Trusting in the wisdom and maturity of the Greek people. LOL

Monday October 31: European markets again plunged this week after a surprise announcement on Monday by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that he would hold a referendum on the latest EU debt deal.

Papandreou defended putting the bailout to the Greek people, saying:

I trust the wisdom and the maturity of the Greek people and I trust them ... I'm not saying this romantically, I deeply believe in democracy.

Thursday, November 3: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed to shelve the controversial plan for a referendum on Athens's latest financial bailout claiming the call for a referendum was a brilliant tactical move, which caused opposition leader Antonis Samaras to reverse course and support the rescue package.

So much for trusting "the wisdom and maturity of the Greek people." For a moment we thought Papandreou must be some kind of nutbar democrat.

This, obviously, is the time for the Greeks population to riot.

The debt the Greeks cannot pay was entered into by a corrupt government that concealed the magnitude of the financial catastrophe it had created by dishonest accounting. Now taht the scam has been exposed, both the new government and the old governing party expect the Greek people to pay.

But since the debt was contracted without public approval, why should it be regarded as a public debt?

This is a question that should have been considered not only by the Greek government, but also by the European banks that made the loans and the US banks that insured the loans through the sale of derivatives.

In this discussion with James Corbett, Professor Michael Hudson explains explains why the people, whether in Iceland or in Greece, have no moral obligation to pay "odious debts" incurred by their governments without their consent or knowledge.

See also:
Chris Floyd: Greece is the canary in the coal mine of modern hyper-capitalism
YaYa Canada: Yo! The Greek referendum was all crapola
CanSpeccy: The Greek referendum: what's it about?
CanSpeccy: Time for the abolition of Greece?