Douglas Carswell's Blog

Captain Euro to the rescue?

Perhaps European finance ministers meeting in Brussels to deal with the Eurozone’s debt crisis should have asked Captain Euro to come to the rescue? 

Asking this fictional EU propaganda hero to sort things out would be a little less ridiculous than handing Greece another loan.

Just over a year ago, Greece was lent vast sums of money because no private lenders were willing to do so. Far from rescuing Greece - as the commentariat lazily told us - all that it did was increase the amount Greece owes - and reduce the chance of her ever paying it back.    

Despite that, the Euro elite would now like us to lend Athens yet more money that she is never going to be able to repay, either through the European Stabilisation Mechanism or the IMF. The consequences of a default, it will be darkly implied, will be so calamitous that we have no choice other than to pay up.   

Nonsense.  That is the logic of the heavily indebted gambler who, as long as he keeps gambling, kids himself that he is not really out of pocket. As long as he’s able to keep placing bets, he doesn’t have to confront the fact he’s wiped out.   

It would be about as delusional as believing that Captain Euro can be summoned to the rescue.  Greece must default and decouple.

Back to all posts