The people are suffering, the Nazi party has claimed seven per cent of parliament, suicides in Greece are up something insane like 400 per cent, and immigrants that moved to Greece are now leaving and returning to their homelands.
How bad is it in Greece?
A recent story of another suicide tells of a 60 year old man and his 90 year old mother who jumped off their apartment rooftop. The man's suicide note?
“I don’t see any way out. I have property but no cash at all, so what am I going to do about food?” he wrote, adding that his mother had Alzheimer’s while he had a terminal illness. “I don’t have many days left, I am very sick,”
So when she studies the Greek balance sheet and demands measures she knows may mean women won't have access to a midwife when they give birth, and patients won't get life-saving drugs, and the elderly will die alone for lack of care – does she block all of that out and just look at the sums?
"No, I think more of the little kids from a school in a little village in Niger who get teaching two hours a day, sharing one chair for three of them, and who are very keen to get an education. I have them in my mind all the time. Because I think they need even more help than the people in Athens." She breaks off for a pointedly meaningful pause, before leaning forward.
"Do you know what? As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax."
Even more than she thinks about all those now struggling to survive without jobs or public services? "I think of them equally. And I think they should also help themselves collectively." How? "By all paying their tax. Yeah."
It sounds as if she's essentially saying to the Greeks and others in Europe, you've had a nice time and now it's payback time.
"That's right." She nods calmly. "Yeah."
And what about their children, who can't conceivably be held responsible? "Well, hey, parents are responsible, right? So parents have to pay their tax."
I mean, what an idiotic PR move.
I use to like Lagarde (didn't agree with her views much, but appreciated that she seemed fairly honest).
But this was just a really dumb PR move. You don't essentially say to the public "Enough of Greece's suffering, I don't want to hear it. They will suffer more and that's that."
There were apparently an endless stream of (negative) comments on her Facebook page.
Just from the most basic of PR principles you do not ever... ever ever ever... belittle real human suffering if you are in a humanitarian role (which the IMF is essential there to be, on the surface anyway. It's debatable as to whether they are merely controlled by the big banks behind the scenes much like the federal reserve in the US).
Anyway, Lagarde had a lot of respect and a great brand. She was a super smart, honest, forthright woman sent in to fix the IMF and Europe. I mean, agree with her or not, few had negative feelings towards her as a person.
But she has successful tossed that brand out the window and is now the Dick Cheney of Europe...a female Darth Vader if you will.
It goes to show you just how quickly you can destroy your brand when you don't watch what you say.
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