Greek tragedy to kill Euro, and more

UPDATE: do yourself a favor and read the Economist article on Greece, including corrupt trade unions that are confident that Europe will keep bailing them out and thus why make sacrifices.  I sure hope that Greece votes itself out of Europe.  So Venezuela like, also, in that mentality of worry not, we will always be able to loot the state/Europe/the rich/[insert constituency of your choice].
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I have had very little sympathy for the Greek tragedy playing now.  It has been at least two decades that people in the know were aware that the Greeks were taking Europe for a ride, chuleandosela, as we would say in Venezuela.  The father of the current Greek prime minster is the one who taught the Greeks to use European development funds to buy votes by spending them in populist measures in lieu of hard investment.  The New Democracy simply followed suit and it became a competition as to which side knew best to milk Europe.  Why Brussels allowed it is one of the interesting chapters to be written about the European Union history books.


Thus all the Greeks rioting because suddenly the possibility to be done with the unaccountability and impossibility of firing public workers affected their living standards left me cold, just as the "indignados" at the Puerta del Sol tired me within the first week.   Note, I do admire their persistence and their desire to go down with their boots on, but this is a lost battle, at least in the terms chosen by these people.  Because if they win, in Spain or in Wall Street, things will actually be worse for all, including for them first as Chinese model of workforce will become the only option in many places.

But today the Greeks did finally something right: the prime Minister did the first thing really to atone for all his father legacy of pimping: he will ask the Greeks in a referendum whether they would accept the European terms for their debt "relief" (all irony intended).  Note: it is a lose-lose proposition for the Greeks because the referendum is going to ask them whehter they want to be poor under Europe conditions or under their own conditions (out of the Euro zone).  But at least they will recover their dignity as it will have become a choice for them and not an imposition.

And yet it is reckless for Papandreou.  Because his referendum (almost forced by the idiocy of New Democracy) is going to affect more than just the Greeks.  In fact, depending on how the debate proceeds it could affect deeply the European Union survival as it is.  For better maybe but more likely for worse as the only option would become a definite two speed Europe.

And if it affects Europe it will also affect the rest of the world, and it will affect Venezuela even more.  At least Colombia has chosen its camp and will sink or swim with the US.  And I do not know about you but no matter what people like Castro and Chavez think the US has always found ways to rebound, either through left wing policies (New Deal) or right wing ones (Reagan).  But if the E.U. sinks, Chavez, or his own people after kicking him out, will have to surrender Venezuela remains on a silver platter to the US just as Cuba is about to do as soon as the Castro's croak.  At least with a relatively strong and united Europe, Chavez or his successor could play them to avoid to fall completely into US (dependence), but now.... 

Never have I felt as tonight that Venezuela was in such danger to lose control of its future.  We are the same hoi polloi as the Greeks but believe it or not, they are in better shape than us as they know at least how to entertain tourists.  We do not even have that.