So, you all want us Greeks in the Euro zone... with growth, no less... No sweat, but there are some issues.
The Euro zone, Messieurs les Présidents, is a one-way mercantilist street and the cross-border figures show it. Germny, and to a lesser extent two or three countries have made rules designed to foster their exports to their euro-"partners", often using bizarre euro-laws and euro-rules nobody voted for (the euro-parliament is not my parliament, nor is my representation there meaningful, nor do I have any interest in delegating control to non elected officials I have never heard of, each with their own trade agenda.
To make matters worse,
the mercantilist goals have been accomplished though less than transparent local central bank policies, and bribes. Pumping money to aborigines, not to foster local growth, but to promote and sustain local consumption of mostly German (and French) products. Perhaps more meaningful to US sensitivities, the Franco-German relation with their Greek "partner" has been a blatant case of foreign corrupt practices. Non-stop bribing, the tip of which has been documented in German courts. Greece's business, media, and political structure since at least 1985,! some sa y, prior to 1985, has been made in, and controlled and financed by Germany (and to a lesser extent France), all serving and leading to our current predicament.
This nasty aspect is not new to us, but the foreign "influence" has not been for some grand geopolitical or anti-soviet cold-war purpose, but simply for mercantilist (Franco-German) gains. We have been bribed and subsidized to discontinue all local economic activity -- unless it suits our masters. We may be failing as a state, but it has been with a lot of help from our "partners".
Now let's talk about the euro zone and
our growth.
We have more debt that can possibly by serviced.
Such debt has been incurred though biased and often corrupt practices. The restructuring of such debt should recognize the simple reality that it has been incurred to provide trade surpluses to those who imposd the biased and corrupt practices. THEY should
write it off, plain and simple, albeit it unpalatable. Not replace it with more expensive and secured, or mortgaged debt, which only inflames our fiscal position, never mind our national sensitivities. We strongly resent having been cajoled, coerced, or bribed to incur debts to consume imported German goods, which we are now asked to pay off with real assets or utilities. We were bribed to import paint for the house, and we are now asked to hand over the house. A weird deal...
If we are to stay in the euro zone, additional euro financing should be made available, not to encourage more bogus German and French imports but to provide interim financing for whatever the next phase is. Local growth can only be accomplished with a locally reasonable tax system and local initiative.
If new euro-financing is not acceptable to our euro-partners, and I doubt it is acceptable, our only choice is, regret! tably, u nilateral actions, and pursuit of other alternatives. This has nothing to do with an anti-West or an anti-free trade approach. Any US State or French province would feel the same way were they to be in our predicament.
