Fuck this. This isn't the EU any of us signed up for. http://t.co/sbhp1H5aAE pic.twitter.com/eIQR1o57Lf
— James Mackenzie (@mrjamesmack) July 12, 2015
Meanwhile Greece's future is at least in part in the hands of actual Finnish fascists. http://t.co/bl1kLmJvhK pic.twitter.com/vhDMmOl1J3
— James Mackenzie (@mrjamesmack) July 12, 2015
My will to actively campaign to stay in EU in 2017 seriously dented after sight of Greek people being collectively humiliated. #thisisacoup
— Mark Ruskell (@markruskell) July 12, 2015
Imagine the level of utter contempt which lets you try to steal £50bn from a state on its knees for your own company #ThisIsACoup
— Ross Greer (@Ross_Greer) July 12, 2015
Right now the EU/Eurozone looks like a deeply undemocratic club working for the wealthiest countries and citizens, and failing the weakest.
— tomallan (@tomallan) July 12, 2015
Wow. Just wow. #ThisIsACoup http://t.co/749twE5vr9 pic.twitter.com/5y0b7lguer
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) July 12, 2015
Greece – EU scorecard.
1. Various big EU banks, esp. German, lend money to Greece like drunken sailors because they get a high return (because the loans are risky), but wink-wink-the-EU-will-never-let-them-go-under-so-they’re-really-government-guaranteed-and-totally-safe. A lot like the US subprime boondoggle.
2. EU quietly shifts the burden of bad-looking Greek debt from bankers to EU taxpayers. Sort of like the US bankers getting bailed out by the taxpayers.
3. The Greeks cook their books with the help of Goldman Sachs so that they can keep getting all that Freee Munnny.
4. The shit starts to approach the fan. EU mumbling. Greeks saying, “Hey, no problem, we’ll deal with it” and continuing business as usual. I.e. not collecting taxes from wealthy, continuing corruption and crony capitalism that is unusual even these days.
5. The shit hits the fan. EU louder mumbling. Greeks saying, “You’re screwed. Give us whatever we want or the euro crashes.” Apparently it escaped Tsipras & Co. that Greece would crash a lot worse. All they succeeded in doing was making the rest of the EU (not just the Germans) mad.
6. The EU says, “You want bullying? Here’s bullying. Deal with it. Oh, and don’t let the door hit you on your way out.”
I wouldn’t say there are any real good guys here.
I can sort of see the EU point that if the Greeks want their money they have to play by their rules. This isn’t really about democracy. Nobody’s taking over the Greek Parliament. It’s about not giving them money if the Greeks want to continue lying their way out of paying it back.
It would just be nice if the EU were doing all this on the side of social justice, not banks.
(And sorry for the book-length rant. Kinda got away from me.)