Opinion

Time For A Grexit, Stage Left Now

Keith Naughton Public Affairs Consultant
Font Size:

Beware of Greeks bearing threats. Like a slow-motion collision, Greece and the European Union are headed for a reckoning with both sides engaged in kabuki rather than real negotiation. The strategy of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is an only slightly less crude version of the classic National Lampoon marketing strategy. Meanwhile, the European Union plays the same austerity tune monotonously.

It’s simply time for the Greeks to be cut loose – in fact, cutting the Greeks loose is long overdue. At this point any deal will be a bad deal for Europe.

The fault for this state of affairs is not so much with Greece itself, but with the EU. After all, the Greeks are just doing what they have been doing for years – brinksmanship and dodgy accounting. The problem is that the EU has knowingly indulged this behavior.

But even more dangerous is the political contagion the EU has allowed to incubate in Europe as a result of its mishandling of Greece’s debt. The difficult day-to-day economic conditions imposed by austerity in the high-debt, low growth nations may be justifiable in the abstract, but it has driven many into the camps of neo-communist political parties like Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain.

The neocomm economic platform is a load of incoherent, free-rider trash – but it is seductive for the many voters in countries that have experienced years of austerity with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel. Even putatively right-wing parties like the National Front in France are espousing some version of their economics. It does not matter that the real problem is that the nations of Europe, particularly southern Europe, have failed to attack red tape, subsidy, cronyism and corruption. What the people see is penury imposed by the European Central Bank.

And it is this political contagion that is far worse a threat for Europe that the temporary economic fallout of a Greek default.

At this point any deal will be a boost to the socialists in Europe. If Greece is let off the hook, then highly indebted countries will be encouraged to demand the same treatment. Imagine the economic problems of Spain refusing to pay its debts.  On the other hand, if Greece knuckles under to a more austerity, the neocomms will point to the misery in Greece and claim they have the solutions.

Only when the people see the bankruptcy of neocommunist economics is exposed will parties like Syriza and Podemos wither. No intellectual arguments will do.

Walking away from Greece – allowing the country to default, exit the Euro and devalue – will be tough medicine. The country could enter into an even more chaotic political period. Bond yields for Spain and Italy could spike significantly and the Euro could weaken. Tsipras and his neocomm allies could reach out to Russia and threaten to leave NATO.

But this is the case of choosing the least bad alternative. A post-Euro Greece could still be the recipient of financial aid by the EU. Weakness in sovereign debt should be temporary as nations make real changes to restore confidence.

As for the geopolitics, so what if Russia props up Greece. That just makes Russia leader in the Coalition of the Basket Cases. What brought the Soviet Union down was a non-competitive internal economy, falling oil prices and an overextended empire.  Letting Putin blunder his way down that path again will be far more effective that the current impotent sanctions strategy.

The most important result from cutting Greece loose will be to snuff out Syriza, Podemos and their foolish economics.  Killing that contagion will yield long-term benefits.

It’s been 25 years since communism collapsed.  Unfortunately, the Europeans need to be reminded again collectivism simply does not work.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel