So the ‘loony Leftie’, Alexis Tsipras, won the Greek election, just missing an absolute majority by only two seats but making the task of forming a coalition exceedingly easy. It’s hardly surprising that he won given the suffering the Greek people have, and still are, suffering and the fact that he has promised them increased wages, increased pensions and a reversal of the privatisation of state industries. It is a sign of how desperation can impair intelligence that so many Greeks actually swallowed that nonsense whole!
A great poker game will now ensue between Mr. Tsipras and Frau Merkel and it will be fascinating to see who bluffs longest and hardest. Yes, the ‘Kaiserin’ might allow a delay in Greek interest payments but there is no way she is going to allow the entire Greek debt to be forgiven. Apart from her own voters who are already becoming restive at the prospect of the ECB printing money, the result of the poker game will be watched carefully by the Italians and Spanish and any give-aways will be seized on by them to help alleviate their own problems, not the least of which is the rise of equally ‘Loony’ parties in their electorates.
However, I was struck by an interview on Sky News this morning with a Greek political and economic commentator (sorry, no name) who struck me as being rather a shrewd observer. He suggested that Mr. Tsipras will have been rather content not to have an absolute majority because then he would have been a prisoner of his own party of mouth-dribblers and eye-ball swivellers. Needing a coalition partner, albeit a small one, gives Mr. Tsipras a narrow gap through which he can slither when it becomes clear that his promises are not worth a drachma!
The Greek people have ended up with yet another two-faced, lying liar who can’t spell the word ‘economics’. But it’s their fault, they believed his nonsense and they voted for him. The only sensible solution for Greece is to drop the euro and take the hit. It will hurt but with a devalued drachma they will soon recover. Alas, they still cling to it like passengers from a sinking Greek liner clutching at wreckage in a stormy sea. What’s the Greek for ‘suckers’?
What I like about you Mr Duff is that you are such an optimist. You say - drop the Euro and take the hit. With a devalued drachma they will soon recover. Really? They will still be stuck with the political plonkers that took them into the Euro in the first place. Faced with two unpalatable choices, the Greeks have very sensibly voted for both of them!
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Monday, 26 January 2015 at 10:57
As I understand it (from the 'experts'!), it is the Greek people themselves who are desperate to stay in the euro on the grounds that (somehow!) it makes them a proper European nation rather than a Levantine one. Even now, around 75% of them want to stay in. So their leaders are, in effect, following rather than leading. Actually, the more they kick up a fuss the more the euro sinks in value which will do wonders for the tourist trade. Even so, their best solution is get out, go broke and start again with their drachma. Plenty of other countries - Argentina, Russia, etc - have done that and eventually prospered.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 26 January 2015 at 11:44
A favorite Sherlock Holmes Mystery of mine is called "The Greek Interpreter". Seems like that is what will be needed for Tsipras to understand market economics.
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 26 January 2015 at 13:22
Well they're certainly going to need some 'interpreters' over the next few months with all the 'forked-tongue speaking' that will be going on!
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 26 January 2015 at 14:45
Curiously, Pablo Iglesias the spanish leader of the "We are whomever you want us to be" Marxist party Podemos is distancing himself from Tsipras. Just last Saturday he was in Greece pushing the commonality. May be a case of "Be careful what you wish for"?
Posted by: Timbo | Monday, 26 January 2015 at 17:37
Hello, Timbo, long time no see. Well, they're all coming out of the woodwork nowadays and irrespective of what they say all we can, and should, do is watch what they do.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 26 January 2015 at 18:31
The Greeks did not have to take the loans. They could have left the EU. They did take the money and have to act responsibly and pay their way. The leftie election winners are the real con men as they still want to stay in the EU capitalist system while pretending they are different. Their attempt to portray Merkel as a Nazi is a disgrace. Time for the British to leave the EU and get the real trade agreement that was supposed to be the original agreement.
Time to get back to the old British parliament and get rid of the idle gravy train subsidiaries.
Posted by: jimmy glesga | Monday, 26 January 2015 at 23:39
"Even so, their best solution is get out, go broke and start again with their drachma. Plenty of other countries - Argentina, Russia, etc - have done that and eventually prospered."
And that's the problem from the Eurocrat POV. If Greece does drop out and succeed, what does that say to the other Club Med countries?
Posted by: Oswald Thake | Tuesday, 27 January 2015 at 11:54
Exactly which is why I sit with bated breath and fingers crossed. Of course, we'll suffer in the backlash but if it helps break up the wretched EU then it's a price worth paying.
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 27 January 2015 at 12:05