Now Greece has to sell some of their family silverware. Because Greece is now pilloried for their national debt.
At OTE, the German Telecom cannot be the spoilsport, so they have to get even more involved. But airports, sea ports and the railway system are also for sale.
Allegedly, some people are interested in buying. After all, they say an international airport is a cash cow (as long as people go places by plane). It is said that the Chinese are interested in buying sea ports in order to achieve global supremacy. (So far,) I cannot imagine anybody buying the railway system. The only railway line I know in Greece is the one between Patras and Corinth. It continues to Athens.
This railroad track was newly built for the Olympic Games in Athens 2004. Even today, I still see few trains, mostly empty. They are all Diesel driven, because the masts stick into the air without a cable being fastened to it. It seems like the electrifying process has been terminated halfway through. Consequently, there is still a separate bus from Patras to Athens for people arriving on the ferry. I have no idea that any competitor might be able to offer a reasonable price.
No, I definitely cannot imagine how selling values that actually render some profit could be a solution for paying off ones debts.
As long as the profit is higher than the interest you have to pay on the debt, you had better keep them. And if the profit is poor, you will never get a good price, except if the buyer has special interests. And it is very unlikely that these interests will be beneficial for the seller in the long run.
When these kinds of demands are made, the ordinary citizens are, unfortunately, often forgotten. They have to accept massive restrictions, cannot understand any of it – and therefore must develop a negative attitude towards the demands made of them. Especially if all those measures do is just prolong the misery and postpone the innovative process that is necessary anyway.
What we now see in Greece will happen to many other countries in the future. Within the EU, the same thing will definitely also happen in Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy. There are, however, more countries that show signs of weakness. What is going to happen in Finland (it is an €- country) if Nokia will continue to have problems? Or how about Belgium?
But the non-Euro countries in the EU are just as much in danger. What will happen to England (£- country) if the number of retired persons will soon climb from being one fifth to one fourth of the population? What will happen in Hungary? Not to mention the sour state of affairs that threaten countries outside the EU – just think of White Russia.
And what about Germany? Don’t we have excellent conditions? We are the export world champions, the unexpectedly gigantic taxes flowing into the federal funds are enormous, the economy grows at record speed, unemployment is lower than it has been in a long time and we have an industry that is said to be flourishing!
I am not so sure if this is all true. After all, I know some huge concerns quite well and therefore I know that life is all but carefree there. And we all know you should not trust statistics unless you forged them yourself.
So why do we rank at the top position, both in absolute and relative terms in Europe when it comes to the national debt? Why does our debt clock accelerate all the time, regardless of this unique, nice situation?
Here you can read it again in this blog, as a reminder that all is not as well as we think: The German debt clock reads:
It runs pretty fast – like the beetle during the time of our economic miracle.
Unless someone pushes the emergency brake pretty soon, we will not have to wait long for a big bang. A world-wide bang. Because we only have one comfort: before the bang reaches Europe, the Dollar will blow up in our faces, causing quite a stir in the USA. Due to the global links, however, we will not be long in following suit. So here is my warning: fasten your seat belts in preparation for the crash!
But it is all quite normal and would have happened sooner or later, even without the Euro. To me, it seems system immanent that after a few decades there always has to be an economic crisis. Simply because our society changes all the time. Because we live in a globalized world which is connected but still develops differently in many areas. That causes friction – and, naturally, also crashes. We have to live with it, even if it hurts.
I find something else annoying!
In Europe, the second half of the 20th century was a time of conciliation between nations. My own generation and the one before committed many atrocities. We destroyed the world by our life style. If there is one positive thing that can be attributed to us, then it is the fact that we turned the enmity between European nations into friendship.
Now the people in Europe are again agitated against each other. Some nations are looked down upon and old national concepts of the enemy are revived. More and more nationalistic tendencies are spreading.
And, as I see it, this development is totally due to the frivolous and totally unnecessary introduction of the Euro ten years ago. Sh… happens.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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