New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras (finally realising his personal ambition) has been sworn in as the new prime minister of Greece and will lead a coalition government comprising ND, Pasok and Democratic Left.
Both the supporting parties have declined to have any of their members join the cabinet.... no doubt they expect the coalition to fail and can therefore distance themselves from Samaras and ND, blaming him for the failure. (Same old, same old).
Syriza (far left, anti memorandum) who so nearly won the election will sit in opposition, stirring the proverbial at every opportunity, praying the the coalition will collapse and portraying themselves as the next government in waiting.
All three parties of the coalition essentially support the Memorandum of Understanding that has enabled the huge bailout funds but the initial task of the new government is to try and moderate the terms of the Memorandum.... extending the time period for meeting targets and reducing the severity of many of the austerity measures..... obviously a populist move... but it may succeed, as the mood in Europe seems to be swinging towards less austerity and more measures for growth as a way out of the European crisis.
All well and good but in order to create growth more money has to be made available....which means, dare I say it, more debt, at least in the short term.
It all brings to mind an advert by a UK company, purportedly helping out those people with massive debts, to take out 'A Debt-buster Loan'.... an oxymoron if ever I've heard one.
With the entire world economy based on debt...which it seems cannot be repaid and can only be sustained by more and more debt...where will it all end? I guess the simple answer is that the whole house of cards will eventually collapse and chaos will ensue.
With luck, what will emerge from the ruins will be a world that accepts that it has to live within it's means and will save up to pay for what it wants and 'borrowing, loans and debts' will become dirty words. That might slow down innovation and progress....but what's the hurry?
