Modern Greece: the big heist!

Let's simplify, curt many corners, and reach an immediate conclusion: modern Greece seems very much like a country set up as a vehicle for making money for nothing. There is a song money for nothing -- but I do not think its composer was thinking of Greece.
However, as there is no free lunch, the unsuspecting inhabitants of the country are the ones to foot the bill.

Consider the following:
* out of of the very first two loans subscribed in the name of the new State, less than 10% actually reached the country coffers and this was spent on rifles and ammunition. The rest was siphoned away at the source and neighbouring pockets.

* Since the beginning, the country always lived on loans that overwhelm its capability to service them; indeed the actual terms of the loans up until the late '70s are so injurious they seem to have been generally indifferent to the receivers. As if the objective was, get the money and run!
Or, just as credibly, "who cares, we're not going to pay it back anyway!".

This plan seems to have counted on the indigenous population's having an infinite capacity for paying back loans. Not very kind to the people who actually justified the declaration of modern Greece as an independent state -- and made the heist possible.
The people have not had an infinite capacity for apying back loans and the country has been bankrupt 5 times (including the present grey bankruptcy). Greece has declared bankruptcy 4 times in the past. As a result, the inhabitants of Greece have been impoverished by loans servicing for most of their history since the creation of modern Greek state following the revolution of 1821.

No surprise, there is not much of a middle class to speak of in Greece. Greece is a neo-feudal society.

Following a short honeymoon, the result of Greece's joining the EU, the country is now facing a major crisis again. Politicians are openly ridiculed, yet they all stick to their guns. Moral fibre is very weak. Corruption is rampant and the gross indifference of Public administration to anyone and everything is overwhelmingly obvious whenever you speak to any Greek civil servant.

In a similar vein: public services operate at scientific minima.

This is a pity. Europeans and, to an extent, many Americans, heralded the return of Greece to independence. Lots of money and even lives were lost to the cause of Greek independence.

Yet, still now, the heist lives on.
At the wake of raising an alleged Euro 50 bill through the sale of State owned property, a man named K. Nikolopoulos and his Lamda SA, are the primary consulting contractors. He has been around since the late '80s, just as active during the summer Olympics (2004) as during the negotiations and the construction of Athens new airport.

What a coincidence: The man is member of the Sultan's privy council! Only that in Greece, there are 2-3 Sultans who alternate in power. Let's make the above statement: the "Sultans' privy council".

Of course, the object of his trade -- real estate -- is what warrants his choice; R-E is the only real value in Greece and lots of money can be made while Publicly owned property changes hands...
The man is a very respectable executive and, of course, he is not alone in this story.

If only Dashiel Hammett were here to provide us with a happy ending!