There is an old Lebanese saying [Don't shake him, he might fall off the wall] that sounds as though it was specifically coined to describe the European Union Crisis, or the Eurozone crisis, which is unfolding these days. But I promise the reader not to write a cumbersome analysis. I will just start with some background information and then will move on to an amusing anecdote that explains the situation as I understand it. Last May, Greece was bailed out. But the Greek are still protesting in the streets because, like us, they like to sleep in the afternoon and want the Germans to work on their behalf instead. There is also a bailout deal for Ireland. As I understood, this bankrupt country will, through this deal, pay back its debts over 30 years, or over an entire generation of its children. After that, it will be Portugal's turn, which most certainly is in need for a bailout deal to avoid bankruptcy as well, and also Spain, which may push the entire European Union off that shaken metaphorical wall, since its economy will not last long under the weight of its debts. I also read that Belgium and Italy are going down the same road. Since my knowledge of economic affairs is as shaky as the European economy itself, I sought the help of my daughter, who works for an international U.S. bank. She said that if she was in the Irish government's place, she would have rejected the European offer to bail Ireland out, because it would mortgage an entire generation to the crisis. She suggested that Ireland instead announce that it will default on its debts, i.e. its insolvency, and let the states that are Ireland's creditors deal with this. In the nineteen thirties, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, many countries, especially in Latin America, defaulted on their debts. In the end, the United States and other countries declared “forgiveness” of these debts, to gain some publicity by claiming that they wanted to help friends. However, the real reason behind their move is the fact that these countries realized that the debts will not be paid back to begin with. I thus understood that defaulting is still an option. But with the crisis in the EU mostly taking place in Mediterranean nations, the countries of the North might include in the bailout conditions that the peoples of the countries concerned work hard, instead of sleeping in the afternoon, and probably before noon too. My non-objective opinion is that the lazy peoples are attempting to live at the expense of energetic countries. This is where the anecdote I promised to tell comes in. It is said that an ant worked industriously and diligently, all summer long, foraging and storing up food, while the grasshopper sang and danced the summer away, believing that the ant is crazed to focus on work as such instead of having fun. But then winter came, and the ant took to the warmth of its home, having enough food to last until the weather was better, while the grasshopper was shivering from cold, looking for food, and in the end, he died of hunger. This old fable can be changed to apply to the Eurozone countries: In this fable, the grasshopper refused to die of hunger, and so he held a press conference attended by all major newspapers and the BBC and even the U.S. television networks. The grasshopper asked, how can the international community allow the ant to eat and be warm, while he shivers from cold and is without any food? The media focused on the tragedy of the grasshopper, accusing the better-off governments of failing to address this tragedy. Meanwhile, the grasshopper's supporters, from locusts to mantises, frogs and spiders, demonstrated in protest, and attacked the United Nations for failing to draft a practical plan to save the grasshopper. All human rights organizations attacked the ant for monopolizing food and warmth, and called on it to share what it has with the poor grasshopper. Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that the grasshopper's struggle for a better life is another example of American imperialism in dealing with the grasshoppers of the third world. Also, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the grasshopper should follow Iran's example in standing up to U.S. sanctions, while the U.S. Tea Party warned that the grasshopper's demise will lead to the demise of all Western democracies in turn. In the end, the UN Security Council issued a resolution calling for the ant to hand over its stored food, or face a military campaign by NATO to get the “grasshopper's rights” by force. I will not write how the story of the ant and the grasshopper will end, because I do not know how the crisis in the Eurozone will end. I suppose that Germany and other Northern countries, or the ants, will help the countries of the South, or the grasshoppers, to overcome the crisis. However, I prefer to wait and see actual decisions, not hypotheses. Whatever the result will be, it will not change my personal conviction – in my capacity as another “Mediterranean”, or a grasshopper –, that music, singing and dancing, and a siesta in the afternoon, are better that Prussian work ethics. [email protected]
