Life in different speeds

How far should you go till you stop thinking about the ‘us’ and focus more on ‘I/me’? What’s more important; the benefits of an individual or the wellbeing of the group? Should you stay and fight? Should you abandon a sinking ship while being rational and logical about it, or are you just being a selfish prick?

Greece is in peril at the moment. The current government got elected by promising no more austerity measures and a solution to the financial standstill that the country was in. However, they failed to explain how that would be achieved since there are no government funds to actually sustain a healthy economy, pay salaries, pensions and public expenses. They just made grand but empty promises without any real backing. It’s such a narrow sighted approach to the problem insisting that the evil Europe is out to harm Greece and they are the main reason that the country is in trouble. Unfortunately, such an approach made Tsipras the PM of Greece with uncertain and dangerous results. 

There are rumours now that the government will try to use an Icelandic type of solution to the problem. I can’t say I completely understand how that will work, but as far as I know it involves creating a new fictitious bank into which Greece will deposit (get rid of) all high risk securities and also apply restrictions on money and capital transfers. A solution like that might throw the country into chaos and create social unrest for some time.

However, Iceland had its own currency and could control its value. In addition, the government applied very strict austerity measures to allow the small percentage of growth that the country is now having. So, why go through all that uncertainty if stern financial decisions will need to be made anyway? Greece is now losing money left, right and centre (tax avoidance, black market, unnecessarily stretched public sector). That’s the problem that needs to be fixed and it would be better to be done as part of the EU.

The Greek PM is worried about staying in power and leader to his party more than what’s best for his country. There is a far left wing part of his party that disapproves of the EU and the western world (‘capitalism’ is their number one enemy). That part believes that there are other solutions to the problem and already Tsipras has approached Putin for various conversations! By the way, I believe that getting money from Putin is like borrowing money from the mob. It’d be better if we used a high street money loan shark instead.

While all this is happening, everybody I know who works in Greece has financial troubles. There are lots of my university friends who are currently unemployed or in minimum wages. There are absolutely no investments made and no new constructions planned. The high street is suffering a slow death. My parents who are pensioners saw their pension diminished more than once. I feel a bit guilty telling them when asked that I’m doing great, planning house renovations and holidays.

UK is also planning an EU referendum. That of course is caused by completely different reasons. I believe that the main one is the fact that they’d like to impose restrictions on migration and border control. However, such an act is opposing everything that the EU stands for.

With all that in mind, I’m being selfish and plan to apply for a British nationality this year. I’ve been working in this country for years, paying my taxes and now owning a property. The good thing is that I can keep dual nationalities and have two passports. At the moment I’ve applied to take the exams for the ‘Life in the UK’ test. I’ll let you know how that goes…