The E U is a communal wealth-creating organisation ( all that other cultural stuff is just window dressing and fringe idealistic activity , at root it is a wealth-making machine )
It does this by providing new member states with huge grants for infrastructure projects - Ports , airports , motorways , railways , hospitals , schools , and so on , typically funding 70% , 75% , 80% of the capital cost .
The workforce who builds all this is mostly from the new member country .
Those workers then go out and spend their wages on Goodies which are often made elsewhere in the E U .
The companies doing the work and providing the materials , outfittings , etc are also usually from all over the E U
The new member country gets a huge boost in tax revenue .
All those ( workers , companies and Governments ) go out and spend again , and so the money churns around and around and everyone gets richer and a much better standard of living and a better equipped civilisation to live in . See ?
In the case of Greece a weak and politically appointed civil service failed to warn their ignorant or occasionally corrupt politicians that it was unwise to build so much so fast , and to borrow their share of their contribution to the capital costs ( or perhaps they warned , but were ignored ) .
When the world economy tanked and Greek government tax income fell ( along with every other government on the planet )
Greece borrowed AGAIN to pay debt installments , in a vicious cycle of borrowing that could only have one end - State Bankruptcy , followed by national economic Depression ( the economic condition where both individuals and companies will not invest money , for fear of the future , no matter what incentives are offered to them ; - everyone sits there on their little sack of money , spending only the bare minimum )
This Locks the national economy into a stagnant or shrinking situation ; - what you see in Greece today .
Leaving the E U would simply make everything worse .
And bear in mind two things ;
Firstly although a lot of projects were silly , and a lot of money wasted or corruptly embezzled , MOST of the last 25 years infrastructure projects DID create long term national valuable assets , AND boosted Greece's economy , standards of living , and modernised it's civilisation standard .
30 years ago you still saw people living in almost medieval conditions , in a third world society and country , often without shoes . None of that now .
Secondly , although the present situation is a catastrophe , Greece regularly has those , and recovers .
In this catastrophe almost no-one has starved to death , or medical treatment become completely unavailable , or been mass-murdered , or gone without shoes on their feet , or died from cold .
ALL of which went on during the decade of Balkan Wars just to the north .
In the 1940-1950 period things in Greece were terribly worse than now .
SO , while things in Greece are inconvenient and depressing and worrying , it WILL eventually get better , progress WILL start again , and Greece will endure .
Coming out of the E U during the present difficult epoch would simply make things much worse .
Despite all the anger and resentment the fact is that Greece STILL gets huge benefits from its membership .
Do you WANT to see the E U clap a 10% import tax onto all Greek products , and deny Greeks the freedom to go and live and work anywhere in the whole E U ?
I hope soon or they will want more money
Very soon i hope, im greek btw
tomorrow!
