http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may
Christine Lagarde, the self appointed
"World Protector", and leader of the unelected "IMF
Supreme Council" weighs in with her contribution to the growing
distorted hysteria, attempting to influence the outcome of the
forthcoming Greek elections. There can be no thinking person who
really believes that the crisis in the Greek economy is the
consequence of ordinary people, "Greek parents" to use her
terminology, not paying their taxes. This simplistic, almost naive
analysis, is an attempt to convince ordinary people in the rest of
the Eurozone, together with those, like ourselves who are not members
of the "Euro Club", that the crisis has nothing to do with
the banks, financial institutions, speculators and the like, and the
duplicitous politicians of the coalition of New Democracy (ND) and
Pasok and more recently the unelected “technocrat” prime minister
and government, who entered into austerity agreements with Merkel and
the rest of Eurozone, and then poured the bailout monies down the
drain. There is little doubt that tax avoidance and no doubt tax
evasion, is a problem within the Greek economy, but this is no
different from any other economy in Europe or anywhere else for that
matter. Large companies pay significant amounts of money to
accountants and lawyers, to ensure that their tax burdens are reduced
to the lowest sum possible. On the other hand "Greek parents"
are not really in any position to afford such professional
assistance.
The intervention of Christine Lagarde
and her IMF henchmen, is another ratcheting up of the pressure on the
people of crisis-hit Greece, with the not very subtle threat to "Vote
for New Democracy (ND) and Pasok or else!"
On May 29th, I wrote in this blog the
following:
"Between now and the elections in
Greece in June, the attention of the media and pundits, particularly
in Europe, will be focused on the dire consequences resulting from
the exit of Greece from the Euro zone. These tactics of spreading
alarm and despondency through the pages of our newspapers and the
screens of our televisions, are a not very subtle attempt to frighten
the voters of Greece into electing those parties who support German
dictates of further austerity, and to convince the rest of us that
there is really no alternative to further cuts and reduction of
living standards. The truth is of course, rather different. Far and
away, the real beneficiaries of austerity are those individuals and
organisations who are making considerable amounts of money from the
sacrifices of others. Only the interests of Merkel and the Germans,
the IMF, the bankers of the Eurozone, the ECB and the speculators of
“the markets”, will be met by the continued existence of the
extended Eurozone, and the way to perpetuate this dinosaur of
economic dogma is to create fear of the consequences of dis
integration."
The intervention of Legarde and the IMF
only reinforces my view.
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