – of course, the UK has had the sense never to join 3. Write down debt – maybe… Greek credit rating can hardly get worse, but just remember that NO ONE will lend you money again – EVER! 4. Cut spending – I agree, but THAT mostly means cutting services because that’s all the major spending Greece has! 5. Raise taxes – yes, but when few if anyone has a job, raising taxes to 100% would still be 100% of f*ck all (remember that the relatively few who DO have money will have left by then taking their money with them – if they haven’t already done so!
Agreed! But Greece has to do something, right? And you can bet your butt that the only thing acceptable to the IMF and others will be spending cuts…..the first three would be a trip to the barber shop for the IMF and banks….
As far as I’m aware, it really has little or nothing to do with the banks. WE, the ordinary people of the rest of the EU, WILL NOT KEEP ON PAYING FOR THE LEPERS IN OUR SOCIETY and Greece is one of them.
Yes, this has come about as a result of greed – greed for power by those running the EU. THEY wanted to create the United States of Europe and to expand it so THEY would be ever more powerful and many countries were clearly not suitable to become involved in something like this, but they were persuaded, frightened and tricked into joining. THAT is the problem and THAT is what Greece is facing, but it is about living as an equal in a tough financial environment that they are quite incapable of competing in.
I agree that the EU is horrendous, but the IMF is just doing what the IMF does – if you don’t want to fall foul of it, pay your way and stay well away from needing its help!
And that is why I say Leave the EU and write down debt and especially drop the Euro……
Quin….thought you might like to read this take on Greece……..http://econ.st/ijdS45
Exactly my point – the banks are put at MORE risk by what the IMF is demanding, not less – see my latest post… (I do still take the trouble to write stuff occasionally) 😆
I read it commented…there are a few questions I have for you…..
Quin… saw this …
Prime Minister George Papandreou is struggling to win support for extra austerity measures aimed at avoiding a debt default. But no serious person now believes that a default can be avoided. “I believe we should go bankrupt and get it over with. These measures are slowly killing us,” Efi Koloverou, a 22-year-old student, told the Reuters news agency. This view is shared in Brussels, no matter what they say in public. It is not a question of whether Greece will default but only when and in what conditions.
I dare say that’s right, but they should NEVER have been allowed into the EU, let alone encouraged to join…
Countries should, just like the banks SHOULD (and I think often WILL in the future) be allowed to simply fail – get it wrong and you’re f*cked, so don’t go wasting other people’s money on daft schemes you and no one else can afford!
I was trying to say just that…..drop out, write down debts and fail…….money will be lost and this will eventually happen anyway and at a higher price…..
We agree (for once) 😉
23 June 2011….we agreed…..let the party begin….LOL