With Greece facing such a dire debt crisis that it recently shut down the country’s banking system in order to keep money from flooding out across its borders, it’s going to take a massive effort to get the country back on solid financial footing. And in this day and age of crowdfunding, why not try to raise a couple of trillion dollars online?
That’s the tactic being taken by a 29-year-old London man who started an Indiegogo campaign to raise €1.6 trillion ($1.77 trillion) in order to help out the cash-strapped people of Greece.
“All this dithering over Greece is getting boring. European ministers flexing their muscles and posturing over whether they can help the Greek people [or] not,” reads the campaign. “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.”
True, if you could get 503 million folks to each contribute about $3.55, you’d have the full amount of the campaign. That’s not going to happen, but enough people have pitched in to bring the total up to €1.492 million ($1.65 million). Of course, that’s not even a full percentage of the amount needed for the campaign to succeed, so the Indiegogo “funded” meter still stands at 0%.
The campaign organizer, who says this isn’t a joke and claims to have no particular interest in Greek politics, is using a few reward tiers to for contributors:
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
“So come on, order a Feta and Olive salad,” urges the campaign, “maybe wash it down with an Ouzo or glass of Assyrtiko greek wine and let’s sort this shit out.”
Because this bailout attempt is a “Fixed Funding” Indiegogo campaign, any pledged money will be refunded to contributors in the event that it doesn’t reach the full level of funding. Given that the campaign still needs to raise more than 99% of its goal within the next five days, refunds seem to be the likely turnout.
by Chris Morran via Consumerist