Hope is missing in Greece of to day

Βy Anastassios Retzios 

I have travelled to Thessaloniki, Greece for the holidays.  My main intention was to spend this time with my family that still lives in this city.My impressions alarmed me.  Whayt alarmed me more is the divergence of my assessment to that of certain of friends and relatives.   This divergence partially explains the schizophrenic nature of Greek politics today.In Thessaloniki, I have found a city that is becoming uglier by the second; it is a city which “livability” is way, way low.  Virtually all main streets are severely constrained by parked cars which also impede the passage of pedestrians.  Traffic moves slowly and spasmodically, not because there are too many vehicles on the road, but because there are too many parked cars in these roads, transforming them into very narrow passages.  There are hardly any public parking places (there are a few, usually full). 

The stealing of the Greek banks

By Dr. Anastassios Retzios, 

Occasionally, I wonder why I try.  There is no easy answer to this, as most of you do not seem to care.  In that context, many of you are not really different from the vast majority of the Greek populace which is absolutely numb currently, apathetic, and totally demoralized.  Greeks do not do well in defeat; it is a kind of cultural thing.  But to those who have not lost all will to fight, I want to remind them of the famous saying by Winston Churchill: In war: Resolution, In defeat: Defiance,In victory: Magnanimity,In peace: Good will. With this preamble, I would like to discuss now the biggest crime committed since the signing of the memorandum; there were many others, but this is certainly the worse.  And what makes it all that more painful is that none of you even know about it or even care.  Maybe I am wrong, but, somehow, I do not think so.

The Germans today have a tighter grip of the Greek state than they had in 1941-1944.

By Anastasios Retzios

One thing is true.  The Germans today have a tighter grip of the Greek state than they had in 1941-1944.  And they do not need occupation troops and security battalions.  Apparently, many Greeks are available for purchase (and likely, quite cheaply). [This includes many of the MPs: the sweet taste of good paycheck has inhibited their vision, their hearing, their logic and their morals….was there any doubt on this???]

The catastrophic attachment to the Gold Standard in the UK with the illogical worship of the Euro in Greece

By Anastassios Retzios

Those who have lived in the UK as well as those interested in the Labor movement in Europe would have heard of Ramsay McDonald.  He was the person which managed to bring the Labour Party in power in the UK.  However, having been elected with a strong Labor majority in 1929, he cast his party aside, embracing the conservatives in an attempt to impose unpopular policies for the maintenance of the gold standard.  The result was the humiliation and discrediting of the Labour party and movement.  Some conservative historians are now trying to “restore” the image of Ramsay McDonald (rather ineptly in my opinion) but the fact remains that his name is equivalent for the term “turncoat” in the UK. If one ventures to compare the attachment to the Gold Standard in the UK with the illogical worship of the Euro in Greece, one would not be too far off base.

The Greek Government has been caught in a trap

By Anastasios Retzios

The “game” of the “institutions” is now absolutely clear, as it is also clear that the Greek Government has been caught in a trap that it cannot possibly escape from.  It is evident that from the onset, the “institutions” never had any intention to enter in any negotiations with this government.  One can try to guess their motives for such a stance; it could either be the fear that any negotiations with Greece would lead, in a domino-like effect, to re-negotiations with other countries in difficulties or it could be simply that Berlin and Brussels have decided to “extinguish” a rebellion against their policies, or a combination of the two. 

Οσοι λένε ναι στο ευρώ πάση θυσία οφείλουν να μη διαμαρτύρονται για τα επερχόμενα περισσότερα δεινά

Πρωτεύουσες καρτέλε

Anastassios D. Retzios

Δεν καταλαβαίνω γιατί  οι υποστηρικτές του ευρώ, διαμαρτύρονται  για τη μείωση των μισθών και των συντάξεών τους. Τα δάνεια  που μας παρέχουν σε ευρώ οι υπερκυβερνήτες από τη Φραγκφούρτη, μόλις και μετά βίας φτάνουν για την κάλυψη των βασικών εξόδων του κράτους για τρέχοντες μισθούς και συντάξεις, ενώ έχουν ανασταλεί οι πληρωμές προμηθευτών, εφ’ άπαξ αποζημιώσεων, νέων συντάξεων,κλπ.   Αυτό είναι το τίμημα για  το ταμπού της παραμονής της Ελλάδας στην  Ευρωζώνη.Στα νοσοκομεία δεν υπάρχουν βασικά υλικά  όπως λχ. χειρουργικά γάντια, ο στρατός και η αστυνομία δεν έχουν καύσιμα για να κινήσουν τα οχήματά τους, τα σχολεία δεν έχουν πετρέλαιο για να θερμάνουν τις αίθουσες, οι κρατικές υποδομές καταρρέουν από έλλειψη συντήρησης, οι επιχειρήσεις κλείνουν ή δραπετεύουν στο εξωτερικό, η ανεργία πετάει στα ύψη σε επίπεδα 30%, το κράτος έχει ανείσπρακτους φόρους περισσότερα από 52 δις ευρώ. 

In modern "currency wars” Greece has surrendered all arms to the German economy

By Anastassios D. Retzios, PhD

Eventually, Argentina did recover. By 2004, the economy was booming again under a new Peronist president, Néstor Kirchner, who stared down the International Monetary Fund and applied his own brand of economic common sense.Apart from the fact that the default led to a lot of suffering between 2001 to mid-2003.  I will tell you what happened.  The “economic common sense” that Nestor Kirchner used was simply to abandon the dollar!   Many of the ills of Argentina were caused by its utilization of a currency, which was fast appreciating in the ‘90’s, and which made Argentinian goods uncompetitive abroad and at home.This is what happens when you surrender monetary sovereignty.  You no longer have control of the currency and you cannot adjust its value to regain competitiveness.

Αφού το ευρώ είναι ταμπού, μη διαμαρτύρεστε για τα επερχόμενα περισσότερα δεινά

Δεν καταλαβαίνω γιατί  οι υποστηρικτές του ευρώ, διαμαρτύρονται  για τη μείωση των μισθών και των συντάξεών τους. Τα δάνεια  που μας παρέχουν σε ευρώ οι υπερκυβερνήτες από τη Φραγκφούρτη, μόλις και μετά βίας φτάνουν για την κάλυψη των βασικών εξόδων του κράτους για τρέχοντες μισθούς και συντάξεις, ενώ έχουν ανασταλεί οι πληρωμές προμηθευτών, εφ’ άπαξ αποζημιώσεων, νέων συντάξεων,κλπ.   Αυτό είναι το τίμημα για  το ταμπού της παραμονής της Ελλάδας στην  Ευρωζώνη.