Courtesy of Pam Martens.
European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi
When Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, famously said on July 26, 2012 that he would do “whatever it takes” to save the Euro, apparently providing a life line to Greece wasn’t part of the “whatever.” That has a lot of investors and heads of state worried: what else might not be part of his pledge? Would a financial crisis in Portugal, Spain or Italy also not be part of doing whatever it takes? It’s beginning to sound like there’s a monetary cap on doing whatever it takes.
This is the exact quote from Draghi’s speech on July 26, 2012:
“And so we view this, and I do not think we are unbiased observers, we think the euro is irreversible. And it’s not an empty word now, because I preceded saying exactly what actions have been made, are being made to make it irreversible. But there is another message I want to tell you. Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough.”
There’s no question about the critical need for financial help in Greece. It’s GDP has fallen by 25 percent over the past five years; its unemployment is over 25 percent with youth unemployment near 50 percent. And to onlookers around the world watching the cash rationing scenes at the banks in Greece unfold on television, it looks like Draghi’s promise is an empty one.
The situation is so dire that even Pope Francis has asked Catholics worldwide to pray for the Greek people. A man in Britain has raised over 1.4 million Euros to help Greece from more than 82,000 people on the crowd funding web site, Indiegogo.
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