Three Thoughts on the Greek Debt Crisis

1. Just wondering. If the Greek people are being asked to make extraordinary sacrifices to resolve a crisis largely not of their own making (see here, for example, on the mythology surrounding the Greek debt crisis, which — dare I say it — has a lot of vaguely racist shite about lazy southern Europeans), is a referendum not only politically but morally justified? I mean, if I were a Greek citizen, my reaction right now would be to hell with all of you.

2. Phillip Inman, a blogger at the Guardian, makes this excellent point:

[I]n Papandreou’s favour is that if Europe is a problem for Greece then Greece is actually an even bigger problem for Europe. If ever there was a case of “when you owe the bank €1000 you have a problem but when you owe €100bn the bank has a problem” then this is it. The question for Greece’s partners in the single currency and for the International Monetary Fund is whether they want to push the Greeks so hard that they vote no to the deal, or whether they are prepared to soften the terms in order to safeguard against a disorderly default and all that implies.

3. This just in: Very Important People are either Aghast or Vexed, and say the Greeks are both Irrational and Dangerous. Actually, the Greek PM’s decision to call a referendum may be the only rational piece of business in this whole madness. See “How to Leverage Yourself Out of a Mess” in Thought #2.