BANKERS SET ATHENS ON FIRE

BANKERS SET ATHENS ON FIRE

While watching the fires burn in Athens and listening to news commentators “analyze” the situation, perhaps there is merit in looking at the root causes and not the sensational headline provoking side effects.

The origin of the Greek problem is no different from the malaise in the UK the US and the EEC. The Greek citizen is no more immoral or lazy than the rest. Indeed Greeks are among the greatest innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs, businessmen the planet has ever seen, for example Onassis, Niarchos, Livanos, Latsis, Sir Stelios and many more.

History has dealt Greece some cruel blows; they picked the wrong side in WW 1, and were defeated in their expansionist folly against Turkey. The Greek people endured acute hardship in WW 2 with occupation, bombardment, executions, disease and starvation. In the post war period they had the Colonels and a slew of utterly corrupt politicians set on establishing their own dynasty, including the Papandreou's 

The father Papandreou, jailed by Metaxas the fascist leader for being a “Trotskyite”, escaped to the US and even obtained a PhD from Harvard, would you believe in Economics. He could hardly say "I know nothing." The son George the current Greek Prime Minister of course benefited enormously from his father's connections, to the political, financial and business leaders of the US.

From the above description, Greece was hardly an ideal new member of industrialized, post war northern European countries. The International community, bankers, businessmen knew this full well.

They also knew full well that the few elite families paid no taxes, many officially living in London or Monaco, but in reality taking their private helicopters from their Mansions in Athens to Piraeus etc. and returning at night to party.

The international financial community knew from day 1 that burdening Greece with excessive debt would result in default, but did it anyway, without consulting with the people. Haven’t we seen this somewhere near to us?

The multiple objectives were earn fees on debt issuance, give the Greek people the good time they were previously deprived of, create masses of new jobs in the public sector, making it much easier for  politicians to get re-elected. Both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown would have been proud of theses achievements!! The resulting debt would be stuffed into the investment portfolios of major Western banks. This new disposable “phony wealth” in Greece boosted export markets for Germany the UK   etc. all kinds of products, from cars to washing machines to air conditioners, and most importantly made the elitist families in Greece extremely RICH

Everybody was very happy with the fact that the bankers with full knowledge aforethought had saddled Greece with an unsustainable debt load.

Why were the bankers not worried about the situation they had created, because that was their plan from the beginning.

In the event of default, they would strip Greece, a country of thousands of years of history, of its income producing assets, in a fire price sale, and leave enough debts left over to ensure the Greek people are in servitude to the banks for decades. Because it would be inelegant to do this directly, the means to achieve this are the IMF, the de facto debt collector for the world's rich countries charged with stripping the poor countries of what they own.

When the IMF flies to a country, in private jets of course, they usually come accompanied by the same investment bankers who advised when the loans were granted. They invite a horde of multinational CEO's with a pre-prepared shopping list of what they intend to take, advised of course by the same investment banking firms in completing the deal.

If for any reason the target country tells them to go to hell, then they play the "they have betrayed us, they are lazy, they are stupid, they fraudulently misled us, we need a bail out, or our bank will fail and the Western financial system will collapse” In other words the usual litany. Just look at the French banks and Morgan Stanley if in any doubt.

The essential feature is that the bankers should never lose.

So where is Papandreou in all this is he an elitist globalist, actively selling his own country down the river, or is he defending the interests of the sovereign Greek state. I leave you to be the judge.

My fervent hope is that the Greeks will show the courage of their ancestors, and tell these corrupt politicians, bankers etc. where to go. They will, after a period of great hardship, similar to that experienced recently in Iceland, be able to return to what they were, not stripped of their freedom, their assets, their dignity and identity and indebted for generations to come.

Let this situation be a warning to any other excessively indebted country seeking IMF help or indeed any form of bail out. The IMF has played this game countless times before, the victim only once.