Am 05.07.2015 um 18:44 schrieb Stephen:

> When I've listened to the Greek politicians being interviewed. They all
> say that the current situation puts them in the position of loan shark
> victims. Well, that's what it sounds like to me, paraphrased.
> I think the Euro zone banks should give Greece loans at a rate that can
> be paid back without grinding the faces of the proletariat, any further.
> Whoops!  <gets back down off soap box>
> I don't see how setting up contracts that cannot be fulfilled is helping
> anyone.

Well, of course that's what the Greek politicians say in interviews. 
They have a people to please. I was quite optimistic about Tsipras and 
his team, but now it seems to me that he is - and always has been - more 
interested in becoming popular by pointing the finger at the creditors 
and shouting "foul" rathern than really tackling Greece's problems.

You are aware that the money the Greek government wants from the EU has 
ZERO interest for quite a while, and is only due to be paid back several 
decades from now? That's hardly loan shark practice.

(Now the short-term money the Greek /banks/ want, that's an entirely 
different story; but that money is not at the heart of the issue - 
that's just part of the fallout.)

Also, the EU isn't really breaking Greece's fingers. They're just 
demanding from Greece the equivalent of pulling itself together and 
getting a decent job (or at least what the EU thinks is a decent job).

So they're not in the position of loan shark victims - they're in the 
position of someone with a questionable lifestyle asking his relatives 
for money /again/ but refusing their demands for already agreed-upon 
steps to get his life together, and then pulling the victim card when 
they make a fuss about his change of mind.

And that picture fails to include Greece's threat to pull down the Euro 
with them.


Tsipras' strategy, from the start on, seems to have been to play chicken 
with the EU. Riding a scooter against a pick-up truck, which may or may 
not be carrying some highly flammable load.

Bad idea. Even /if/ the truck is driving on the wrong side of the road.

Post a reply to this message