OK, I can’t resist writing something about Greece. I know you’re about to scream if you have to read one more blog post about the alternatives available to that country or the EU but bear with me for a few paragraphs.

If you’re like me, somewhere in the past few weeks you have most likely begun to yawn as you read succeeding stories about the attempts to deal with the problem. It’s a problem created by politicians and now being solved by politicians in a manner that’s all too familiar. We know the end game. It’s to effectively do nothing.

Oh yeah, they will talk and talk about putting the Greeks feet to the fire and the Greeks will alternatively supplicate themselves in front of their saviors and rail against the injustice of it all to the home crowd but in the end not much is going to change. There will be some sort of political/economic guarantee of Greek debt the prid pro quo being that the Greeks take their standard of living somewhere near that enjoyed by the Sudan. Handshakes all around, controlled riots by the unions and then onto business as usual.

Just another game of kick the can. Calm the market by convincing it that if it all goes to hell the Germans will make everyone whole, let the Greeks suffer some cosmetic pain and then get on with life. Hopefully, rising tides elsewhere lift the country as well and once more a bullet is dodged. Sound familiar?

If we can take anything away from this recession — that term doesn’t seem to do justice to what’s transpired, does it — it’s that the political class is fully incapable of any sort of meaningful action that fundamentally addresses issues and setting courses that move societies towards more sustainable courses. In the end the politicians’ solution is to create the aura of a resolution while maintaining the status quo as well as hoping that markets eventually solve the problems.

Perhaps we should be happy with this approach. Goodness knows what might transpire if they truly did try and come up with real solutions.