About a month ago, the president of the Greek Parliament came up with the opening of a special fund at the Central Bank of Greecefor greek people to contribute in order to reduce Greece's debt. He called it "Greece's debt pay off account". Dear mister President,
I suggest that you open a "politicians' apology account". Politicians shall voluntarily sign under a written apology to the greek people, this could be something that would may calm down the rage that people my age feel.
I'm sure that my suggestion will be widely accepted by the politicians of the last decades, and this will be a proof that greek politicians still have dignity and pride.
Mister President, still in my adolescence, I feel I have already mortgaged my future, the rest of my life, my dreams, my studies, the family I'll have some day. I feel insecure about my own future and that of my country's. And I already feel this, before I even had the chance to vote yet, before I'd taken part in any decisions made, before I had the chance to feel like a citizen of this country.
That's why I believe you should first go on and open the "politicians' apology account" and when you're done with this, then you can open an "account for Greece's debt payback".
Mister President, if you follow my suggestion - which I believe you won't - and when at least one of the politicians of the last decades will sign under this written apology to the greek people, then I'll offer all my innocent thoughts, my hopeful dreams and my adolescent's enthusiasm to your account.
Το Διεθνές Νομισματικό Ταμείο είναι ένας παγκόσμιος οργανισμός που έχει στόχο την επίβλεψη του παγκόσμιου χρηματοπιστωτικού συστήματος, μέσω των επιμέρους στοιχείων που οι χώρες-μέλη στέλνουν σε αυτό. Στο ΔΝΤ συμμετέχουν (εκτός από τα στοιχεία και με οικονομική συνδρομή) σχεδόν όλες οι χώρες του κόσμου, εκτός από καμμιά 10αριά (Κούβα, Β.Κορέα, Ταϊβάν οι σημαντικότερες). Για μια πληρέστερη περιγραφή του ρόλου, της ιστορίας και των δράσεων του ΔΝΤ δες εδώ.
Σχηματικά μπορούμε να πούμε ότι το ΔΝΤ είναι για την οικονομία ό,τι ο ΟΗΕ για τον πόλεμο. Με μια διαφορά: στον ΟΗΕ, ως γνωστό, υπάρχει το Συμβούλιο Ασφαλείας, το οποίο δικαιούται να συνεδριάζει χωρίς την παρουσία άλλων χωρών-μελών. Στο Συμβούλιο Ασφαλείας εκπροσωπούνται 15 χώρες: 5 μόνιμα μέλη (χώρες) και 10 μη-μόνιμα μέλη. Δικαίωμα για βέτο έχουν μόνο τα μόνιμα μέλη και αυτά είναι η Αγγλία, η Γαλλία, οι ΗΠΑ, η Ρωσία και η Κίνα. Αντίθετα, στο ΔΝΤ δικαίωμα για βέτο έχουν μόνο οι ΗΠΑ.
Η ίδρυση Η οικονομική κρίση του 1930, ο Α’ και ο Β’ΠΠ δημιουργούν προβλήματα, (εδώ εννοούμε οικονομικής φύσεως –πέρα των άλλων) ακόμα και σε χώρες που δεν ενεπλάκησαν άμεσα στα γεγονότα. Αυτή η αστάθεια της παγκόσμιας οικονομίας είναι ασύμφορη για όλους, αλλά κυρίως για τις ισχυρότερες -εξαγωγικές- οικονομίες. Γι’ αυτό, οι κυβερνήσεις Αγγλίας και Αμερικής αναζητούν τρόπους για να διασφαλίσουν στο μέλλον την παγκόσμια οικονομική σταθερότητα.
Είναι μια εποχή κατά την οποία εκδηλώνεται η τάση για συμμαχίες χωρών με σκοπό να υπάρχει μεγαλύτερη πολιτική και οικονομική σταθερότητα και ασφάλεια. Ο ΟΗΕ, το ΝΑΤΟ, το Σύμφωνο της Βαρσοβίας, το ΔΝΤ και κάποια χρόνια αργότερα η ΕΕ, η Μπενελούξ και η Κομεκόν είναι κάποιες από αυτές.
Μέχρι το τέλος του Β’ΠΠ ο πλούτος κάθε χώρας μεταφράζεται σε ανάλογα αποθέματα χρυσού. Αυτή η μέθοδος θεωρείται πλέον εύθραυστη για τη σύγχρονη οικονομία. Οι πρώτες 30 χώρες που με πρωτοβουλία των ΗΠΑ-Αγγλίας συμφωνούν στην ίδρυση του ΔΝΤ αποφασίζουν να του αναθέσουν τη διαχείριση των αποθεμάτων τους σε χρυσό, και πλέον διατηρούν αποθέματα σε δολάριο (δηλαδή το δολάριο γίνεται αποθεματικό νόμισμα). Σε αντάλλαγμα, το ΔΝΤ εγγυάται να στηρίξει την οικονομία μιας χώρας-μέλους αν εκείνη βρεθεί σε κρίση. Έτσι, οι ΗΠΑ, από θέση ισχύος στο τέλος του Β’ΠΠ ως ο απόλυτος νικητής, μέσω του ΔΝΤ, καταφέρνουν να διαχειρίζονται το συσσωρευμένο χρυσό πολλών χωρών, αποκτώντας τεράστια διαπραγματευτική δύναμη.
Φυσικά τέτοιου είδους συμμαχίες θυμίζουν συμμαχία των λύκων με τα πρόβατα. Οι αδύναμες χώρες δένονται στο άρμα του ΔΝΤ φοβούμενες ότι η απομόνωση καθιστά ευάλωτες τις οικονομίες τους.
Το ΔΝΤ όσες φορές χρειάζεται να επέμβει για να "βοηθήσει" χώρες σε κρίση, ναι μεν δανείζει με σχετικά χαμηλό επιτόκιο, αλλά ταυτόχρονα επιβάλει όρους που σκοπό έχουν -μεταξύ άλλων- να διευκολύνουν την εξαγορά εθνικού πλούτου από επιχειρήσεις αμερικανικών -και όχι μόνο- ενδιαφερόντων.
Copying straight from the english Wikipedia: "The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rate and the balance of payments. It is an organization formed with a stated objective of stabilizing international exchange rates and facilitating development.[3] It also offers highly leveraged loans, mainly to poorer countries. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., United States.(...) (Member) Countries contributed to a pool which could be borrowed from, on a temporary basis, by countries with payment imbalances." For the full article in Wikipedia click here.
Today almost all countries in the world are members in the IMF, except a few (Cuba, N.Korea, Taiwan the most known).
In a sense, one can say that the IMF is to global economy what the United Nations is to world peace. An asterisk here: in the UN, as you probably know, there is the Security Council, a group of countries that can meet and take decisions away from the rest of the UN members. The Security Council has 15 members, 5 permanent and 10 non-permanent. The 5 permanent members are the USA, the UK, France, Russia and China. Only permanent members have the right to use a veto. On the contrary in the IMF there's only one country with the right to use a veto, the USA.
The foundation of the IMF The great depression of the '30's, WWI and WWII caused huge problems in the global economy, even for parts of the world that were not directly affected by the actual events. This instability was no good for no one; definitely more harmful to exporting countries. That's why, since the end of WWII, the british and american governments were looking for ways to ensure -as much as possible- global economic stability.
With the end of WWII, begins an era when governments realize that on an individual basis each one is weak and fragile. In order to have political and economic stability, countries start to form international organizations/alliances. The UN, the NATO, the Warsaw Pact, the IMF and later the EU, the BeNeLux and the Comecon are some of them.
Until that time, the wealth of each country is translated in gold reserves. This method is considered anachronistic for modern economy. With the foundation of the IMF, the US, Britain and another 27 countries as initial members of the IMF put their gold reserves together under IMF administration. These countries now replace their gold reserves with dollars (so dollar becomes a reserve currency). In return, the IMF will support the economy of a member-country. In other words, the US, through the IMF, manage to control all the gold gathered from 29 countries, gaining enormous negotiation force.
Of course, organizations or alliances like the IMF look like alliances between wolves and sheep. Weak countries apply for membership in the IMF, fearing that economic isolation should make them even more vulnerable.
What the IMF does when a member-country asks for support is to give loans with relatively low interest, but under very strict terms and conditions, eventually facilitating american or other countries' strong corporations to buy off any major public enterprise still left at a given place.
For those who don’t have a clear picture of the history of modern Greece, here follows a brief retrospect. In order to save some of your time, we present some facts quite simplified, though trying not to misquote the actual facts. In the text you will find several links leading to articles of the english Wikipedia, just in case someone would like to know more. Wesuggestthatyoufollowtheselinks. For whatever question or remark you would like to make, please feel free to contact us through the contact form at the bottom of the home page. We’ll be glad to help.
Greece was founded in 1830, winning its independence from the Ottoman empire (with the support of England, France and Russia). Till then this specific territory had been occupied by the Ottoman-Turks since the 15th century. Ever since its foundation and up to WW2 a lot of interesting things happened, but this is not the place to analyze any further. If you want to know more check here.
After the end of WW2, Greece gets in a civil war between rightists (pro-british/american) and communists (pro-soviet). The civil war lasted for 3 years and it cost the country much more casualties than the ones Greece had during WW2. In the end, and with the help of the US Army, the rightists won and as a result, thousands of communist families fled to the eastern block countries to avoid execution or detaining. For more see here.
Any remaining communists/leftists are sent to concentration camps, but they are given the chance to be free, if they will only sign a “statement of regret” for their actions and beliefs. Some do, others don’t, as their comrades consider it humiliating. Even for many years after the end of the civil war, being a relative to a communist was sufficient reason for not being allowed to study in any university; even getting a job was a hard thing to achieve.
Even though it’s now more than 60 years since the civil war ended, a survey published in 2008 in Kathimerini, a major greek newspaper, shows that a big part of greek people are still willing to take sides. While to the question “Do you believe it was better for Greece that the rightists won?” 43% said Yes and 13% said that they think it would be better if the communists had won, at the same time, when asked "Which side would you have supported had you lived in that era?” only 14% said "the right wing” when 23% said "the left wing".
After the end of the civil war, the Communist Party was pronounced outlaw. But then comes up a new left party, EDA, which gradually gains the people’s support, and in the 1958 election they come second, with 24% of the votes. In order to face the threat of an even stronger left party, a military coup (with the cooperation of the US government) takes place in 1967. The leader of the coup, colonel Papadopoulos, in his first message to the greek people says that "the army took action in order to protect the country from the communists". Leftists are once again being hunted down, detained, tortured. President Clinton expressed his regret for the support that the US gave the military regime, during his visit to Athens in 1999. See also here.
The coup falls apart 7 years later as a result of the Cyprus conflict and the war against Turkey, while a few months earlier there had been a major riot in Athens against the regime.
In 1974, for the first time in 50 years there are truly free elections. The right party (New Democracy) wins. Its leader, Karamanlis is the uncle of the up-to-last-October prime minister of Greece. The country now is run under democratic principles and Karamanlis (who as a prime minister in the mid-1960’s had hunted down the leftists) now behaves according to a new, more liberal constitution. In the 1981 election, a new party comes to power. It is PASOK, a party calling itself “socialist”. Its leader is Papandreou, whose son is the current prime minister of Greece, he too as a leader of the same party. His grandfather was the first prime minister of Greece after the end of the war, in a british-controlled government. Since 1974, these 2 parties have succeeded each other in power. Their failure in finances can be seen in the chart below, showing the national debt as a percentage of the GDP through the years:
1974 22,5% of GDP 1981 31,2% of GDP 1985 Greece has the highest national debt per capita in the world 1987 56,1% of GDP 1990 80,7% of GDP 1993 111,6% of GDP 2004 108,5% of GDP 2008 97,16% of GDP
Source: Bank of Greece
For many years, politicians along with a big part of the people created a scenery of corruption. Candidates for parliament members offer voters jobs in the public sector in exchange for votes. Public servants in 1978 were approx. 300.000. In 1987 they were approx. 640.000. Today the estimates rise up to 800.000. Greece has 7 times more public teachers per student than Finland, which is supposed to be the country with the best educational system worldwide. Corruption is spread on all levels of the state, from the army, to the police, the health system, the tax administration. In a recent survey, 90% of the people asked, say that at least once they took part in a corrupt transaction with a government institution.
Despite all that, in the last 35 years the standard of living of the people has risen significantly, thanks to the constant financing programs of the EU and the tendency of government officials to hire even more public servants and spend this money in non-productive ways.
Today it is proven that greek governments have been constantly giving fake figures for the economy to the European Commission. Greece now has a national debt rising up to 132% of the GDP, i.e. 330 bn euros (430 bn $)
I can see the question coming: Did anyone ever go to jail? The answer is no. In Greece there’s a law that protects parliament members from being prosecuted. If there’s a suspicion against someone, he is to be judged by a committee of other parliament members. So in all cases, suspects are being backed by their colleagues. Another law says that public servants can’t get fired. What more, Justice couldn’t have been the only institution unaffected by corruption.
Even though in the last 2 years, 2 major scandals have been revealed, up to this day there hasn’t been a single charge against any official or citizen.
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