Πού πάνε τα λεφτά του πακέτου της διάσωσης της Ελλάδας;

Σε ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον άρθρο του στην «The Telegraph» ο συγγραφέας, δημοσιογράφος και ευρωβουλευτής Daniel Hannan αναφέρει:

«Αναρωτιέστε γιατί η Ελλάδα είναι τόσο ανίκανη να ανακάμψει με τα χρήματα που της προσφέρονται; Μελετήστε το γράφημα...».

(ΣΣ: Διαβάστε σε μετάφραση ολόκληρο το άρθρο)

Έτσι όπως αναφέρει ο Ντάνιελ Τζον Χάναν, κάτι το οποίο είναι απόλυτα ακριβές θα συμπληρώναμε εμείς, από το κάθε ευρώ που χορηγείται ως αρωγή στην Ελλάδα, η ελληνική κυβέρνηση μπορεί να δαπανήσει για να στηρίξει την ανάπτυξη μόλις 19 λεπτά, ενώ τα υπόλοιπα 81 λεπτά του ευρώ δαπανώνται για την αποπληρωμή των δανειακών υποχρεώσεων της χώρας.

«Δαπανώνται για τη διάσωση των τραπεζιτών και των ομολογιούχων από τις συνέπειες των δικών τους ατυχών επενδύσεων», όπως αναφέρει ο ευρωβουλευτής.

Συγκεκριμένα, από το κάθε ευρώ του πακέτου διάσωσης της Ελλάδας, 40 λεπτά του ευρώ καταλήγουν στα ταμεία των ξένων χρηματοπιστωτικών ομίλων που δάνεισαν την Ελλάδα, ενώ 23 λεπτά καταλήγουν στα ταμεία των ελληνικών τραπεζών, ασφαλιστικών ταμείων και οργανισμών που κατέχουν ελληνικά ομόλογα.

«Τέλος, 18 λεπτά από το ευρώ που προορίζεται για τη διάσωση της Ελλάδας καταλήγουν στα ταμεία της Ευρωπαϊκής Κεντρικής Τράπεζας (ΕΚΤ)».

Αξίζει να αναφέρουμε ότι κλείνοντας το σχόλιο του ο Χάναν αναφέρει ότι:

«γι' άλλη μια φορά αποδεικνύεται ότι οι φτωχοί σώζουν τους πλούσιους».

Μάλλον έχει μεγάλο δίκαιο. (badmoney)

Leaving the euro isn't a punishment: it's Greece's last chance for recovery

How much worse do things have to get, for Heaven’s sake? Greek politicians keep repeating that leaving the euro would be an economic disaster. As opposed to what, precisely? The present Wirtschaftswunder?

In 2011, the Greek economy contracted, not by the forecast three per cent, but by six per cent. Sixty thousand small firms closed, and unemployment rose to 20 per cent. As bank accounts are emptied, Greeks are reverting to barter. Farmers are bringing eggs and vegetables to their cousins in urban areas. Well-dressed people are to be found discreetly rummaging in bins for food.

As the brilliant Ambrose Evans-Pritchard puts it (in what is presumably his entry for the Most Mixed Metaphor Ever Award):

The country appears to be in a self-feeding downward spiral that is playing         havoc with budget targets, leaving Greece with a Sisyphean task of ever deeper cuts.

Yup. And there no way to rise Phoenix-like from the deflationary quagmire until Greece bites the bullet, cuts the Gordian knot and starts tailoring its monetary policy to suit its own needs.

During a TV debate with a Greek Socialist MEP this morning, I suggested that Greece wouldn’t begin to recover until it decoupled, defaulted and devalued. The two biggest sectors of the Greek economy, I said, were shipping and tourism. Both could benefit hugely from a competitive devaluation.

The PASOK man stared at me in horror. But this wasn’t about the economics, he spluttered. It was about the European ideal. Surely – surely – it would be unthinkable for the EU to go ahead without the country where democracy was born. That would be a calamity for Greece and for Europe!

No, I felt like saying, it would be a calamity for you personally. As an MEP, you are far better off than you were as a Greek minister. With your party now at eight per cent in the opinion polls, you have no obvious route back to national politics. And it’s hardly as though there are many private sector alternatives in Greece at the moment.

It’s a problem common to every EU country. Because Brussels has been kind to the politicians, they genuinely struggle to see that it isn’t in the interests of their constituents.

We heard precisely the same arguments from our own political elites during the final months of ERM membership. Leaving the system, we were told, would spell ruin. In the event, our recovery began the day we left: 16 September 1992.

It’s true that Greece is in a worse position now than Britain was twenty years ago. All its futures are clouded. But reissuing the drachma at least offers the prospect of eventual growth. Remaining in the euro guarantees a generation of poverty and emigration.

Brussels officials and Greek politicians talk of leaving the euro as some terrible punishment to be visited upon the unhappy Hellenes. In truth, it is their last shot at recovery.

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