“High prices make their cycle and like the flu will go away,” claimed Greek Finance Minister, Kostis Hatzidakis, proving his ignorance about the flu cycles that come every October and go every May.
He insisted that the phenomenon of high prices on retreat in the country and compared to the natural cycle of life without human intervention.
“The phenomenon is on decline, not because of our actions, but because it makes its cycle, like the flu. The phenomenon will fade and things will normalize. They won’t go back to where they were before, of course,” he said.
“We reacted as a government, in average inflation we are below the average of the European Union. We are not miracle workers to change the image from one moment to another. The issue of high prices is a common problem, on retreat,” he claimed, among other things.
He reiterated the usual government position that: High prices began with the war in Ukraine – even though Greeks have been always paying high for essential goods like milk, for example.
Other punchlines of Hatzidakis:
-High prices are on retreat, slowly leaving, making its rounds without us being able to do anything
-We have the largest inflation correction in the whole of Europe
-We deal with it with wage increases and other measures, such as benefits – he means a 2oo-euros extra gift for Christmas for the vulnerable groups of the society.
-The government shares the pain of the people, because it comes from the people
-The measures that will be announced by the Prime Minister at the TIF [Thessaloniki International Fair] will relieve the people
-The government has a philosophy and a policy that works
-This government is not afraid and that is why it serves Greece.
And with this romantic, fatalist and passive approach, the 59-yar-old Minister Kostis Hatzidakis who spend his entire adult life serving New Democracy and never in his life worked neither in the private or the public sector lived happily ever after. Ops! Forgot to mention that he also claims to be a Finance Minister *sigh*
Across the board inflation can only occur if governments, usually through their proxies the central banks, create new money out of thin air. Events like the Ukraine war can certainly cause price rises in specific areas. e.g wheat, sunflower oil and energy, but if you have the same amount of money and you have to spend more on these items then you have to spend less on other items so no across the board inflation.
Governments never repay their debt. They steadily default on their debt by debasing the true value of money. They debase the true value of money by creating more of it out of thin air. I don’t know the value for Europe as a whole but in the UK around 97 % of the money in circulation today was created out of thin air by central banks and commercial banks. I think that the EU figure is even higher.
“He insisted that the phenomenon of high prices on retreat in the country and compared to the natural cycle of life without human intervention.”
(An Inversion) – High prices are of the “attack” e.g.since the end of August drug prices have increased between 1% for e.g. Lasix and 400% for Etoposide which is a serious cancer drug
“This government is not afraid and that is why it serves Greece.”
Total INVERSION (as is almost everything nowadays).
Inflation is transistory…
Uh huh, wink wink, nudge, nudge.
Even if it was, prices never seem to go back to what they once were