Greeks And Germans Are Fighting Against History

Greek Protests Turn Violent

The German taxpayers don’t want to be left holding the bag. The Greeks don’t want to lose their coveted government jobs in a country totally dependent upon them. The IMF wants assurances that Greece can make it through the next two years before it releases its next slice of previously agreed upon aid. The German government says, through Wolfgang Schauble, that there should be a “reprofiling” of the Greek debt, making Greek bond holders share some of the responsibility by agreeing to take payment later. But the European Central Bank warns that this policy will lead to a domino effect, causing panic in other pig countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Ireland and will also lead to the closing of Greek banks.

No one can agree. Politicians and economists are at each other’s throats. But the bottom line is that the twelve-year-old currency, the euro, must be saved at all costs. At the end of the squabbling an agreement must be reached. Germans will probably have to shoulder the burden and pay more money in loans to Greece that will probably never be repaid.

Why can’t the Greeks grow up? Why can’t they reform their society, sell off government assets to businesses, collect more taxes, and cut spending to the bone? Maybe Americans can be excused for such naivette, but Europeans must know better. Saying that the Greeks should act more like the Germans and should imitate Germany’s sale of East German assets during the 1990’s to private businesses, is like whistling Dixie. East Germany was in Soviet hands for only forty-five years after World War II. Greece was in Ottoman Turkish hands for hundreds of years. And Greece has not until now been independent for thousands of years — since Roman times, in fact.

To say Greeks should be like Germans is like fighting history.