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There are two sides to this article one is correct and the other is deceitful. I assume that this article was written by a Greek (I infer this from the first pe
by JanezStupar 15y ago
There are two sides to this article one is correct and the other is deceitful. I assume that this article was written by a Greek (I infer this from the first person accounting of situation).
The true part of the article is the part about debtors options and possible scenarios.
The deceitful part is the part about "ordinary Greek not understanding the situation and having no part in it". In eastern Europe we have a saying that someone is "indebted as a Greek", meaning that someone is perpetually taking loans to repay old ones while having not a slightest intention of ever paying them off. And this proverb is centuries old AFAIK. So all this protesting going on, pleas of "ordinary Greek people" are an elaborate scheme of shedding guilt. Modern Greeks as a nation are an entitled (an order of magnitude more than attributed to gen-Y) and lazy bunch. Boasting their "heritage", while they have nothing in common with the antic culture.
Any businessman worth his salt will be weary of doing business with Greeks - thats how bad in general their ethics situation is. While I cannot offer any meaningful opinion about how to get out of this mess. I can try to provide some insight into how Germany and France got into this mess. The first would be that greedy coke powered bankers got all optimistic that Greeks will repay their debts this time and went on to issue insane amounts of subprime loans, ok this is not what happened.
What did happen was that western world knew full on from the beginning what would happen - but proceeded anyway, since Greece was too strategically placed in the cold war and could not be lost to Soviet influence. The Greeks being smart, knew that and took full advantage. What happened after the cold war, was basically the subprime mortgage scenario of US played on a national scale - it is fraud committed by German and French bankers over the people of EU. I'm not believing anyone "in the know" telling me with a straight face that they didn't know that Greeks were cooking their books.
So in a sense like US subprime fiasco is fraud committed by US elites over people of US, European sovereign subprime debt crisis is also a fraud committed by European elites over their peoples.
I recommend reading this analysis of Greek[1] and Irish[2] debt crisis. It has to be some of the best journalism I have ever read.
[1] http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010 http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-b...
[2] http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103 http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-...
Let the Greek diaspora and leftist lunatic downmodding begin!!
Edit: Indeed it was not written by a Greek. But the part about people of Greece not knowing what is going on is pure bullshit - I am not accusing the author of having an agenda. However I am accusing him of not having balls and bringing it out.
- gordonguthrie 15y agoIt was written by John Lanchester as it says at the top. He is not a Greek.
- route66 15y agoI sincerely hope that folktales and sayings about groups are not the common source of judgement on HN. Nice also that you also have "leftist lunatic" as an explanation for any possibly contrary opinion.
- JanezStupar 15y agoAre you implying that folktales have absolutely no merit? Also I am not implying that there are no honest Greeks. But from my anecdotal experience their moral standards are quite... flexible. Edit: Goes the same for people of southern Italy and whole of Balkans. Have you ever been to Balkans? Are you intimately aware of moral and ethical backgrounds of peoples living here? If not - then you might be guilty of "everybody is a good person deep inside" type of thinking yourself. Disclaimer: I am Slovenian, as you may have noticed discussions that we might be next in line to join PIIGS. And I have to admit that our nation is guilty quite of some of balkanisms ourselves (no matter how some might try to deny it).
- stfp 15y agoAm I alone in thinking this mildly disgusting mix or prejudice, xenophobia, personal opinions and pop research has no place on HN ?
- JanezStupar 15y agoIs this really xenophobia and prejudice? From my own business experience and from discussions with various businessmen that have done business on Balkans as a region. I know only of handful of people that made money there (Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Albania). Everybody else got shafted one way or the other. Are accounts of Chinese shafting foreign investors/businessmen whenever they can also prejudicious and xenophobic? I would be glad to accept your (although anecdotal) experience that proves my point wrong. Is writing by lewis (Beware of the Greeks bearing Bonds) also xenophobic and prejudicious? Or are you guilty of wishful thinking?