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The Austrian Solution to Greece
Submitted by Tom Cullis via Mises Canada blog,
Arnold Kling asks economists to fill in the blank:
“Greece will achieve economic success when ____”
There is an answer from the Austrian perspective, but first I want to highlight some thoughts from other prominent bloggers.
Option A: Paul Krugman of The New York Times believes that they need a major reduction in their debt burden.
“Two years after the Greek program began, the I.M.F. looked for historical examples where Greek-type programs, attempts to pay down debt through austerity without major debt relief or inflation, had been successful. It didn’t find any.”
Option B: John Cochrane urges structural reforms:
“Advice remains, stop fooling around, massive structural reform tomorrow morning, grow like crazy, pay off debt.”
Option C: Scott Sumner wants the country to build a factory that pumps out nGDP units at an ever increasing, but predictable, pace (I’m kidding, he thinks leaving the euro is likely their best bet):
“a Grexit may be the best outcome for Syriza. There would probably be six months to a year of financial chaos (as occurred in Argentina), followed by many years of very strong RGDP growth for which Syriza would get credit (as in Argentina.) The new Greek currency would immediately lose half of its value, creating a huge boom in industries such as tourism.”
Option D: none of the above
So which is it from an Austrian perspective, A, B, C or D? Surprisingly it’s option E: All of the above. Before we get into that though, a brief rephrasing of Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) will be helpful. The Austrian description of a recession comes down to the market’s realization that the path of the economy is unprofitable, and that the path must be altered until a profitable way forward can be found. If we piece together our three answers we can create a larger solution that not only should work for Greece but also agrees in principal with major voices in the field of economics.
First we have Krugman’s prescription for reduced debt, and specifically reduced debt servicing. This is widely accepted as sound advice for companies that enter bankruptcy protection, and the same holds true for countries. Many have suggested that austerity alone is the way to go to demonstrate Greece’s willingness to pay for their mistakes (while Krugman goes the other way and says debt reduction with no austerity). This is conceptually problematic for the Austrian as this pathway is highly limiting. It is possible that there is a path to growth that can be found with this combination, but it is far from certain. Pursuit in this direction eliminates any possibility that would contain a short term reduction in income as that would lead to a ballooning of debt and probably an increase in the debt/GDP ratio.
The repudiation or reduction of debt fits nicely into the Austrian model and into generic advice from this perspective. The debt was built up during the unsustainable practices that caused many of Greece’s problems and attempting to pay it off tie Greece’s path to those choices for even longer while also convincing investors in Greek bonds that those purchases were sound for even longer. It should be noted that the debt is not limited to bondholders, obligations to Greek citizens such as pensioners should also face a similar haircut. The same double effect can be noted in this case as well. The government will reduce their expenditures but if they do so without touching pensions those who work in the public sector will be granted greater security than those in the private one. Such a mismatch can only lead to more interest in working in the public sector and thus higher costs for the Greek private sector as they fight for quality employees.
Moving on to Cochrane’s advice, this is just straightforward common sense. Virtually every analysis of Greece’s situation at least nods to major structural problems in Greece. If your issues are caused by cronyism, corruption and government interference in markets then it shouldn’t be a shock if the only way out is to cut back on those issues. No one expects Greece to jump to the top of the corruption perceptions index, but any improvement could open up opportunities for entrepreneurs to help push the economy forward.
Scott Sumner’s suggestion is more subtle than either of our first two, and at first it might seem surprising that a return to a national currency would be included in an Austrian analysis but there is a strong case that it would be a step in the right direction. One of the foundations of ABCT is that prices carry information crucial to properly functioning markets. Moving to the euro was supposed to bring the stability of a powerful currency to peripheral European countries that would encourage foreign investment by reducing exchange rate risk. This logic failed because it is healthy markets that drive the stability of the larger zones which allows for strength and stability of their currency. Trying to impose stability to create healthier markets is backwards as that instability was actually information about the health of those economies. As part of the euro, the immediate effects of Greek policy decisions were swamped by even minor actions of more influential members. The excesses that built up over time were not consistently punished by market forces because the question of how much debt they could service became swallowed by the greater questions of what would happen with that debt when it became an issue for the euro as a whole. An astute investor that realized the structural problems early and shorted Greek debt could be wiped out by a political decision made in Berlin, which made the question of solvency more complicated and opaque than necessary. Additionally the lack of their own currency totally eliminated a secondary pathway of transmitting information- that of fluctuating exchange rates. Returning to the Drachma would allow for greater transparency and in all likelihood the better functioning of Greek markets.
To answer Arnold Kling’s question that started this piece, Greece will achieve economic success when the weight of past mistakes is reduced, including not only bond prices but promised benefits as well as reforms to cut back government influence and corruption, and markets are once again allowed to set prices that reflect Greece as a country and not Greece as a tiny portion of a massive conglomerate.
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When Hell freezes over...,
and based on the last couple of weeks in the East, could be any day now.
When all Greeks prostitute themselves on Chaturbate for tokens.
Greek salad anyone?
When Diogenes finds an honest politician.
Winner!
If there is to be government then any person or group would have the ability to filibuster any action of government for as long as they are able.
That should fix it.
I think a couple of years from now, Greece, and the rest of the EU will learn that, whoever leaves the EU first and fastest, is the best off.
The ones that get out of their USA.gov black hole orbit while they still can.
When Lloyd B. commences doing God's work.
When everyone finally figures out which god Lloyd Blank*
was talking about.
I'm not an atheist, but I am likely an A-theist for his god.
..... when it wins euro millions.
When, like Iceland, they jail the banksters!!
When they leave the euro and only if they leave the central banking rape. NO one can maintain independence under central banking.
Diogenes needs to stop shitting in the street and get a job!
:-p
Greek TOSSED salad anyone?
FIFY
Currency delfation/debasement only works if the purchasing power goes along with it. This is the one key piece to the puzzle many leave out when showboating the miracle of economic default in small European countries which have managed to stave off poverty since 2008.
If you are a small, import dependant country, be it Ukraine, Chile, Greece.... fuck, even Austria ex-Marshall, you dont stand a hope in hell.
Lets think this through:
Greece leaves the Euro. Over 60% of their trade balance is consumer discretionary imports. So, Euro tanks briefly to 109, until people recognize if all the fat leaves the Euro, the Uberallies would be one of the strongest, non-indebited blocs in economic history; and it rips to 1.30:usd
Now if your Greece, and your entire economy is based on that 1.10-1.18:dol trade window, and suddenly your looking at a 300:1 Drachma world, do you think the tax base would stick around ? Do you think private sector flag ships will stick to a Greek/Mykos listing ? Fuck no.
The closest example for what would happen is post-Potato Famine Ireland. Everyone thought it was fucking awesome as a saver to be in a 'fresh reset' economy, until you came into one, and learned the government technocrats were still in power and all good corporates had zero aggregate demand to upsell foreign merch. onto, and negative borrowing base to generate domestic retail profits on.
Now lets look at the argument that Austrian credit events lead to unlocking of value via Resource dumping:
Land and resource assets may be dirt fucking cheap, but the government has obligations and fixed costs priced at Euro pegged standard of living, which will not move for anything. So even if you were to offer to Drill up Crete, and strip mine for Gold all the way to Macedonia, labour cost of living and tax retainers would make even a 0% hurdle rate impossible to acheive. If an asset bonanza were to occur, like Russia or the UK, everything would need to be moved in from the EU, including capital, discretionary and technical labor. In which case, since no aggregate demand would flow to the new-Drachma, nothing would ever actually boost domestic productivity, and new-Greece would mirror that of a failed state like the MENA's or Venez. where you have a export-oligarchy and the rest of the unwashed masses.
The only way out would be to
1. Change the tenor of all Greek loans, and perhaps roll them into one pre-Greek Crisis seniorage, and add a equity or GOR to tax claims going forward. Better yet, pick an industry, like the gold industry and ring fence it for 10 years. Goldbugs world over can go mine the hills, at 3% Royalty to the greek state, and two birds will be killed with one stone, to quote the old Greek saying.
2. Force the US and China to enact some form of global Marshall plan, whereby indebited countries are turned into special economic free trade zones, much like the Chinese miracle mile, and Greece/Ukraine/PIGGS become super states for every form of newtech and mega make work project known to man. Solar, shale, pig cloning. Just throw it all on the wall at this stage in the global GDP outlook.
Or watch the country burn and go back to 1931 level GNP output.
That would be fun to watch, as an economic history case study.
In six months the only thing of value in Greece will be food and clean water. After that, heat. It's truly shocking.
This is what debt slavery leads to.
This is what socialism leads to.
"Currency delfation/debasement only works [in the adolescent mind of Paul Krugman]."
FIFY
Currency debasement is nothing but a transfer payment from one group to another (e.g. domestic consumers to exporters) which, as soon the debasement ends, results in a bust (as relative prices revert to market equilibrium). Of course, this happy re-divvying of the pie is not without consequences. The pie is now smaller than it otherwise would have been (maybe even smaller in absolute terms), because resources have been used sub-optimally (opportunity costs).
When they repudiate their onerous debt and are able to run their government on taxes taken in.
Which from what I understand has never been the case since most Greeks consider taxes theft and avoid paying them at all cost.
I have no problem with that point of view. The problem I have is expecting generous governmental services without funding the government.
Go ahead and eat your cake My Greek friends. But don't become indignant when another cake doesn't magically materialize out of thin air. That attitude is simply childish.
Then you fail to comprehend the principles of the socialist utopia. All is possible until you run out of other people's money.
LOL
OK, you can't pay the debt. I get it. Then repudiate it and move on. But don't declare you wish to remain in the EU by an 80% majority and then expect the EU to let you wipe the slate clean.
It's that damn eating the cake and having it too problem once again.
The country needs an advertising makeover, something like:
Greece, for the times you run out of K-Y Jelly.
How about Greek KY jelly, for when you're in a Euro jam.
repudiating our debt, just isn't enough. the interests of our ne debts will make us serfs again.
interest is simply, not a long term preposition.
You have the opportunity to create your own new money system which doesn't require debt. Debt free money. Imagine that.
Why do you assume you must borrow more money? I assume that without all those loan payments to make, your countrymen/women can support their own government. So why do you need 'loans'?
Oh....wait.....you guys don't wish to fund your own governmental services.
I support Greece in this situation. Greece simply can't pay those loans back no matter what. They should be repudiated. Are Greeks willing to make the sacrifices needed to get to that point?
Oh....wait.....you guys don't wish to fund your own governmental services.
That is called a conundrum my friend.
It's not that Greeks don't wish to fund services, it's that those services are shit and everyone knows the state is corrupt to the core. The fish rots from the head.
Good summary of history and understanding the political scene: http://www.soc.uoc.gr/political/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2014-Politica...
unfortunately you are right, but it doesn't matter.
the way money is created and multipicated through the (interest laden) debt creation, simply leaves us all, Greek and the rest of the world (#barbarians) in the same fate.
keep thinking, the dissonance will someday pass
Simple solution.
Don't borrow money. No interest.
Ta-daa.
Fund yourself without debt and the problem doesn't materialize. Repudiate the present debt and the slate is clean. That means the only hole you find yourself in from that point on is the hole you dug for yourself.
Out of the ashes create your own money without debt as the creative spark. Debt free money, what a concept.
Yes, the international economic system is corrupt. But you have a golden opportunity to step outside the system. I suspect if you aren't paying all that debt back your government's need for 'money' can be satisfied by your citizen's willingness to pay their own freight.
What's so hard about that?
Oh......wait......your countrymen don't wish to fund their government services. Vicious circle you've got going on there.
damn straight
so lets imagine that all Greeks agree on your idea, and we repudiate our debt and create our own interest free money system.
imagine further that we don't need to import more than tourism and our limited exports allow.
do you really believe that our creative spark will be met with indifference from the status. if i remember well, Kantafi had some plans for an african golden coin. our geopolitical situation is no different than his and it's my guess that our fate will be the same as well.
living with your family in the wild is possible. it cann't happen to nations unfortunately.
i also want to remind you that the easiest way to conquer is to divide and the easiest way to divide is to misinform.
of course there is a plutocracy in Greece that evades taxes, but i don't beleive the tax evation of the majority of Greeks is a cultular trend. the vicious circle you mention is the money creation/multiplication mechanism and the bad Greeks story is just the flare to distract you.
Why shouldn't all countries do this anyway?
Never......
Hey, I just had a really super idea. How about we all butt the hell outta Greece and let them figure it out. Default, don't default. Reform or don't. Thrive or suffer. Live or die.
Somehow if that choice was actually in their hands they'd find their own way. Or not. Really don't give a shit.
I don't go up and down my street getting all up my neighbor's asses about their finances. Seems like a good policy to follow. Somehow they manage.
I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way the phrase "none of your business" changed from good policy to some sort of egregious insult. We need to bring it back.
Please explain that to Goldman and the Troika.
but what else will people wave their arms about?
When they put Krugman in an olive press, botlle and sell it as snake oil.
When they put Krugman in an olive press, bottle and sell it Cyklon B.
FIFY
Did you see the classic film Charly? (based on Flowers for Algernon)
Krugman op-eds are the reason serum started failing....
I have not. I'll have to check it out. Thank you.
As always, read the book FIRST.
Don't cry for meee Argenteeena!
Just fucking repudiate the debt, governments come and go, the people always remain. Who wouldn't "invest" in the people of Greece (at least short term) if the government had no debt?
This is all just a school play written by fourth graders with actors gathered up from the asylum.
... the EU loses patience with them and sells their ass back to Turkey.
Plenty of jobs guarding harems but there is one minor downside to the application process.
“Greece will achieve economic success when_______"
they can't, it's deep rooted cultural decay and we're right behind them.
PIIGS fly.
cronyism is prosecuted and capitalism along with the rule of law are instituted once again.
To answer Arnold Kling’s question that started this piece, Greece will achieve economic success when the weight of past mistakes is reduced, including not only bond prices but promised benefits as well as reforms to cut back government influence and corruption, and markets are once again allowed to set prices that reflect Greece as a country and not Greece as a tiny portion of a massive conglomerate.
Greece needs to reduce its government to a size tax payers are willing to support. If it's like any other government we know of, that means it needs to be 1/4th its present size.
It then needs to adopt a properly managed Medium of Exchange (MOE). This will allow traders (its citizens) to make trading promises and deliveries over time and space knowing INFLATION will always be zero. All traders will be free to create money as they see a way to deliver on their trading promises. It allows responsible traders to enjoy zero INTEREST. It charges less reliable traders INTEREST directly equal to their DEFAULT propensity as a class.
If it does these too things, Greece will become the strongest country on earth and it's currency will be the envy of the whole world. It will be the only country with a guaranteed zero INFLATION of its MOE.
Greece will become an economic success when... all Greeks turn honest.
When Golden Dawn overthrows this sham government & institutes fascist rule over every man, woman and child.
Then Turkey invades that shithole, ending strife in the region once & for all.
Tylers, What is up with the search comments glitch......?
Problem is..Turkey has the same shit mentality.
Who do you think infected the Greeks in the first place?
400 years of Ottoman rule says it all
Fuck Turkey.
Exactly.
Greece (and the Balkans) missed the European Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment etc etc in the coccoon of Ottoman rule.
What will Greeks do?
F. None of the above.
I didn't read anything about what they should do to the economists/politicians who advocated that Greece should join the Euro and then when it didn't work out they should borrow way more then they could ever pay back.
It takes two to Tango and all I read is how Greece borrowed too much. How about the IMF, ECB,EU LENT too much? Once upon a time if you lent money to the wrong people you took a loss.
How do they separate the men from the Euro in Greece?
With a Drachmar.
I'll take questions on Greece for 500 Alex
“Greece will achieve economic success when ____”
Well, never...... The answer is 'never' Alex.
Annnnd, That's RIGHT. We have a winner!
Default on all debt, then reduce government spending by 75%. Reduce taxes to 12% VAT across the board and no income tax. Let the free market determine interest rates. Make private property rights a top priority. Fire all corrupt officials. Encourage international investment, free trade and banking privacy. Award citizenship to anyone willing to deposit 1 million USD into your banks and purchase realestate. Leave folks alone.
My first word of advice is to stop thinking of your nation as "pathetic" or "bankrupt.". STOP SAYING THAT.
YOURE IN CHARGE NOW..." SCREW YOU FOREIGN DEVIL" IS A CRITICAL ELEMENT OF STATE POLICY!
In short...let their be nothing but heady contempt for everything non-Greek. Threats...even idle ones...are a CRITICAL component to state craft.
USE THEM!
"We have no friends here...but we want the world to know we are looking"... And then reach out.
Not to your slavers...but to you " coconspirators."
Absolutely NOT do you want war with Turkey. Let Russia handle that one.
Start opening the dialogues to the other victims.
YOU HAVE EVERTHING YOU NEED.
What you need are fellow travelers...to start people on a great journey...one fraught with peril...but one that you believe will attract others to your cause.
Don't be afraid to think big...simply put.
How do you think the USA became an sovereign nation? We BELIEVED in our own bs...ultimately incredibly codifying it.
The goal was independence..."freedom" if you will.
Show RESPECT for other people's property and possessions. Do not be afraid however of defining "fair use" (let alone fair value.)
Establish a community...see if "funny looking freedom weirdos start showing up."
There were be costs in this...Bunker Hills and crossings of the Deleware.
But most of all do not despair.
STEEL your people for what awaits...
Greek crisis ground zero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tDKvgl5Bws
Greece will achieve economic success when they tell foreign would-be masters to go to hell.
Greece will achieve economic success when... "They Follow Icelands Lead"
The recipe for prosperity is the same in every time and place.
The government must:
(1) protect life and property,
and (2) do nothing else.
This was Adam Smith's "peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice."
It's what made the West rich in the first place.
Western governments are still pretty good on the first point (crime is more or less under control), but fail catastrophically with the second (welfare, corporate subsidies, trade restrictions, coercive unions, state-run enterprises, price controls. inflationary monetary policy, and on and on with all the economic interventions). This is the problem in Greece.
So the solution is very simple - eliminate all government functions other than law and order (police, courts, military). This would mean cutting about 90% of government spending (which of course means defaulting on the debt as well).
*Incidentally, the problem with third world governments (Africa being the extreme case) is that they fail on both points. They simultaneously fail to protect people from crime (e.g. assorted bandits and cannibal warlords roaming about) and oppress the people themselves through the usual assortment of counterproductive economic interventions (nationalized industries, trade barriers, inflationary monetary policy, etc). We call this tragic condition "anarcho-tyranny." Perhaps the point is not so incidental, though, since this is what first world social-democratic governments will devolve into once they "run out of other people's money" and can no longer pay the police adequately.
Government exists to threaten humans with death and redistribute property.
Since you are elimiating many areas of government from Politics... Your plan is approved.
- Eliminate politics, remove areas of government from politics, and you are removing the money and corrupting influence from Governance
- However, since you didn't mention politics it is not clear you are clear thinking enough to lead the USA or EU.
...they spend one penny less than they earn. Also the key to a happy life.
Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was....
Well just like US .gov and US Wall Street make everything big & complicated and impossible for a Citizen to understand...
There is Greece, in a complicated Financial Scheme with many players, many financial instruments, and many outside players, power players, ... too much outside influence, too much outside financing, too much loss of sovereignty, and too little citizen power, citizen understanding, and citizens transparency, etc.
It is not different from Latin American countries or even US-European Countries, especially those in the EU.
" It should be noted that the debt is not limited to bondholders, obligations to Greek citizens such as pensioners should also face a similar haircut. The same double effect can be noted in this case as well. The government will reduce their expenditures but if they do so without touching pensions those who work in the public sector will be granted greater security than those in the private one. Such a mismatch can only lead to more interest in working in the public sector and thus higher costs for the Greek private sector as they fight for quality employees."
- So high debt outside of the Country means = Loss of Sovereignty, Freedom, Decision Making, Choices, and...issues like Self Direction, Self actualization, and Individualism.
- Sounds like Mafia, Right? Racketeering.
Here is a Thought Experiment on Philadelphia Freedom.
- Brotherhood is used to recruit Terrorists, Church Goers, and Gays. I mean gays attract new gays by being friendly in order to attract new people to the gay side.
- What does this say about Fascism?
- Are strong, conservatives good at recruiting young men or women
- It is a given that men will accept young women or attractive older women
- Well, if military strength is all, and teaching & acceptance is of little value... USA pushes people into disenfranchisement
- How do you like Disenfranchisement so far?
- Think putting more black men or young men in Prison helps or hurts??
Song appears Patriotic and just appeared in TV Media. Barbi Benton, McCloud (1975), playing Shannon Forbes in episode "Park Avenue Pirates".
I used to be a rolling stone you know
If a cause was right
I'd leave to find the answer on the road
I used to be a heart beating for someone
But the times have changed
The less I say the more my work gets done
'Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom
From the day that I was born I've waved the flag
Philadelphia freedom took me knee high to a man, yeah
Gave me a piece of mama, daddy never had
[Chorus]
Oh Philadelphia freedom, shine on me, I love you
Shine the light, through the eyes of the ones left behind
Shine the light, shine the light
Shine the light, won't you shine the light
Philadelphia freedom, I love-ve-ve you, yes I do
If you choose to you can live your life alone
Some people choose the city (some people the city)
Some others choose the good old family home (some others choose a good old...)
I like living easy without family ties (living easy)
Till the whippoorwill of freedom zapped me
Right between the eyes
'Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom
From the day that I was born I've waved the flag
Philadelphia freedom took me knee high to a man
Mmm, gave me a piece of mama, daddy never had
Dem Greeks ain't deadbeats. If pushed too far, dey gonna whipped out der euro credit card and whup de IMF's ass wid it.
GREECE WILL ACHIEVE SUCCESS WHEN...All the Rothschilds die of virulent plague affecting on their familiy's genetic makeup! Or, more rationlly, WHEN IT & EVERY POOR NATION DEFAULTS ON JPMC, MS, GS & CITI & BOA FRADULENT, CRIMINAL DERIVATIVES! CRASH THE SYSTEM THEN REBOOT!
so Tom Cullis of Mises Canada claims to be the high priest of Austrian School, wonders what the proper Austrian School path for Greece would be, chooses three neo-Keynesian policy advices packages, picks what he prefers out of them and claims that those pickings, together, are proper Austrian policy. sure
meanwhile, he picks the advice common of all those "growth-uber-Alles" Keynesians, i.e. to leave the EUR because he wishes for a national currency that "would transmit market signals". sure
just a reminder, isn't Austrian School strongly in favour of accepting downturns and balancing budgets? isn't Mises Canada all for a return of honest money, i.e. gold?
what if gold would be the world's currency? how would gold behave as a currency, in Greece. specifically, would gold not behave roughly the same as the EUR does, and not transmit this kind of "market signal" to the Greek economy?
"at first it might seem surprising that a return to a national currency would be included in an Austrian analysis but there is a strong case that it would be a step in the right direction"
yes, I am surprised
"The excesses that built up over time were not consistently punished by market forces because the question of how much debt they could service became swallowed by the greater questions of what would happen with that debt when it became an issue for the euro as a whole."
because if it was gold, the question would even arise? one ounce of gold is one ounce of gold, remember? gold transmits market signals by not being part of the signal
the EUR, far from being as hard as gold in this (plenty of EUR speculation because of Greece) is nevertheless... harder then a Greek Drachma would be
in fact, there is no difference for the Greek situation, the EUR or gold, both would give Greece the same headaches, those of a non-national currency
the truth, imho, is that Tom Cullis mixes Austrian School analysis with... something completely different. Specifically, this strange non-Austrian theory that the markets are always right
and here I call bullshit. Proper Austrian School insists on markets bein wrong, from time to time. Tom Cullis writes about this:
"Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) will be helpful. The Austrian description of a recession comes down to the market’s realization that the path of the economy is unprofitable,..."
see? a recession is a market realization of having been... wrong
and proper Austrian School insists that hard, non-moving-for-related-changes money... like gold... is the better indicator, the stark light that shines reality on the situation
Tom, you can wind left and right as much as you want, the EUR is more Austrian School then... you
exiting the EUR for the Drachma is exactly the same as defaulting by other means. Jump the gun and advice for default. Question is, are you Austrian enough for that? or are you only Austrian when it comes to moan, but would balk at a truly hard, unforgiving currency like gold?
meanwhile, the true Greek options are broader then that, and the real debate is about that budget, not the debt which does not pay interest until 2023. but the very market "forces" prefer to lobby in four different directions for "market participant" reasons, including... hatred for hard currencies giving hard, stark options
-----
here what the Greek Finance Minister had to say on the matter, btw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KSmcUyAZwU
Dear me...I thought we are just a bunch of tax evading, lazy, cheats that want freebies and benefits...how can we have such an impact on the world economy?
I must go and do my genome test and see if I can find that defect in my DNA...it will probably be related to my ancestors anti-German behavior that show GREEKS BEEN THE FIRST TO STAND FOR MONTHS AGAINST THE NAZI ADVANCEMENT IN 1940 WHILE EVERY OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRY WAS SUBMITTING TO THEM IN A DAY OR A WEEK...de ja vu or simply me lazy me????
Oh by the way tell the Austrians that ...THEY ARE AS WRONG AS THEIR GERMANIC COUSINS.
It's not that complicated. The answer is simple: Grexit and join the BRICS.
'The Syriza party folded under pressure like a cheap suit.'
'Syriza's Greece: From a New Social Deal to an Updated Version of the Economics of Social Disaster' by C.J. Polychroniou
"...Syriza's leader did not hesitate to promise Greek voters that austerity and the bailout program would come to an end on the very same day Syriza came to power. Alexis Tsipras promised that he would secure a write-off of at least a significant part of Greece's debt (although he no longer treated it as odious) and would reverse the bulk of the neoliberal reforms under way, including privatization. He also vowed to immediately increase the minimum monthly wage to pre-crisis levels and take direct measures to address the worse aspects of the crisis. And he would do all those things while keeping Greece in the eurozone.
Less than a month after its rise to power, Syriza's strategy to get Europe's policy toward Greece changed has ended in fiasco. Not only has Syriza's "new social deal for a new Greece" project been torn into pieces by eurozone's neoliberal rulers, but Greece's Syriza government has been forced to accept a four-month extension of the bailout agreement to secure additional funds. In so doing, it promised that Greece will fulfill all its running obligations with the international creditors (hence forget all talk about a debt write-off) and will carry out "a broader and deeper structural reform process" (hence forget all talk about the end of austerity and neoliberalism).
In a seven-page document that Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis submitted a couple of days ago to the president of the eurogroup, following the extension of the bailout plan at the eurogroup meeting of February 20, the Syriza government promises to remain faithful to the EU-imposed fiscal discipline on Greece, not to reverse any privatization projects already completed, and to respect those already underway. And as the icing on the cake, it vows that any consideration for an increase in the minimum wage will be done after consultation with the euro masters.
It usually takes some time before governments renege on promises made during the campaign, but it took less than one month for Greece's Syriza government to do so. Worse, the quick capitulation was made by an alleged party of the Radical Left, which means that the political future of the Greek left is anything but rosy..." http://bit.ly/1DYG1WB
lol..has he done all that OMG I better vote him out...please save this post and repost it in a couple of weeks time....no my dear Kash...he simply has written a piece of paper that is actually a leaf of a fig tree for the Germans to hide their nudity...you will understand soon !
I have a bit of an issue with your "by eurozone's neoliberal rulers"
yes, lots of the EU's and the EUR's policies can be seen as liberal: the free movement of goods, capital, services and people, the Four Freedoms of the EU
but it's also deeply conservative: based on the sovereign's will to participate or not. it's further limited to the borders of the alliance(s)
Greece has choices and options of the national kind
further, Europe is also very socialist in many ways. the willingness of "restructuring" this Greek debt is great, and already been proven several times
this new Greek government wants to find it's own path of privatizations and it's own ways of balancing that budget. the others are willing to wait and see
they have not been forced to accept that money. in fact, 19 eurozone elected parliaments have still to decide on it, a small detail that seems has been forgotten
V for Varoufakis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afl9WFGJE0M&app=desktop
great video, hilarous. here btw the original Varoufakis speech to which this video answered with a small caption of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KSmcUyAZwU
they go to work.
...they default on all debt, and start anew buy issuing a gold-back drachme/currency.