November 3, 2011

Greek Tragedy (2)

Holy crap, what's happening in Greece? On my way home this afternoon I ran into a friend who was waiting for the bus and he enlightened me about the 'crisis' in Europe. In another twist and turn Greece decided to let its people vote about the financial aid package (and subsequent austerity measures) through a referendum. This send shockwaves through both the markets and other nations that make up the European Union. Good chance of course that the Greek people will vote it down.

Watching a Dutch newspaper website which monitors the latest information regarding the Greek political situation it's evident that a lot of people are worried. It's also unclear at the moment if the referendum will proceed. There seems to be a great deal of political infighting in Greek parliament, and safe to say that isn't helping either.

Their situation can be described as followed. They are screwed, one way or the other. If they decline European help there's a good chance they will be ousted from the European Union. Should they accept, the financial situation of every citizen will drastically decline. Ironically, they have no one to blame but themselves. Although I'm no free market advocate I can see that 'the game' simply caught up with them and the simple axiom that everyone usually understands is that you can't spend more than you have.

There's a whole mechanism beyond politics and that is the money creation and immediate connected debt itself.

Governments that don't abide by the monetary rules are the first to feel its consequences. Greece has also been very deceiving and has proven to be an unreliable partner. When joining the European Union they presented false financial data. Their deficits where in reality much worse. Goldman Sachs was so kind to offer their assistance.

Greece failed to recognize the first monetary rule. Money is created in a bank, and has to go back to the bank. Failure to do so means foreclosure. Banks rule, not nations.

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