Greek myth, which is in case you missed it full of tragedies, is the cultural mine that keeps on yielding for the present crisis.
Last night we had a Eurogroup meeting. Greece offered everything the Eurogroup wanted, and more. The Eurogroup demurred and the Finns, in thrall to as populist a bunch of vote grabbers as ever was in the True Finns (the hint in the name is chilling) apparently said Aye, which is apparently Finnish for yes, although as nobody speaks Finnish outside Finland, who knows.
So delving into Greek myth, today we see Tantalus. Tantalus fits right on the button. He was condemned to stand in a lake of water with a grapevine over his head. If he stooped to drink the water receded, if he stretched to eat the grapes drew back. If Greece tries to cut its way from a depression the debt burden worsens, if it seeks aid the aid is yanked out of reach. What was Tantalus’s crime? Again, it fits. He took from the gods that which they would not give, in some myths ambrosia (not the custard dish but the food of the gods), in others it was Nectar. These he distributed to humans, angering the gods who believed that these goodies were theirs to distribute and not his. Greece entered the Euro and ..well, you see it.
We should also note that Tantalus had form for hiding things, notably the golden hound of Hephaestus , the smith of the gods who made all things. Greece, let us not forget, hid the true state of the finances, a well functioning state statistical apparatus being the foundation of all things in a modern economy. Interestingly, in myth he was aided by Pandareus, who could gorge forever on the finest things and neither be satiated nor suffer. Greece was aided in its concealment of the true state of its economy by Goldman Sachs…
A further crime that Tantalus committed was, in an attempt to appease the now vengeful deities, he sacrificed his son Pelops and served a Greek version of Frey Pie to the gods. They recoil and his punishment is sealed. Syriza have killed, baked and served up to the Eurozone their own mandate and policies, only to have them thrown back faceward. Mind you, in myth Pelops was revived, repaired, and taken on board by the gods, Demeter (the bountiful goddess) having eaten of the pie and wanting to turn back time. The IMF, under Lagarde, have eaten of the pie and taken on board its central spice, the need for debt relief, and are now busy with time travel experiments.
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