Currency wars, recession policies and the overvalued euro are to be blamed for the modern Greek tragedy

Abstract

In this paper we argue that, Modern Greek Tragedy is mainly due to the overvalued euro in combination with the strict austerity policies imposed by Berlin. Greece also pays the price of the currency war between the dollar and the euro. The latter puts a heavy burden upon the country’s economic competitiveness as a costume that does not fit the Greek economy, which is mainly based on tourism that requires a labour-intensive production process. The deadlocks of strict monetary and income’s policies, accelerates the upcoming economic thunderstorm, the spiral of recession, the increase in unemployment, the brutal reduction of wages and pensions, the further fall of GDP and the increase of the debt. The always renewed fatal economic forecasts, simply postpone the explosion of the deadlock. Basic economics in theory and in practice are being depreciated. One wonders if there are economists, neoliberals, not to mention, Keynesians and/or radicals that, may support the possibility of an economic recovery under deep recession policies and the existence of a hard currency such as the euro. Trapped under the Berlin’s political prison and the euro zone fetish, Greece continues to follow its tragic road on the grounds that there is no alternative. Yet, in democracies there are no dead ends. If an economic policy is proven to be wrong and catastrophic, the best alternative is to change it.