It’s been a month or two since the European Union found out Greece lied to them visavis their finances (sic). My first reaction to this was one of surprise - ‘Why is this news?’, however what surprised me greatly was the fake ‘shock’ waves that resonated out of the Union.
Anyone who has bothered to spend few minutes on studying Greece is aware that the Balkan country in no way shape or form should be in the European Union, let alone in the Euro zone. Greece as a country, does not have a centralized system that will allow it to follow its economic and monetary fiscal policies, nor does it have a centralized state registry. For the latter, Greece has a virtual ‘statistical office’, whose job is to literally fabricate financial numbers for political purposes.
For comparison, Greece’s northern neighbor (Macedonia) who isn’t a member of the EU has had governmental entity that monitors its economic and monetary policies since the 1980’s.
Is Greece to blame for its debt troubles? It certainly goes back to Greece. The disastrous tax policies, non existent fiscal policy and the thriving gray economy which some believe beats out even Kosovo’s gray economy all contribute to the disaster Athens is in. However, the European Union itself is massively corrupt at all levels. Why is Brussels reacting today, when for years knew Greece’s debt to GDP ratio was well over the one allowed by the Eurozone. Brussels could have reacted 4, 5, 6 years ago, but chose to remain silent.
Bucharest
For decades Brussels had Athens’ back, while Washington had its front. Publicly, in EU circles the French and Germans called Greece “our spoiled child”, and rightfully so, it was France and Germany who gave birth to the country. But, things changed somewhat after Bucharest. Athens in order to protect its bizarre myth for ‘purity’ decided to block Macedonia from NATO, thus making fool out of the US and their geopolitical plans. Athens didn’t possess the wits to realize their move made NATO extremely weak in the eyes of the Russians, Chinese... - If one silly country can veto twenty some in major decisions… Putin probably loved it. This didn’t sit too well with the Americans, but also with the Europeans. I correctly stated despite the fact that Karamanlis was welcomed in Athens as a hero that his days as politician are numbered and would become anonymous not just in European, but Greek politics.
Today Greece is a protectorate. The EU had never enforced any of its written standards upon Greece, because the EU prefers the so called member ‘solidarity standards’ where no rules apply. Presently, the European Union isn’t capable of finding out how much really is Greece’s debt. In reality, the EU will never find out simply because Athens has cooked their finances for decades. The Greek Government admits to 400 Billion euros debt which in the normal world means over a Trillion Euros. Their official 12.3% deficit is more likely 20%.
These types of understated numbers are very normal and used by ‘clever’ governments not to cause mayhem among its population. The US Government insists on 10% unemployment, when its real unemployment is nearly 19%. The Germans, French and Italians are also very good at this. Only the Macedonian government is silly enough to publish its true unemployment figures. Goldman
Anyone notice how in every major crisis Goldman Sachs is mentioned as a profiteer. Whatever happens in the world, the good, bad and the ugly, GS always comes on top. I’d like to work for this company! GS who are said to have profited hundreds of millions in commission, recently fired Greece’s Debt Manager just in case the EU thought they’d be able to find out Athens’ real debt.
Brussels could introduce “Euro2” as currency for Greece
You know you have gotten off the highway when the European Union is contemplating introducing brand new currency to be used only in Greece. They aren’t asking for Greece’s opinion on this. Athens has long used its ‘opinion credits’. The name of the currency being speculated is “Euro Club Med” and “Euro2” which will be valued at 70-75% of the value of the Euro. This is a fairly good idea by the EU because Greece had managed to tarnish the Euro currency in a major fashion, so much so, the Canadian dollar has now become “the currency” for Chinese and Japanese reserves. With Euro2’s introduction, it would be wise for the European Union to rename Greece to Greece2. //Gorazd V.
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