Cash in on Guilt

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. 

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Under the enormous pressure of the ECB and IMF and just about anyone who has any kind of stake in Greece at the moment, the powers that be are rolling out the only weapon they ever really knew how to wield, guilt. Over decades of laws and counter laws and the plugging of loopholes and the creation of favours, what Greece is left with is an unholy web of legislation that few understand and is almost inapplicable even by those whose job it is to impose it. Instead we have arbitrary demands based on the understanding that they are quite aware that you have a lot more to lose if they were to rigorously audit you. 

Everyone is complicit in some way and they know that because that is the way they want it. Anyone who tells you that they have been completely conscientious in their financial obligations is either a liar or speaking very relatively. The financial socialisation in Greece has been such that transparency is wholly alien to all.

So the dilemma remains, is the country left to a economic hierarchy who will inevitably take up just where they left off or give over to a German run euro, an act that as British euro MP Nigel Farage pointed out, "our grandfathers spilt blood to ensure never happened". 

Well, Merkel and Sarkozy have just struck a deal that may make that a moot point. Greece has broken too many rules and shall be taken in hand. Sound familiar?