You may (or may not!) have heard by now about the riots in Greece, 2011’s biggest, yet most under-reported news story.
And if you have, you’re probably wondering, like the rest of the Western hemisphere is…
What is going on with these lunatics? What could have compelled them to march, 200,000 strong, on their own parliament?
What could provoke them to lob Molotov cocktails at their own Ministry of Finance?
Maybe you know the nation of Greece is “in debt,” but you think to yourself, quite rationally, “Isn’t the U.S. in debt too?” Yet, we aren’t marching on anybody, much less throwing petrol bombs around and being beaten bloody by riot police.
What’s so different about what’s happening in Greece? And what does it mean for the rest of the world?
Well, what’s happening is that the Greek populace is just now waking up to the fact that the mountains of debt they are under — together with the all but inevitable collapse of their already struggling economy — are all the tragic result of a big power play and cash grab by international bankers. A cash grab that has been carried out each step of the way with the all-too-willing participation of Greece’s own elected high officials.
Seem implausible?
Here’s how the story went down.
Greece, for ages now, has been one of the world economic centers of shipping and tourism. And throughout much of the past half century, post WW2, these factors have been enough to lead Greece to a steady and impressive growth in their national economy.
They joined the group of charter nations that would eventually become the EU back in 1981, and in the runup to the turn of the century, while money was being made hand over fist all over the global economy, shipping and tourism were pretty great things to have your economy centered around.
And so, in 2001, the other members of the Eurozone — the official monetary policy and currency-sharing “inner circle” of European Union members — invited Greece into their inner sanctum.
“Come in,” they beckoned. “The world economy is terrific, and your little economy, what with your robust shipping and tourism empires, is set to look awfully good for the next century. We’d love to have you aboard!”
Greece danced a little dance and joined the Eurozone swiftly and with great fanfare. They finally had a seat at the big table.
To welcome Greece aboard, and show them just how much confidence they (the big financial powers) had in the little Aegean nation, the large international banks headquartered in the Eurozone nations offered to extend Greece a gigantic line of credit. The presumption was that the new global economy would continue to grow ever-larger, and with it, Greece’s might in shipping and tourism would skyrocket.
“What an excellent time,” they said to Greece, “for you to undertake massive domestic projects and bring your whole nation into the future with us!”
And so it went. Greece accepted infusions of cash amounting into the hundreds of billions from the giant Eurozone banks, with the intention of paying it back with interest once their economy began to really soar.
Then, of course, the bottom fell out. The U.S. housing bubble burst. The fall of Lehman Bros. and the massive way the mortgage lending crisis rocked the whole global economy meant that suddenly, there weren’t nearly as many dollars left to bounce around the global economy.
No longer were nations shipping nearly as much as they had been before the crash. No longer were hordes of cash-infused tourists showing up eager for Aegean sun and fun. So not only did new sectors of the Greek economy never really get off the ground…but the economic staples they had grown to rely on for decades quickly dried up too, as the global economy shrank back to a more local scale, and nations struggled to take care of things closer to home.
This, naturally, is when the banks came to call.
Remember those hundreds of billions? Plus interest? Yeah, we’re ready to collect on that now.
Greece, of course, found themselves in a position where they were completely unable to afford to pay back the loans to the large international lenders. The money was spent, but no return on the investment had ever materialized. And so Greece, in cooperation with international financial overseers, began to work together to come up with ways that Greece could make good on its now delinquent loan payments.
Large national industries, Greece agreed, could be sold to foreign banks at a discount. Greek workers, greece agreed, could be taxed a bit more to make up the difference. Social services, Greece agreed, could be curtailed or stopped altogether.
So suddenly, the proud citizens of Greece found themselves burdened by an austerity brought on by their own government’s reliance on loans from international banks. Things were bad.
But it was about to get worse.
By 2010, the crushing weight of the debts had absolutely flattened the Greek economy. Unemployment had soared. As a result, the austerity measures didn’t prove adequate to pay back the full balance of the loans. Thus, the international banks and the Eurozone partners suggested an even more radical measure.
They would loan Greece an ADDITIONAL hundred billion or so dollars, with the full understanding that this would not be nearly enough to cover any of the things like social services that the Greek citizens has already lost…and would not be nearly enough to help re-start the engines on the Greek economy.
No, this sum they were suggesting would merely be enough so that the Greek government could use the money to write a check right back to their creditors. And the money to pay off THIS loan (plus interest, of course) would come in the form of even HIGHER taxes, even GREATER losses of social services, and even MORE national business and infrastructure being sold for pennies on the dollar to international banking interests…with essentially no hope of getting out from under the crushing weight of the banks’ terms…ever.
In short, this new plan could only have one possible result for the Greek citizenry: years of pain, hunger, chaos, unemployment, and misery…all so the banks would not be late in receiving their loan payments.
This, then, is the story. This is why the Greek citizens have taken to the streets. This is why they hoist torches and pitchforks and scream, “no more!” They feel their whole future as a people has been sacrificed by lies and treachery perpetrated upon them by their own government and the international banks of the Eurozone.
And this is why we all ought to be paying attention. There is hardly a nation on the planet that isn’t burdened under so much debt to national and international banking interests that they have no hope of ever getting out from under it. Not in Europe…Not in Asia…Not in South America…and certainly not the United States.
What we see today in Greece is the canary in the coalmine, gasping its last breaths. The austerity measures we see enforced on the people…the fire sale we see of the national economic resources…the struggle, panic, pain, and eventual fury of a citizenry who never asked for the loans their governments took out in their names, but will now have to suffer to pay back while the politicians and bankers wait out the drama together in their country clubs…
All these things are inevitable consequences to debt run amok. The riots in Greece, 2011, are not going to be isolated instances. This is merely the first of what promise to be many similar dramas played out all across the globe in the coming months and years.
You might want to watch the riots in Greece carefully. The story is a big one, and it affects us all.
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The Greek Tragedy 