Subprime Greece, a moral issue ?

Να ένα μετριοπαθές και ακριβοδίκαιο κείμενο για αυτά που μας ταλανίζουν.  Το ψάρεψα από το ελβετικό L' Hebdo. Έχετε χαιρετισμούς από τη Τήνο.  Μ.Σ.

Του Ilja Feldstein

Following the saga of Greece and the role of the financial institutions,

very little attention is being paid to an unquantifiable aspect, viz.,

the moral issue.

Is it not legitimate to ask the question of who is responsible

for the untenable situation in which this European country

of 11 million people finds itself ?

Whilst it is true that Greece is a democracy and that, therefore,

its citizens share the responsibility for the actions of their leaders,

it is also true that the Greek people have been fooled by their

successive governments.

Institutions like the IMF, Brussels, the governments of creditor nations

as well as the banks have allowed the Greek people to live beyond

their means. Greek governments have not only failed to collect

taxes, reign in corruption, failed to institute unpopular reforms

and are guilty of overspending and waste but have also excelled -

with the help of Wall street bankers - in the art of creative accounting

and window-dressing.

Why did the EU and the creditors allow this to happen ?

Who is responsible ? It is hardly the ordinary citizen and

the young unemployed who can be blamed but it is the ordinary

people who are paying the price.

Sounds familiar ?

Debt to finance consumption, a moral issue indeed.