Greece Requires Not Euclid But Archimedes!
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had a problem on his hands.
His Finance Minister had resigned. Alexis would surely have liked his Finance
Minister Yanis Varoufakis to stay back and negotiate the deal with ECB. As an
economist of international standing, Varoufakis would have been the best guy to
talk to Brussels and structure a workable deal. But then the bankers and
economists, rarely do the twain meet.
The simple “NO” recorded in the referendum by the Greeks was easy
to understand; after all who wants to pay the bills when rich Germans and
not-so-rich-but-freespending French were there to take care of them? Still as a
Prime Minister Alexis wanted someone to hold the bag for him and he had a
brainwave. Why? He had the very man for this crisis whose name alone would give
comfort to everyone. Enter Euclid Tsakalotos. Alexis strongly believes that this
Euclid could draw out a solution to the Greek crisis with geometric precision
that his namesake had made his specialty a long time ago. Euclid’s solution,
Alexis felt, would encompass all the problems that Greece faces. It would be a
plain and simple solution.
Of course there would have to be some give and take. ECB would give
and Greece would take. Euclid, Alexis was sure, would be able to draw circles
around the ECB and get the necessary concessions from them. After all, if ECB has already sunk Euro 160
billion into Greece, why should it demur from coughing up another 80 billion. Alexis was confident that ECB will ensure that
integrity of Eurozone was not breached even if the members showed no interest
in maintaining theirs. It seemed to be a
no-brainer that Greece would continue to enjoy the not-so-insubstantial benefits
of membership.
Alas, that now, looks a distant possibility as Frau Merkel and
Monsieur Hollande do not seem to be in a mood to accommodate Greece any longer.
What Alexis and Greece need now is not Euclid with his planar solutions but some
out-of-the-box thinking which is not possible in Euclidian universe. In
Euclidian geometry the parallel lines never meet, but here in real life, the
Maginot and the Siegfried lines seem to have merged into one solid one. In the 3rd century BC, Archimedes had
the authentic “eureka moment” when he discovered the principle of buoyancy. With
ECB declining to provide any “principal” to Greece, what Greece needs today is
the Archimedes’ principle for staying afloat one way or the other without going
bankrupt. As a first step shifting the seat of government from Athens to Sparta
may be of immense help.
In the siege of Troy the Greeks used a “Trojan horse” to get inside
the city. They used another trick this time to get into Eurozone by fudging
their national data thanks to consultants like Goldman Sachs. Different times
different tricks. The Greeks defeated and sacked Troy but the history does not
always repeat itself. This time ECB seems to be tired of Greek track record and
has had enough of the horseplay. The odds
are that Greeks who have steadfastly refused to rein in their extravagant
spending, are most likely to be unsaddled by the stewards of ECB. And now will
be the time that they embark on a long odyssey like their hero Odysseus (Ulysses)
did after the Trojan War. Ulysses used the same old Archimedes’ principle to
stay afloat somehow till he reached the safety of his hometown, Ithaca. Homer
tells us Ulysses took ten long years to complete his odyssey. One will have to
see how much time Greece requires to complete hers. It is interesting to note
that the word “odysseus” itself means trouble in Greek language.
My friend Guy Wise says it is one thing to be wary of Greeks who
bear gifts but Greeks asking
for gifts should definitely be shunned.
LazyBee aka Shirish Potnis
12th July 2015
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