Tag Archives: European Union

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Syriza? by Raul Ilargi Meijer

From Raúl Ilargi Meijer at theautomaticearth.com:

First off, no, I don’t think Syriza is a problem, I just couldn’t resist the Sound of Music link once it popped into my head, as in ‘headlines you can sing’. I think Syriza may well be a solution, if it plays its cards right. But that still leaves politicians and investors denominating Tsipras et al as a problem, if not a menace. Now, investors may not need to possess any moral values – though things would probably have been much better if that were a requirement -, but you can’t say the same for politicians. Politics is supposed to BE about moral values.

And supporting Samaras and his technocrat oligarchy, as has been the EU/Troika policy, doesn’t exactly show a high moral standard. Not just because trying to influence an election is an no-go aberration (though it’s so common in the EU you’d almost forget that), but certainly also because of what Samaras and the EU have done to the Greek people over the past few years. And neither does it show in what happens now, where the Greeks, steeped in Troika-induced misery as they are, are labeled greedy bastard cheats.

Since the EU lies as much about Greece as it does about Russia, it’s only fitting that the former should speak out for the latter. And it’s deliciously easy: the EU wants to step up sanctions against Russia (because the Ukraine shelled Mariupol?!), but EU sanctions decisions require unanimity. Since Greek-Russian relations have historically been close, Syriza resisting ever tighter sanctions should be no surprise.

At the end of the day, European taxpayers shouldn’t be angry at Greece, no matter how much their media try to stoke that anger, but at their own banks, governments and central banks. Things pertaining to Greece and its debt are not at all what they seem. Most of it is just another narrative originating in Brussels, Frankfurt and the financial media cabal. Not much is left of this narrative if we dig a little deeper.

http://www.theautomaticearth.com/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-syriza/

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He Said That? 11/28/14

From Nick Drandakis, Greek entrepreneur and founder of the company Taxibeat, an app that provides passenger ratings on taxi drivers:

Fear of failure is less of an issue because the whole country is a failure, and most of us are out of business or have a hard time paying our bills.

The Wall Street Journal, “New Entrepreneurs Find Pain in Spain,” 11/28/14

The crumbling European economy is forcing many Europeans to rethink their historical disdain for entrepreneurship, small business, and capitalistic enterprize; other opportunities are scare or nonexistent. However, Southern Europe’s infamous bureaucracy and red tape present daunting obstacles. Gerard Vidal, an unemployed Spanish physicist, said his business launch was delayed for months by what he called an “illogical, inefficient, and totally frustrating” process.  The European Union just announced a $400 billion fund to provide seed capital for private ventures, but if that runs true to form, it will take years for proposals to work through the bureaucracy, and non-politically connected capitalists need not apply. If there are any European politicians sincerely interested in helping entrepreneurs and small business, here is a policy that, if followed, would be far more helpful than legions of EU bureaucrats with unlimited funds: leave them alone and get out of their way. Entrepreneurs and markets make capitalism work, not politicians, bureaucrats, and their ever-expanding volumes of laws and regulations.