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The 'austerity' prescription that the Eurogroup and the ECB enforced on sovereign nations has been ample proven to be counter productive and flat out damaging.

The 'austerity' prescription that the Eurogroup and the ECB enforced on sovereign nations has been ample proven to be counter productive and flat out damaging. Much like the 'quantitive easing' ideas, they all had a theoretical basis that were vastly proven wrong. These countries only recovered when stimulous measures were applied. Lagard herself admited that austerity was a mistake but never apologised for the suffering and deaths that it precipitated. I remind you that elderly unable to afford medication and hospitals struggling to keep stock was a reality in Greece during this period.

rumanator 7y ago
> The 'austerity' prescription that the Eurogroup and the ECB enforced on sovereign nations has been ample proven to be counter productive and flat out damaging. Your personal assertion is flat out wrong. Although hindsight shows that the outcome was not optimal, the overall outcome of all bailout processes were highly successful. Although all states that requested bailouts were bankrupt by 2011, it took only a few years to get them back to eco omic growth and reducing their sovereign debt. Look for example at Portugal, who was arguably in the same situation as Greece but for about half a dozen years now it got back to economic growth,residual unemployment, a deficit close to zero, and lowering its sovereign debt. This turn of events coincides exactly with the last year of it's bailout process. Who in their right mind speaks of failures when all states who underwent bailout processes and actually tried to follow the program ended up recovering from bankruptcies in record time?
- DoingIsLearning 7y ago
  > Your personal assertion is flat out wrong. The assertion of the former IMF chief (now ECB) Lagarde: "Ms Lagarde said eurozone countries should not blindly stick to tough budget deficit targets if growth weakens more than expected. She argued that they should allow "automatic stabilisers" - higher welfare spending and lower tax revenues- to kick in if the economy deteriorated. https://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/11/business/imf-lagarde-schauble/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/11/business/imf-lagarde-scha... > the outcome was not optimal "The report says that as part of the bailout conditions, Greece’s total healthcare expenditure (public and private) fell from 9·8% of GDP in 2008 to 8·1% in 2014. An article published by the Lancet concurrently with the paper notes that, under pressure from the Troika, the Greek government cut public healthcare expenditure to 6% of GDP." ... "Greek mortality has worsened significantly since the beginning of the century. In 2000, the death rate per 100,000 people was 944.5. By 2016, it had risen to 1174.9, with most of the increase taking place from 2010 onwards." "…adverse effects of medical treatment, self-harm, and several types of cancer stood out as consistently increasing in Greece across all ages… Within specific age groups, other causes are apparent, with rapid increases in deaths due to neonatal haemolytic disease and neonatal sepsis in children younger than 5 years, and prominent increases in self-harm among adolescents and young adults. Greek adults aged 15–49 years had increased mortality due to HIV, several treatable neoplasms, all types of cirrhosis, neurological disorders (eg, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease), chronic kidney disease, and most types of cardiovascular disease" Newborns actually died of preventable conditions so that German Bank lenders would get there money back. Let that sink in for a second. https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2018/08/31/the-terrible-human-cost-of-greeces-bailouts/#b65690c4b31e https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2018/08/31/the-t... "The International Monetary Fund admitted it had failed to realise the damage austerity would do to Greece as the Washington-based organisation catalogued mistakes made during the bailout of the stricken eurozone country." https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jun/05/imf-underestimated-damage-austerity-would-do-to-greece https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jun/05/imf-underes... > Look for example at Portugal, who was arguably in the same situation as Greece I am Portuguese and I am part of the diaspora of young people who emmigrated after the 2008 crisis. > it got back to economic growth Mostly due to tourism and foreign real-estate investment (not austerity) > residual unemployment Due to government spending on sponsored coop/internships and "retraining" programmes that all help to dillute the unemployment stats (But again not because of austerity) > deficit close to zero Due to injection of extra revenue from the 'golden visa' programmes for Chinese citizens. Tourism boom revenue. Tax incentives and tax domicialiation of retirees from all across northern and central Europe. And austerity > and lowering its sovereign debt. Due mostly to paying off their old debt with newer debt at a much lower interest rate now with central negative interest rates (Not because of Austerity) > This turn of events coincides exactly with the last year of it's bailout process. No comment. > Who in their right mind speaks of failures when all states who underwent bailout processes and actually tried to follow the program ended up recovering from bankruptcies in record time? Who in their right mind does not see that these bailouts are not Sovereign bailouts but German and French Bank lender bailout? Who in their right mind can be allowed to believe that it is ok to create a healthcare calamity with real, physical, measurable deaths, by holding a sovereign nation hostage so that, space forbid, Banks don't have to face a loss?

rumanator 7y ago

> The 'austerity' prescription that the Eurogroup and the ECB enforced on sovereign nations has been ample proven to be counter productive and flat out damaging. Your personal assertion is flat out wrong. Although hindsight shows that the outcome was not optimal, the overall outcome of all bailout processes were highly successful. Although all states that requested bailouts were bankrupt by 2011, it took only a few years to get them back to eco omic growth and reducing their sovereign debt. Look for example at Portugal, who was arguably in the same situation as Greece but for about half a dozen years now it got back to economic growth,residual unemployment, a deficit close to zero, and lowering its sovereign debt. This turn of events coincides exactly with the last year of it's bailout process. Who in their right mind speaks of failures when all states who underwent bailout processes and actually tried to follow the program ended up recovering from bankruptcies in record time?

DoingIsLearning 7y ago
> Your personal assertion is flat out wrong. The assertion of the former IMF chief (now ECB) Lagarde: "Ms Lagarde said eurozone countries should not blindly stick to tough budget deficit targets if growth weakens more than expected. She argued that they should allow "automatic stabilisers" - higher welfare spending and lower tax revenues- to kick in if the economy deteriorated. https://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/11/business/imf-lagarde-schauble/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/11/business/imf-lagarde-scha... > the outcome was not optimal "The report says that as part of the bailout conditions, Greece’s total healthcare expenditure (public and private) fell from 9·8% of GDP in 2008 to 8·1% in 2014. An article published by the Lancet concurrently with the paper notes that, under pressure from the Troika, the Greek government cut public healthcare expenditure to 6% of GDP." ... "Greek mortality has worsened significantly since the beginning of the century. In 2000, the death rate per 100,000 people was 944.5. By 2016, it had risen to 1174.9, with most of the increase taking place from 2010 onwards." "…adverse effects of medical treatment, self-harm, and several types of cancer stood out as consistently increasing in Greece across all ages… Within specific age groups, other causes are apparent, with rapid increases in deaths due to neonatal haemolytic disease and neonatal sepsis in children younger than 5 years, and prominent increases in self-harm among adolescents and young adults. Greek adults aged 15–49 years had increased mortality due to HIV, several treatable neoplasms, all types of cirrhosis, neurological disorders (eg, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease), chronic kidney disease, and most types of cardiovascular disease" Newborns actually died of preventable conditions so that German Bank lenders would get there money back. Let that sink in for a second. https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2018/08/31/the-terrible-human-cost-of-greeces-bailouts/#b65690c4b31e https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2018/08/31/the-t... "The International Monetary Fund admitted it had failed to realise the damage austerity would do to Greece as the Washington-based organisation catalogued mistakes made during the bailout of the stricken eurozone country." https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jun/05/imf-underestimated-damage-austerity-would-do-to-greece https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jun/05/imf-underes... > Look for example at Portugal, who was arguably in the same situation as Greece I am Portuguese and I am part of the diaspora of young people who emmigrated after the 2008 crisis. > it got back to economic growth Mostly due to tourism and foreign real-estate investment (not austerity) > residual unemployment Due to government spending on sponsored coop/internships and "retraining" programmes that all help to dillute the unemployment stats (But again not because of austerity) > deficit close to zero Due to injection of extra revenue from the 'golden visa' programmes for Chinese citizens. Tourism boom revenue. Tax incentives and tax domicialiation of retirees from all across northern and central Europe. And austerity > and lowering its sovereign debt. Due mostly to paying off their old debt with newer debt at a much lower interest rate now with central negative interest rates (Not because of Austerity) > This turn of events coincides exactly with the last year of it's bailout process. No comment. > Who in their right mind speaks of failures when all states who underwent bailout processes and actually tried to follow the program ended up recovering from bankruptcies in record time? Who in their right mind does not see that these bailouts are not Sovereign bailouts but German and French Bank lender bailout? Who in their right mind can be allowed to believe that it is ok to create a healthcare calamity with real, physical, measurable deaths, by holding a sovereign nation hostage so that, space forbid, Banks don't have to face a loss?