Many people credit Greece with being the the cradle of modern civilization. Among the greats are Pythagoras, Aristotle, Socrates, Herodotus, Hippocrates, Plato, Xenophon, Euclid, and Dionysis. These men lead the world from a time of brute force into an age of thinking. The initial advances in astronomy, history, medicine, math, philosophy, and government all occured during the time of these men. Who knows what the world would look like today without their contributions?
Now a collapse in the Greek economy is causing a worldwide panic ... more after the break.
Fast forward 2 millennium and Greece is a minor country in world affairs and a backwater in many ways. The Greek government has been spending well beyond their ability to pay for a very long time and in the last few weeks the bubble burst causing many to wonder the ultimate impact on the world's economy. You'd think a country as small as Greece couldn't have much impact however the issue is they are part of the countries on the Euro and the countries of Europe have the unenviable task of either letting the country go bankrupt or bailing them out which will costs tens of billions of euros. The problem doesn't end even if they go bankrupt because this scandal has shown the weakness of the European Union and mostly specifically how the weak players in Europe can affect the currency. Until Greece along with Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Spain get their economies in order it is possible that the EU could collapse.
There are catastrophists feel that this is just one more step to the brink of oblivion. Greece kills the Euro which destabilizes Europe and leaves the world relying on a dollar that has been abused for decades. No other country is in a position to take leadership. This will allow the United States government to continue its practice of overspending and delay the inevitable crash that will come when the debt comes due. Catastrophists are predicting that when that happens the whole world's economic structure will collapse worse than than anything we've seen in the last five hundred years. There claim is that everything is so interdependent and with the world's reliance on an ever dwindling natural resources that our penchant for excess will lead to panic with starvation, homelessness, and massive death as the result. I am not sure if I believe this world view but the recent issues in Greece certainly aren't going to help the future stability of the planet.
Post note --- Not to belabor the point but the countries at the heart of the issue are grouped into an acronym called PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain). When you think back some of the greatest events in history occurred in due to these counties. Athens and Sparta conjure up the image of Marathon and the 300. When I think of Italy I think of Rome and her glorious legions marching to dominate the Western world under leaders such as Julius Caeser, Scipio, Octavian, and Marcus Aurelias. Spain and Portugal remind me of a time in the not too distant past when each dominated half the world after the explorations of men such as Henry the Navigator and Magellan. Today these countries have all fallen low and are on the verge of collapse. To those in the United States that simply state ... "It won't happen here because we're Americans" think again. If it can happen to them it can happen us. I love this quote from the movie Patton:
For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph - a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.There is no real evidence that this actually occurred in Roman times but it's a good story. It is also cautionary tale if we will only listen because nothing is ever certain.
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