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blame whoever was responsible for accepting Greece into the monetary union in the first place when they downright faked their economic statistics and obviously

blame whoever was responsible for accepting Greece into the monetary union in the first place when they downright faked their economic statistics and obviously noone did any due-diligence? This is a case where blind hope was supposed to triumph over facts (- hey, it's politics, right?): the deficiencies of Greece's economy were known to everybody but if Greece hadn't "tweaked" its statistics, it wouldn't have been possible to let them enter the EU/ euro zone, so everybody looked the other way. Why admit Greece in the first place then? The economic opportunities for exporting goods to Greece seem to have been realized, so that part of the bargain held up (- until recently). Also, there was a hope that once Greece was a member of the EU, they would clean up their act and get things straightened. Of course, if you don't impose sanctions and set up strong incentives, the underlying faults don't fix themselves. The one person arguing for administrative reforms in Greece must have ended up feeling like Charlie Wilson making a case for schools in Afghanistan...

kahawe 15y ago
Yes, it just comes down to greed and so far, I can follow. The point I do not understand is.. when that blind greed goes horribly, horribly wrong then nobody has to answer and everybody gets bailed out and nothing happens against that. That's like playing Russian roulette but instead of you, the casino's cleaning personal takes the bullet and you get a handful of cash and "strangely" enough, more and more people join to play on that table... > hey, it's politics, right? You summed it up PERFECTLY and couldn't hit the nail more on the head: WHY do we as the people take this kind of abuse and say something like "hey, it's politics, right?". It is basically a widely accepted fact that politicians are corrupt and recent politics is nothing but a PR and media show.. and nothing happens. It is just wrong.
ristretto 15y ago
While the financial facts presented from greece to the eurozone before acceptance were definately massaged, that was not criminal-level fraud. Other countries had massaged their financial data as well (hint: Italy) to fit into the euro criteria (which, to be frank were quite strict). Things took the wrong turn in greece AFTER acceptance to the EU: the inflow of relatively cheap euros led to a construction boom (yes, a construction boom in a country which has the highest home-ownership in europe, but negligible industry) and massive imports of foreign goods (Not just from germany, in fact german imports were rather low). Then corruption started settling in, in a state that always looked the other way and hid everything under an (apparently huge) rug, and made no attempt to modernize and grow the economy. As for people trying to make reforms in greece, see this article from 2007: http://www.athensnews.gr/old_issue/13235/16152 http://www.athensnews.gr/old_issue/13235/16152

kahawe 15y ago

Yes, it just comes down to greed and so far, I can follow. The point I do not understand is.. when that blind greed goes horribly, horribly wrong then nobody has to answer and everybody gets bailed out and nothing happens against that. That's like playing Russian roulette but instead of you, the casino's cleaning personal takes the bullet and you get a handful of cash and "strangely" enough, more and more people join to play on that table... > hey, it's politics, right? You summed it up PERFECTLY and couldn't hit the nail more on the head: WHY do we as the people take this kind of abuse and say something like "hey, it's politics, right?". It is basically a widely accepted fact that politicians are corrupt and recent politics is nothing but a PR and media show.. and nothing happens. It is just wrong.

ristretto 15y ago

While the financial facts presented from greece to the eurozone before acceptance were definately massaged, that was not criminal-level fraud. Other countries had massaged their financial data as well (hint: Italy) to fit into the euro criteria (which, to be frank were quite strict). Things took the wrong turn in greece AFTER acceptance to the EU: the inflow of relatively cheap euros led to a construction boom (yes, a construction boom in a country which has the highest home-ownership in europe, but negligible industry) and massive imports of foreign goods (Not just from germany, in fact german imports were rather low). Then corruption started settling in, in a state that always looked the other way and hid everything under an (apparently huge) rug, and made no attempt to modernize and grow the economy. As for people trying to make reforms in greece, see this article from 2007: http://www.athensnews.gr/old_issue/13235/16152 http://www.athensnews.gr/old_issue/13235/16152