coyoteyogi
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The foundation of any agreement are the shared values and trust of each party. I have not been to Greece. What I know has been gleaned from reading about this crisis from various sites around the internet including TAE. It appears that collectively values have deteriorated in Greece to such an extent that there is no way any agreement no matter how relaxed the terms, could be enforced or succeed. The social dynamic as become such that only a fool pays what they owe. No one trusts anyone else (outside of immediate family). This is a recipe for systemic failure and one that is not dissimilar to what happened in Argentina.
What surprises me most is how long it is taking to happen. The charade will continue until it does not. Germany will be blamed I’m sure.Nobody in power is able or willing to speak the truth. The population gets lies and scapegoating, stories designed to avoid the difficult and relentless choices that face them. We are not so far behind and have the same problem. To wildly mix metaphors, it’s a potemkin village of puppets putting on a shadow play. That’s how far removed from reality the politics has gotten. Somehow the truth will win out. I feel for the people who need medications now, not tomorrow. I feel for the doctors and caregivers who are trapped in a box. While all share some responsibility for the mess, not all were equally at cause for it’s creation. Sad.
While I am grateful for the clear presentation of the obstacles to this deal taking place, it seems that little to no attention is given to first principles. Stoneleigh has introduced the idea of the “trust horizon” and it is clear that the trust horizon in Greece is shrinking to that of immediate family and friends and no further. Government requires the trust of its people. Oh sure, you can have a totalitarian regime like East Germany in the 80s and keep everyone under control with surveillance and terror. But a modern society with open borders and at least the appearance of open, democratic elections cannot be ruled without the consent of the governed.
This agreement seems well designed to actively destroy the trust of the people and to produce a facsimile of “consent of the people.” If no one believes what you say, if no one follows through on their promises, if everything is faked: income, prices, fees, taxes etc. then there is literally nothing to leverage or develop. When a debt becomes unpayable, surprise! it can NOT be paid.
So, as it has been pointed out, this is not about the Greeks getting back on their feet and bcoming a prosperous country. This is only about preserving the private banks which lent the Greek government money and now stand to lose their investment. Private capital gains for me, public and shared losses for you.
I don’t see how this can last much longer. People will get increasingly creative in exchanging value outside of the current system.
