Narcissus was
Greek. That explains a lot. The Greeks created the figure of Narcissus and thus
were the first to diagnose narcissism. The consequence for Narcissus in Greek
mythology was severe.
The great "Oxi" no vote
of the Greek people on July 5 may have been a national outpouring of defiance
but it turns out to have been a national act of self-delusion. After the
referendum, social media around the world were full of euphoria for the
glorious outcome, but the referendum was a tactical charade by the Prime
Minister.
Greece is in default. Its banks
have been shut for a more than a week. Cash machines are running dry. The
country has become a cash economy. Factories are closing down. The nation is
subsisting on an estimated 40 billion euros hoarded during the past year.
Foreign suppliers are refusing to provide goods or credit. Greek companies with
large foreign-held debt face bankruptcy. The tourism industry is facing a
melt-down of forward bookings.
Most bizarre of all, the
Communist-led Syriza government has capitulated to creditors' terms that were
expressly rejected by the people in the referendum. The government itself
campaigned in favour of rejection. Yet, just days after the people spoke, Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras accepted the reviled terms of the creditors.
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It is chaotic. Ambrose
Evans-Pritchard, international business editor of The Telegraph in
London, wrote from Athens last week, after interviewing key
ministers: "Greek premier Alexis Tsipras never expected to win the
referendum … He called the snap vote with the expectation – and intention – of
losing it … leaving it to others to implement the [creditors' terms] and
suffer the opprobrium …
"To their consternation,
they won, igniting the great Greek revolt of 2015, the moment when the people
finally issued a primal scream, daubed their war paint, and formed the hoplite
phalanx ... "
"Syriza has been in utter
disarray for 36 hours. On Tuesday, the Greek side turned up for a make-or-break
summit in Brussels with no plans at all, even though Germany and its
allies warned them at the outset that this is their last chance to avert
ejection."
On Saturday, as another round of
emergency negotiations took place in Brussels, the former Greek Finance
Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, wrote exasperatedly in The Guardian: "Greece's
financial drama has dominated the headlines for five years for one reason:
the stubborn refusal of our creditors to offer essential debt relief …
"In 2010, the Greek state
became insolvent. Two options consistent with continuing membership of the
eurozone presented themselves: the sensible one, that any decent banker
would recommend – restructuring the debt and reforming the economy; and the
toxic option – extending new loans to a bankrupt entity while pretending
that it remains solvent.
"Official Europe chose the
second option, putting the bailing out of French and German banks exposed to
Greek public debt above Greece's socioeconomic viability … It takes the
mathematical expertise of a smart eight-year-old to know that this process
could not end well ...
"Our government was elected
on a mandate to end this doom loop; to demand debt restructuring and an end to
crippling austerity …
"Greeks, rightly, shiver at
the thought of amputation from monetary union … To exit, we would have to
create a new currency from scratch. In occupied Iraq, the introduction of new
paper money took almost a year, 20 or so Boeing 747s, the mobilisation of the
US military's might, three printing firms and hundreds of trucks. In the
absence of such support, Grexit would be the equivalent of announcing a large
devaluation more than 18 months in advance: a recipe for liquidating all Greek
capital stock and transferring it abroad by any means available … "
In other words, Greece has never
had a Plan B.
Varoufakis is half right. Greece
self-evidently needs and deserves debt-restructuring to offset the austerity it
has been forced to endure. It is incapable of restoring economic viability
under present terms. But it is rich for Varoufakis to decry the
"stubborn refusal" to accept common sense when that is exactly what
Greece has done in its refusal to slash its enormous, unsustainable public
sector (and political base).
This is narcissism writ large.
The narcissist is highly critical of others, has a grandiose sense of
entitlement, is incapable of accepting blame, and lashes out at criticism.
The Greek government cheated its
way into the Euro. Successive governments wasted hundreds of billions of euros
expanding public sector payrolls and obligations. Greece indulged in the
multi-billion vanity of the 2004 Olympics. It wants to be treated differently
to other Eurozone debtors. It wants another $80 billion in loans even as it
defaults on existing debt. Yet it has refused to slash and reform its bloated
public sector, even to the point of economic suicide.
With Greece now reduced to
foreign aid – by any other name – to avoid economic collapse, it is the latest
in a history of chronic political instability. In the past 100 years Greece has
seen war, coups, republic, monarchy, occupation, civil war, military rule,
socialism and now de facto bankruptcy.
Greece is exporting instability.
The 19-member Eurozone is split over Greek Bail-out III. In Finland, the
nationalist True Finns party says it will bring down the government if it
agrees to another bailout for Greece.
The Greeks have railed against
the "bullying" of its largest creditor, Germany, yet Greece itself
has been a bully for decades. It worked to keep Macedonia out of the Eurozone,
constantly denigrated its small neighbour, and even sought to deny Macedonia
the right to name itself.
In Greek mythology, Narcissus was
undone by Nemesis, the spirit of retribution against vanity. In the evolving
modern Greek mythology, Nemesis has another name: Germany.
Paul_Sheehan_Sydney Morning Herald
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