Valiant Briton Tries To Crowdfund Greece Bailout But...

LONDON: Greece is burning. The cash strapped country has missed the deadline for a €1.5bn to the International Monetary Fund, hours after its creditors met and refused to extend the bailout deadline. At the time of writing, eurozone ministers were readying to discuss a last-minute request from Greece for a new two-year bailout on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Briton has come up with a novel way to provide Greece with the funds needed to secure a bailout. Thom Feeney has set up a crowdfunding campaign on Indigogo to save Greece’s economy. At the time of writing, the fund had already received €1,043,859 in just three days. An impressive amount but a long way off the €1,600,000,000 goal.

The campaign’s tagline reads, “CrowdFunding a bailout fund for Greece. By the people, for the people.”

“Let’s just get Greece sorted” the campaign starts off saying. All this dithering over Greece is getting boring. European ministers flexing their muscles and posturing over whether they can help the Greek people of not. Why don't we the people just sort it instead? The European Union is home to 503 million people, if we all just chip in a few Euro then we can get Greece sorted and hopefully get them back on track soon. Easy.”

“€1.6bn is what the Greeks need. It might seem like a lot but it's only just over €3 from each European. That's about the same as half a pint in London. Or everyone in the EU just having a Feta and Olive salad for lunch.

So come on, order a Feta and Olive salad, maybe wash it down with an Ouzo or glass of Assyrtiko greek wine and let's sort this shit out.

Pledge €3 and get a postcard sent from Greece of Alex Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister. We'll get them made and posted in Greece and give a boost to some local printers and post offices.

Pledge €6 and get a greek Feta and Olive salad

Pledge €10 and get a small bottle of Ouzo sent to you

Pledge €25 and get a bottle of Greek wine.”

“OK, it might be a short while for the cash to get fully into the Greek economy, but hell - what is there to lose? Another Tesco Meal deal? Ah well. You get some tasty Greek things.

We promise that all profits will go to the Greek people and all products will be 100% Greek.”

Sounds so great in theory that you almost want to overlook how the math is SO wrong. As an article in Zero Hedge points out, Greece doesn’t just need €1.6 billion -- that is the amount is owes to the IMF alone.

Here is what Greece actually needs:

That is… €275 billion.

As the article points out, “not one cent of the €1.6 billion already due, nor one cent of the €275 billion in debt due until 2057 will make its way to the Greek people.

In fact, the only people who will see any money from this campaign would be bankers, the IMF, the ECB, and the unelected bureaucrats of the European Commission.

For those who really want to make a donation to Greece, don't repay their debt, but start a charity which unlike Hillary Clinton does not keep 90% of contributions as "operating costs", and distribute it direct to the Greek people.”