Apparently agitated, Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras on Aug. 29 condemned speculators he said were getting rich by betting against Greece, saying they just wanted to capitalize on failure, although he intimated they had unwilling accomplices in “willing idiots” who went along with them.
Stournaras, a cheerleader for Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ campaign to right the faltering economy with austerity measures and firing workers, said the country is making progress toward recovery and criticized those he said have benefited from its mistakes.
“Who does not want us to save ourselves? All the speculators in this world. All those who are shorting the euro and the bonds of Eurozone countries,” Stournaras said.
“Also, we should not forget Lenin’s talk of the ‘willing idiots’ (sic),, because there are also those who do not want us to save ourselves,” he said in reference to the Communist revolutionary, although the actual phrase was “useful idiot,” and its origin has not been traced.
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