It hasn’t gone away, you know. The Greek crisis is back and this time it’s serious. The Greeks are about to run out of money again. Athens faces a €1.7 billion bill for wages and pensions at the end of the month and a further €450 million loan payment to the IMF on April 9 – and it doesn’t have the cash.
In a sign that the cash crunch has become more desperate, officials at Greece’s state healthcare service were asked on Tuesday to hand over a €50 million reserve for paying arrears owed to medical workers. Earlier this month, about €150 million of budget funding for hospital supplies was unexpectedly withheld, according to health ministry officials.
The government has so far rounded up more than €600 million of cash held by state-owned corporations, including contributions from the Athens metro company, the state electricity supplier, and the Athens water utility.
Moreover, about €300 million in EU subsidies due to farmers has been diverted to cover salary payments to civil servants, according to people briefed on how the cash crunch is being handled.
The Greek government is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Greece is being squeezed dry.
It is faced with a choice between capital controls in the Euro or ultimately, leaving the Euro. It is also clear the conditions being put on the Greek government are such that it must break all its election promises.
Thus, the Greeks are again being faced with a choice between their democratic mandate and their European commitment. This is pretty stark stuff. Amazingly, all the mainstream political parties have been queuing up to bash the Greek government. Why is this?
The Greek economy is broken. The society is fractured and there is a humanitarian disaster in the country, with many people surviving off food kitchens. Yet from Europe, when the Greeks need understanding and sympathy, they get threats.
No one is saying the Greeks are angels in this story, but there is a much darker narrative going on, and it is that the European mainstream political establishment is terrified of parties like Syriza – even though it was mainstream Greek politicians, not radical politicians, that oversaw the wholesale looting of, and corruption in, the Greek economy.
Now that is all conveniently forgotten, and the entire European mainstream is lining up to destroy Syriza and say to their own electorates: “Look, if you vote for non-conventional parties, see what will happen to you.”
Because we are now in an electoral cycle, the conventional parties need to crush Syriza to crush the other nonconformist parties and show their own electorates what voting in a nonconformist way leads to.
When looking at politics in mature democracies, I prefer to use the term insider vs outsider, rather than right vs left, urban vs rural or conservative vs liberal, to describe the electoral fault lines.
The insiders are those, literally, on the inside. They are the people with influence, with a voice at the table, those with a stake in the society. Insiders can either be on the left or the right. They can be traditional public sector trade unions who want no reform or they can be bank bosses who want a bailout. Their game plan is to gouge the state and extract as much rent as possible for their members and interests.
Insiders are organised. They are part of the process of politics and their concerns are listened to by the state. In short, they have access to power and can influence the way it is deployed.
In a crisis, when growth disappears, the insiders redefine their strategy and go into self-preservation mode. Their main objective is to make sure their members’ interests are protected from the slowdown in growth and that they get as big a share of the dwindling income pie as possible.
Interestingly, the insiders on the traditional left and conservative right join forces to pass on the costs of recession to the outsiders. This is why you see the statist left and the corporatist right in power all over Europe from Spain to France and Italy.
Sure, they might speak the language of left and right, and ham up their ideological differences for the audience, but essentially, they are both in the business of preservation.
Think about our Fine Gael/Labour coalition, or today’s German CDU and SPD grand coalition or even the Tory/Lib Dem pact in Britain. These are all parties of the apparent right in bed with parties of the alleged left.
Such expedience is classic insider behaviour.
The outsiders, in contrast, are those with no one to speak up for them. They have no stake in the political process and are thus on the outside. They are the self-employed small business person, the contract worker, the immigrant, the unemployed and, of course, the young.
They are outside the tent, beyond the process and, because they are not organised, their concerns are never felt.
They too can be on the left and on the right. The small shopkeeper could well have traditionally conservative instincts, while the twenty something contract worker could well be liberal to her core, but they are both outsiders. Neither has a real stake in society; neither has a voice.
What they do have is a vote.
And in the ‘spectator democracy’ which urges voters to give a ‘thumbs up or thumbs down’ every four or five years, the outsider, normally locked out, has a chance to be heard.
When there is economic growth, the insiders can buy off the outsiders with crumbs from the table. There is a little bit for everyone because the pie is getting bigger each year and the system works. However, when growth stops, it’s a different story.
For the insiders to preserve their position, it means that the outsiders must lose – and this is when the game moves from being a well-disguised process of ‘beggar my neighbour’ to an existential scrap between insiders and outsiders.
Because the outsiders are, by definition, not organised and rarely speak with one voice, in challenging times they are represented by unconventional parties who mix the rhetoric of the excluded with the tribal comfort blanket of the nation; who may offer the elixir of low taxes, with the promise of economic growth; and who appreciate the need for debt forgiveness in countries suffering from relentless deflation.
More than anything, these parties have identified that the mainstream, traditional parties are in cahoots, trying to maintain a status quo which is simply serving to featherbed the insiders.
This is the game in Europe. There is no ideology. Insiders are interested in power, and that’s it.
Syriza, for all its faults, offers an alternative narrative; it is a flawed narrative in some aspects and exemplary in others. But it deserves to be heard, not demonised.
In the weeks ahead, Greece will go bust again and this process will be used, shamefully, by mainstream parties around Europe that don’t have the courage to admit what is going on. So they, like all cowards, choose to laugh in a huddle at those who dare to be different.
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Very good article.
We need an ‘Occupy Europe’ movement to overthrow the insiders. Just don’t ask me… I’m too busy working to pay the bills…
Folks like Johnny Ronan and Michael Fingleton might have some time to spare though…
Hi David, Another perspective of the word outside: Outside my house about a mile away the shannon river flows. Another 48 year old married man with 3 kids was fished out of it a couple of nights ago. A fortnight ago a married man with 4 young kids hung himself in a small forest beside it. 6 suicides I know of in the last few weeks near where I live. Worse it’s getting. There is no recovery. The water and property charges have to be paid by people who have no income. So when you right about Greece why don’t… Read more »
Greece paying back its debt should always come second to providing essential services such as healthcare. If the EU is creating an ‘us vs them’ scenario with unrealistic expectations, then a Grexit obviously becomes more likely.
I desrcibe my own political stance as “To the RIGHT of the Devil, and to the LEFT of God” That said, if JFK were alive today he would be considered a right winger.
Times have changed and I submit to you “THERE IS NO RIGHT WING IN THIS COUNTRY!”
They have the bully pulpit to try and force capitulation on the voters, you have that correct. Dont fall for it. Those in power are the worst HATERS you will ever encounter. SHAME ON THEM. And I include SF in this too, no difference at all.
The manager of the world’s largest bond fund has warned that the eurozone is untenable in its current form and won’t survive unless countries cede sovereignty and become a ‘United States of Europe’. Andrew Bosomworth from PIMCO says that while the bloc is likely to stay together in the medium term, the single currency can’t survive unless countries move closer together. Mr Bosomworth says that the status quo that we have now is an untenable structure and the lessons from history show that a centralised monetary policy coupled with a decentralised fiscal policy won’t work. PIMCO also says that the… Read more »
Good article David I think there is an ideology driving the direction Europe has been taking – it is called neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is not a political ideology; not created by or native to the traditional left or right. Neoliberalism is the ideology of the transnational corporate business class (bankers etc) and was created by their academics and think tanks. Transnational means these business elites are only nominally nationals; their allegiance is to their own transnational globalist class. Corporate means private. Transnational corporations are essentially private global empires. The myth of capitalism persuades many people to believe these private global empires… Read more »
Very good article, David. Crystal clarity your analysis but what to DO?
But Mike, all the EU thinking citizens continue to vote for their belief in their true democracy, which they all believe that they struggled very hard to obtain. Won’t they see its alteration, change, loss or removal as a threat?
Dwalsh, I agree. The spread of neoliberalism is Europe’s deadliest enemy. These stateless privateers are completing the process of making Greece another vassal state. They already own Ireland. Enda & Noonan are merely going through the motions of governing while decorating their retirement homes with blood money. History is full of their kind. Unless thwarted by organized resistance these swashbuckling 21st Century privateers will complete the conquest of all Europe using their deadly weapon of mass destruction, debt. What is interesting (and disconcerting) here on David’s site is his recognition of the power of unity and organization vs. the lack… Read more »
Very good article again David. Human nature being what it is if you rob Peter to pay Paul you’ll rarely get a complaint from Paul. However if you explain to Paul that he’s being robbed too he might sit up and pay attention. We need a modern well managed water infrastructure which meters supply to manage the resource for the common good and the next generation. What is being forced upon us is a control and monopoly of supply to be handed over to a yet unnamed robber baron or barons. The mainstream media is engaged in a campaign to… Read more »
The TO Do is very simple. Stop voting for the establishment parties and start voting for independents and non-establishment parties!!!
If Greece gets kicked out of the Eurozone, I will go to Greece on a vacation.
So as to help the Greeks survive sticking their two fingers up to the lobbyists that are polluting EU policy.
And I am sure that many more will do the same.
Landmark article. The entire EU project has gone “corporate”. It has descended into a sham. That is was ever going to be anything else, was nothing but a pretence anyway. Pravda Six One “news” broadcast the UK election announcement. It is supportive of Milliband because he will NOT consult the British people on the matter of the power of Brussels. No discussion of Milliband’s amateurism. No mention either of the fact that Britain’s public debts are out of control and Cameron/Clegg fudged the issue for a full term of government. Because several countries are now borrowing recklessly, and endlessly. And… Read more »
David – thank you for standing and saying something that badly needed to be done. The Brussels based imperial racket will bankrupt all of Europe, financially intellectually and demographically if it is not corrected. And we do not even have a debate on the issue. The same finance sector that lobbies EU institutions without cease, also owns the advertising expenditure of much of the media, and also owns many of the political parties. If you want to know how the world operates, watch “The Century of the Self” by Adam Curtiss. You will have to find it on the net.… Read more »
David’s article is a wake up call to everybody in the EU.
The EU has become a tool for the rich to avoid capitalist consequences for their own failures, and avoid socialist consequences for working people who pay for socialism, via the USC, PAYE, etc..
The whole thing has become a scam.
Good article ,David. The question of insider and outsider is interesting and needs IMO examining. Initially we describe insiders as those on the inside of government operations. Then included are those who receive from the state. So we appear to think that the insiders such as the politicos and their sycophants are the insiders. However there are circles within circles emanating from the top down. The top being the control tower which overseas all activity. All organization act this way. The middle manager sees himself as an insider when in reality he/she is just a pawn or cog in the… Read more »
Good article ,David. The question of insider and outsider is interesting and needs IMO examining. Initially we describe insiders as those on the inside of government operations. Then included are those who receive from the state. So we appear to think that the insiders such as the politicos and their sycophants are the insiders. However there are circles within circles emanating from the top down. The top being the control tower which overseas all activity. All organization act this way. The middle manager sees himself as an insider when in reality he/she is just a pawn or cog in the… Read more »
The Greeks had more democracy, and better democracy when Athens was governed by Pericles ( a man who went down the road of good intentions ) than under the EU.
And that was even accepting the fact that many Athenian residents were not in a position to vote.
This talk by Varoufakis was given a couple of years ago but it gives an eloquent overview of the world as seen from Greece. It is quite long but worth watching through, including the questions afterwards.
Yanis Varoufakis: The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy – YouTube
the real inflation rate is 4 times the government lies
http://kingworldnews.com/legend-who-oversees-170-billion-issues-dire-warning-to-the-united-states-and-europe/
The deposit snatchers are poised to strike again.
Greece to default next month!!
http://kingworldnews.com/ecb-to-steal-greek-bank-deposits-as-greece-to-default-within-two-weeks-sending-shockwaves-around-the-world/
My thinking is that one way or another, a new monetary system will develop and will be a mixture of a number of major currencies, plus high-priced gold. Thus gold, by necessity, will sneak into the new monetary system.” Richard Russell
http://kingworldnews.com/russell-total-collapse-the-monetary-story-of-the-century/
[…] Why are we sacrificing Greece for the insiders? – David McWilliams […]
Treated for SUICIDAL TENDENCIES? BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr5yeQJ8Kvg
Greece is just the start. The privately owned central banks want to control everything and lead us into a neo feudal world of austerity through a cashless society where we are dependent on the state for everything and any dissent will be severely punished. Resistance is the only sensible option unless we want to become serfs to the new money lords.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-29/globalist-financiers-fleece-greece
Here is an Irish political party who are standing up to all of this.
http://directdemocracyireland.ie/government-plan-to-deny-human-freedom-to-protect-their-revenue-stream/
Michael et al All good discussion but as hugo warned me two years ago people will get sidetracked with all sorts of schemes and get off the main point of changing the money system. In my opinion there is absolutely no sense in devising a string of derivatives to hedge against the fluctuation of your currency. We are shortly back to the same old same old with paper certificates backed by nothing being traded for a supposed something. The adage ‘Keep it simple comes to mind. Take the HSP idea and condense it to the local level. One needs funding… Read more »
I don’t want to write a book about either the Middle East situation or the direct aggression on the Russian border, rather we should look at “why”. Why is the U.S. pushing so hard for a war which cannot be won and can only go nuclear with all the follow on repercussions. In short, because we “have to”. The game is over and Washington knows it. The game of course is dollar hegemony. The game of “reflation” is lost and gone until we can reset the system with a new currency. You see, each time we had a recession in… Read more »
Another excellent article from David. Insiders and outsiders are nothing new in Ireland. Crotty argued that the latter half were forced to emigrate. Historian Joe Lee spoke instead about the performance ethic vs the possessor ethic, but I think it’s the same thing as insiders and outsiders.
As for politics, the main British parties are united against UKIP. As David says, Left and Right have little to do with it. It has been convincingly argued that Cameron is the Heir to Blair. It’s hard to beat our own lot though for rhetoric and throwing shapes.
Watch for the bailin process to move into high gear as Greece defaults.
The bankrun in place at present is lowering deposits greatly. To halt this the accounts will be frozen and the deposits allocated to bank shares to recapitalize the banks. Then see what the people think.
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/u-s-financial-markets-are-one-big-fraud/
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/the-stock-markets-unnatural-natural-logarithm/
David’s mate, George Monbiot is at it again:
“‘Wealth creators’ are robbing our most productive people”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/31/wealth-creators-klepto-rewards-bosses
I reckon he’s a shoe-in for Kilkenomics this year!
I would be interested in David’s reaction to this disclosure that Bank of Ireland id not properly registered as a bank and should not by the Central Bank of Ireland’s own regulations be in business.
http://awaken-longford.com/2015/04/01/when-is-a-bank-not-a-bank-when-its-bank-of-ireland-private-banking/
http://www.bullionbullscanada.com/intl-commentary/26287-the-one-bank
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/obama-strengthens-united-states-role-as-a-global-terrorist/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11509242/Israel-applies-to-become-founding-member-of-China-development-bank.html
HaHa follow the money!!
Funny how the US calls Russia the aggressor when they have troops in 140 countries and carry out military exercises on the Russian border. Who is the provocateur?
Reuters being owned by the Rothschilds will of course give a neutral fair unbiased commentary.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/09/us-ukraine-crisis-nato-training-idUSKBN0M51XZ20150309
Neatly tied up and spot on IMO the article.
Also, it appears that the new Greek govt in charge are boxing clever the insiders running EU and criminal banking system and are no fools, the narrative of which is going to get very interesting.
Collins is quoted as saying in “Michael Collins In His Own Words” (edited by Francis Costello, Gill & Macmillan, page 99): “Our strength as a nation will depend on our economic freedom, and upon our moral and intellectual force. In these we can become a shining light to the world.” And, on page 102: “The strength of our nation must be the strength of the whole people. We need a political, economic and social system in which our material, intellectual and spiritual needs and forces will find the fullest expression and satisfaction.” https://foolscrow.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/if-michael-collins-were-leader-today-a-blueprint-for-freedom-and-prosperity/ Collins would lean over the desk of… Read more »
http://www.imranhosein.org/media/books/dinarbook.pdf Here is a Muslim take on the subject of sound money. Looking past the religious posturing but looking at the advice one sees that muslims will follow the uses of sound money. They point out the usurious practices of the central banking fiat ponzi scheme that entraps and enslaves millions already. They point out that the purpose of the coming electronic money is to enslave the world. It is mandated reading for further understanding of the benefits of commodity money. Greece is just one of the latest examples of the stripping of assets by the tools of bankers, the… Read more »