Greece has been advised to sell off islands to regulate some of the public debts.
Alongside austerity measures such as cuts to public sector pay and a freeze on state pensions, why not sell a few uninhabited islands or ancient artefacts, asked Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, and Frank Schaeffler, a finance policy expert in the Free Democrats.
"The chancellor cannot promise Greece any help," Schaeffler told Bild in a story under the headline: "Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks! And sell the Acropolis too!" "Those in insolvency have to sell everything they have to pay their creditors," Schlarmann told Bild newspaper. "Greece owns buildings, companies and uninhabited islands, which could all be used for debt redemption."
Although not such a bad suggestion, I see no reason why the Greek government should sit on such property. And you gotto love the audacity of these Germans. I mean telling a government to sell off national treasures and auction off the very history of a people to cover debt is hilarious really, and oh so right.
But I still don’t really understand the point.
Firstly, who’s going to buy? If they sell them for a fiver sure, I could use a holiday home and a couple of statues, but if they want some revenue we’re talking tens of millions and I cannot really see anyone buying for that price.
Well, one thing that wouldn’t surprise me a bit is if Evil Inc. Goldman Sachs stepped in with some of that stolen money. Now that would be a nice move!
First they prop up markets with air; they hide away Greek debt so Greece can become members of the Euro-zone, AIG (controlled by Evil Inc.) take much of the losses and both companies gets billions of dollars in bail-out and then Goldman, suddenly showing massive profits, goes out on a shopping spree to buy property for a penny on the dollar. If they were to buy Greek islands it would be the funniest icing on the cake ever seen.
It would be like buying a country for money stolen from the same country! Could Lex Luthor or Skeletor done it better? Hardly.
Secondly, even if the Greeks get Evil Inc. or any other thieves to buy islands, it wouldn’t have any real impact on the debt. A couple of tens of millions would be a drop of water in the Aegean.
Maybe Acropolis and the Parthenon would bring in some cash, or why not sell the entire city of Athens? I’m certain Goldman wouldn’t resist such an opportunity.
Oh, here’s a notion! Why not sell the country, all of it, to another nation? Maybe the Germans would be interested? Maybe the European Central Bank has some coins lying around?
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