On the occasion of Meryl Streep’s Oscar winning performance of the Iron Lady I would like to say that my opinion of the original was never high. Sort of ‘Maggie Maggie the milk snatcher’ level perhaps. From snatches on TV it appears that Ms Streep’s performance was indeed excellent. Even getting down to the Lady’s own fundamental fakeness in her accent.

Now as to whether it was a good film I have no idea. I shall not be going to see it, not only because of long standing allergies to the old lady but because nearly all reviews agree that the actual script it terrible. But in the context of this blog there is one thing I do feel constrained to admit in her favour after all.

That is that although I felt Thatcher was quite wrong over most things, like the Falklands War, the Miners’ Strike and perhaps above all her shrill contentions that ‘There is no such thing as society’ and worse of all that ‘There is no alternative!’ (All pronounced with glass shattering shrillness), she was right about one thing.

She was adamant the Germany should not be reunited. It is a shame that although she is still alive, she is not in a position to realise that in that, at least, she has been vindicated.

So… Germany did not like to hear what it was told at the G20. Which was quite simple really. And something Germany should have been the first to relate to.  Simply put, the message for Europe (that means Germany of course… but we shall come to this), was ‘Get your house in order and we shall see what we can do’.

Basically it is Germany’s own message to her own dominions. Isn’t that what Greece and the other GIPSIs are being told by Germany herself? Get your house in order!!! Never mind how. Kill off half your population, let the rest work for a starvation wage, but get your house in order!

So Germany was told that no new moneys could be forthcoming through the IMF if the Eurozone itself did not put more into their own slush funds, the EFSF and EMS (and E whatever else for that matter). The Eurozone is perfectly able to do so. But the problem is The Frau doesn’t want to! So there!

Just who are these third world former colonies to tell the Great Germany what it should be doing? So The Frau has gone into a sulk and decided to scrap the meeting of Euroland Ministers of Finances due to be held at the beginning of the month because The Frau doesn’t even want to talk about it! And if The Frau doesn’t want it, then that is final.

Which brings us to the real problem of the European Union. Which is not the sovereign debt crisis, nor the deep recession it is facing, nor the budget deficits, but its very identity.

Just what is the European Union today? Deutschland with its lebensraum. That’s it. Whatever The Frau gets into her limited little brain is what becomes law for the rest. Sort of what Lola wants Lola gets. I thought this version in Greek with Italian subtitles was quite fitting.

Now there is no doubt that the whole of the Greek Civil Service, never a shining example at the best of times has fallen into total disarray, not least because of the ham fisted policies imposed at the behest of the troika. Salaries slashed across the board indiscriminately, threats of mass sacking, never defined but looming all over the place have not lead to greater efficiency.

The Ministry of Finances’ employees had enjoyed higher salaries precisely because of the nature of their work. Now this had lead to everyone getting the extra perks and not just the tax inspectors, but still. The functioning of the tax collection system was far from perfect and far from efficient, nevertheless it had begun to improve over the years. Now, the troika has thrown a spanner in the works and wonders why it is no longer working at all.

As to whether the arrival of German tax collectors would help? Although there is no doubt we could do with all the help we can get in organizing our civil service, I don’t think such an ad hoc arrangement would do any good. First would come the outcry, who is paying for these guys? And what are they getting paid? Since it is extremely unlikely that any of these fine people would be getting paid the 600 Euro a month the Greek employees are getting, it would hardly go down well. And besides, if you take the trouble to assess our own Greek manpower and pay them just a little more, then you would get better results.

Second, there would of course be resentment. Particularly if the tax collectors were only German. They would be depicted as overbearing German overlords (no doubt in SS uniforms). And how would it work? Could 160 or so foreign civil servants start running the whole tax collection machinery with no input from the locals? And what incentive would the local civil servants have to cooperate? Remember their salaries have often been more than halved and they have the axe of being made redundant hanging indiscriminately over their heads.

But the problem is far too complex. A large part of the problem is the malfunctioning of justice, that is with regard to speed rather than fairness. Tax cases can last for twenty years without being resolved. The actual taxation system as it is now is absolutely nonsensical, taxing you for income you don’t have, for instance, because you live in a large house and have a car or something. While others get off scot free. Not to mention the recent taxation changes, again imposed by the troika, whereby those under the breadline will pay income tax this year.

So I don’t think the problem of the Greek taxation system is one that can be fixed by 160 well meaning foreigners. We have plenty of gifted and well educated young people here in Greece who could and should be enlisted to carry this out. Only now, of course the troika has imposed a pogrom on youth. By their standards the young of this country should either work for nothing or go and emigrate!

So no, piece meal solutions like this one just will not make any difference at all and might even make things very much worse.

PIGS was and remains an insulting way to refer to those party wreckers Portugal Ireland (and Italy) Greece and Spain. Who simply must be jackbooted into line in accordance with The Frau’s idea of a Final Solution. They must be ground underfoot. Their economies must be destroyed through austerity in order to save them. (Save what? You may ask. But that remains moot.)

Now Paul Krugman, the brilliant economist who understands the problems of the Eurozone far batter that The Frau and everyone else in her adoring coterie, has coined a different acronym. GIPSI, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. It’s less demeaning (pigs have been grossly, and unfairly maligned down the centuries, except in Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales.)

In fact, it may come as a surprise that if left to their natural state, pigs are in fact very clean animals. It is only when man ties them up to one place they cannot move away from that they can do nothing other than live in their own excrement. What would you do if you were tied to a pole in the yard by a big bad giant, or just The Frau’s shock troops?

But GIPSIs or Gypsies are a very different matter. Gypsies are a notoriously free and independent people, full of passion and pride, music, often violence (but that holds true for the whole of humankind) and an iron sense of solidarity, extended family allegiance and a value system giving precedence to the community.

That does sound much better.

Thank you Paul Krugman! If only The Frau would bother to read some of your articles!  

Okay, so now the newfangled scheme to deal with the Greek question is cranking into operation. We’re all set for the exchange of bonds, that is the default by another name so the CDS won’t be activated, the new 130 billion Euro loan to Greece to pay back her debt and all that. But make no mistake you slimy little good for nothings! This good money is ONLY for debt repayment and anyway we will keep bullying you an threatening you at every juncture.

Now let us pause for thought here. In his usual convivial manner the German Minister of Finances again gave Greece dire warning that tranches of the loan will not be paid out unless Greece has met her obligations. This would be extremely sensible, except for two things. Firstly, the obligations Greece has signed up to under duress are impossible to meet, and of dubious legality at that too. Secondly, when the money from the loan is intended solely to go to debt repayment, then what has Greece to lose if the tranche is not approved? It’s the banks that won’t get there money.

Ok. If that happens, however, we go bankrupt. Yes well the way things have been planned and agreed we will go formally bankrupt anyway. Not in three months but five perhaps, or by the end of the year. In any case the Greek economy has been insolvent for quite a while now and all the rescue packages have been doing is whipping the proverbial dead horse.

We have been teetering on the brink of disaster for so long now, submitted to threats, told we shall die of hunger in droves if we don’t ruin our economy completely at Germany’s behest, that when the crash does come there will be a great sense of relief throughout the country. When your unemployment rate has risen to something like 20% and is set to rise, when exorbitant taxation and slashes in salaries and wages have made it impossible to make ends meet however hard you try, then really, what do you have to lose? Nothing but your chains?

The simple answer there for all to see (except perhaps those making the decisions) is a resounding NO! There is no way this idiocy will work any better than the lovely policies imposed over the last couple of years that have thrown Greece into a Deep Depression. And the new lovely plan is set to push this country even deeper down the hole.

The Guardian editorial speaks of ‘Debt and Delusion at dawn’. Professor Yani Varoufakis quite aptly recall Munich entitling his article ‘Crisis Appeasement… Euro in our Time’. Paul Krugman uses the word ‘Hopeless’ in his analysis of how the European so called leaders simply have not learnt anything at all from the Great Depression and are set to make things even worse than they are.

Needless to say, it is again pointed out that: what the hell are you basing your projections for the debt to GDP ratio on? It seems as though the European brains have factored out the GDP side of the equation completely, since there is no way anything can be calculated when GDP is in Free Fall and the new package will only deepen the depression further.

But the purpose of all these plans is not to save Greece. In fact there is increasing talk that Greece will be expelled from the Eurozone within 2012 and can go quietly hang itself thereafter. No, the real problem is how to save the European banks and the Euro for all the rest, but not Greece.

The simple truth is, that for all the German Minister’s bluster, Euroland would find itself hard put to survive a sudden Greek default. At the moment at least. therefore all this nonsense which will help provide the funds for the 14.5 billion Greece has to pay in March. So default has been stopped. For March.

Thereafter the plan has been set in such a way that everybody knows Greece  will be unable to live up to the crazy commitments it is agreeing to. The thinking is that when Greece has been properly firewalled, this will be used to boot Greece out of the Eurozone. And the rest will libe happily ever after.

That is the idea of this impossible plan. That is the logic behind it. Unfortunately for the rest of Europe, The Frau and her cotterie pulling the strings are notorious for getting everything wrong. They are hardly likely to change the pattern now.

As for Greece, we have a saying: If you are already wet you are not afraid of going out into the rain!

The Irish Economist David McWilliams reminded us that the definition of stupidity is when you do the same thing all over again expecting to achieve different results.

Which is precisely what the wizards of Europe and what passes for a government here in Greece have gone and grandly done!

For all those here in Greece breathing a sigh of relief… Don’t be surprised when we start seeing the same old story repeat itself all over again. The finger wagging and, “You haven’t reached your targets!” “You haven’t become competitive!” “You haven’t reduced the deficit!” and of course as to growth… Growth? What is that? Nothing Greece can even dream about any more!

And along with this, to remedy all the aforementioned? Increase taxes on anything you can think of (tears perhaps? Now that would be a good little earner) and slash all income to well below subsistence level.

Oh, and by the way, all money earned in Greece and siphoned off through taxation will be put into an escrow account to make sure that the dear bankers can get paid first. What? If there’s nothing left thereafter? Too bad. It’s only those pesky little Greeks anyway. They’ve been around too long. Kill them off through starvation. It’s the banks that need saving.

Congratulations to The Frau and her band. They have achieved everything they wanted. First they have taken Athens, now it’s on to Rome, Madrid, Dublin. Who says women are not as capable as men?

And Congratulations to our brilliant little technocrat who also managed to achieve everything he was sent to do. No wonder he decided to carry on ruling with the already failed and corrupt Papandreou government adding a few extra just for you!

Congratulations to you all. If you can be sure of one thing, it is that Greece will never forget you! But of course that wont last for long, because neither will Greece.

All our thanks to all the people of Europe and the US who went out into the streets in support of the Greeks. It was really greatly appreciated by all of us.

It is time we reclaimed our countries and redesigned the European Union. The original design was indeed for a Europe of the peoples. We must fight to put it back on track. Otherwise there is no point to a European Union designed solely to protect bankers’ and financiers’ interests by squeezing the people to death.

It is time for a Europe of the Peoples for the Peoples by the Peoples and we will all be united in this entity. Germans, Greeks, Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, Irish, British, French, Dutch and all the 27.

It is time for The peoples of Europe to reassert themselves. It has been done before.

Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite!

Here we go again! We have been told again and again and again that if we stick to the brilliant recession inducing plan imposed on us then by 2020 Greece’s Debt to GDP ratio will have reached 120% which for some unknown reason (metaphysical probably) is considered sustainable.

This week has seen a brilliant haggle over the missing 300 million Euro from the new cuts of billions we must make in order to reach the totem of 120% Debt ratio.

The whole mess is being presented to us as a perfect mathematical equation. No real facts involved. No knowledge of how economies do actually work rather than through models of dubious quality. So if we make new cuts of several billions everything will balance out. Can we help but think it is a little absurd that this whole restructuring plan of billions of Euros and cuts of several more billions of Euros will really be made or broken by 300 million, which was presented as the great stumbling block?

But not to fear! The great solution was found quite dramatically in the nick of time! Slash pensions!

And this brings us back to the debt ratio, being so precisely calculated at 120% in 2020. All of a sudden Mr Juncker has made his calculations and no, it will not be 120% but 128%! There was some dithering over the precise figure. No not 120% any more but 124%. Well no actually 128%! And this is unsustainable!

Well it is. Of course it is. And if you carry on slashing everything this way from wages to pensions to reduce the level of absolute debt, you are going to make it even more unsustainable.

I suppose these gentlemen and the ladies of course! Have never heard of the multiplier effect. If you take one Euro out of the economy it’s like losing several more. Not to mention that Mr. Juncker’s lovely sums are based on the presumption that tax revenue will be what has arbitrarily been calculated, quite forgetting that when wages and pensions are slashed and unemployment soars, there will be nowhere for these taxes to come from.

Gentlemen, Ladies please! The OTHER side of the equation is GDP, Gross Domestic Product! If all you can do is keep force feeding what passes for the Greek government with policies that only serve to deepen the recession, all your sums will be worth nothing! Because the only thing you have achieved quite spectacularly is to turn a bad recession into outright depression. And this, dear ladies and gentlemen, reduces the GDP figure horrendously. So when that side of the equation is in free fall, what is the point of insisting on surreal figures that can never be reached for the ratio?

Last week, a 39 year old mother of two young children jumped to her death in despair because with all the exorbitant taxation, wage slashing and unemployment, she could no longer make ends meet. And she is not a unique case. Suicides have gone up by 50% or so. Again a meaningless figure. But one that should make these nice people in Brussels and Washington with the exorbitant salaries and perks think.

But why should they? They are having a whale of the time! As for those on the receiving end of their idiotic so called policies well…. I suppose we could just let the eat cake. Couldn’t we?

It has now been officially decreed by The Frau’s right hand mind that Greece will never hold elections again. There is no need for them since it has been decreed that every and any party that might run for election, must sign the Greek Death Warrant drawn up by Germany.

The two major parties supporting the Quisling government of Loukas Papademos have already officially signed up after 199 Members of our 300 Member parliament voted Yes last Sunday to the German Death Warrant. The vote was the result of terrorization by the PM and the two party leaders telling their MPs that if they didn’t vote Yes, the country would have gone bankrupt on the Monday and there would be no goods on the shelves of the super markets. (!)*

But oh no, that was not enough! After the Greek government caved in to the first ultimatum,  another ultimatum was issued by that nice gentleman in the wheel chair, we really mustn’t be rude about.  This time, that leaders of All parties must sign up to the Death Warrant, including those that voted resoundingly against it. Among which the Communist Party of Greece!

I’m not joking! Or trying to be satirical in any way. This is straight reporting of the facts.

Furthermore, since those pesky little Greeks can’t be trusted to do anything right, out of the kindness of their hearts the Germans have decided to replace the anyway compliant Quisling Greek government with a group of German supervisors who will know how to do the job better.

So there it is. No more elections for Greece. What for? Since Germany will be deciding every last detail of policy. And again, since this is not enough, we shall be given a government run exclusively by Germans who know how to get things done.

In the light of all that, which I repeat, is NOT a satirical rendition, a certain rather flamboyant, often over the top TV commentator may be forgiven for his comment. He said, Germany can’t impose all this on Greece! Germany doesn’t own Greece! At least, I was under the impression they left in 1944. Or am I wrong?

*Even though we all know that if we do default in the end, this won’t be till March!  Yet they believed the blatant propaganda and were sacred silly!