The View From Outside
The BBC has a generalized report on the situation in Greece.
My personal view is this is political cowardice of the first water. What the political parties want to do is form a temporary ‘unity government’ to pass the ‘Enslavement of Greeks to Save German and French Banks Act’, and then call for elections in which they will all claim they didn’t want to do it, and it was all Papandreou’s fault.
They should have had the referendum, and then pulled out of the euro when the Greek voters said ‘hell no!’. Let Germany and France deal with the gambling debts of their own banks.
The basic problem is ‘religious’, not economic. The euro is a fiat currency, and the European Central Bank could solve the problems by moving numbers around on a spreadsheet. The various countries that have real problems, like Greece and Italy, can deal with them after the economy recovers. Imposing austerity now may be the only ‘correct choice’ in terms of the ‘religion’ of Germany and France, but it is an economic disaster. Europe is forcing itself into another deeper recession with its actions.
If I was a Greek voter I would never vote for anyone in the current parliament ever again. Let the politicians find out what life is like for the unemployed.
Update: Duncan on French austerity. It is a downward spiral, like the threads on a screw.
3 comments
Unfortunately, by the time politicians take a dive, the citizens are already taking up the butt. Trust me, I know. Unemployment and I are close friends now.
I agree Bryan, I would like to have seen the Greeks have the referendum then default. (Then maybe Portugal and Ireland too). It would certainly bring things to a head and maybe, just maybe, the policitians of France, Germany and the UK et al would start thinking about the real architects of our financial problems.
Our current political rabble won’t deal with the banks without someone throwing a grenade under their arses. Merkel’s and Sarkkozy’s rabble too.
I hear you, LK, and know too many people in your situation, including family members. I’m retired now only to save what little money I still have. I was running through it looking for work as my clients were dropping like flies because of the economy. I had worked with some of them for decades, and they have had to shut their doors.
Jams, they are making things worse, and you wonder if they will ever really look at the numbers and understand that they are destroying their economies.
I foresee a growth market in gallows, gibbets, and guillotines if the politicians don’t mend their ways. People tend to get really put out about starving and will do things they never thought of doing during normal times.