Wednesday, July 4, 2012

A Giant Rat

There are some wonderful Greek entrepeneurs, scientists, teachers and normal every day folk around the world, getting on with their lives, living their dreams, existing and surviving.  Living in Greece has become a very difficult fact of life, and a true struggle is now developing as to whether we should allow our future and the future of our children to be determined by events and decisions beyond our control.  In view of the new austerity measures and the poor quality of life, people are now desperately searching for new avenues to explore.  With the financial crisis looming over our dreams and determining our destiny, it is, to say the least, most worrying to have disturbing messages conveyed from other countries within the Eurozone. 

The German Newspaper, The Bild,  is so concerned about the Greek crisis that during May and June, months when people are still mulling over their holiday destinations, it warned all German's that if they travel to Greece they will be welcomed by angry mobs, empty banks and racism.  I am certain that no German faced these problems while holidaying here.  On the other hand, I am quite certain that if the entire staff of the Bild newspaper were to choose Greece as their destination for this year's holiday, it would be a good idea to keep their occupation a secret.

The British Prime minister seems to be agonizing over the crisis so much, and is so determined to help resolve the problems that his empathy towards Greece has been ringing in the Greek nation's ears all day.  His solution to the problem is to close all doors to Greeks if their country should leave the Eurozone.  A reality too  harsh to believe, because obviously the first thing that the Greek citizens will do is pack their bags, close up house, emigrate to another country and start from scratch.  Of course their first port of call would be the UK, as it is so close to home.  Mr Cameron does not seem to mind the already established Greek High Society of London,  who have invested their secret fortunes on England's green and pleasant lands, though.  I wonder why ?

This great interest in the Greek crisis and the willingness of all these people in all these great nations to "help", is actually leading many people to ask questions as to why all this is happening.  The fact is that there is actually very little hostility towards any other nation in Greece.  Any bad feelings are towards the government, its ministers and the more obvious than ever corrupt political system.  Furthermore, if anyone were to ask if Greeks would be willing to leave their country, their homes, their families, their businesses I think that, for the most, people would be very reluctant. Difficult times lead to complex circumstances and, sadly, emigration may be mandatory in some cases - but Mr Cameron, I really don't think that the whole of Greece is going to come knocking, and if they do, you will be getting the best of the best.

All in all, yes there is a crisis.  The middle and lower classes are facing taxes on top of taxes, wage reductions, a poor health and education system.   The weakest link in the Greek System is its politicians and the "turn-a-blind-eye" attitude they have adopted over the years.  Its strengths, though, are immense and if I were looking at the situation here from an outsider's point of view,  the propaganda, panic mongering and economic warfare that continues to burden our society  would lead me to believe that something is not quite as it should be.  I smell a giant rat, but unfortunately I am too small a cat ...