D Day is coming on Monday, a day that will live in infamy; the day Greek banks close their doors.
A classic quote, “There was a general sense of euphoria — you could get a job with the government, real estate prices kept going up,” said Vourloumis, who has run banks and telecommunications companies and battled unions along the way. “And then, with the European debt crisis, the whole thing was revealed — our economy was built on protectionism, on borrowed money.”
A typical duo income family has on average $75,000 gross income; not a whole lot of money in today’s fast paced world. Demands come from all angles, cable, cell phones, vacations, automobiles, more vacations, gambling, Christmas presents, birthday presents- constantly bombarded by the marketing folks on Madison Avenue enticing you to spend more and more.
Putting aside the daily responsibilities of food, mortgage payments, utility bills, insurance, clothing, taxes, education costs and the numerous necessities that eat away the take home cash is a challenge. It’s tough out there, to alleviate the pressure without a visit or two to the psychiatrist a simple remedy is the plastic – a trip to the casino or vacation is all it takes to clear the head of today’s mundane daily responsibilities and the constant pressure that jolts your scull 24-7. But family fun always come first. And that is where the banks come in, willing to lend on the good name of John and Jane Q who are a swipe away of incurring a mountain of debt.
An extra thousand on the card starts the ball rolling? But before long those swipes add up – and reality begins to set in when a mountain of debt is staring you in the face. “We want our money now” says the bank. Bill collectors sing the chorus over the phone, pay up or we will beat you up. Bankruptcy is at hand, everything is gone as your life flashed in front of you. That is how the Greeks feel right now.
We bring this happy tale to remind the responsible people in the world of what Greeks actually did; they ran up debts on their credit cards using other people’s money, now is the time to pay and they say, “wait a minute, you are humiliating us – we are not dead beats.”
Pardon us for being rude, but a couple of centuries ago, a debtor was sent to debtor’s prison. Greece should be punished just the same. Greece, with a population of eleven million and location in the envious blue waters of the Ionian and Aegean Sea, blue skies and turquoise waves abound. The seat of once was democracy Greece turned socialist in a large way. Their new prime minister Tsipras dons the cloak of Marx and Lenin. Forget meeting the terms of past agreements says he – we won’t pay, our people are not slaves, they will not bow to unreasonable demands. In other words, well we can’t say it here, but you get the gist of what he telling the EU, “go …. off.
The infamous Mike Milken, famous for selling junk bonds once said, “you can’t repossess a country.” Well now, we suggest that you can, if not a country how about an island or two. This will more than satisfy their debt and then some. So, EU it is up to you to bring it on. Send in the debt collectors with tanks and guns ablaze, Debt reparations are the payoff – who said you can’t take land as a liquidated damage?