Greece: Even crazier than we thought.

Look, you were the one who blamed public sector workers for a crisis that happened as a result of government mis-management of the economy. I've got news for you. Workers in both the public and private sectors are not economists who advise government so it's dumb to blame either of them, particularly the former who pay their taxes at source. I haven't said the government would not have to borrow millions so again that's you projecting. But in any case borrowing is not the only tool available to governments. And as to not paying it back, like I said the terms are being negotiated as we speak. I've already outlined that but you seem to want to overlook that fact. So what if the public sector gets more than the private sector. As I said before, that's not an argument for reducing the existing poverty pay levels of the former to the even more abject poverty levels of the latter. Rather, it's an argument, for increasing the latter to the levels of the former. Your 'race to the bottom' austerity narrative has been rejected by the electorate, hadn't you noticed? What's up, are the current levels of suicide among Greek workers not enough for you?

 

You're right the system was crazy. For example,my daughter lived in Athens, she said the hospital had ten gardeners, when her own home had one gardener every two weeks...and her grounds are larger. But the Greeks are accustomed to doing favors and giving people jobs, this time though they were being given at the expense of Germany...and that was not fair.

Doctors were supposedly on the government payroll, but Greeks being generous people, always thanked them with the 'envelope'. What was in that envelope though, was never reported as income. Anyway they did make a lot of mistakes in the past, and hopefully they'll rectify them...like for instance not industrializing so they wouldn't destroy the beauty of the country. Right now though the people do need jobs, and that's the important thing.

 

I didn't blame public sector employees. I said they, as voters and receivers of government paychecks, were as responsible as the politicians who got them the money they did in fact receive...the idea that they had no responsibility for the acts of the government they set in power is silly.

You cannot grow an economy on the back of imaginary, slogan only programs like 'anti-Austerity'...

 

Tsipras is playing it smart, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. Vladimir Putin offered ten billion to Greece with certain conditions...which no doubt has something to do with naval or air bases. The next call was from Obama saying that Washington was against austerity and that the situation will be discussed in Brussels.

Merkel must be freaking out, and in more ways than one. Greece decided that it will push for war reparations for WWII which can be anywhere from three hundred to six hundred billion dollars and Russia agrees with them, and decided they will sue as well.

OH NO!

 

You specifically blamed them. I highlighted your quote. As I said before, the slogan is based on objective fact. Moreover, it's untrue that it's not possible to grow an economy on the back of it. That's precisely what Keynesianism is. The idea that one can blame public sector workers for voting for pay rates set by government and that the aformentioned rates are the fundamental cause of the crisis, is so daft it doesn't merit further comment.

 

I suspect the Greeks will see little sympathy outside of the new donor nations. Russia's donation won't cover deficit spending for long...then what?

 

But that assumes Russia's donation would necessarily be at the exclusion of the use of domestic economic levers. I think the current Greek finance minister is a smart cookie who knows what he is doing.

It's important to point out that in Greece, the people have actually given much less to the bankers for bailout than say the people in the UK have. It's therefore equally as important to acknowledge that the causes of the Greek financial collapse are different.

Greece was rather a recipient of bad lending, a country which received loans it could not possibly afford. Due to corrupt networks of elite collusion embracing both government and private sector, much of this money was simply siphoned out of the country into overseas accounts in London and Cyprus.

I'm sure that a highly educated Greek electorate understand that the narrative given them by the mainstream corporate media and the parties in the pocket of corporations is a false one which is why they voted in Syriza whose electoral platform largely exposed the said narrative.

I'm also sure that the newly elected finance minister, on the back of a rejection of this narrative, is wise and intelligent enough to negotiate hard on behalf of the people who elected his government into power, whilst simultaneously being realistic with both himself and his people on the amount of blood, sweat and tears that is going to need to go in to building a productive Greek economy.

A Keynesian stimulus is not only needed for Greece but for the rest of Europe. The election of Syriza might be the catalyst required. I personally hope so.

 

Did the government year after year promise more than it could pay for? How did they pay for it? Do they now intend to repay that debt? Have they fired as many public sector employees as has the private sector?

Answer those questions and you know the cause of the problem, and its cure

 

Yes, that's partly the cause. The potential cure is what the newly elected finance minister has up his sleeve which explains why his government was elected in the first place. The democratic will of the people is a bummer when it's at odds with ones own personal ideologically based socioeconomic and political dogma isn't it?

 

The democratic will of the people in this case is to make the good times roll again without any serious changes in how they do business....It is the Santa Clause idea...who hates someone who gives away free stuff? The problem arises when the promises are not met.

 

People lost their jobs in the private sector because business' closed, they weren't fired to lower costs. The only large industry Greece has is shipping, and they are all international corporations and have to be taxed at a very low rate or they will leave. They do give people jobs, so they are needed.

The reason the debt is so high, is because Greece has been paying for submarines, jets, ships, etc. for decades, since they are constantly under threat in the Aegean and Thrace. It's hard and costly for a nation of only eleven million to keep up with a nation of seventy five million, so whatever money Greece gets goes right back to Germany to buy submarines or whatever. In addition to that, Greece has been invaded with over one million migrants, including criminals from the Albanian jails, and all this requires extra police, extra jails, extra coast guards, and extra forces to guard the borders.

The problem now though is not how they go into this mess, but how they're going to get out of it. Because of its defense, Greece needs Russia as much as it needs the US.

 

Looks like the ECB will no longer accept Greek bonds as collateral, which makes it harder for Greece to raise money and sends a strong signal going into the upcoming "negotiations." I do wonder what Syriza's leader is thinking, pictures of him next to Eurozone representatives range from shocking to hilarious. He appears to think that he can smooth talk his way to free money from some of the world's smartest people that have already given as much as they intend to give.

 

Practical question: if the people of Greece won't pay for the debt, who will?

 

It's called default....the rest of the central banks eat the debt.

 

So instead of anti-austerity we will get a default. Another practical question than: how is a default good for the Greek people?

 

If Greece gets away with its breakaway many will follow. Greece is an agricultural country and once out they will then have their produce embraced by Russia again. Sanctions will be lifted.
Sure times will be hard for a while but they are at a crossroads as to hand over their country to international bankers or weather the storm and retain sovereignty.

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Same way our default to the debt held by the Federal Reserve would be good for Americans.

 

The greeks are done with the austerity, and Tsipras doesn't want to pay the debt to the bce... let's say that he can't, they are in utter bankrupt. His move now consists into intimidation: either the bce fullfills his requests or he will go with Putin. Now we just have to follow bruxelle's moves...