Let’s sex up the crisis
"Let’s face the truth: the financial crisis lacks any sex appeal at all. And without sexual references nothing sells quickly," writes the daily Polska. So what is sexiest? Success, change, and growth, of course. "It’s not an accident that humanity, entangled in the ever more global and omnipresent information network, remains in a mental state of excitement whose universal object of desire is unbridled consumption," stresses the newspaper. That’s why a long-term recession, usually symbolised in economics textbooks by the letter "L," is the "worst possible enemy."
Today, writes Polska, "no one has time for a long illness and a gradual recovery." What matters is success, time, and money. For this reason, governments are trying to overcome the crisis by pumping huge amounts of money into the financial system. "This is not necessarily the best way, but surely the fastest," concludes the Warsaw daily.
At a time when Athens is still involved in debt restructuring negotiations with its private creditors, Neelie Kroes’ recent allusions to a Greek exit from the euro are a sign that European leaders are intent on preparing the terrain for such an eventuality.
As Greece pimps its ancient monuments to bring in the tourists, lovers of cultural heritage are up in arms. But the country is only doing openly what the whole of Europe is: looting historic sites to drum up more ready cash.
Asserting national values is central to the political project of the Hungarian PM. Since the start of the year, fifteen paintings, specially commissioned for an exhibition in the Castle of Buda, have been putting this ambition on show.