Here at DWR we’ve been keeping an eye on the Greek economic situation. As early as 2010 we commented that the IMF had been working its magic on the Greek economy:
“Did you ever want to see a society remade into the corporatist mode? Greece is going down that path right now. The IMF is gleefully setting out conditions and ‘austerity measures’ necessary for Greece to qualify for the bailout package. How much would you wager that the Public Sector is going to take a beating? Today’s news is part of a cycle of the forced privatization of the Greek economy.”
Here we are in 2015:
“Greek lawmakers have approved a government motion that allows reform proposals [AUSTERITY] to be used as a basis for negotiations with international creditors, as the country seeks a third bailout.
The 300-member parliament passed the motion by majority vote, with 251 lawmakers voting in favor, 32 against and 8 voting ‘present’ — a form of abstention indicating dissent from their own party line.
In a speech delivered ahead of the vote, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sought to persuade lawmakers, including dissenters within his own left-wing Syriza party, to back the proposals and grant his finance minister the authorization to use them as a basis for negotiations with creditors over the weekend.”
You see? The IMF hasn’t stopped its slow destruction of the Greek economy, like slowly metastasizing cancer, the financial skulduggery makes fixing the economy untenable. The recently ousted Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis comments:
“Varoufakis explains exactly why he fought for a NO vote and how unfair and irrational the creditors have been in refusing to discuss debt re-structuring. As Varoufakis points out, it is perfectly normal in the world of finance for us to be offered long term loans that suit our budget. It happens every day, yet Greece has not been offered a sustainable debt repayment plan that will enable it to pay back its creditors with interest, without forcing people at home to suffer as they do right now. If Greece has no money left, then how can it possibly pay what the IMF and the ECB expect it to? Varoufakis had suggested that his country pay an increased sum of money back over a longer time period, enabling the economy to grow over time. The creditors refused. When Prime Minister Tspiras announced a referendum would take place, the creditors were absolutely furious. Democracy is not something they understand, it seems.”
This is exactly the no-win situation that Disaster Capitalism sets up. Which leads to this inescapable conclusion:
“And herein lies the problem. We live in a neo-liberal, globalized plutocracy. An elite group of bankers control the global money supply (and the politicians we vote for), and here’s the thing: they do not believe in democracy. They do not believe that ordinary people have the right to an opinion, let alone a vote, on issues as enormous as the one facing Greece. This is all the more infuriating when you consider the fact that it’s regular members of the public who are being forced to bail out private banking debts. Worst of all, rather than listen with interest to Varoufakis’s logical and intelligent argument, corporate journos like Paul Mason prefer to doggedly defend the position of Greece’s creditors, while peddling fear and lies about the consequences of a Greek exit from the Eurozone.”
So what to do in Greece? The proposed “bailout plan” is shite, and the people of Greece have already said no to similar BS:
“The proposed measures, including tax hikes and cuts in pension spending, are certain to inflict more pain on a Greek public who just days ago voted overwhelmingly against a similar plan.”
“The new measures overturn many of the election promises of Tsipras’ left-wing Syriza party, which had vowed to overturn bailout austerity, and come less than a week after 61 per cent of voters opposed similar reforms, proposed by creditors, in last Sunday’s referendum.”
The Greek people have said “No” to Austerity and Greece’s political elite are apoplectically pretzelling trying to make the societal poison known as Austerity somehow palatable to masses.
A quick review of what is coming next:
We need to watch what happens in Greece very carefully now. The forces of international neo-liberal capitalism need to make an example of Greece to scare other countries in similar situations (Spain, Italy) into accepting the resculpting of society for the benefit of the hyper-rich.
Democracy is expected to bend a knee toward this insidious neo-liberal economic paradigm – the will of the people subsumed to corporate interests – an for what?
We all know the answer.
4 comments
July 11, 2015 at 1:39 pm
syrbal-labrys
You just know the GOP here in America is taking notes, right? They already don’t care if the aged and the poor are starved to death — only productive serfs are worth maintaining, after all.
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July 11, 2015 at 1:42 pm
VR Kaine
Greek’s problems go back way further than 2010, and there’s hardly anything representing real capitalism going on in the country.
As support, here’s a site that offers a similar but slightly different perspective than the one you’ve got here. I’ve highlighted one of the sections below:
“7. UNCOMPETIVE/UNPRODUCTIVE – Less than half of Greeks work, nearly 50 percent of those under 25 are unemployed, 25 percent of the estimated Gross Domestic Product is in the undeclared underground black economy, and the government spends 42 percent of its limited funds on social benefits, the Socialist state created by former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou 30 years ago that was dismantled by his son, former Prime Minister George Papandreou, who resigned on Nov. 11 after 18 months of social unrest and turned over the reins of a dead horse to a coalition government headed by former European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos. Greeks are less productive than their peers, producing only $35 per hour worked compared to $55 in Central Europe. With a workforce of nearly 1 million in the public sector, including state-owned entities that were outside the books, there are too many alleged workers trying to prop up an economy in which even the country’s best products – olive oil, honey, saffron, lamb – aren’t marketed properly. Greek olive oil, the world’s best, is sold to Italian companies, which re-brand it and things are so bad that Greece is importing olive oil – from Germany – which gets it from Greece and sells it back. Of 193 countries in the world, Greece ranks 101st in the Ease of Doing Business Index from the World Bank. Of course, it’s easier if you hand over a “fakelaki,” a little envelope stuffed with bribe money. – See more at: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/12/30/the-11-reasons-why-greece-really-went-broke-in-2011/#sthash.8wbQDKRw.dpuf”
Note this little gem as well:
“But the government operates some dead entities, such as the multiple-bankrupt OSE railway system which is useless, runs near empty trains, pays workers five times the $18,000 annual salary of teachers and has almost no value on the open market.” Any country running like that deserves to go down, and if people only started thinking there was a problem starting in 2010 then they deserve to go down with it.
The worst of capitalism and socialism going on in Greece with more than enough blame to go around. Unfortunately, neither system is going to save it.
– See more at: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/12/30/the-11-reasons-why-greece-really-went-broke-in-2011/#sthash.8wbQDKRw.dpuf
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July 11, 2015 at 1:43 pm
The Arbourist
@Syrbal
I do. I’ve been watching American politics for awhile now and the trends are frightening.
Why militarize the police force? Why prioritize war spending over social spending? Why continue to subsidize the fossil fuel industry over renewable resources.
The dog eat dog, Hobbsian revolution is coming – first to those “out there” but sooner or later at home as well.
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July 11, 2015 at 1:44 pm
syrbal-labrys
Well, they have to practice SOMEwhere, right? I am glad I am old. I used to say I might die by lighting myself afire on some Capitol steps — I used to be joking. Now…well, one begins to wonder.
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