Quote Originally Posted by superheavyrhun View Post
There are two things that really frustrate me about Greece at the moment, and this decision is really a smokescreen of democracy, as both option will lead the country into decades of poverty.

a) This is a massively cowardly decision on behalf of the politicians of the country. They have been lax in collecting the taxes, and have colluded to cover up the gaps that were appearing in their balance sheets. This is their way of washing their hands of any responsibility for the decision, and simply saying "we let the people decide". They're letting them decide between two very shitty options in order to save their political skins, as any government making the choice, whichever way they go, would be a political party that would never be seen or heard from again.

b) As I look at it, they're putting the choice to the Greek people of either defaulting on the debt, and becoming an international pariah through that which very few countries will want to do business with. This I feel is the more likely popular vote, as it will give them in the short term relief from their debts, and will let the benefits/pensions etc go on for a little longer before the inevitable collapse.
The second choice is that of facing up to the situation, negotiating a deal as well as they can, maybe even just a few cents in the Euro repayment, pulling together as a country and trying to make sure that in 20 years Greece still has a part to play in international politics and trade.
How is a referendum a smokescreen of democracy? What we have in our countries are smokescreens. Bankers massively increase national debt and then people pay in the form of austerity. No prosecutions for fraud, no new regulations in place to control the industry etc. That is a smokescreen of democracy. A referendum is opening the discussion in a truly democratic way.

Of course defaulting will make Greece a pariah in terms of international lending and predatory economic practices, but people will still trade with Greek corporations that have something to offer. And if we are to criticize the Greek ability to collect taxes, then we need to go back to why Greece was allowed to join the EU in the first place. People turned a blind eye to a country that has never really had control over those things. It's pretty difficult when the country is is essentially a massive collection of islands.

Greece cannot afford to pay back the debt and considering a large part of it was not the responsibility of the Greek people they should have the choice to shun it and that is what I believe they will do and rightly so. A fresh start and a lesson duly earned. Not 30 years of punishment and making the children pay just to make international finance richer having made stupid loans.