No, liberals, the new Greek deal is not "a coup"

Two fresh mysteries have arisen in the wake of the recently announced “Yet Another Bailout” for Greece deal and they are both worth exploring. The first, of course, is why Europe is still bothering with pouring money down that rathole, but it will take a more learned European economics expert than I to tackle it. The second, however, has much broader implications, and deals with the way in which enthusiastic supporters of liberal policies around the world are outraged at the terms and pushing the #ThisIsACoup hashtag in response. Business Insider has the details.

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Greece finally reached a deal with its creditors to receive a much-needed bailout, but a lot of people are unhappy with the deal.

The hashtag #ThisIsACoup is trending on Twitter, and commentators are lashing out at what they see as an unfair deal for Greece. The big issue is that all the signs coming out of negotiations so far suggest that the reforms the Eurogroup has asked for will be more austere than those rejected by the Greek people in the country’s recent referendum.

That’s because the country’s economy has deteriorated even more in the interim, meaning greater action is required, and Greece is close to running out of cash, meaning it is desperate for a deal and in a weak negotiating position.

The parade of tweets flying this hashtag are angry, outspoken and for the most part wrong. Still, they do provide a look at the thinking going on here.

Remember, these aren’t just Greek citizens getting up in arms here. There are liberal cheerleaders all over the world who are watching this spectacle and rebelling against the idea of the Greek government having to suffer under any form of “austerity” or make cuts to its spending habits to save itself from economic implosion. One of the common themes you are seeing is the accusation of how Germany and the rest of the surviving Euro neighborhood is trying to punish or humiliate Greece with their overbearing demands. That sort of thinking is truly revealing of the mindset that we’re dealing with not only in Greece, but in the United States as well.

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Nobody is trying to punish anyone. This is a business deal and it comes with all of the caveats which surround any such financial negotiations. The Greeks have put themselves in the position of needing a huge favor and they have very little to back up their promise of making good on returning said favor in the future. In fact, given the results of their recent referendum, any creditor would be justifiably dubious about sending more money their way since they clearly have no national inclination toward paying back their saviors. The base problem here probably comes down to the national attitude of not only the Greek citizens but their elected leaders as well. They have managed to go for a very long time expecting the government to pay their way and care for them with little or no concern for where the money is coming from. And now that the piggy bank at home has run dry, they would like the rest of the members of their relatively recently formed European community to continue to support them so they don’t have to take responsibility for their actions. Unfortunately for them, the world doesn’t work that way.

As to the charge of humiliation, it’s not being done intentionally but the result is understandable. I’d be pretty embarrassed if I were Greece. For that matter, speaking strictly as an American, if any Europeans were unsportsmanlike enough to come over here and point out how we’ve racked up this many trillions of dollars on our national credit card in such a short period of time I’d be pretty embarrassed myself. It’s nothing to be proud of.

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And in that regard, we come to the lesson our American liberals might take away from all this. Greece is looking for a parental figure to pull them out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves. If that happens to an economy the size of America’s (which is currently unfolding before our eyes) there is no father or mother figure big enough to rescue us. Food for thought.

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David Strom 5:20 PM | April 15, 2024
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