How the Greek economy bailout works It is a slow day in a little Greek Village. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the village, stops at the local hotel and lays a 100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the 100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the 100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the 100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the 100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the tavern. The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit. The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the 100 note. The hotel proprietor then places the 100 note back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the 100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole village is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package works
Whether you realise it or not , that is exactly how the real world works . Except interest is added at each stage ( Capitalism !? ) to make the debt crisis even worse , plus , inflexible repayment dates which wreck real life but not the story ( there , they all wait happily for the German miracle worker to arrive even though in real life they are starving because the money they loaned equals all of their assets. Can't buy food ) Unfortunately , in real life the German represents the Lender of Last Resort . The Federal Reserve . The system is beautiful until someone asks where these £100 notes are coming from . When everybody realises that the money is not "real" we are back in 2011 . Suddenly the story is not funny because it has a very bad ending . Very bad indeed .
