Monday 7 March 2016

Reponse to a question from our reader: Why is the Greek economy broke?


Right now, Greece’s economy has completely collapsed. The country has lost it's national sovereignty, and as a result, they are massively in debt to the international loan sharks. Greece simply has no money to pay back their loans as the current austerity measures constrict the economy, meaning there is no way to generate the revenue needed to make principal repayments. At best, Greece can only keep up with the interest on their debt, and will remain forever a tributary state to the European criminal Union.

Does Greece have a hope of rebuilding their economy? Not under the current crony capitalist system that works hand in hand with a bloated public sector, effectively leaving Greece a non-producing banana republic. The economy must be rebuilt, and only by a Social-Nationalist economy that strives for Autarchy, that puts the interests of the country first and foremost.

Right now Greece has no economy, because there is basically no primary production. How did this happen?

Greece's economic downfall

1967-1974: Greece, under the Nationalist Junta government, built it's economy around self sufficiency. This is a period when Greece was known as 'the construction zone', due to the large scale infrastructure projects around the country (roads, bridges, tunnels, power grids, hydroelectricity, etc). In addition to creating jobs for the construction industry, the infrastructure also allowed for Greece's rapidly growing manufacturing industry.

Factories in Greece produced a broad range of products from ships, cars, small boats, consumer goods, trains, and almost everything that the Greek people needed. Farmers where provided good incentives and cheap loans to expand their produce, providing enough food to feed the entire country. Greece was almost entirely self-sufficient, and did not depend on the global economy for it's own natural growth.

1974-1984: The Junta is forcibly removed, and Greece begins integrating into the union that would eventually become the EU. As part of Greece's entry into the prosperous 'Western European' bloc, they need to step in line with the new continental economic model. Self-reliant economies are considered backwards and inefficient, and Greece is no longer able to produce all the manufacturing goods or agricultural products it once did.

Moving forward, Greece will now be reliant on the EU nations for it's economic prosperity, provided they start to purchase goods from other member states, rather than produce their own. Under this new model, olive farmers can not setup new initiatives in Greece, otherwise they will be fined. Instead, a country like Spain is responsible for olive oil, and Greece will need to purchase the oil from Spain. The same applies for Greece's auto industry, as German made Mercedes & BMWs are soon destined for Greek markets while Greek made cars are slowly phased out.

With the tarrifs and quotas removed, slowly, Greeks begin to purchase German and other European products, while the PASOK government begins to ramp up it's criminal unions to shut down Greece's manufacturing sector. In return for Greece's compliance with the new economic model, they are provided with access to cheap credit.

1984-1996: New Democracy and PASOK react to Greece's de-indsutrialisation, as the manufacturing jobs created under the junta begin to disappear, potentially leaving millions unemployed in the near future. Taking a page from PASOK's book in the early 80s, the 2 establishment parties begin to use the cheap credit from the European Banks to fund a massive public sector.

The majority of these jobs are essentially useless bureaucratic roles, designed to keep those close to the politicians in high paying positions with extremely lucrative benefits. Greece's private sector now becomes more reliant on the tourism industry, despite it's inconsistent and seasonal nature. The income generated from the private sector is not enough to fund the overgrown public sector, so the 2 parties continue to take out more loans while high on cheap interest rates.

The new public sector in Greece creates an entirely artificial middle class that never existed in the country before, almost overnight. With no real production happening, and very little real work being done, Greeks get a taste of Western cosmopolitanism, but few ask where the money is coming from, or weather or not this is sustainable.

1996-2004: Greece begins it's preparation for the 2004 Athens Olympics, and the now EU is happy to keep the cheap money flooding into Greece. This time, they demand the money be spent on infrastructure, a much neglected area of the Greek economy since the fall of the Junta.

Greece now begins it's preparation for the Olympics, and new roads, trains, buildings & bridges are in the plans. Now that more borrowed money is flooding into Greece than ever before, German and other European companies move into Greece to steal their share of the loot. Massive scandals and bribes take place, including Siemens, Dailmer, Deutsche Bahn, & Rhinemetall, all found in court years later of being involved in corruption with the Greek government for their cut of the dirty money.

Illegal immigrants begin to flood Greece, but the politicians assure everyone they are only here to assist with the construction work, and will leave once the work dries up after the Olympics. This is despite the fact unemployment reaches over 10%, the public sector begins to show signs of bursting at the seams.

2004 - 2008: Millions and millions of Euros disappear from the country, and some of the infrastructure plans in Greece where found to be grossly over priced for what was paid. The global economy is on a high, and the Greek middle class continues to spend like there is no tomorrow. The previous introduction of the Euro in replacement of the Greek Drachma takes its toll on the working class, and the struggling economy begins to experience high unemployment for those outside the public sector.

People are finally starting to question the government on how they plan to repay all this money, considering so much of it was siphoned overseas and spent foolishly on projects that should never have cost as much as they did. The PASOK government assured everyone that all is fine, and that 'there is money'.

2008 - present: The GFC forced interest rates to hike, meaning the cheap credit Greece once ennobled was no longer available. With Greece unable to pay its debts at the new interest rate, the country begun its rapid collapse while falling mercy to its creditors.

Surrendering our national sovereignty, the traitors of PASOK, New Democracy and now Syriza signed away our nation in order to secure bailout money to keep Greece afloat. The austerity measures that came as part of the bailout begin to cripple the economy even further, plunging the unemployment rate over 25%. Greece's economy is now being suffocated, leaving them with no way of ever paying back the debt.

The Vicious cycle

1. When a country produces nothing, there are no real jobs for the people
2. With no jobs, there is no money to be spent
3. When people can’t spend, there is no economy

What builds an economy? Primary Production. Take a look at the wealthy countries that became economic powerhouses during the 20th century, such as the USA, UK, Australia, West Germany and Japan for example, and the reason their economy grew, and they became the land of milk and honey that could feed their population ample times over. In addition to their strong agricultural base, these countries also had large manufacturing industries, such as:

  • Auto manufacturing, (Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Nissan, Toyota, Merc, BMW etc),
  • Weapons factories (Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon)
  • Textile production (Adidas, Nike, Reebok, Everlast, Champion, Levi etc)
  • FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), (Pepsi, Colgate, Sanitarium, Goodman Fielder) .

These manufacturing industries not only created factory & warehouse jobs for the workers, but ample support roles along with them. If you have a large enough factory, you then need backend office support; think Payroll, Accounting, HR, Admin, etc. If you get enough workers in any one spot, you can think of hospitality and other services that they can make use of while at work. Now insurance and banking operations are needed to finance and provide liability for the production, and more jobs are created. You see what’s happening here? There is a flow on effect. 1 simple large factory, creates not only factory jobs, but supporting roles and surrounding businesses as well.

Right now, Greece doesn't have much of a   manufacturing base. This is why there are limited jobs, as the majority of what they consume is produced outside the Greece. They are a nation of consumers, not savers, and not producers. That’s why over 50% of young people in Greece are unemployed without a future, with little hope in Greece's constricted & subjugated state.

Currently, in the EU, there is a free trade agreement between member states. The purpose here is to keep the producing states producing, while leaving the rest of continent to remain as satellite states, constantly in a state of subjugated receivership. Realistically, Greece has no chance of creating new brands, such as clothing or cars products, as they would have to compete against already popular, well known German brands. These German products are coming into Greece at a very cheap price, as there are no tariffs on imports to protect Greek producers. The solution to this? In line with Golden Dawn’s official policy, we need to administer a national policy of economic protection, and rebuild our primary production.

Simple measures such as tariffs, quotas, and reclaiming our national currency, can allow Greece the breathing space it needs to rebuild it's manufacturing base. By investing in our agricultural industry, Greece can not only feed itself, but provide cost effective incentives to local producers to keep them in work. By rebuilding our manufacturing arm, Greek workers can find well paying jobs producing the much needed goods our economy needs to fill the void when EU imports are no longer flooding our markets. The benefit of being self sufficient also means that Greece is no longer vulnerable to volatile and unpredictable global markets, meaning we can secure our economic future free of what happens outside of our nation.

The current Greek politicians of ND, PASOK, and SYRIZA, are there for their own careers and pockets, which means serving their banking masters, and the EU Bureaucrats at the expense of Greece. They don’t care about rebuilding the Greek economy, they are only interested in paying interest to the international loan sharks, in order to remain in their positions of power. They are taking out a bank loan (with interest), to pay off another bank loan (with interest rates), to then pay off another loan (with interest). In other words, they’ll forever be paying loan after loan, a vicious cycle the Greeks can’t afford as their living standards plummet further into the abyss.

This is like someone with no money getting a credit card loan (with interest rates) to pay off another credit card. This simply doesn’t work. We’ll simply go further into debt, without any prospect of ever getting out of this economic strangle hold.

The challenges that Face the West

Unlike Greece, the USA and Australia for example still have some manufacturing industries that remain, despite the massive outsourcing that has taken place since the late 1970s. These few remaining producers are still leaving Australia and the USA at an alarming rate, and moving to Asia, in particular China, because of the cheaper labour costs for those companies – meaning higher profits for the capitalists. In addition to the fiat currency being used to fund a massive and bloated welfare state, these economies are in for a potential disaster.

Regardless of which school of thought mainstream politicians reside on, both the left and the right is committed to free trade, despite the nuances of how they wish to justify it:

  • Centre Right Politicians: Like Malcom Turnball's Liberal party, they sign free trade agreements, to appease their corporate fat cat mates, (who are often the party donors). The ideology that is sold to the working classes is that they can hope to catch the additional crumbs generated when a large company expands it's profits by moving jobs to China.

  • Centre Left Politicians: Like Bill Shorten’s Labor Party, the left support free trade agreements because they believe in the leftist idea of, “a world with no borders”, despite the fact they to get kickbacks from large corporations to bring the overseas multi-nationals in. They ideology sold here to the masses is that economic liberalisation will create jobs for domestic workers, which in the case of Greece, results in university educated men packing bags at Aldi, while they funnel profits back to Germany.

What’s the result of American and Australian companies moving their manufacturing and service/tech jobs to China & India? Take a good look at Greece, and remember that former US congressman Ron Paul has warned repeatedly that many 'developed' western economies are not that different from Greece, meaning they could all share a similar fate in the very near future.

Just take a look at the facts, and next time a free-trade liberal tries to convince you that opening our borders to 3rd world rackets and their sweat shops is a good idea, remind them how much better things where during the era of Australian protectionism. Yes, they'll tell you the early 1970s where a horrible time, when we still had the dreaded White Australia Policy, which prevented us enjoying cultural enrichment from Middle Eastern immigrants, as well as the fact homosexuality was still illegal.

What they usually neglect to mention that working class people could still afford homes all on one man's wage, as well as free university and a guaranteed pension at 65. We are the first generation to decline in wealth from the baby boomers, while free trade and the abolishment of protectionism has only made the gap between the rich and the poor wider, benefiting only the capitalist elite at the expense of working class families.

Greece is proving to be a glimpse of the future for many developed countries, as we may soon be destined to a similar economic path here in the West. Fortunately, the nationalist movement in Greece is also a glimpse of the future, and the type of reaction the Liberal/Labour kleptocrats can expect should they chose to strangle the White working class any further.

The only solution to Greece is Golden Dawn.
Αίμα Kai Τιμή - Χρυσή Αυγή

Written by XA Melbourne

8 comments:

  1. What you are describing here is neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism has had some benefits - ie it has lifted 300 million Chinese out of poverty. However, this is something i have studied. I am not convinced overall.

    Neo-liberalism states that countries should manufacture what they are good at and leave manufacturing of products they are not good at to other countries. This way the cheapest goods are produced in the most effective way which leads to more expendable income for people to spend on other goods thereby stimulating the economy and creating more jobs.

    Sounds good in theory right? And there are merits to it. However Neo-liberalism also leads to loss of sovereignty and an increase gap in wealth between the rich and the poor and from that a breakdoown in society as crime rates increase.

    Also - as in Greece's case and as stated by the article, Greece closed many of its manufacturing and bought from overseas. But where was the trade off? What did Greece specialize in? Nothing really so Greece lost out.

    This is why Greece's politicians need to stand trial for treason. For filling their back pockets and undermining the economy and losing our national sovereignty.

    Unfortunately Greece is only about 10 million people. To close its economy now and be self sufficient would mean a huge increase in the cost of living and price of goods. It would create a black market where Greeks would access goods cheaper overseas.

    In saying this, anything is better then what we have now.

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    Replies
    1. I agree with what you are saying, Neo-Liberalism makes sense, but like Communism, only works in theory.

      The real life results lead to a massive distribution of wealth away from the working class, & leaves nations vulnerable to uncontrollable economic problems overseas.

      Greece was told to stop producing manufactured goods, & forced to specialise in tourism. Hardly a secure future for a country & an entire people.

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    2. I've always wondered if a national capitalist system would be possible. It would be like what China has right now, in that they allow capitalism and free trade, but with nationalistic regulations. Essentially this is what fascism is. And fascism works. Look how it pulled Germany and Italy from poverty in 5 years.

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    3. Some good points raised here.

      This is the thing regarding neo-liberalism. In theory you have more expendable income, however are also encouraged to take on personal debt to power the economy, which decreases a populations ability to protest and resist.

      See when your paying off a mortgage and are too busy striving to buy that newer car or tv you will happily take on more debt and are less willing to resist the changes. Neo-liberalism promotes individuality and therefore a break down in the community and community strength.

      China is a communist nation that had to open itself up to capitalism or risk collapse. But yes its goverment still has a lot of sway and can readily intervene to shut down operations or get things done, cutting through the bureaucracy.

      Studies however have shown that on average economies grow slower that are more controlled by the government. Ie free economies with less government interference grow quicker. But again this masks alot of issues, as Golden Dawn said like the movement of wealth away from the working class to the rich and shifting of debt to nations.

      Then you have corporate sold out economists who tell us a "bigger Australia is a better Australia". They say more money in the economy means growth. Well Australia is growing but how is the quality of life? More traffic, crime, congestion problems, infastructure problems, health and school problems. So where is this supposed extra money that is coming in from extra migration? The rich get richer only.

      I think Greece needs a model similar to South Korea and Singapore (under Lee I believe) had about 40 years ago.

      This was a single party government of THE RIGHT people who took Singapore from a thrid world nations to a technologically advanced nation in just one generation.

      From this economic development, democracy can then spring. And people in these nations have acquired more and more rights as their quality of life has increased. But first you need economic discipline. Without that democracy cant happen. Greece has no economic discipline and therefore a corrupted democracy.

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  2. Well-written article. Thank you!

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  3. Anonymous, who posted about China having free trade agreement.
    China can have free trade agreement, because it has more manufacturing than any other country.

    Free trade can be good, on the exceptions that you manufacture alot more than the country you are making the free trade agreement with. Because than your exported products your sending into that country, won't be charged a foreign tax tariffs, therefore you can make extra profit from that countries consumers.

    A place like Greece however, is in no position to make free trade agreements with any country, since it doesn't produce anything. The country that Greece makes a free trade agreement with, will simply flood Greece with it's exported products, with 0 tax tarrifs, and Greece would have no chance of building it's own manufacturing in the process.

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  4. This is the thing. I dont agree with everything Golden Dawn have to say. But they are the only party in Greece who help the poor and help Greeks in need. And are genuinely trying to get rid of the corrupt bureaucracy. As Greeks we need to put aside our differences and work for the better of our country. Our Greekness and desire to help Greece should have precedent before any differences we may have.

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  5. If Golden Dawn took power they would get rid of several million illegal immigrants. This would give a 30% or so boost to the economy right away. The cost of extensive tariffs would not be that great when the burden of illegal immigrants was lifted. Golden Dawn supports Greek farmers. To hell with Spanish olive oil. How about the Halkidiki Canadian Gold mine project which has been killed? How about all of the offshore oil in Greek waters? Greece can do all kinds of things to restore economic life.

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