Crowdfunding for Greeks

"Sometimes strange ideas come to your mind. You laugh at them and then forget them. This happens to me a lot. But on Sunday, I decided to put my idea into action. After dinner, I sat down and created a crowdfunding account." These are the words of Tom Finney, a British shoe seller who took an unusual action last week. "With a rough calculation, I realized that if each resident of Europe contributes 3.19 euros to this account, we can save Greece from its current situation!" While Greece is experiencing a crisis due to its 1.6 billion euro debt to the International Monetary Fund and the European Union says it is no longer willing to tolerate this country, Tom Finney thought of seeking help from ordinary people for Greece's situation. The results so far have been astonishing in the first five days of this campaign! Nearly 1.5 million euros have been raised so far. Finney states that initially, no one was interested, but after a few brief news articles were published online, a flood of responses began. He says, "One day I woke up and saw that I had 1,200 emails." Tom Finney tells the Huffington Post, "I sincerely believe that this campaign can be beneficial. We are asking for a very small amount from each individual. People can afford this amount." He continues, "On the one hand, this campaign shows that if a shoe seller in London can do something for the European crisis that 'Angela Merkel (the German Chancellor) and David Cameron (the British Prime Minister) cannot, perhaps we should take a step back and reconsider how the world is being managed today." According to Finney, the Greek crisis has given politicians in his country an excuse to boast about their power in the media while no one is thinking about the Greek people who are struggling in the current situation... "The solution to the current economic situation is investment and assistance, not austerity and cutting off aid." Following the Greek government's decision to hold a referendum on accepting or rejecting the proposals of international lenders, the European Central Bank refused to provide another loan to Greece. The Greek people said no to these proposals in the referendum on Sunday. The Greek government claims it has no money to repay its current debt to the International Monetary Fund. In this context, the majority of Greeks said no to the conditions of international creditors. Greece did not pay its debt to the International Monetary Fund. The International Monetary Fund states that Greece needs another 50 billion euros. The European fate of Greece hangs in the balance of the euro.