March 28, 2024

News Cymru

Two sides to every headline

There is talk about a complete private sector strike tomorrow in Greece as a protest at further tax increases. But I think there is a better, more effective and easier thing that Greeks could do.

The banks are the source of the problem in Greece. The Greek government owes private banks billions of Euros and it is the private banks that receive the majority of the bailout money.

Given this I propose that instead of private businesses going on strike for a day that instead employees and business owners should simply withdraw as much money as they think is appropriate from the banks for one day.

People in Greece that I have spoken to have said that would collapse the banking system, I disagree.

If withdrawals were getting too large banks would simply refuse to issue any currency. They would either refuse people who wanted to withdraw cash in the branches or they would let the cash machines run dry.

It is only a day protest I am proposing so any problems would be rectified the following day. It is simply a warning shot for want of better words.

What would it achieve?

A coordinated withdrawal of money from Greek banks for a specific day would show the parties involved that Greeks have the power. The Greek people as an entity have far more money that the government, it is the Greek people who should be deciding on the terms of any bailout and not the politicians. Normally politicians would be expected to be acting on behalf of the people, this has clearly ceased to happen in Greece.

A coordinated withdrawal of money for one day would show the banks that Greek needs to be taken seriously as they have the power. If the Greek banks want to profit from the efforts of the Greek people than they should be respected.

Greek banks should be pushing the government harder to carry out the reforms that are needed in the country.

The banks should be pushing the government in the strongest possible terms not to raise taxes. Any taxes that the Greek people have to pay is less money for the banks to profit from. The banks should be working in the interest of the Greek people by influencing government policy.

The Greek banks should not be sitting idly by while the Greek government carries out measures which resolve none of the core problems and only serve to implode the Greek economy. If there was ever a case of killing the goose that lays the golden egg then taxes increases is it.

The only money the Greek government has comes from the taxpayers. If the taxpayers are getting poorer then so is the Greek government. Or at least it would be were it not for the EU, ECB and the Greek government doing two main things which are making the situation untenable for the Greek people.

The first is the type of taxes that have been imposed on the Greek people. The taxes imposed are completely separate from income, for examples look at VAT increases, fuel duty increases, income tax based on property and not income and property taxes.

In a normal situation tax increases would lead to a shrinking of the economy and a reduction in the tax revenue. The type of tax increases being implemented in Greece are designed to be as insulated as possible from the crumbling private sector. This has accelerated the decline of the Greek economy while limiting as much as possible the decline in tax revenues.

And these types of tax increases have been aided and abetted by the ECB, EU & IMF.

It would have been impossible for the Greek government to pursue such a cruel type of taxation had they not been propped up by the Troika. The Troika is keeping the Greek government afloat while they pillage the Greek economy and the savings within it.

Some Greeks I have spoken to believe that Greece is controlled by the USA. On the actions of the Greek government I would have to say Greek politicians are representing outside interests whether the politicians themselves realise it or not.

All politicians are dependent on outside funding, the biggest difference between Greece and the USA is that the funders of the politicians in the USA are based in the same country so they are in some way effected by their actions. With the funders being outside of Greece they are complete isolated from the consequences.

Summary.

For the Greek people to start setting the agenda they need to get the Greek banks on their side. What is good for the Greek citizen is good for Greek bankers, their influence on Greek government policy is sadly lacking at the current time. Greeks need to discipline the banks that are not representing their own business interests. A single day of bank withdrawals would put pressure on the Greek banks to start pushing the government to carry out the reforms that are needed to make Greece a country that is independent from German bailouts and German government policy.

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