WHAT the people of Greece are going through is certainly a crime against humanity! We are seeing a human tragedy unfolding in front of our eyes where people are driven to suicide; ending up homeless; sleeping rough in the streets; banks repossessing homes while marriages and families are shattered.

There is the stench of desperation in the air…! Greek citizens are experiencing a national calamity that will take years to recover, if ever! Worse, this burgeoning economic tsunami will certainly wreck other EU countries; Portugal is the next likely victim; and all this, because of the Big Lie!

A worried man, the European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso declared that, “the present financial, economic and social crisis in the EU has resulted in a crises of confidence and trust not seen in decades”, and urged the European Central Bank (ECB), to “do everything in its power to maintain financial stability in the euro zone”. His statements confirm the public view, that banks today, control political, economic and decision-making policies affecting entire nations.

Never in the history of mankind has so much power been concentrated into the hands of so few institutions such as the banks, and yet, governments go along with this criminality at the expense of their own people. It seems that governments are for governments…and not for the people!

Could it happen in Cyprus?

Can a similar predicament develop in Cyprus? Most probably, yes! The signs are not only obvious, but they are written on the wall for everyone to see… A few years ago, Cyprus enjoyed zero unemployment, a good trade balance and had a surplus of funds in the kitty: all excellent indicators for a sustained growth! That positive economic climate has now evaporated into thin air. The government has accrued over 1.0 billion Euros in debt and is now looking to borrow an additional 2.5 billion to service its national debt – certainly a massive burden for the taxpayer.

To understand the Big Lie one has to look at the creation of the European Union. It is also necessary to make it abundantly clear, that the EU, it’s neither a country nor a nation, but a corporation aimed to control entire nations. A Frenchman named Jean Monnet, believed that Europe should be fused into one supra-corporation – like the Zollverein (1834) did for Germany. He set up his deceitful trap in motion: first came the Common Market, then it progressively changed into the European Economic Community and later to become European Community and finally European Union.

Promises of free trade and prosperity became the buzzword, but in reality, no government disclosed the hidden agenda behind the entire exercise of fusing independent nations together. This social and economic supra-corporation was to be controlled by bankers and a horde of inglorious politicians. To convince the public, they built-up peoples’ expectations with empty promises, until the trap was finally tightly shut; the EU had been transformed into a political entity rather than an economic community…and the ECB, has become the controlling master for more than 450 million Europeans.

So much for democracy

Cyprus behaved no differently than the rest of the European governments! Obsessed with an ungodly policy to secrecy and no transparency, the government colluded with the rest of the political parties to safeguard the real truth from the people. Consequently, the citizens of Cyprus were never offered the opportunity to vote on a Referendum for, or against joining the European Union. Petty-politicians decided for them. So much for democracy!

Sir Josiah Stamp, Director – Bank of England 1928-1941 and the 2^nd richest man in England at the time stated: “The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand ever invented. Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin. Bankers own the Earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of a pen they will make enough money to buy it back again…Take this great power away from them, for then, this world would be a better and happier world to live in. But if you want to continue to be slaves of the banks and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit”.

Across the Atlantic, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States, he too had something to say about banks: “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of all their prosperity until their children will wake up homeless”. Plato also had some fine words to say about moneylenders – the godfathers of bankers: “If contracts for loans were made at the lender’s risk there would be a good deal less shameless money-making and evil”.

Banking greed and corruption

Greece’s problems can be attributed as the direct result of banking greed and speculators as well as corruption. To appease the EU and international banks to so Greece can borrow more billions and avoid bankruptcy; a lame government was compelled to introduce severe austerity measures never seen before. Greece’s economic affliction is spiralling out of control and the public is forced to pick up the tab. It is no wonder such criminal measures have triggered nationwide-riots and a national morbid depression and recession. If the present situation does not improve soon, a mass rebellion cannot be excluded!

It is also been suggested that by borrowing so heavily to sustain the unsustainable, this decision will cause many years of misery for the Greek people. World- renowned economists, such as Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, believe that Greece should have pulled out of the Euro altogether. A more humane and economically sensible approach is to allow Greece to default on its obligations and to devalue its way back to competitiveness by leaving the euro. Argentina and Iceland did precisely that: they defaulted by turning their back on the banks that were bleeding their countries to death.

If that was the case, Greece could then devalue its Drachmas currency and let it float – as it did on numerous occasions in the past – to overcome its economic crisis. However, being part of the euro, Greece is trapped; it does not have the flexibility to manoeuvre out of its quandary! The only alternative available to them is to borrow billions from banks, but as a failed economy, Greece cannot determine the terms or conditions of loans raised. Banks thrive on calamities. They have been known to provide loans to warring factions to purchase weapons to kill one another, as long they guarantee the loan repayment of the loser!

Not too long ago, Argentina faced a similar economic predicament; the IMF and American banks strangulated the nation while its GDP was free falling, dropping by an annualized rate of 20%. Under those terms, it could never catch up to repay the ever increasing exorbitant costs of its loans and reluctantly decided to default. The move to float did not lead to hyperinflation as some scaremongers were predicting, instead, the move to a floating currency rate, boosted the economy and started to grow at very rapid rates.

It is a known fact that a country that does not control its own currency, it’s an enslaved nation! In economics, the rule of thumb has always being very simple: control one’s monetary system; have a flexible currency to devalue if necessary; be competitive; increase exports; seek out new markets; never be complacent and be thrifty at home. This well and tested philosophy has always worked in the past and still does today. Many governments unfortunately, are controlled by international banks and have lost sight of this formula.

Banks must be accountable for their devious practices

This may well be a lesson for Cyprus and take measures to avoid the fate of Greece. If not, the alternative would be much worse. Most importantly make banks accountable of their devious practices, for they have now become the masters of the state. The United States recently has begun to make the right moves by prosecuting banks for their bad practices and the exploitation of the public in the name of profit. In real terms, banks should be treated like all other enterprises and not be given special preferential treatment, for they are drones that “make money out of nothing at the enslavement of the people”, as Sir Josiah Stamp stated.

The bottom line is quite simple: People have the ability to make good things happen, and the misfortune to allow bad things to happen! All considered, the question arises… which government dares to do the right thing?

Editor’s note

In his article, Mr Chrysafis refers to now looking to borrow €2.5 billion to service its national debt. Yesterday the Council of Ministers approved an agreement with the Russian Federation for a €2.5 billion loan with a yield of 4.5%, which is valid for 4.5 years.