Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Georgie Porgie Pudding and Pie, Screwed Markozy and Made Them Cry


Honestly speaking, I am pretty much content to now let this blog go to seed, but recent events have pulled me out of blogging retirement.

Anyone living in Greece will know what an awful time we’ve been having of it lately.
Riots, rising prices, new taxes all the time and constant anxiety about what is
around the corner.

While the troika spent the summer asking for increasingly severe measures to be placed on the Greek public, we sat tearing our hair out. We heard all the time about how Greece might not get the next tranche of bailout money and then what would
happen with pensions, salaries etc?

Finally after much negotiating and begging, Greece’s debt was shaved by 50%. Hooray!
This was progress. Maybe finally things would be very shitty for a long time
instead of very very shitty for a very very long time.

And then George Papandreou pulled the rug out from under everyone by calling a
referendum on whether Greece should accept the next tranche of bailout money
and the extra cuts that will go with it.

Really????

Seriously, what was he thinking? Why now? Why after nearly two years of misery does
he decide it’s time to ask the people? As lovely and democratic an idea as it
is, you are left to hope against hope that the vote will return a Yes. Because
come on, those sweet little old grannies in the Greek countryside don’t give
two hoots about Europe and are likely to vote in their droves to exit the Euro
and the Eurozone, both of which would be the instant kiss of death for Greece. A
return to the drachma would be a total disaster, and a default would leave the
country destitute and a pariah of the global bond market, if that’s not already
the case.

So why do it? It’s a move as unexplainable as Andie MacDowell’s entire career – it makes no sense at all.











I don't get it

There are a few theories:

* Georgie genuinely cares about
democracy and wants to give the final say to the people. If he pulls off a yes
vote, it will shut everyone up for a long time (but see above, a Yes vote is
not very likely at all when the Greek public are reaching the point where they
literally can’t afford to feed their families any more and are as pissed off as
a Tasmanian devil rolling down a hill in a barrel full of porcupines) Plus he’s
a politician, they don’t care about the people or democracy as a rule.

* Georgie has all his life savings riding on a short that the country will default so he’s pushing oh so hard in that direction.

* Georgie has gone mad.

* Georgie knows something we don’t know. As in, there actually is no money for the next bailout, or it won’t matter anyway because the Mayan calendar says the world ends in 2012. Might as well stir things up between now and then, since the referendum is set for January….Those Mayans may have been on to something now that I think of it.

* Georgie wants to punish the rest of Europe and their markets by tossing everything up in the air just when the deal was sealed. Revenge is a dish best served cold and all that, and let’s be honest, the conditions under which people now have to live are becoming unbearable. The troika imposed a bunch of very severe measures on the public, which Ok they caused the problem too by tax dodging, but in the end it’s the
government that was responsible for collecting those taxes. That’s why it’s
called a GOVERNment, not a SCRATCHYOURBALLSALLDAYment.

*Georgie is an attention whore. With the immediate issue solved for the time being, no one would be talking about him as much. This way, he got invited to Cannes! And be part of the G20! Take that, other nations!

* Georgie is an evil genius.

If he pulls off a yes vote, everyone will want to know how he got past the laser field.



6 comments:

Sofia K. said...

"Georgie is an evil genius."

Whahahaha!! Sorry, way too funny. If this drama ever gets picked up by Hollywood, I know just the actor that can perfectly embody Georgie-smiling-innocently-slash-evil genius: ladies and gentlemen, I give you John Malkovich!

molon lave said...

Thank you for returning, I hope the baby is well.
Interesting analysis, it is really hard to understand the whys. However, I believe, is putting this out there, because in his heart of hearts, he does not want to be the one who sold out the nation's independence, such as it's been since Independence. Perhaps, the agreements signed can be nullified, control of the Aegean with her mineral & energy resources will remain Greek- as for the return of the drachma, it is not only old ladies- at least common people were able to live, and remittences of a dollar would buy the bread for the week. Contrast that to 2003, when a cup of turkish coffee went up 400% overnight. At least we still have our land, and we are not giving it up to the Germans, or the French who all had a bigger hand in the corruption scandals of late- we have suffered immensely as a people, but , God willing will survive- perhaps Germany can send back the gold stolen, compensate us for the 500,00 and up deliberately starved- my husband's young uncle, cousins, and bridegroom- brother-in-law- were all killed in Sparta in mass blocades- my father-in-law refused to claim the pittance that Germany sent for his brother who could have helped with the widowed mother, the four sisters all in need of dowries-his sister who died in 2009, while we were in Greece, walked for Spart to Tripolis to demand her brother back, which they refused, my mothers said the women of the surrounding villages came with flowers to bury the dead, but were denied the bodies- my husband in 1960 lost his 9 year old brother to an Italian grenade, & injured him triggering a life long condition- where is our, and everyone else's compensation, how about the British hit on the demonstrators in Athens 1944, december, because they supported EAM & didi not want the King and his Nazi wife back- where Churchhill said that Greece will never decide her fate?
I can not speak for the PM , why he is unable to punish anyone, but he is the boy who watched the colonels break into his house, attack his siblings, suffered exile- we want what's right, whether we return to the drachma is a side issue- again thanks for the blog

Anonymous said...

I can't sleep, so I turned the computer back on.I hope the swelling on your face went away.

My brother-in-law, a financial advisor, made some derisive comment about Papandreau over in British Columbia, Canada, ten thousand miles away. I bet if not for this crisis, with Greece always in the news even here. he would have had no inkling of the name of the Greek Prime Minister. His analysis of the problem was that Greeks pay no taxes and don't have big businesses. He also said it was a good thing I visited Greece already for there will be no Greece quite soon. He raises the topic of Greece with me in an amused sort of way for he wonders why I am so interested in it, probably thinks I am interested in some guy from Greece or something.

I don't think Greece will go extinct. Nations suffer all sorts of calamaties and continue to survive. I am sure those alive when Greece fell due to the Ottoman empire thought it was the end, yet Greece still exists.

While tax collecting might be a problem (and heck even in Canada there is a black market and billions are lost in taxes each year due to people doing things for cash) in Greece, I think an equally big problem has been its EU partners selling it goods and giving it easy credit to buy all those goods in spite of knowing about its tax collecting problems.

I wonder why the nations helping Greece with its bailout are imposing all these conditions that are causing the economy to shrink further. When Germany got bailed out by North America after starting that nasty war, there weren't such conditions. One condition of it not being allowed to have an army really helped it have more capital for business. Apparently, Germany has gone bankrupt several times and has been bailed out. It seems like Greece really did get used by its richer neighbours and now is being made into a whipping boy so others can see what happens if they don't pay back what they were lent to buy goods made in the lands of the money lenders.

For me, what is the most valuable resource of Greece is the Greeks, even though some Greeks scare the %%%%% out of me right now for they have turned to violence against immigrants , robbing fellow Greeks, etc. I think with Europe's history of wars that have killed tens of millions per war, Europe should be more responsible and help Greece so it does not sink into some ugly war-like situation where among other things tons of immigrants will be killed off.

I am not a communist or even against capitalism, but I do believe at some point human beings have to realize that an endless appetite to sell, sell, sell even to those who can't afford it can't lead to anything but ill and maybe even the destruction of the species in the end. There has to be something to temper the limitless appetite for wealth by the producers and for things (which mainly end up creating bigger garbage dumps) by the consumers. We think of ourselves and our children but can't see a few generations down or even 20 years. Heck, those that got Greece into this mess by joining the Eurozone couldn't even see 12 years down the road, couldn't see that they were being colonized, and would be used as a zone for holding illegal immigrants to stop or decrease their spread into the rest of Europe (the Dublin Treaty).

The EU doesn't give a shit about you guys. You have to learn to be independent and strong on your own and be who you are.

Anyway, so ends my rant. Good luck to all those in Greece, the working class people anyway. The rich never have to worry for their money always can fly to other lands and be safe.

Anonymous said...

Thank you ever so much for returning. I think most of your options are right at the very same time. This is the Greek drama at its best. You can forget all of the Turkish TV-series played on prime time on Greek TV and have some from all over the news. I´m holding my breath here (until I turn blue). ;P

Jan

http://athenspassion.blogspot.com/

Ieva said...

I was glad to find your blog, very interesting to read it.

In my opinion, lowering the debt by 50% as an action itself was not such a surprise - the EU would not left Greece in such sutuation, at least because this way they could give you some hope and lower the copmlaining.

All the riots and merging anxiety is made by yourself. Here it seems that more truth is in this post (http://eugenia.queru.com/2011/06/20/regarding-the-greek-situation/), that most of the problems rise from Greeks themselves.

Probably the positive thought in this is that first, you are not the only country facing the crisis, and if the rumour about the 2nd wave of crisis is true, it will be even worse. Secondly, the nation has to take part of the blame of its problems in every country of the world as well. We wote for what we wote and we most of the time are too much interested in our personal benefit.

Here is my blog, where I, as a short time inhabitant of Greece, express my thoughts. http://greeceanddebtcrisis.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Hey bollybutton!I recently discovered your blog and it's exactly what I was looking for, how a love-refugee like you:)criticises the whole crisis story.
"Georgie is an evil genius."

OK, I cried here.
I also would like to answer to a question you had typed a looong time ago.We he Greeks have a unique way of thinking:Don't you dare to make of us, coz only WE have the right to make fun of ourselves.
Tragic, I know.