Greece on the Skids

It's all a scam, basically. No, I don't just mean the Greek economic “crisis”; I'm talking about the European Union economic plan. The idea was, allegedly, all about strength in unity... providing economic and trade commonality and cooperation... having a single currency and no customs regulations (for ease of trade and travel)... standing up to the economic colossi of the U.S., Russia, and China... and giving the European countries a good reason not to go to war with each other... and maybe, just maybe, on rare occasions, helping out members in need – you know, temporarily, until they got back on their feet.

OK, that all sounded pretty good back then. Finally, a united Europe! An Unholy Roman Empire, if you will. We could all agree with that. All of the rough edges would be filed down, historical resentments would be smoothed over, religion would be ignored, and Europe would enter a new age that the empire builders of old could only dream of. And best of all, nations and peoples would cease being so damned different – they would cease being themselves. Germans would no longer be Germans, Greeks would no longer be Greeks, and so on. Oh sure, a bit of sterile “diversity”, like the kind we – ahem – enjoy over here would be permitted, but no real differences – nothing that might lead to resentment, hostility, and war.

But that wasn't the real plan, was it? Now it's becoming more clear with each passing day that the main agenda was to, basically, put the northern and western nations (AKA Germany, with help from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg) in charge of all of Europe (or as much as the Russians would tolerate) and, basically, enslave the less economically-sound, chaotic, misgoverned, and foolish countries to the south (plus Ireland). (Not to mention, all Catholic or Orthodox. What a coincidence!) It was to be, in short, the Fourth Reich – a new German Empire – not overtly military this time (unless you include NATO) but purely economic, with politics the abject servant of economics.

And how was this enslavement to be accomplished? Much as the pusher enslaves the junkie – give him free stuff to start with, then start to raise the price. Before you know it, he's working entirely for you, and not for himself or his family. The EU raised the price on Greece and others by gradually turning the freebies into loans, for such things as elaborate social programs (including retirement benefits). And did those mendicant countries count the cost? Of course not – like credit card junkies, they were content to wait until the bill arrived, if ever, then only pay the minimum, if that. Those countries hopped aboard the gravy train, assuming that this was the way things really were in the world... they could now have their piece of the pie... their share in the new prosperity... and the bill would never come due. It was magical thinking, basically – but they were never disabused of such by those in charge, any more than a payday loan operation is scrupulous about truth in lending.

Another tack was to expect the governments of the “PIIGS” to naturally fall into line, and start to function in the same cold, rational fashion as the governments of the north, with zero or at least minimum corruption and racketeering. This, of course, was known to be impossible, but the attempt would further weaken the ne'er-do-well countries and accelerate their rush into dependence.

And I'm sure there were many other aspects to this scam as well. But the point is, the Greek “crisis” is no surprise to anyone. It is, in fact, part of the plan – or, let's say, a very small extrapolation of the plan. And so it can't really be called a “crisis”, any more than when we have an alleged “Constitutional crisis”; all it means is that those in charge have to actually go back and read the Constitution for once, in order to find out what to do next.

Besides, I fail to see how the failure of a single, non-illustrious member constitutes an existential threat to the EU. Think about a tree with a dead or rotten branch -- what's best for the tree and for its future health, leaving the branch there or cutting it off? So why shouldn't that apply to this case as well? Far from a threat, you'd think that getting rid of a, basically, parasitic member would strengthen the EU – and, by extension, stock markets both there and over here. Instead, everyone is in panic – or pretending to be.

And that brings up another aspect to all of this which should not escape our attention. The styling of all of this as a “crisis” may be part of still another scam – namely using it as an excuse for a broader financial upheaval, similar to our “Great Recession”. I mean, let's face it, the Greek economy is no more than a blip on the EU's radar, not to mention ours. They could default tomorrow and it would have a minor impact – the way the sub-prime mortgage crash here would have been a minor thing except that it was used as an alibi for everything that happened from then on (up to the present day, in fact). What I'm driving at is that we'll see just how important the Greek situation is by the reaction to it – it is reasonable, and measured, or is it an exercise in hysteria and fear-mongering? If the latter, you'll know that something much bigger is in the works, and that whatever it is was always part of the plan. It just took the failure of a profligate and woebegone nation to provide the rationale.