Greece Presses EU and IMF For More Free Money By September 15th

This is essentially free money.  It won’t be paid back and I can almost guarantee few of these fire sales of publicly-owned Greek assets are likely to be allowed.   This is  hilarious and ridiculous at the same time.  The end game is default or debt haircuts or debt forgiveness in Greece if we continue to play this game; something we have said since this crisis started.  But apparently we may all be underestimating the Greek politicians.  Maybe we shouldn’t given Greeks originally taught the rest of the world a few things about philosophy, reason, democracy and science.  Manipulation seems to be the latest lesson. 

I’m beginning to wonder if the Greek politicians are schtooping the EU and IMF bureaucrats with a little bit of Pavlovian conditioning.  Push the button and get a treat.  ie, Greek politicians squawk about needing more money from the EU to avoid default knowing the EU will respond out of fear.  Then sit back and just wait for more free money to fall from the sky.  Free money courtesy of EU bureaucrats who fear losing their illegitimate authority.  This money won’t be paid back anyway so why not bilk the system for all they can while they can?  That’s the mindset of neoliberalism that defines globalization.  Maybe the Greeks have learned how to play the game better than anyone is willing to give them credit for. 

If the Irish, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese politicians are shrewd enough, they’ll soon learn their own Pavlovian tricks.  It’s just a little bit of payback for the mess the EU and IMF have helped put these countries in.