When the appointed technocrat Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras went to see the President of the Hellenic Republic to update him on government policy, the President felt the need to remind him that there did happen to be people in this country too, not just numbers. He did not put it that way of course, being a diplomatic man, but he did call the Minister’s attention to the fact that you can’t roar ahead with cuts and exorbitant taxation in total disregard of the suffering you are inflicting on the people.
It is very unlikely that Mr Sournaras took any heed. As he told us himself in what is becoming a notorious interview on TV a couple of nights ago, he was only upset when Herr Schauble told him off for divulging that the Greek extension had been granted before, he, Shauble, had given permission to him to do so. He disobeyed the Master and was taken to task for it. And this really did make him unhappy.
He also told us that one of his best moments was when Scahuble patted him on the back and told him what a good boy he was because he had carried out all the demands that were pending.
Again the honourable Minister appears to have remained anaware that this praise from Scahuble he so delighted in was won at the cost of inflicting the worse punishment yet on the Greek people. And that is saying a lot. What with about a third of the population under the poverty line, 26% officially unemployed, further recession after 25% of GDP has already been eroded. And much more, like hunger, destitution and an insistence on even more taxation on people who simply cannot pay anything any more.
The only thing that matters to Mr Stournaras and Antonis Samaras is how to keep The Frau and her side kick happy, and hang the people. The plebs. The great unwashed and all that. Their suffering does not touch Mr Stournaras at all. He is only upset when Mr Schauble reprimands him for not inflicting more pain on the Greek people.
It is interesting that there has been a growing amount of articles and comments appearing in the foreign press concerning the plight of the Greek people, from Bloomberg, to the New York Times, the Guardian and others. And there have been reminders that there is not much use in “saving” the country (which is the pretext for this destruction being wreaked on the Greek people and the Greek economy) when you have sacrificed the people instead of saving them.
But Mr Stournaras is a model technocrat. Dedicated to his mission. Determined to keep Mr Schauble happy at all costs. When asked how he will meet the targets he has so callously agreed to when people can no longer pay the extra billions in tax he is demanding, he answered, they will have too.
So quite obviously, he wants to save the economy but not the people. Nevertheless, although it is perfectly understandable that a dedicated technocrat like himself remains totally oblivious of people and their suffering, it is rather surprising that in terms of his own remit he cannot (or will not?) see that the very recipe he is desperately trying to impose will only lead to the complete collapse of the Greek economy. How else could it be with the “killer medicine”* Greece is being force fed?
*A journalist at the ECB press conference held today used that exact phrase for what is happening to Greece. The “killer medicine”. As expected Draghi’s answer was a mumbled fudge about imbalances, about Greece still having a deficit and such. As you would expect from yet another ex Goldman Sachs technocrat.