Greece And The Euro

Ellen Brown of truthout, referencing Paul Simon's clever song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," examines five of those "50 ways" by which Greece could remedy its dysfunctional relationship with the Euro and the ECB. In brief, the five courses of action Brown examines are these, taken from her subheadings:

• The Open Marriage: Return to the Drachma Without Abandoning the Euro
• Keep Separate Bank Accounts: Fire Up the Printing Presses at the Greek Central Bank
• Divorce: Turn and Walk Away
• Spousal Support: The Public Bank Option
• The Dowry: Impose a Financial Transaction Tax

Brown concludes with a quote from Mike Whitney, and a delightful reference to the Simon song she started with:

The problems of Greece and the euro zone stem from an arbitrary set of rules that were entered into by agreement and can be changed by agreement. Where there is a will, there is a way. The problem is finding the will, particularly among the Eurocrat leaders holding the reins of power, who may not be looking for an amicable workout. In a June 3 article titled "Europe Moves Closer to Banktatorship," Mike Whitney maintained:

These people are not interested in fixing the EZ economy. They are engaged in a stealth campaign to radically restructure EU society, to unravel the welfare safety net, to roll back the progressive gains of the last century, and to reduce much of the continent to 3rd world poverty. A banking union will further solidify the power of big finance over the individual states, and that is the main objective.

... Greece is a vivacious woman chained to a tyrannical old man. She can dance again if she can be free.

I am far from qualified to evaluate the merits of the possibilities, but the article was thought-provoking, and it reminded me of the one course of action that is simply not an option: do nothing.