The umpteenth agreement to save Greece and the Eurozone was reached at around 3am this morning British time, so unfortunately I was tucked up in bed and missed all the excitement. But it was probably for the best: with an ‘historic’ deal seemingly being signed every few weeks for the last couple of years, my neighbours must be sick of me running out into the street each time a new bailout is announced, waving the European Union flag and singing Ode to Joy (yes, we Europeans have our own national transnational anthem) at the top of my voice.
Forgive the sarcasm, but it’s becoming increasingly hard to take these eleventh-hour, continent-saving announcements seriously. If you’re interested in the details of the latest can-kicking exercise, the Wall Street Journal has a summary here, but essentially, in return for 130 billion euros in bailout loans, Greece has agreed to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio from 160% to 120.5% by 2020, with private investors taking a haircut of up to 70% on their Greek bond holdings.
To reduce the debt, Greeks will be subjected to another round of punishing austerity measures: tens of thousands of public sector jobs will go, and there will be further cuts to pensions and wages. As a condition of the agreement, monitors from the European Union, European Central Bank and IMF will be permanently stationed in Athens to enforce compliance.
Anyone who’s been following the eurozone crisis will know that elements of the deal are likely to unravel, and we’ll be back here in a few weeks, or a few months. Some private investors have still to sign up to today’s agreement, and the Greek government must commit to three billion euro’s worth of cuts in the next few days in order to get the bailout money; not surprisingly, some eurocrats believe yet another bailout will be required in short order.
Europe’s leaders have at least – for the time being anyway – decided that they want to keep Greece in the death grip of the eurozone. Last week several officials and politicians, including Germany’s finance minister, were making noises about Greece being forced out of the single currency. It may be that those noises were a bluff designed to concentrate the minds of the country’s politicians, although it could also be the case that the eurocrats haven’t ruled out an eventual Greek exit, and are simply buying time to shore up their banking systems in readiness.
Either way, Greece remains stuck with the worst of both worlds: condemned to decades of austerity, massive unemployment, social unrest and low economic growth, but unable to cut itself loose, return to the drachma and devalue its way back to competitiveness.
The big question is how long the Greek people will put up with this state of affairs. The governing coaltion parties have been losing support, and extremist parties on both the right and left are set to make gains in elections scheduled for April on the promise of opposing further cuts (the communist KKE party is organizing street protests for tomorrow). If some of those parties end up in government, they may demand a renegotiation of the bailout on less harsh terms, threatening to take Greece out of the euro if they don’t get their way.
The Greek people remain understandably schizophrenic about their predicament, with opinion polls showing that a majority both want to remain in the euro, but oppose the spending cuts that are a prerequisite of continued membership. It’s no surprise that some European officials have suggested postponing the elections and installing a technocratic government along the lines of that imposed on Italy last year – a move which would be the final humiliation for the cradle of democracy.
Greece’s Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos claimed this morning that his country had avoided the ‘nightmare scenario’, but for millions of ordinary Greeks the nightmare is just beginning.
How pathetic the Greeks have become. The ancient Athenian and Spartan devotion to freedom compelled them to fight against Persian oppression against all odds. Modern Greeks willingly vote themselves into servitude.. Modern Greeks are undeserving of their heritage; rather, they’ve earned the disdain felt toward them by freedom-loving people everywhere. May they where their yoke proudly, for it serves as a warning to those of us in the US who are determined to remain free.
What’s so exciting about saving grease? My mom used to do that all the time, in a can by the kitchen stove.
Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid. Lot of that going around now in the Western world. Lot of good people going to lose valuable years because of it, and those years won’t be coming back.
More stupid, ineffctive kicking the can down the road from the Eurosocialists, all because of some pie in the sky, utopian notion of a United States of Europe. This does nothing to solve Greece’s problems, and actually makes things even worse! It’s a given that no one will ever buy Greek bonds ever again! If Greece had been allowed to default 3 years ago, it would’ve been a relatively minor speed bump; now, when Greece defaults (and, eventually, Greece WILL HAVE TO!) it will be a full blown European crisis! If I were a Greek politician who supported this, I’d be getting out of Dodge, pronto! I’m sure there is no shortage of lampposts in Athens!
I’ve been wondering when a Western country would be so beaten down by economics that they’d have to shuck political correctness and simply start kicking out illegal aliens with as little fanfare and “rights” as possible. Greece looks to be the likely first candidate though they will be hamstrung by Eurozone laws that will further force them down the chute, paying for people from all over the place who really have no business being in Greece.
One wonders what cataclysm needs to take place to shut out Africa from Europe and Latin America from the U.S. How many billions need to be spent and cultures subverted merely to proudly proclaim “We’re not racist.” Greece is history for the next couple of decades. They will be living off tourism and screwed by their own artificially high currency that will prevent them from cheaply exporting the same things Turkey can. Look for massive riots in Greece this summer as the true disaster that has overtaken this country will be realized in spades.
Meanwhile we’ll see how far those same rioters will take their political correctness that shields the very people who’ve helped take down Greece or whether anti-immigrant sentiment will boil over into something not yet seen in the modern era of mass migrations into the West.
Political correctness is a form of economic suicide and laws that cozen PC amount to to a cultural suicide pact. At some point reality must come in or a country simply go down and become the very place people flee from. Ironically, Greeks and Portuguese are already fleeing to the Third World, where they actually have skills to offer other than taxi drivers and security guards and other low-scale professions that keep wages artificially low. You can forget being paid by the hour when a Libyan will work 60 hrs. 6 days a week on a 40 hr. salary that’s not much in the first place. Even Thailand is not immune from immigrant con men from Africa never seen before who harass tourists in Bangkok with goofy business offers and make formerly peaceful areas quite dodgy at night.
It is amazing to read all those comments about what Greek people would put up with from commentators that have no idea about the country and what is taking place on the “ground”. We thank you for your kind advice, but please keep it to yourself. For most of you Greece is all about the ancient times, and you have no idea what is good for us and what we should do.
We are mostly responsible for the mess we got ourselves in, and we will get out of it. Your advice is “cheap” and no matter what happens you will not bear any of the consequences. We will. So if you are so concerned about us and you want to help, buy Greek products and visit us for your holidays. Actions matter, not words.
Thank you for your hospitality.
They have averted the nightmare scenario? What would that be? Having to finally pay what they owe?
Yeah, it is far preferable to forfeit national sovereignity. Let’s have others come in to enforce the agreements, creditor-in-possession. After all, anything is better than to have to cut back on your monetary lifestyle. Austerity is so hard, after all.
Yeah, it is far better for your best and brightest to flee the country. It is far better to have your people rummaging in the trash for food. It is far better to have the return of malaria, because of the decline of living conditions. It is far better to have tent cities springing up all over the place. It is far better to determine who eats and who doesn’t based on one’s political connections, rather than inherent ability and willingness to work. The return of widespread poverty is far better than tightening the belt of government. By all means, let’s keep that current system going for as long as we can. That’d be swell.
Only this time the EU, like the Obama administration did with GM and Chrysler, destroyed the private bond holders – theft by government fiat – to save the government entities supporting Greece. This is why the stock market spiked today, as private investors fled the EU and went to the US. Cheers -
– the same monthly story for over a year now.