Cleansing the stables of Augeias

Cleansing the stables of Augeias

Alexis Tsiprat is a new kid on the block, articulating the pain and frustration of millions of Greeks as they are forced by the Graeae to take pay and job cuts and  become unable to support their families.  He stands for growth and a renegotiation of the Austerity measures granted by Germany, France and the IMF.  He wants to give hope back to the people of Greece and Europe.  Whilst his task will take longer than one day, Tsiprat’s ideas are already being absorbed by many of the old Eurozone leaders and actively supported by the new French president, Hollande.

Austerity could only have worked if Europe and the World experienced growth.  The combination of cuts and quantitative easing has not worked and the dash to preserve a Banking triple A rating is a failure of the recent past.  Without growth, the bad debts at the banks cannot be hidden.  Europe is now effectively bankrupt, with the Banks having taken all the money that they don’t deserve and which instead should have gone to the people.  Now the people cannot repay it from their empty money boxes.

So can there be growth in time to save the European dream?  No, I think not.  The people have had enough and are seeking an end to the presumption that money rules and that they have no worth.

Eurystheus coveted his exalted position.  He wanted to humiliate Heracles.  King Augeias smugly believed that his way was right and that the stables could not be cleaned in one day (that there was no Economic alternative)

Tsiprat is a latter day Heracles.  He has diverted the rivers and cleansed the political system in Greece.  It is likely that he will suffer the same fate as Heracles.  Eurystheus didn’t count this as a labour and Augeias wouldn’t accept that Heracles could achieve the unachievable.  The political order will absorb and claim this change and then spit out the minnows who have challenged their pre-eminence.

W.Giles 28/05/12