In hindsight, one has to ask why Greece stopped making one
very special and successful export it had – and sold in vast quantities around
the world just 11 years ago. Yes; I am talking about little bits of paper with
the word “Drachmae” printed on them which many people from around the world for
some reason all wanted and were happy to pay for in GB pounds, US dollars, Japanese
yen and many other leading currencies. Whether an American wanted a beer in
Crete, or an English man wanted a hotel room in Thessaloniki; they both needed
to effectively have these little bits of paper with “Drachmae” on them to pay
for the items.
When times were good – and lots of tourists wanted these
bits of paper – the Greek Government could choose to print a few more of them –
and this was very useful to exchange for foreign currency to pay for all sorts
of things, and indeed to pay a few bills back home as well.
These days, the only way the Greek Government has to get a little more money is to ask Angela Merkel and the rest of her cronies if they can borrow some euros – which will need repaying and with interest.
Any independent nation state needs a language and culture, a
land to call its own, and an independent currency that it has control over. Solving
Greece’s economic problems over the medium and long term is not a question about
shall we have the euros, shall we have the drachmae, can we borrow more money to
add to the mountain of debt that we already cannot afford to repay. It’s about
taking control of its own currency and money supply again. For this to happen –
there is only one logical solution, and that is definitely not borrowing more
euros – which is only a bad fix in the very short term.
James
No comments:
Post a Comment