The Problem of Greece Is Not Only a Tragedy. It Is a Lie.

[HomerRamone]

By John Pilger

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/31263-focus-the-problem-of-greece-is-not-only-a-tragedy-it-is-a-lie

An historic betrayal has consumed Greece. Having set aside the mandate of the Greek electorate, the Syriza government has willfully ignored last week’s landslide “No” vote and secretly agreed a raft of repressive, impoverishing measures in return for a “bailout” that means sinister foreign control and a warning to the world.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has pushed through parliament a proposal to cut at least 13 billion euros from the public purse – 4 billion euros more than the “austerity” figure rejected overwhelmingly by the majority of the Greek population in a referendum on 5 July.

These reportedly include a 50 per cent increase in the cost of healthcare for pensioners, almost 40 per cent of whom live in poverty; deep cuts in public sector wages; the complete privatization of public facilities such as airports and ports; a rise in value added tax to 23 per cent, now applied to the Greek islands where people struggle to eke out a living. There is more to come...

This is not inevitable, a done deal, if we wake up from the long, postmodern coma and reject the myths and deceptions of those who claim to represent us, and fight.

[ananda]

1. Exactly. Betrayal on a level with Obama's TPP.

"What oft was thought but ne'er so well express'd."

Thank you, John Pilger.

[Igel]

2. My 2nd year of grad school was entertaining.

At the end of the first year the regents announced budget cuts for the university. The chancellor was convinced that it was a short-term problem and the following year the budget would be restored in full with an increase on top of that.

So at the end of my first year the university arranged for a very large loan to cover operating shortfall the following year. The regents pitched a fit but realized there was a gap in the law. It was legal.

At the end of my 2nd year the regents announced that because of recession and reduced income from the state, they were again cutting the budget, but by a lesser amount. Instead of a restored budget plus some $, he'd get even less.

At the start of my third year the university imposed austerity measures because it couldn't borrow more--that loophole was closed. It had to implement two years of budget cuts. Moreover, it had to pay back loan equal to the budget cuts for the previous year ... plus interest.

The result was much, much worse than if the two rounds of budget cuts had merely been implemented year by year. It was a bloodbath for faculty and for departments. Administrators who had wanted to restructure parts of the university from social work and activism to research made a persuasive case that restructuring would save a lot of money and enable them to make budget. Departments merged, degree programs changed or vanished. Students and faculty protested, but it didn't matter: There was no money, and in meetings faculty were told, "You restructure or you have $0 budget next year for faculty salaries and student aid." They cried, they wailed, and they lost. Finally some met with students who continued to protest and said, "Stop it. It's done."

That's Greece.


It's nice to say, "Well, money should have come from somewhere." Money didn't just appear. The desire to escape any budget cuts made things worse; mild austerity early made enormous austerity inevitable later. It was far from clear the leader wanted the restructuring. Some will be sure to say it was his plan all along.

[Nye Bevan]

3. How about another, final referendum to choose between this package and Grexit? (nt)

[Adrahil]

4. Frankly, a Grexit would be disaster for Greece in the short term. nt

[Yo_Mama]

5. The Greeks are literate people with a representative Parliament

If the Greek people wish this option, it's bound to occur - don't forget the Greek government has to now pass all this legislation.

[seveneyes]

6. knocking on the coffin

[MoonRiver]

7. Are the Greeks ever going to start taxing their 1%?

That would help their situation.

[MattSh]

8. Frankly, Syriza and Greece have a highly inflated opinion of their importance to the EU.

They're just a little outlying EU colony. They always have been. In the overall bigger picture of the EU, they don't mean shit.

They always figured the EU would attempt a serious deal, because hey, the EU is blessed to have Greece in their company, so the EU would be falling over themselves to cut a deal, so they never prepared themselves for the possibility of leaving the EU. If they had began preparations from day 1, they would have been able to pull off a Grexit. Yes, it would have been difficult, but it would have been doable. Having done zero preparation for an alternative, they have little choice but to surrender.

[polly7]

9. K&R for Pilger and truth. Good article. nt.

[underahedgerow]

10. I would like to know what the Greek general population thinks IS the solution to their crisis?

Do the pensioners and fraudulent disabled have viable ideas on how to fix their problem? Are they economists with degrees and knowledge about public debt, government spending, privatization, public works, taxation, foreign investment, domestic investment and commerce & trade?

I'd speculate, 'no'. So while the voice of the Greek population may be loud, what alternatives and solutions are they proposing, other than to 'save our pensions and social spending because we'll starve'?

They want answers and solutions, but they aren't happy with the response.

The failure lies with the politicians and government that listened to the people to begin with. Forgetting to collect the taxes on the wealthy, not following up and clamping down on the massive pension and disability fraud in an effort to enable politicians to remain in their safe & secure government payrolled jobs. Creating a massive vacuum and ridiculous, archaic bureaucratic barriers to any type of foreign and domestic national and industrial investment concepts and efforts. They created their own mess and allowed it to fester.

Is it betrayal to right the wrongs? Absolutely not.

Privatization will offer the opportunity for foreign investment which the country desperately needs to balance is trade budgets, which are pretty much the lowest in Europe. They desperately need foreign investment to create more nationwide industry and commerce and then jobs across the board. Greece has almost no industry of its own, other than olive oil and tourism, neither of which are thriving.

How does anyone else propose to 'save the people from starving'? I would love to hear the alternatives to the measures proposed by the EU rather than the pitchfork and brooms crowd shrieking 'nooooooooooooooo', but giving way to crickets when asked for viable alternatives.

Edited to add;

Let's consider what's fair and reasonable.

Is it fair to ask the successful and hard working members of the EU, alllll the other people, governments and countries, to just give Greece billions of euros without expecting anything in return? Remind me again why Greece is more privileged than the rest of the EU members?

Do you continue to 'loan' your broke brother in law thousands of bucks a year which he promises to pay back, year after year, but never does; meanwhile, he lounges by the pool, watches tv and sports all day and generally doesn't do anything to make a better life for himself?

And what if one year, he agrees to take a shower, get a job, pay his back child support, pay off his credit card debt, pay the back rent due on his flat, pay his arrears property taxes, and join productive society? So you loan him another 10K to 'help him get back on his feet'. And, then, he doesn't. He gets fired, declares bankruptcy, loses his house, gets kicked out of his flat, is now living in mom's basement and collecting disability for a mysterious back injury (never mind that he can work on his pick up truck restoration project and go four wheeling on the quad bike). But once again, he's asking for a few thousand more, even though he's never paid you back, year after year, after year.

When does it stop?

I have no problem with the EU going all Maggie Thatcher on Greece. They are self perpetuating victims and it's time for radical change in Greece. If the general population doesn't have the answers, if their own government is a farce, then the government they chose to align with has to step in with tough actions to get them back on board. Or else they can leave the EU and go it on their own.

Can Greece keep doing the same things over and over and expect different results? Of course not.