We all know that Greece is responsible for its own problems – the country is utterly corrupt; anyone with any money doesn’t pay any tax; the billions handed over in EU aid for building roads and other infrastructure have mostly been stolen; much of the money given under the Common Agricultural Policy is for olive trees and other crops that don’t exist; the billions in war reparations paid by the Germans have also all been stolen and so on.
On that basis, you could conclude that the Greeks should knuckle down, do some work, pay some taxes and pay off their debts. But their economy has shrunk by a quarter since 2008 and their debt at 175% of GDP is unsustainable. Something needs to give. In life, we are often where we are and not where we would like to be. We therefore have to decide our policies on reality. In the case of Greece this means some form of debt forgiveness and boost to their economy in return for serious efforts to stamp out corruption and collect some taxes. After all, Germany was responsible for over 30 million deaths in WWII, but the Allies realised that the only way forward was to allow Germany a new start, free of unsustainable debt.
There is no other solution for Greece. But the EU elites cannot allow this to happen because:
1. The PIIGS – if the other members of the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain) saw the Greeks getting concessions while they are forced to endure austerity and repay their debts, their people would revolt against their governments for not getting similar concessions. Moreover, if the Greeks got concessions and managed to successfully grow their economy within the Eurozone, voters in the other PIIGS would also demand an end to austerity and policies to boost their economies.
Furthermore, as in Greece, most of the other PIIGS are also facing popular revolts against the EU – there’s Podemos in Spain, and Beppo Grillo’s party in Italy. If Greece’s Syriza succeeds in facing down its EU rulers, that would give a massive boost to anti-austerity, anti-EU parties in other countries. For their governments to survive, Greece cannot be allowed to succeed.
2. Germany and its cowardly cronies – if Germany and its sycophants (Holland, Finland, Denmark) allowed the Greeks to default on their debts, they’d have to explain to their taxpayers why hundreds of billions of Euros of their money have been flushed down the pan. Moreover, if Greece successfully grew its economy as part of a debt-forgiveness, economic-boost policy, then their people would start asking why they too have been subject to austerity rather than growth-based policies. The political establishment would be utterly discredited.
So, the Greek revolt against the EU elites must be crushed.
But the absolute worst scenario for the EU elites would be for Greece to renege on its debts, leave the Eurozone and succeed in growing its economy outside the Eurozone. If that happened, other PIIGS countries would also demand their freedom threatening the whole dream of a single European superstate controlled by Germany and administered by a corrupt hereditary bureaucratic elite based in Brussels.
The solution to Greece’s problems is quite simple. But it cannot be allowed to happen because it would call into question the whole EUSSR project.
Sorry Greeks, but you must be brought to heel otherwise others will also start to think about rebelling against the EU elites too. And they can’t allow that to happen.
Greece and the EU between a rock and a hard place…
“It�s not great living in �interesting times� when there are no leaders”
Interesting times indeed…
No one declared WWIII, we just sort of blundered into it rudderless.
Give the Pigs the option of an interest only period or kick them out. Polite but firm.