The failure of the Greek State engendered a disillusioned society

Pytheas
Social &
Political
Review
May 2012
The Failure of the Greek State
Engendered a Disillusioned Society
By Harris A. Samaras
www.pytheas.net

Pytheas
Social &
Political
Review
About the Author – Harris A. Samaras
An Economist and presently the Chairman & CEO of Pytheas, an international investment management
organization, Harris has also worked with the Bank of America Group, Thomson Financial BankWatch, and
Moody’s Investors Service.
His expertise lies primarily in the areas of investment and corporate banking, private equity and finance,
corporate restructuring, risk management and business development, strategic advisory and thought
leadership. His research and extensive publications in these areas range across practice rather than theory,
economic and business thought, entrepreneurship and geopolitics.
He has been an adviser to various governments, central banks, financial institutions, and other corporates and
has been a member of the board of directors of multinational organizations.
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Why did German people support Hitler?
The Weimar Republic appeared to have no idea how to solve the problems of the Depression.
The Nazis on the other hand promised to solve the problems (Nazism at the time was a small
fringe movement seeking power through revolution...). Hitler promised most groups in
Germany what they wanted. Hitler used the Jews and other sections of society as scapegoats,
blaming all the problems on them. To Germans at the time Hitler made sense, he united
everyone by providing explanations for Germany's problems not necessarily solutions.
People in Germany were tired of their poor quality of life. Hitler promised to make Germany
proud again – it was exactly what people wanted to hear. Hitler pledged something for every
part of the disillusioned German society:
1. He promised farmers higher prices for their produce – making up for all their losses
during the Depression;
2. He promised unemployed workers jobs and security of jobs;
3. He promised middle class to restore the profits of small business and the value of
savings; to end the Communist threat.
To all Germans he promised to restore German honor by tearing up the hated Treaty of
Versailles and by making Germany great again.
Now replace the Weimar Republic with the Hellenic Republic, the Depression with the Financial
Crisis, Jews with Immigrants, Germany with Greece, Communism with Capitalism and the
Treaty of Versailles with the EU austerity measures... and replace Nazism and Nazis with
every radical and extreme party in Greece that gained from obscurity seats at the Greek
parliament...
Do you also see the resemblance?
Walter Lippmann explains about Hitler’s Germany: “The German experiment, except to those
who are its victims, is particularly interesting... For the Germans are the most gifted and most
highly educated people who ever devoted the full strength of a modern state to stopping the
exchange of ideas; they are the most highly organized people who ever devoted all the
coercive power of government to the abolition of their own intellectual life; they are the most
learned people who ever pretended to believe that the premises and the conclusion of all
inquiry may be fixed by political fiat".
It was a conditioned lack of mass self-awareness, along with love of ease, unwillingness to
dispel social and moral delusions, headlong rush into the mindless attitude that "everything is
okay" that “forced” the majority of the German people to follow Hitler. It was lack of the
ability to think critically. A whole nation lived in denial, polarized by a leadership that cleverly
and systematically “indoctrinated” its citizens by “selling” to them what they wanted and liked
to hear; touched and entertained their complexes, to such an extent that discrimination was
acceptable; elimination of the thinking elements of their society was made tolerable because
they were somehow convinced that they were a threat, mass murder and torture as a means
to an end, bullying and jingoism were all unobjectionable because the followers lacked critical
thought and their leadership lack thought – a society of madness.
Do you still see the resemblance?
The oxymoron is that although more than 70% of Greek voters would like to remain in the
Eurozone, the vast majority of them voted for far left-wing parties and far-right wing parties
and the neo-Nazi Gold Dawn party, most of which want Greece out of Europe or are fiercely
against the EU austerity measures...
What is certain, rightfully or wrongfully, this vote means that Greek people are fed up with
both the political parties that have ruled Greece for the past three decades and they believe
that the Eurozone as a whole should follow a new direction more focused on growth and less
on austerity, pay cuts, and the like that have devastated the Greek economy... They also
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Social &
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don’t believe that they should sacrifice everything to belong to the EU... They see that is very
difficult to get out of the crisis and they are just desperate...
Oddly, the country that bread such great thinkers and statesmen – like Hesiod, who at 8 th
century B.C., that is more than 3000 years ago, theorized on the entrepreneurship typical of
the market (an early laissez-faire), identifying the effects of government debasement of the
coinage, which causes a decrease in its purchasing power (think Adam Smith, Keynes and
post Keynes), arguing about the importance of competition and the importance of justice and
the law in order to foster order and harmony in society... Solon’s balance between classes...
Pericles’ open society... Socrates’ justice, virtue, self realization and critical thinking...
Protagoras’ arguments on the importance of pricing, discounting, commodity exchange and
management... Democritus’ causes of economic phenomena and rational behavior for the
fulfillment of psychological and economic needs... Aristotle's approach to the exchange
process and private property... Xenophon’s comments on the division of labor, and Plato’s
remarks on the same subject and his theory on the economy of specialization... – whose
contributions are considered to be the basis of modern economic thought and management of
the world of today, is a country that failed at almost every aspect and a state that is not in a
position to provide for its citizens engendering a disillusioned society.
Greece is a case of a state that failed, a case of despair that forced its citizens, those that are
at least self-conscious, to exclaim instead of the more than valid “I am proud to be Greek”,
the self-pitied “I am sorry to be Greek”. These are the same Greeks that abstained from
voting in the recent elections or as an “immature” form of protest voted for radical parties
than now possess a catalytic say in the future of the Country.
Overall the average Greek has been bombarded with jargons, polarized by an ignorant in the
vast majority, populist, irresponsible, anachronistic and scandalous political leadership and
labor unions, and sacrificed in the name of power and political party benefits!
Important to note that the Citizens of the Country are equally responsible for the crisis as are
the country’s EU partners.
The conditioned Citizens of the Hellenic Republic accepted the love of ease, a mindless
attitude that was provided to them via political favoritism and moral delusions and lived by it
for decades to such an extent that it became part of their DNA – for the vast majority of
Greeks not to cheat income tax was as idiotic as to be efficient and productive while working
for the over-staffed public sector; “corruption” to that effect found in the eye of the average
Greek a new synonym: “Bravado” (Μαγκιά)!
The think-tanks of the EU are inexcusable not to foresee such an outcome, not to take into
serious consideration that the crisis in Greece is not just a financial crisis but primarily a social
crisis! Moreover, it took the EU ages to realize that this was equally a problem for Brussels as
it was for Athens. It took Germany, France and others much too long to react, firstly trying to
protect their own and profit for their own ignoring the big picture, for the longest time...
Additionally, the incapability of both Brussels and Athens to respond promptly and effectively
gave abandoned weaponry to those circles that are antagonist to the Eurozone and aspire to
its collapse... The inability of the EU to react promptly and efficiently to the Greek Crisis but
also the Financial Crisis in general gave room to financial speculators, investment houses and
hedge funds – who are doing of course what they have been doing since their existence:
make money – to roam the markets usually at the expense of the weakest contributing in an
indirect way to making a complex problem more complex...
The responsibility lies with everybody but mostly with the Greek political leaders and citizens
who have to surpass themselves, their complexes and despair. Characterized by a spirit of
collectiveness putting their personal and party interests aside they have to all brawl for a
European Greece. Only an idiot and ignorant would even insinuate that a Greece outside the
Eurozone would be a better Greece. The moment that Greece exits the Eurozone, that same
moment, Greeks will be reminiscent of the Nazi occupation with “snugness”!
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Sources (Alphabetically)
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American Public Media – In Greece, voters cast ballots against austerity
BBC – Hitler’s rise to power
CAE – Triggers of state failure
Carleton University – Anticipating state failure
Daily Mail – Rise of the Greek neo-Nazis
Princeton University Press – When states fail: Causes and consequences
Stefan Wolff – State failure in a regional context
The Financial Times – Consequences of a Greek default
The Financial Times – Greek-led fall points to euro exit worries
The Financial Times – Greek left attacks “barbarous” austerity
University of Oxford – State failure and conflict recurrence
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars – Failed states, collapsed states, weak states: Causes
and indicators
You Tube – How and why Hitler came to power
See also other related publications by Pytheas:
► In search for excellence through critical thinking & though leadership (March 2012)
► Could the Greek financial crisis lead to the end of the EU as we know it? (June 2011)
► The long overdue loan for Greece is announced. Is it enough? (April 2010)
► Greece must change or sink! (December 2009)
► Greece unlikely to escape its worst financial crisis of modern times (July 2009)
Disclaimer
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Copyright © 2012 Pytheas Limited 11 May 2012 5