The Blunted Sword of Damocles
It's seems the never ending Greek farce is slowly drawing to its inevitable conclusion – the Greeks can't play with the Nordic EU Poker Gods any more if they can't afford to put a stake on the table. Naturally, anyone with any economic sense knew from the day Greece fraudulently entered the Eurozone that eventually it would come to this. Certainly a few bankers and politicians have lined their pockets well from the whole débâcle but in sum, all the Eurozone ever did for the average Greek was increase the price of a coffee to €3 and allow them to drive their cars on brand spanking new motorways built by the Germans.
Ironically, it's now the left demanding that the bank debts be written off – yup, the same ideology that saw Labour in the UK bail out the very same banks and shackle our kids to enormous state debts but if the polls are to be believed, a slim majority of Greeks will ensure that European Central Bank and the IMF are left open mouthed and empty pocketed as Greece simply decides to walk away from the whole ghastly mess.
Of course, Greeks themselves have always been cash rich and taxation poor – these are southern Europeans after all – and whilst the Calvinist northern Europeans have been happily taxing their citizens to death to ensure pensions and healthcare and a big state, the only people getting very rich in Greece have been the corrupt tax collectors ensuring their clients have more options open than Retsina bottles at a Corfu wedding.
Good for them, I say. Sure, it'll be ugly for a few years as the State reissues the Drachma that nobody will actually use anyway – it's not like Greece has any gold or foreign currency
reserves left to value it against - and all transactions revert to hard cash in dollars or Euros but the Greeks are masters of bartering and doing just enough to get by. Eventually, they'll bore of a left wing government and elect somebody who will open up free markets and copy their low tax neighbours. That and a great climate is all they'll need to see them happily back on track. Don't expect the EU to forgive and forget quickly though. If the Greeks can make it work, expect other southern economies to follow suit. Why the hell be in hock to German and French banks and the IMF when a simple shrug and a smile will see you back snoozing gently in a debt free albeit defaulted siesta.
The expansion of the EU outside of Northern Europe has always been a mistake. Let's not beat about the bush, Europe has always had three distinct cultures – work hard/save hard (North) – work hard/drink hard (East) and take it easy/whatever (South). As with any ponzi scheme, the only way to make it work is to keep getting new members to sign up and much to Putin's disgust, a whole raft of Eastern countries have watched the South fill their coffers with EU grants and loans and are desperate to grab a slice of some free Brussels cake – Ukraine being the latest to send a shopping list of demands to “Oligarchs R Us” whilst forwarding the actual bill to eager grinning unelected EU commissars to redistribute amongst the overtaxed masses of Northern Europe. Watch this space as the saying goes...
It won't do any of them any harm to take a good hard clout from the Greeks. It's time Europe had a little reminder that money has to be earned before it is spent if you don't want to enslave yourself and your children for generations – and who better to teach us (once again) than the descendants of Aristotle and Plato?