In the latest example that there are generous, perhaps even noble (assuming the whole thing isn't one vast scam like other "charities" such as those run by former and future US presidents) people, still left, Crowdfunding site Indiegogo [5]has released a crowd sourced "Greek Bailout Fund" which in just 1 day has already managed to raise around €100,000 from over 6,300 contributors.
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The reason for the campaign, in its own words: "All this dithering over Greece is getting boring. European ministers flexing their muscles and posturing over whether they can help the Greek people of not. Why don't we the people just sort it instead?
The European Union is home to 503 million people, if we all just chip in a few Euro then we can get Greece sorted and hopefully get them back on track soon. Easy.
So come on, order a Feta and Olive salad, maybe wash it down with an Ouzo or glass of Assyrtiko greek wine and let's sort this shit out.
Pledge €3 and get a postcard sent from Greece of Alex Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister. We'll get them made and posted in Greece and give a boost to some local printers and post offices.
Pledge €6 and get a greek Feta and Olive salad
Pledge €10 and get a small bottle of Ouzo sent to you
Pledge €25 and get a bottle of Greek wine
Noble, generous... and quite idiotic, for one simple reason - the math is horribly wrong.
Here is what the campaign says is its target: "€1.6bn is what the Greeks need."
Actually, no.
€1.6 billion is what Greece needs to repay obligations that are already due to the IMF as of June 30 or else Greece will be kicked out of its current bailout program.
Here is the real list of what the Greeks "need" in order to get a full bailout: a complete repayment of their total outstanding debt to the Troika as well as to remaining private holdout creditors:
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The total: €275 billion.
And what is even worse: not one cent of the €1.6 billion already due, nor one cent of the €275 billion in debt due until 2057 will make its way to the Greek people.
In fact, the only people who will see any money from this campaign would be bankers, the IMF, the ECB, and the unelected bureaucrats of the European Commission.
For those who really want to make a donation to Greece, don't repay their debt, but start a charity which unlike Hillary Clinton does not keep 90% of contributions as "operating costs", and distribute it direct to the Greek people.
We hear dropping money by drones is legal now.
