April 24, 2024

News Cymru

Two sides to every headline

This is a quote from Athens News today

“If Greece unilaterally rejects the bailout deal it will be isolated for years. It will have no food, no drugs, no fuel. It will have to live with permanent power cuts,” Samaras told party faithful at the ND conference on Saturday.

Talk about getting into line with Provopoulos, the Greek central bank governor.

What happened to Samaras. Less than 2 months ago he was saying Greece was a strong country, that Greece could grow its way out of recession, that Greece did not need to be dependent on foreign aid.

And now he has completely and utterly folded by repeating the words of his former competitor Venizelos. You could even argue that Samaras has out Venizelosed Venizelos with that quote.

Now I like to base my articles on fact and then throw my opinion into the ring and this article will be no different.

If I did not know better, I would say that Greek politicians are having their strings pulled by the Greek central bank.

Why do I say this?

The closer a politician gets to power the more they tone down their position to the point where it is impossible to tell the difference.

Samaras was keen on saying how he would reduce taxes but that seems to be off the table.

Samaras was keen on saying how the country was strong and could climb out of the recession on its own, now he is saying country is doomed if it does not get foreign aid.

If you believe that the Greek media were in bed with the countries financiers it is very easy to imagine how subservient the politicians would have to be to the financiers if they want to get elected.

And as an outsider looking in, that is what it looks like to me.

Samaras is pandering to someone, the question is who?

And you have Tsipras. A rebel without a cause if ever I saw one.

I agree with a lot of what he says but his solutions are completely dependent on outside aid, he has more or less admitted it.

He, in my opinion, quite rightly says that the measures are self-defeating, and you could argue that they are this way by design, but he himself says, his position only stands up to scrutiny through Greece being dependent on foreigners.

His position is that Greece can do whatever it wants because Europe & Germany cannot afford to let it leave the Euro.

He says nothing about Greece being able to become a self sufficient country, his whole argument rests on his belief that the EU and Germany will have to give Greece money no matter what so Greece does not need to change.

In other words he is just as bad as Samaras & Venizelos.

All three, Tsipras, Venizelos and Samaras are all saying the same thing just in different ways, Greece needs help from foreigners.

This kind of rhetoric is extremely hard for me to swallow.

I mean it was not so long ago that Greece had its own currency, and from the people I speak to, and from my limited experience of the country during this time, things were great, at least for tourists.

So why after only 10 years to the main political parties seem to have forgotten this simple fact?

They way they speak it is as if Greece never had its own currency.

And not only that, you think Greece has never existed outside of the European Union and yet it is only just over 30 years ago that Greece joined but again, listening to the politicians from the main parties you would think that Greece had always been a dependent country and the thought of Greece being outside of the EU was a complete fantasy that never happened.

As I have said many times before, Greece’s problems are self-inflicted. The problem is that these self inflicted wounds have only been possible by foreign entities supplying the knife.

Without funding from foreign banks the Greek political class would never have been able to afford to run the country into the ground in the way they have.

The sad fact is, is that whoever if pumping money into the Greek economy ultimately controls the country. These parties that are funding the country supply “their” politicians with the cash that these politicians need, to employ their supporters in government in order to get elected.

And again, something that I have been constantly saying is that Greece has many soltutions, which are easy to implement, which would get the country out of the hole it is in within a year, the only thing stopping Greece from recovering are the bailouts.

The government bailouts are perpetuating the inefficient organs of government that are sucking the Greek people dry.

Greece needs to reject the bailout money for the Greek government.

Which brings me back to the title of this article. Why Samaras won’t change anything.

By admitting defeat as completely as he has, he is saying that he will not implement the measures required for Greece to recover should the next tranche of government bailout cash not arrive.

In effect he is saying, that if Germany refuses to give any more money he will not slash taxes and government in order for Greece to become self-sufficient and balance its trade deficit.

I keep talking about the trade deficit but it is the core of the problem. Unless Greece balances its trade account with the rest of the world it will always be dependent on foreign aid to replenish the Euros the country is sending abroad.

I will repeat myself, Greece has the potential to be a super power in Europe, if not the world on a per capita basis, the government simply needs to allow people to pay taxes voluntarily, the day this happens, I promise you, the country will be booming.

There is only one party in Greece that I know of that says anything like this, the Greek liberals. This is the only party that have sound fundamental policies based on personal freedom and not policies based on their belief that they know better.

They believe each individual is best placed to make decisions which are in their best interest. Until Greeks can get on board with this mentality I cannot see an end to the current recession.

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