I had the pleasure of speaking to an accountant who is working in Greece at the moment and I asked him, how he saw the economy, up, down, no difference, better than last year, worse than last year and so on. He said businesses still had work but..
they were not getting paid on time and in some cases they were not getting paid the full amount for the work that they did. I asked him if that was a problem and he said not really. People still had enough work to keep busy so the work existed.
We then started talking about the austerity measures, I said there doesn’t appear any future for the country if Greece continued on this course. He told me that if Greek defaulted then Germany wouldn’t lend Greece anymore money which would cause problems he also talked about the problem being a global one and that if Greece did default then it would have bad knock on effects for the whole world.
Basically he seemed to be saying the same thing that you hear in the news which made me wonder, do the Greeks really understand the situation they are in. At the end of the day this was an accountant I was speaking to and he was regurgitating the words of the mainstream media.
If I can take what he says point by point.
He talked about Germany and how they would stop lending money to Greece if Greece were to default. To a certain extent he may be correct but there is also a flip side to a Greek default. Greece will be a much more appealing country to lend money to if it’s debt burden was slashed. Greece after default will be in a much better shape to take on loans that it is now.
About the problem being a global one and that if Greek falls it will have a domino effect. I am not sure if the problem is a global one but the problem certainly effects most of the European countries as well as the USA and Australia.
Having said that I do not know why the fact that most western countries having the same problem should effect Greece. It is not Greece’s responsibility to look after other countries, at the end of the day Greece should be acting in it’s own best interests. If Papandreou, Venizelos etc are working in the best interests of Europe instead of Greece then they are commiting treason.
And in any case there is no evidence that the Greek austerity measures will stop the “contagion”, a term invented by the international banking cartel.
Much of what he said is true but in my opinion it does not change the fact that the increasing of taxes on private business and increasing the taxes on the people in general is completely the wrong course of action and will lead Greece to poverty. I do however agree with the reduction of wages for the private sector and also to the slashing of the government work force. I also agree with the liberalisation of the labour markets in Greece. there is far too much bureaucracy which concentrates power which leads to corruption.
Papandreou talks as if there is a solution to the Greek problem that does not involve pain. He is completely wrong and at the end of the day if he is taking his advice from the international banking cartel then it is no surprise that he is being given false and/or misleading information.
The talk now is of Greece choosing for a controlled default. This is an extremely worrying development. In effect it means that the Greek debt will be passed onto the children and grandchildren of Greeks today which will directly effect their quality of life.
And don’t forget that a condition of the IMF/Troika deal is that Greece will implement tough austerity measures. I have said it before but I will say it again. Papandreou is hazardous to the health of Greece. After 12-18months of negotiations this is the best he can come up with.
Let me break it down. Panadreou’s best shot at negotiation resulted in the following. Greece must undergo massive austerity measures most of which is targeted at the private economy. And in return Greece will increase its debt burden so the children and grandchildren of modern day Greeks can pay the interest.
After so a long period of negotiation I do not see what the Greeks have got in return for these measures. People need to wake up to the fact Greece is being led into massive poverty, waiting until the problem effects them will be too late, the money will have already have been sucked out of the economy and the country.
By all means shrink government massively. By all means get rid of employment and professional regulations. But do not force Greek businesses and Greek people to pay more direct and indirect taxes.
To increase taxes and at the same time reducing government spending can only lead to a downward spiral which has no bottom.
Greeks need to wake up to the fact that there is no easy solution to the Greek problem but the people need to have the bravery to face the international banking cartel head-on. The Greek people need to refuse to pay back loans that were made fraudulently and illegally and the Greek people need to refuse to have the future of Europe placed upon their shoulders by politicians who want to guilt the Greek people into slavery
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