Germany sending “tax experts” to Greece

We are so informed by Kenneth Anderson:

• German tax “experts” to Greece (The Volokh Conspiracy)

He quotes a news story:

More than 160 German financial services executives are willing to come to Greece in order to strengthen the Greek tax mechanism, according to a report to be published in the German magazine ‘Wirtschafts Woche’ … The magazine cites German deputy finance minister Hans Bernhard Beus, who explains that a key factor is the knowledge of a foreign language – some of them speak Greek – while the return to active duty of retired tax collectors should not be ruled out. Many come from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, whose finance minister, Norbert Walter-Borjans, compares Greece with 90s East Germany, noting that even the East Germans at the time were suspecious towards the West.

And, having pointed out that it’s vastly unlikely to work, sighs:

What I most don’t understand, however, is the strategy by Germany and other EZ states. They are not stupid, and all of these concerns have occurred to them, along with many more. It seems unlikely that they would proceed in the face of such obvious objections without some reasons to believe it could work. Or some form of Plan B. (At Opinio Juris blog a few days ago, I queried whether Plan B was merely to ring-fence Greece – giving up on it – and I further wondered whether this would lead to internal welfare migration as Greeks grew more desperate, particularly in regards to expensive medical care.) But mostly I do not see what Plan B might be.

Once again I fall back on Hanson’s Razor.  It seems utterly irrational at this point to expect Greece — rather, to expect Greeks — suddenly to get their shit wired tight and proceed in an orderly fashion with the sort of grinding austerity measures needed to get their debt under control if they’re not going to exit the Euro.  This makes me think that Germany and &c. are in fact signaling something — probably they’re signaling their maturity and responsibleness as proper trustworthy nation-states and economic actors.  And those signals are probably directed at the bond markets.