If a political bet officially existed, the unprecedented resignation of the president of the National Bank of Greece Vasilis Rapanos from Minister of Finance before he was even assigned one officially (i.e. before he took an oath of office) would have sent all the players kilometres away from the cashier’s desks to a huge bucket near Tagarades of Thessaloniki, which was awarded for the protection of the environment.
Fortunately, though, such bets are not yet officially allowed in the familiar football pools, because on one hand the Greek state considers politics a completely serious engagement, which cannot be subject to gamble, while on the other hand OPAP, Ladbrokes and SportBet.com are happy to earn money from irrelevant and relevant betting men in games such as Germany vs Greece: 4-2, where only a mad man can win and not any other old man, child, knowledgeable or stupid man, who decides to place a bet based on the sports particulars, the background, the statistics or the mathematical probabilities.
Therefore, at least this thunderbolt didn’t have any direct adverse financial consequences for the poor Greek citizens, who dream in vain on a daily basis lotteries, auto racing bets and job offers from abroad, in order to ‘make good’ and escape from the largest financial Europe prison of 131.944 square kilometres, yet with thousands of deep blue shores which are able to trick the prisoners on the summer weekends, in fact to the extent of making some of them believe that there is no real crisis, since the Halkidiki roads are suffocatingly packed on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.
Certainly, though, the so far obscure resignation, which was accepted by the also ill (and not ‘Imaginary Invalid’ as in Moliere) prime minister Mr. Antonis Samaras, will soon produce much adverse financial consequences for all Greek taxpayers, regardless of whether they bet or not, since it indirectly indicates the unbearable measures to come. “Because there will be so much blood, even the butcher will be scared at its sight and will wonder”, says characteristically Carlos Huentes in his untranslated novel ‘Hidden Abyss’.
And the respond in the letter of the prime minister goes “First of all, I would like to wish you a speedy recovery. I would like to thank you for being willing to accept the post I assigned you and I wish you will recover your strength soon enough and contribute to the national effort. I know we can count on your valuable services and I thank you for declaring ‘present’, despite your difficult experience”, it could easily be interpreted as the following:
“First of all, I would like to wish you a speedy recovery. I would like to thank you for being willing to accept the post I assigned you and I completely understand your decision to be the first to resign from the government. I am aware that no one could easily accept the ‘electric chair’ post I assigned you, but I hope that we can count on your valuable sacrifice in the future and thank you for being still alive, despite your difficult experience”.
Finally, as far as the fragile health condition of Vasilis Rapanos is concerned, who will be yet discharged tomorrow from ‘Ygeia’ hospital, it seems to have been caused -according to unverified information from journalists- by stressed radish, which popped up from the ground due to the intolerable heat and then nailed themselves on a lost betting slip of the Greek National football team, owned by an honest farmer in the plain of Thessalia, before they end up in the stomach of the nice president of the National Bank of Greece.
