After the afterglow wears off

Greeks learn what it means to vote themselves other people's money;

Chris works as a freelancer in cleaning services. He voted for Syriza in the January elections. He said that he didn’t agree completely with their ideology, but that he wanted to vote against the austerity policies of previous right-wing governments. Over the last month, he said it became clear to him that Syriza is collaborating with other European governments. “They are not fighting each other,” he said.

He sees Syriza as part of the pro-austerity-camp. “Not only Germany, France and Italy, but also Syriza disregarded the wishes of the Greek population,” he argues.

You'd think that the birthplace of democracy might have been alerted to the fact that other people will vote about how THEIR money gets used, too. As Rick might have said to Ilsa, The wishes of the Greek population don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

For Giorgos the lenders are not partners, but are loan sharks. “The first thing they did in 2010 was to introduce the English law for these debts. This means that the lender can come here and confiscate anything he likes.”

Not exactly, Giorgos, but they can decline to throw good money after bad.

The representatives of the lenders never worked in their lives, Giorgos observed. “These are people who no matter what idea you say to them, they are going to show you the contract all the time. That is what their master is telling them to say to you. This is the plan, take it or leave it. And the plan is the impoverishment of the western world.

So, Greece shouldn't have been lent the money in the first place, Giorgos? Would that have made you happy back then?