Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 8 August 2015 | Page 50

RISKY
B U SI NES S
In a PIGS’ ear!

Can we really take Western democracy’s fiscal
structures seriously anymore? If we do and
it is the best option we have got, then we are
probably much further up that very brownlooking creek of popular legend than those
supposedly in charge might have us believe.
What is chilling is the fact that the same people are
on radio shows (what happened to radio programmes
and what the heck is a radio ‘show’ anyway?),
television and other media, droning on with their
expert opinions about the ongoing financial crisis.
Let’s not forget that these are the same ‘experts’ who,
in 2007, didn’t see the crisis coming, the same experts
who didn’t know what it was when it arrived in 2008
and who are still not sure when it will leave (2015),
yet they still get paid to offer their professional views
about it – it’s all quite amazing!
So now we get to the Greeks – one of that glorious
foursome, along with Portugal, Ireland and Spain,
who were collectively – hence the acronym PIGS –
also known as the ‘sick men’ of Europe during the

post-2008 period. In modern parlance, it used to be
said ‘beware of Greeks bearing gifts’ (actually, the
quote was ‘I fear the Greeks even when they bring
gifts’; Virgil, circa 19 BC) and that pretty much held
sway for 2029 years.
Then, suddenly (and, to be fair, the Greeks have never
been in much of a rush about anything), this changed
to ‘beware of Greeks looking for handouts’ and,
within a mere five years, that has changed yet again to
‘beware of Greeks not willing to repay their debts’....
Quite frankly, it is all enough to make Virgil want to
turn in his Aeneid!
Seriously, though, democracy is a funny concept in
practice. I say this because we need a licence to drive
a car, the same to run a business and a permit for our
dogs and many other things, but, often in complete
ignorance, we are allowed to breed and vote with no
test or qualifications whatsoever!
So now the Greek electorate (largely the ordinary man
and woman in the street who probably, like the rest of
us, has trouble filling in and or understanding a simple
personal tax return) went to vote on the assumption