+ The Tragic Greek Predicament and the Dysfunctional (04/08/2011 - 00:01:04)
People keep asking me how I feel about what's happening in Greece and the Euro.
Well, Greece has a long history of government mismanagement and official corruption which is deeply rooted in almost every aspect of official life.
The country has a very problematic justice system, which turns a blind eye on corruption, official and non official alike.
If you know the right people, you walk.
Not a single politician has ever been imprisoned for the so many government scams or the kickbacks the politicians have taken from multinationals like Siemens.
It is as though they have inherited, a God given immunity from prosecution, no matter what they do.
A former PASOK politician has admitted taking a 200.000 Euro gift from Siemens, the government prosecuted him and he got away with a small fine.
Another former official, had admitted he got one million Euro gift from Siemens which he claimed that he has given to PASOK -that is the Papandreou governing party- and no-one has ever been prosecuted, although the party's official position was that it never got the money.
The Banking system is not clear of misdeeds and greed either. It was totally reckless loaning the Government money it could not afford, without a second thought or proper analysis.
The Media is a most peculiar lot and nonexistent, journalists almost never have any use for investigative work and they always seem to be government friendly, no matter who is in power.
I honestly believe, the Greek government system itself, cannot be saved.
Politicians who created the Greek financial mess, are still in power and they do not seem to have the public's support, although the Papandreou government does have a slim majority of three or four deputies.
Despite the harsh austerity measures, the deficit remains at roughly 10% of the GDP while the unemployment rate goes higher and higher.
The Euro is undoubtedly a dysfunctional currency, as it deals with 17 different Economies and as many governments.
Different laws, public debt, budget deficit, different policies and temperaments, different everything, with only a common scurrency.
Similar to an estranged family of 17, who live under the same roof, but each member keeps to his own little world with his own rules and regulations.
There is no comparison between the heavily industrialised German economy and the absolute bare Greek one.
How then, could the Greek economy, compete with any industrialised nation? It simply cannot.
Can the country service its huge debt of around 400 Billion Euros?
I don't think so.
As far as I know, the Greeks are just paying off the private banks with the 110 Billion Euro loan, which cannot be paid back either.
It looks as though the contagion effect has begun taking its toll on Italy, Spain and may be France or Belgium and there seems to be no end to it.
My guess is that the Euro was DOA.
To begin with, an economy like Greece's had no place using this hard Euro currency and by now, everyone is aware that an American bank cooked the books on behalf of the then PASOK Greek government.
Most EU governments knew it too and right now they are just buying time, trying to save their own corrupt skin, along with the greedy bankers.
Even now at this desperate moment, the Greek government does not seem willing to shed any light at all, at how this ballooning debt has been accumulated.
The Greek people were fools to trust the same politicians over and over, and now they are paying for it.
If George Papandreou were not the son of Andreas Papandreou and the grandson of George Papandreou, he 'd be washing dishes at some restaurant in Minnesota.