Lest We Forget!!

The finances of the world are teetering on a knife edge as these words are written.  Here is the story.

Greece is heading for bankruptcy.  Money is flowing out of its banks at an incredible rate because people can see the coming bankruptcy.  Greece is facing bankruptcy because for years it has spent more money than it took in from taxes.

It used the money for an almost endless list of insanely stupid ideas.  For example, it pays hair dressers to retire at full pension at age fifty because they are "engaged in a dangerous occupation".  This list goes on.

At the same time, they pay their tax collectors so poorly that the tax collectors regularly take bribes from rich Greeks to hide their Mercedes Benz and country estates.

(Actually, if you care to do it, you can move the clock ahead and substitute USA for Greece and the story stays the same, but that is not our purpose here.)

Greece was able to hide this huge disparity between income and outgo for years and years because a Wall Street Bank had devised some financial instruments that let Greece disguise the problem until this past year.

Want to guess which Wall Street Bank did that?

You got it right!  Once again, Goldman Sachs is about to bring down the world's financial system just like they did in 2008 with their AIG stunt, which was essentially the same trick.

Now the European Central Bank will lend Greece a big bunch of money if Greece will reform its spend thrift ways.  But when the Greek government tries to enact laws to do that, the Greeks go on a ramage.

The only alternative is to withdraw from the Euro and start printing their own money.

That may force Spain, Italy and Portugal to do the same thing.  Maybe France, too??

Bye bye Europe as a unified currency block.  Bye bye cash from all European banks, except Germany, to safer havens.

And once again, Goldman Sachs and its huge bonuses, will have put the world at risk of financial disaster.

So remember what Hegel said about history, "The only thing we learn from history is that we never learn anything from history."  That old German sure got that one right!!!!!