Greek Economic Trainwreck - Politician Walks Away Unscathed

Looking at the devastated economies of Europe and the USA and the ruined lives of millions of people, it's worth reminding ourselves of how this situation came about and the people who should be held responsible.

It's an accepted fact that the political class in any country, regardless of party affiliation, take care of their own. Transgressions of less severity have been punished with imprisonment when committed by the ordinary person but more serious crimes are routinely glossed over and in many cases just ignored when perpetrated by members of the political class together with their bag carriers and their donors

In previous posts it was noted how members of the political elite such as David Laws MP, Baroness Uddin, Lord Paul etc. effectively got away with stealing tens of thousands of pounds of public money but what of the politicians who were responsible for losing billions, and in the case of the USA trillions, wrecking entire economies in the process.

In response to any crisis or scandal, political leaders repeat the familiar slogan that used to adorn the desk of President Truman that 'the buck stops here' or the latest favourite  'I take full responsibility for the actions of my government' but we know from experience that these are empty slogans thrown out to appease the media for the duration of the twenty four hour news cycle. The politicians don't mean a word of it, they remain safe in the knowledge that the dumbed down public will swallow it whole and then return to keeping up with the Kardashians.

The first major economy to fail was that of Greece, who's leader Prime Minister George Papandreou was the latest member of the Papandreou political dynasty. The seeds of Greece's destruction were sown by his grandfather, known as Georgios, the first politician from that blighted land to be described as 'progressive' and who set up the Democratic Socialist Party of Greece.

The fundamental transformation of Greece into a socialist state was finally achieved by Georgios Papandreou's hard left son Andreas who dominated Greek politics for over two decades. Exiled to America in 1938 and one time US citizen, he founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).

Andreas Papandreou renounced his American citizenship on achieving office and immediately started a programme of wealth redistribution. He set up the welfare state and a national health service, he index linked pensions, he provided taxpayer support for cultural programmes,  he legislated a wage indexation system designed to close the inequality gap in earnings.

Predictably, by continually expanding welfare entitlements to almost every Greek citizen  (otherwise known as voter bribery)  he won the subsequent election by a landslide.

The share of the Greek Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dedicated to social welfare was massively increased and despite instituting a progressive taxation system designed to force 'the rich' to finance his largess, the revenues were not sufficient to cover the spending and as a socialist Andreas Papandreou was unable to comprehend that this mismatch would lead to deficits, debt and financial collapse.

Andreas Papandreou's son, American born George Papandreou, who was active in his father's socialist creation the PASOK since its formation, was elected to the legislature at the same time that his father became Prime Minister, so the fundamental transformation of Greece and the destruction of its economy was very much a family affair.

When George Papandreou finally became Prime Minister, the socialist state that his family had set up over two generations had crumbled under the weight of the debt that they had accumulated. Forced by reality to go against his socialist instincts George Papandreou introduced austerity measures in an effort to take back what they had given away in welfare entitlements and tax breaks.

The Greek people refused to accept these austerity measures and consequently the economy has collapsed, democracy has been suspended and the Greek people are impoverished. Suicides are increasing and people are dumping their children on the steps of government buildings because they can't afford to raise them.

Bearing in mind that 'the buck should stop' with George Papandreou and that 'he should take full responsibility for the actions of his government' one would think that George would be prosecuted or at the very least he would be suffering from the consequences of his actions along with the Greek people.

Anyone who thought that justice would be done couldn't have been more wrong. As President of Socialist International, George Papandreou is feted around the world as a revered elder statesman, making speeches and promoting the same 'progressive' ideology that has not only wrecked the Greek economy and impoverished its people but has destroyed liberty and prosperity in every country where it has as been imposed.

George Papandreou was feted in Cape Town South Africa in August 2012 at the 24th Congress of Socialist International. He was feted again when he addressed the Bureau of Socialist International at the United Nations in New York in September 2012

As an international socialist George Papandreou has nothing but contempt for the USA, the country where he was born and raised and gave sanctuary to his family in their hour of need.

Speaking to the delegates at the Socialist International junket in Cape Town Papandreou refuses to even acknowledge that the USA gave sanctuary to his family: "my family found refuge in the social democratic societies of the North...we were inspired by the work of leaders such as Willy Brandt, Kreisky, Palme and others".

'societies of the North' you'll notice, not St Paul, Minneapolis in the United States of America where he was born and raised.

'inspired by leaders', not of the stature of  Eisenhower, Truman or Kennedy etc. but hard left German socialist Willy Brandt who was forced to resign when his personal aid was exposed as an East German spy working for the dreaded Stasi. Or the inspiring Bruno Kreiski, Austria's foremost 'progressive' who appointed former Nazis into his government and then slandered Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal for making it public. Then there was Sweden's revolutionary reformist and pro Soviet Union, Olaf Palme, a vocal critic of the USA and financial supporter of the PLO.

To further insult the American people George Papandreou has been appointed lecturer at Harvard University where he will be educating students on the world debt crisis and good governance.

Greek Professor Aroniadou-Anderjaska of Bethesda Medical School, Maryland has not only questioned this appointment but is calling for Papandreou to returned to Greece to be prosecuted for treason.

There is no hope that 'progressive' criminal ideologues like George Papandreou will ever admit that their perverted ideology always ends with poverty, bloodshed and tears but it remains the duty of those of us who see through the spin and PR to keep highlighting their crimes in the hope that someday they will be held accountable and be punished accordingly.