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LIVE From GREECE: Greek People Victims Of Political Games
Last Sunday, we arrived in Greece. We have interviewed since then more than 25 people across the country. We have selected ordinary people, with different jobs, from all ages, both in cities and rural areas. So our research is representative for the whole population. What people told us is staggering, and it becomes worse we compare this with the acts of the government. This is a live report about the government debt crisis.
In general, people describe the current economic situation as hopeless; there is no outlook for growth whatsoever. Everyone agrees that this crisis will go on for many years before the country can see any economic improvement.
If anything, people are extremely frustrated. That remains underexposed in the media. The frustration comes from the fact that the masses believe they are disadvantaged with the ongoing reforms. People understand they have to contribute (by paying taxes for instance) to fight the crisis, but it has to happen equally: the ones who benefited most during the years of excesses should contribute proportionately more. And that is not happening. Even with this extreme left government led by Syriza, it is simply not happening.
With the recent bank holiday (started July 5th) it became clear that the economic and political problem is not a far-flung event, a view which was shared by most people up until that point. The bank holiday has exhausted people financially, and the restriction of retrieving 60 EUR / day is extremely frustrating. Many ATM's are not working, there is not always one nearby, so people often have a cost of 5 to 15 EUR simply to get to money out of an ATM.
Greek people were already in a very bad shape financially, but the bank holiday and ATM restriction is exhausting them. And everyone we interviewed was convinced that capital controls will be there to stay for many months, not a very healthy outlook.
Next to financial exhaustion, people are increasingly becoming psychologically exhausted. On the one hand, leaders proceed from one crisis meeting to another. Every meeting is announced as being a critical one. On the other hand, all local media are broadcasting all sorts of opinions and viewpoints, almost 24/7. People are at a point where they are confused, and don't understand what is truly good or bad for them.
Everyone we interviewed said they desperately want “ a ” solution. The solution itself, whether it is in line with their view or not, has become of secondary importance. People simply want a direction, a path forward; they want to work towards a goal.
In that respect, most of the people we talked to had a lot of criticism about the referendum of July 5th as it has created even more confusion among people. First and foremost, because the people's voice has been abused during political negotiations. People admit that they were not able to assess the documents that were proposed by the insitutions, which were technical in nature, long, and hence incomprehensive. The “OXI” votes were merely nationalistic. Second, the results have been misinterpreted. It remained quite underexposed that 39% of the citizens did NOT vote, so the majority vote was blank. Given that figure, the 61% “OXI” vote was in reality 36% in total, and so the remaining 25% voted “yes.” That's a different story than the one propagated by the government and in the media. Third, all Greeks we interviewed agreed that the referendum left too much room for (mis)interpration. People admit that everyone has another interpretation, which adds to the confusion.
If anything, Greek people want justice. One of the big problems of the past was mismanagement of government money (think of subsidies, pensions, etc). The abuse was staggering, and the money has been distributed in an asymmetric way (in other words, a small group of people has benefited in a disproportionate way). Greek people want those issues to be solved. They want justice.
Case in point: one of the people we interviewed is running a cafeteria. The taxes for playing music were approx. 400 EUR per year. With a recent law, the tax increased to 1000 EUR. Apparently, that was the result of a 'new' law. However, only a few people have paid that tax in the past. The problem now is that those who did not pay it previously, are exempt because of the fact it is an 'outdated' law (replaced by 'new' one). That is extremely frustrating for those who are paying taxes correctly.
That brings up the point of fraud and overpaid civil servants. In recent years, there were a lot of reports about “shadow pensions”, for instance pensions to people who were not alive. Similarly, a lot of pension plans included premiums as high as 100k EUR, unreasonably high. Also, we heard a lot of cases in which subsidies were greatly abused, maximizing the unproductiveness of the country. “That is the reason we are in such a bad shape today”, is the view of almost all people we interviewed.
Contrary to what some others report, we got a very clear picture about how Greece got into this situation. Greek people understand that structural reforms are an absolute must. The number of civil servants has to come down, the government has to crack down on fraud and corruption. What remains unclear, however, is how economic growth can be stimulated. Let's consider that the biggest challenge of the government.
And that is where we see a big problem. The current government has promised an even bigger state, not a smaller one. They have promised hard measures against the ones who benefited most in the past, but haven't executed any so far. They have promised economic improvements, but the country is an economic catastrophe since Syriza took over in January.
Here is the biggest mistery of them all. Although the government has promised to fight any bailout plan, Mr. Tsipras came up with Greece's 3d big bailout plan this week. How do Greek people react on that?
Opponents of Syriza obviously are critizing Mr. Tsipras for that. They point out that the current government has brought false hopes, based on unrealistic promises. On the other hand, proponents of Syriza are still defending Mr. Tsipras, saying that he was “cornered”, and that the bailout plan was the only viable solution. They believe that he had a “plan B” but was somehow “prohibited” to implement it. They still believe Mr. Tsipras is a great politician as he is the only one who can bring justice and reforms.
Let us pause for a minute here, and add our own observation. Taking everything together, it is clear to us that today's economic and monetary crisis is a politically induced one. Politicians can facilitate the way out. And that is where it potentially can go wrong. The country needs drastic measures which are, in nature, politically unpopular. Moreover, politicians have a track record of creating confusion to people, and bringing false hopes (as discussed earlier). The only way out, in our view, is one of increased pressure by European leaders.
That leads us to the European aspect. The current government has stimulated an anti-Europe preference. However, by far most of the people we interviewed have a pro-European viewpoint. Almost everyone believes it is a better thing for Greece to stay in the Eurozone, as it is a much stronger currency than a Greek currency. Hence, the economic outlook, in the very long term, would be better being part of Europe. Moreover, people admit that European leaders have the potential to force discipline, order and justice, something Greek governments will probably not realize themselves.
It is not a strange idea that Europe can help Greece, and it is clear that European leaders are aware of it as well. When we analyzed the bailout plan which was agreed last weekend, we see in the agreement 9 measures related to structural reforms, one of which being the following:
"To modernise and significantly strengthen the Greek administration, and to put in place a programme, under the auspices of the European Commission, for capacity-building and de-politicizing the Greek administration."
At the end of the day, that is exactly what Greek people are asking for. So Europe can really help Greece in its need to reform structurally. And, obviously, European leaders know very well that is the weakest point of Greece.
The anti-Europeans we interviewed, although a minority, brought up the fact that Europe (read: Germany) is suppressing Greece. That idea is originated from the feeling that Greece is not a sovereign state anymore, which is fed by the current government.
Our conclusion is that Greece is a textbook “boom and bust” case. The country is today paying the price of two decades of excesses, based on unsound economic expansion (i.e., uncontrolled government spending). Contrary to what some report, we clearly see that Greek people realize this, and they desperately want to change this. Whether politicians will be able to bring change or not, is the trillion dollar question in our view. In any case, politicans hold the key to change, especially when it comes to legislation and taxes, corruption and fraud, productive economic stimulus.
It is really sad to see how the Greek people fell victim of an unfair economic system, created by previous governments, cheap money, and a big state. But it is exactly at this point where some Greeks hope that this crisis has the potential to bring real change. Greek people are so exhausted that they are willing to accept change. Politicians, however, have to do the right thing, which means focus on the interest of their country, not their personal votes.
We are preparing a special report on “crisis investing”. Stay tuned...
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And a whole paragraph to discredit the referendum vote . . .
We know what you're selling.
You could have stayed at home and written that piece. Not one town mentioned, not even a name of one of the interviewed Greeks.
What is laughable about the article is the postulation that the solution lies within the same entrenched class of corrupt people who caused the problem to begin with.
Why are Greeks Putin up with this? Are the so loyal to lying demgogues like Tsipras that they can't think anymore?
There should be revolution tonight! Burning cars, clashes with police, attack the politicians!
"What remains unclear, however, is how economic growth can be stimulated."
After one recognizes that it is NOT possible to stimulate any economic growth in Greece, due to NOT having any untapped natural resources left to strip-mine, and NOT being able to compete with anywhere else that does, there are NO "solutions" but to contract. The more violence associated with that contraction, the worse the vicious feedback loops causing that will become. There is NOTHING about any sort of old-fashioned violence that will resolve the underlying problems. That is WHY "people describe the current economic situation as hopeless; there is no outlook for growth whatsoever."
Greece is merely one of the symbolic leading edges of the global problems that result from the public "money" supply having been created out of nothing as debts in order to "pay" for strip-mining the planet's natural resources. Meanwhile, Greece is already integrated into the established systems of globalized electronic monkey money frauds, backed up by the threat of force from apes with atomic bombs. NO kind of old-fashioned violent protests are in the same order of magnitude as those problems. Any such violent protests will only make things get worse, faster, since we are already headed towards the entrenched debt slavery systems having generated debt insanities, that are surely going to provoke some degrees of death insanities ... However, there are no good grounds to believe that provoking such death insanities is going to resolve any other problems, rather than merely exacerbate those problems
The world appears just on the cusp of the turning or tipping points where the continued exponential growth of the strip-mining of the planet's natural resources is no longer possible. That will show up first and foremost through the fundamentally fraudulent financial accounting systems, that enabled that kind of strip-mining to be done in with the maximum possible attitudes of evil deliberate ignorance. By and large, practically everyone wants "solutions" which will enable the strip-mining to continue to grow at an exponential rate, which attitudes are able to continue to disregard the resulting exponential increases in the related garbage and pollution. Indeed, all of known human history has been based upon being able to do that, while the industrial revolutions kept that possible to continue to do at an exponential rate ... so far ...
By definition, what will stop the growth is some form of death controls. Since the actual death controls are being done through the maximum possible deceits and treacheries, in order to back up the combined money/murder systems based upon the maximum possible enforced frauds, we are rushing towards some series of psychotic breakdowns, and severe social storms. HOWEVER, those are being postponed by things not yet getting bad enough, as well as that nobody who is still able to be relatively rational can put forward any good alternatives that enough other people would agreed with implementing. Those deteriorating situations may well eventually provoke some death insanities, due to anger and frustration boiling over into politically driven violence, which causes death insanities. However, such death insanities will only make thing still get worse, faster ...
OF COURSE, the Greek People were Victims of Political Games, which were actually the continuation of the application of the methods of organized crime through the political processes. However, the vast majority of people want bogus "solutions" which would somehow stop that from happening. I.e., people want "solutions" which ignore the deeper layers of the real problems. It is not merely Greece which is bankrupt, is the whole of Neolithic Civilization, whose successes were based upon being able to back up lies with violence, in ways which could take for granted the background of the planet as a whole. What is needed is violent revolutions in the ways that people think!
Old-fashioned violent revolutions are RIDICULOUS in the context of globalized electronic frauds, backed by atomic bombs. Rather, what we should do is go through series of intellectual revolutions that would radically change the paradigms through which we perceive political problems. Where the "violence" should be experienced is in the severe cognitive dissonance that has to be suffered through, in order to cope with the global party, based on exponential growth of the strip-mining of the planet, rapidly approaching being not possible to continue ...
One way or another, the human death control systems are going to change ... At the present time, those are most reasonably expected to change in the worst possible ways, since the vast majority of people will fail to adapt to face the bigger picture of environmental facts, while the ruling classes will continue to do everything they can to keep their party going, by keeping going their systems of enforced frauds, which are making the "money" out of nothing as debts to "pay" for strip-mining the planet.
Almost everyone is adapted to the long history of being able to back up lies with violence, and so, having political economies based upon enforcing frauds. There are NO solutions outside of the deeper reasons for why those ARE the real problems, that the vast majority of the Greek People ARE victims of political games, which were primarily the ways that their governments were enforcing the frauds by privately controlled banks, the same as pretty well everywhere else in the world.
Around the world, as long as there are enough natural resources left to strip-mine, to be "paid" for with "money" made out of nothing as debts, then that party can go on ... Those who are closest to the SOURCE of that public "money" supply being made out of nothing can continue to most enjoy being able to indulge in strip-mining the planet. That enables them to be in political positive feedback loops, through the FUNDING OF THE POLITICAL PROCESSES. Therefore, those people, towards the core and the top of the established social pyramid systems, will be the last to have to personally notice or care about the limits to exponential growth, based upon strip-mining the planet's natural resources, in ways that can get away with deliberately ignoring the laws of nature, because the only connection between the laws of nature and laws of men is the ability to back up lies with violence. However, the ruling classes are preparing to respond to that by starting more genocidal wars, along with imposing democidal martial law.
Greek society, the same as everywhere else, operates through sociopolitical systems based on being able to enforce frauds. Hence, there is almost nothing but a core of organized crime, primarily the banksters, surrounded by controlled opposition groups. Since that is the case, the only publicly promoted "solutions" to the problems are those which are promoted by the core of organized crime, or by those who are the publicly significant forms of controlled opposition.
However, what is actually necessary is to go beyond that frame of reference, because it is NOT good enough to merely recognize the degree to which Greece is the victim of political games, due to the international banksters' agenda to create the European Union and Euro to advance their agenda of ENFORCING FRAUDS. One should go through deeper levels of analysis to more fully comprehend how and why that is the existing situation. After doing that, then it is surely correct to assert that the only genuine solutions must necessarily be better organized crime, with better death controls at the core of that. However, such better death controls are NOT going to found in the expression of any old-fashioned forms of political violence.
Death controls? ...AND you suggest people start thinking for themselves?! What the hell are you talking about?? On what planet is this supposed to happen??
Also, I don't like the way you say "strip mining"...I strip mine, nothing wrong with producing resources for the world to be productive with.
However, They cannot pay what they owe. Same as many other countries and the US. Just like the many families and businesses in the US that file bankruptcy because they cannot pay what they owe. Some how someone lent them too much money and bought forward a lot of prosperity that was not backed by productivity.
Greece has arrived at the other side of midnight and are living in a new world where the circus has left town and there's no free bread left.They've been herded all over the place and been promised things without a price being given, but now the piper is demanding to be paid with no money to pay him. The entire world should be paying attention, but they all think it can't happen it them, most especially America, where the free shit army marches on without even understanding or knowing the Greek Armageddon has happened....
Ordinary greeks don't owe, maybe 5 billion in total taxes at best.
Their banks had crappy bets that did not pan out, and the money that these banks had was mostly french and second mostly german. Their first bailout was just an agreement to pass the bank debt on to the state books and make it public debt.
And then austerity did not improve the situation(state and part of the population is to blame here, but who can blame them for not wanting to bailout the banks?) and loans were pilled upon loans leading to today's crisis where you get a loan to pay another loan.
Something lots of brits are extremely familiar with, get a credit card, transfer the balance accross with up to 18 months without paying(except that the greek government does not have an interest vacation).
Also greek products increased in price extremely due to being on the euro, like it happened to the portuguese ones. I know, I am portuguese, 10 years ago an expresso was 50 escudos(25 euro cents) now it is about 60 euro cents. And most of our products got really expensive. Only the german and french products devalued because their currency was stronger.
So this is a quick summary of the euro ecb imf troika fuckery