An Analysis of the Truth About Europe and the Greek Crisis

A piece of news from the European media about Greece three evenings ago was enough to shake the European stock markets and send them tumbling the following day. Endless discussions across television channels in London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, and elsewhere. Ridiculous: the weakest link in the chain of the European Union shook up uncertainty, fear, and ruin. Ridiculous! Ridiculous and utterly ridiculous to anyone with half a brain, who only knows how to balance their own family’s budget. Greece holds 1% of the economic weight in Europe, so how is it possible that the shock following this news is presented as a magnitude seven earthquake in the economic palace with the stable foundations of the European Union’s stock markets? So what is happening, what has happened, and what is expected to happen inside this magnificent palace, which for a long time has been shaken time and again by successive earthquakes? Are these tremors real, are they orchestrated, what is the purpose and the truth behind them? I believe we must look deeper into time, into politics and into the economy, and this requires a sharp mind, an impartial analyst who digs and searches for where the ticking time bomb of today’s and tomorrow’s uncertainties lies.

The European Union was born as a necessity after the Second World War, to counterbalance the economy of the socialist camp. Throughout the years of their existence, this counterbalance kept the equilibrium of the European economy, its economy and prosperity, stable and with few fluctuations, and subsequently the politics of both camps, which opposed each other through the war of ideas and political propaganda. Capitalism as a system, in my personal opinion, is exactly the same as the Communist one. I know you will laugh, but I will try to convince you. If Communism as a system seeks to own property and employ others while reaping the revenues for itself, capitalism does the opposite: it allows you property and reaps the revenues from this property. Insurance, pensions, and prosperity should be equal in both systems—they should! They should, but they are not! And this has nothing to do with the systems, but with the administration of this property, which in the first case is based on property and exploits the individual, and in the second case allows property and steals or reaps from the individual. And administration has nothing to do with politics, regardless of its propaganda in both cases. Administrators have only one goal, one thought: profit, and in both cases, it must provide prosperity and economic growth for a nation or many nations together. I will supplement this with some real facts about today’s Europe, and about the different parties and their different policies, which are part of a common European economy. So, their policies are different, but the core demand and the struggle are for economic growth and prosperity. Today, the European Union is a united cooperative with different political principles, but supposedly with equal economic goals. This too is ridiculous! Because the internal political-economic struggle can never be equal for the unequal. I will give just one small and convincing fact: Germany gets a long-term loan from the European bank at an interest rate of 2%, but Greece gets this same loan, from this same bank, also in Europe, at 5%… tell me, gentlemen, where is the union and equality here? Or Germany or France themselves take this loan at 2% and give it to Greece at 4, 5, 6, or 7%. Even the European Union economically resembles a jungle where everyone must devour to live better and climb higher. This struggle depends on the conditions, the situations, the method, the form it takes, and the cards played at the table of the united European cooperative.

Now, 20 years after the collapse of the capitalist-communist equilibrium in the economic game—because for me, there is no political game—panic, uncertainty, and the fear of an overthrow, a collapse, a fall with potentially severe consequences have infiltrated the European Union. And what happens? As always when we feel unwell, we close ranks, we look for the consequences, we try to plug the holes where the cold drafts blow in, or sew up the torn sack from which the flour of profit and security leaks out. But what are the causes that brought and continue to bring this uncertainty, why is the torn quilt of old Europe so hard to mend now? The evil is hidden deep in the years, in economics and politics, in the goals they harbored within and the interests of profit, first economic and then supposedly political. What does the label of prosperity matter to the masses—capitalist, communist, democratic, or liberal? If we look throughout the history of world revolutions for overthrow, there has been and remains only one goal: prosperity and security.

Herein lies the truth of the overthrow of the communist camp, which, always insecure (not unclear) about its goals, its security, its seat of power, turned into a dictatorship in every state. Theoretical communism is not a dictatorship, but practical communism remained one. Why? It is simple to understand: its goal was to stay in power, in any form, by any means. And to maintain this power, it used violence, without thinking or realizing that the more violence it exerted, the wider it opened the great abyss it would fall into. It created what cannot be created: the class struggle, two opinions in one house, of which only one was allowed to be heard, even when it was wrong, even when it contradicted the nation’s prosperity… “We will eat grass before we violate our principles”… ridiculous too, isn’t it? Man in this world is temporary and always seeks to live as well as possible for his time, whereas communist dictators fought for history and supposed endurance, because their personal prosperity was guaranteed. But recently we see that in the Middle East, leaders are being executed by the masses—were they communists too? We have never talked about their political beliefs, yet they are still being executed as unworthy by their peoples. Why? There is only one explanation: economic decline, or the stagnation of economic development in these countries, causes the people to execute them. The label does not matter—communist, democrat, or liberal—whoever stops the locomotive of development from moving forward is executed, regardless of the name they bear. The name has nothing to do with it, and has no connection to real or promised values; the economy decides, it raises and lowers the masses, it calms or stirs the waves in the great sea of bitterness. It capsizes any kind of political ship that goes against the interests and the path of these waves, which have only one name: the destruction of economic interests, private at first and then national, or multinational.

LET US RETURN TO POST-COMMUNIST CAPITALISM

The fall of the communist system destroyed the European equilibrium, and subsequently the global one. The capitalist economy, which supposedly until those moments of equality remained balanced, flipped the other side upside down, whether in value, in prosperity, or in the struggle for politics. The communist system in the boxing ring suffered a powerful blow and was knocked unconscious. Unconscious or completely dead, it does not matter; the purpose of this analysis takes a different direction. The fans of the losing side were left stunned for a moment, and when they came to their senses, they realized that the other boxer, the capitalist, was stronger, richer, better. Then they abandoned their player and all ran toward the winner. Some over the wires, some over the walls (the ropes of the ring) were no longer an obstacle for them. Capital emerged as the rightful winner, as with patience, care, and the rule of law, it defeated and knocked out the other. But what came next? Next, drunk on success, it opened its gates to its former opponents—supposed opponents, because the masses look at their immediate interest. And what really happened? The collapse and knockout of the communist camp meant that its economic and political breathing ceased to exist. As always happens, the unburied corpse of a dead man brings problems for the living… and these appeared: first Chernobyl, then the nuclear reactors of Bulgaria, etc. The fields were left fallow, the hydroelectric dams were flooded, the factories were destroyed, to be rebuilt according to a new system, but with what? Then the masses abandoned everything and took the roads of emigration… The enthusiastic receiving side accepted them, helped them (but always in its own interest), and the interest was private, regardless of whether they were part of a state like Greece, Italy, France, etc. Here the workers worked under the table (not all of them, of course) to enrich the capitalist individual. The capitalist state gave these individuals, besides profit, other aid to meet production needs, because the Eastern markets had huge demands. Less powerful states like Greece, to cope with this influx, asked for a lot of money, and the European Union gave it to them with both hands. And not only Greece, but other states too, like Italy, Spain, and many, many others. Whether the politicians of these countries did not know this economic game at all, or knew it and did not use it in the interest of the nation but in the interest of the minority, does not matter much.

There is also another secret that perhaps occurs to no one. Did the losers in the ring finally die, do they no longer exist, or are they living and working in other ways to silently undermine what the European Union is trying to build? Many questions here too, but without answers, because the purpose of this piece must run its course, and this topic requires other writings, well-argued and precise, to convince the readers. A loss in a battle is not the loss of the war, but a new organization for new visible and invisible battles for triumph over the opponent.

THE GREEK CRISIS

Today, the Greek people rightfully demand to know: where is the money taken from the European banks? This seems ridiculous to me, because I have lived in Greece for 20 years, and I, as Pilo, know where the money is and where it went… and I think every citizen of it should know this. How can the Greek people not know where the money is, when they travel from Igoumenitsa all the way to Turkey? How much did this modern highway cost? Why was it built, when Europe wanted to give money for the Egnatia route? Because Greece’s politicians fought to have its revenues pass through Greece. The same goes for the Athens airport, the ports of Thessaloniki and Piraeus, for all the island ports in general, the numerous roads and tunnels that filled Greece within a decade. The same goes for the organization of the Olympic Games at a staggering cost, when they were supposed to fit the 10 million spectators that make up all of Greece, every man and his dog.

Up and down the television channels you would hear: “Greece is the superpower of the Balkans!” Every Greek opened a company, hired ten foreign laborers, and became a boss. He became an employer even though he was a cowherd in terms of culture, administration, and knowledge of business laws. “The horse works and the donkey eats,” as my late grandmother used to say; I remember it today and laugh at her words. Everyone took out loans and built a hotel on the seaside: sea, wine and beer, pork chops grilled on the barbecue, and skin baked in the sun. The German and the English marveled and asked, “How do they manage, where do they find the money, while we work ourselves to the bone?”

I remember in those years when my niece was on the verge of finishing high school, she came to me joyfully and said, “Uncle, the teacher told us that we too will become like Germany, the united Europe will be on one economic level!” I laughed! I told her, simply and so as not to ruin the river of joy gurgling in her innocent and pure soul:

“My dear, you are grown up now, but how can Greece, which produces tomatoes and oranges, be equal to Germany, which produces airplanes and cars? To buy a tractor from Germany that costs 40 thousand euros, the Greek farmer will have to toil his whole life selling oranges and olive oil, and he will still remain in debt to the one who produces the tractor.”

But my niece rejoiced in the dream, not the truth. Now she often comes and tells me, “Uncle, what you said was true!” But now my niece has graduated from university with a degree in economics and works in the Greek banks.

The years rolled by, the abundance “increased,” hoteliers filled their hotels and declared half to the state: hotels full, taxes zero, the state coffers empty. Merchants bought and sold with reckless abandon, paying no taxes.

With the introduction of the euro, officials demanded salaries equal to those in Germany; salaries rose by the day, prices rose by the day, but who could steal from whom? Children picked their father’s pockets while living and working in the same house as him. The hour of crisis struck, the children demanded their wages, and the father had nothing to give them. Quarrels, divisions, brawls, political crisis.

Pensioners demand their pensions, but the state has nothing to give them. It asks Europe, and Europe opens the floodgates of its lakes of money. The Greeks eat and drink. Europe pays for people who give nothing to society, though in truth they once did. But nothing is left of what they gave. In recent days, a tragic fact of shocking proportions has emerged. Over 50 thousand pensioners are apparently no longer alive, and their relatives are collecting their pensions. What are these people doing? They are robbing the state coffers, they are robbing themselves! Ridiculous, painful, but true! Doctors, engineers, and so on, declare an annual income of 10 thousand euros a year. Yet an office or clinic in the center of Athens alone costs 7 thousand euros a year.

Their cars cost 150 thousand euros each… ridiculous, this too. Doctors demand a salary supplement as if they were people living at the lowest rung of society. Hahahaha… who are you telling, and who believes you?! At a time when a driver for the municipal electrical services earns a salary of 4 thousand euros a month. Civil servants demand their salaries be on par with Europe’s, because the state itself tells them they are equals. A pensioner receives state assistance to make a living, while renting out 15 apartments and ten shops… ridiculous, this too… ahahhah.

In a remote area of Greece, it is reported that thousands of people receive disability pensions, yet they grab their shotguns and, despite their supposed inability to walk and work, they grab their shotguns and chase wild animals through the forests for sport, even though there are no animals or birds left anywhere. Greece, with its ten million inhabitants, has more people registered as unfit for work than Germany does with 85 million. The tax system is still not computerized with a large central hub to coordinate and monitor the work.

The education system is in a deplorable state. Competition: my nephews and nieces are at the state school in the morning, and at a private school in the evening, because the state-salaried professors are indifferent at school, but demanding in their private evening courses. Is it a matter for tears, or for laughter? Greece is the only country in Europe with a system like this.

Livestock products come from Turkey, Spain, and Egypt; the Greeks go to the beach, having become owners and merchants. Tourism prices rise every day, tourists flee to other Mediterranean countries, and Greece is left with both its sun and its sea empty. Those who bought the pork chops and the wine left, migrated, and took their money elsewhere, where it was better, where it was cheaper.

All the Greeks had credit cards, bank cards, and checkbooks in their wallets, but there was no more money. The apartment buildings were left half-finished, workers across 85 professions were left jobless, and the state no longer provides social assistance. Only a cow, if you let it loose in an alfalfa field, will eat until it bursts. Man, as an intelligent and logical being, eats today and saves or plans for tomorrow.

The people say, “Stretch your legs only as far as your quilt reaches.” Why, then, did the Greek economy stick its legs out from under its quilt?

I have to laugh when I think of a Greek friend who said to me a few years ago, “Where are you going on vacation this year?” I told him, “Nowhere, because I have no money!” He laughed and said, “I don’t have any money either, but the bank gives loans for vacationers.” I laughed and stayed silent; how was I to answer him? A person prepares and saves up money for a vacation; one cannot rest when one knows one is in debt. But this was the economic policy of abundance, of loans, of development—in a word, it became a land of milk and honey. Politicians came and went in Greece, making promises with the loans they took out, without explaining that a creditor might forgive a delay, but never the debt! But the politicians were transient, as they always are; the people wear the packsaddle, and in the end, the burden falls on them. And when its legs give way, that is when the donkey realizes the weight is too heavy and it cannot carry it to the proper destination. But this policy was not Greece’s; it was flawed from the center, from the European economy, from its economic policy. But the truth is that capitalism lives, flourishes, and develops on this basis, by exploiting others… it gives five to take ten. And it gives here and gives there… until finally the time came to collect. But what happened? Greece’s basket was empty, Spain’s too, Italy’s even worse, Finland dozes, Portugal wakes from sad dreams… Shock, earthquake, sleepless hours, the question: what is to be done, where is the mistake, how will we proceed from now on? Europe’s great threshing floor is left unthreshed, and the wheat is rotting on the floor. We give some aid to patch the torn sack in Italy, and a few months later a hole opens up in Greece. We close and patch it there, and a cavern opens up in Spain! Panic, insecurity. Late-night meetings, insomnia, tension! The links of the chain weaken, they have no resistance, they require repair and maintenance, but the money is missing. The Greek people rise up and demand changes, Europe forgives what it has given and gives more. Why? Out of its great love for Greece? Out of the economic benefits it gets from her? Hahahaha… 1%, and even that sounds like a mockery. Then what is the real reason? In the great cooperative, there are huge disagreements built up over the years, the unity is broken, economic interests have made the cooperative feel the cold. And when the village burned down, Nasreddin finally said, “As long as it’s far from my ass.” This is what the great powers do to the “little equals” in the European cooperative. But the aid is given and will continue to be given, not out of love, but because it is a necessity for the situations that have been created. The superpower of European unity in the face of a united America turned out to be a bluff. Its economy can barely stand on crutches today. The truth is that during these years of development there has been growth, but it also has its dark side. The West resembles the sunrise, while the countries of the East resemble a dark sunset. And the longer this sunset of theirs continues, the more problems there will be in old Europe, which today, in its advanced age, needs a servant to wash it and change its underpants… It might have money, but when you have a poor neighbor, it gets on your nerves when he is always knocking on your door asking for things. For the neighbor to sleep peacefully, the brother must be helped, not exploited for long- or short-term interests, because a corpse on your doorstep stinks up the house and makes sure no one ever knocks on your door… and in this specific case, Greece is an unburied corpse, stinking up all of Europe with its miserable condition. How, then, should it be dealt with? They say that the lamb that strays from the flock gets eaten by the wolf! Is Greece a lamb that is fleeing the flock of the European herd to be eaten by the wolf, or a lamb that, wherever it goes, drags the herd with it into the wolf’s den? Time will tell that Greece is not the bad apple of the herd, but rather that the united European cooperative is a sheepfold that has lost its equality, stability, tranquility, and mutual interests. The political-economic milk that will flow in the future will reveal its true nutritional value, quantity, and quality.