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No reforms in the world will allow Greece to meet the current liabilities, even the IMF says so. The bigger the surplus the Government runs (to pay back the cre

No reforms in the world will allow Greece to meet the current liabilities, even the IMF says so. The bigger the surplus the Government runs (to pay back the creditors) the more the economy will shrink and the further more they will miss their target by. Germany isn't paying for Greece, it (well the troika but Germany is significantly calling the shots) is effectively governing Greece by a series of manufactured crises every 6 months in which they can impose conditions (detailed policy requirements on internal issues including pensions and taxes) for the next payment (which is 90% transferred to creditors rather than going to Greece itself). Whether fascism is the right word or not there is something profoundly undemocratic about the situation and there are several valid comparisons with fascism. Singling out a groups as scapegoats for all blame and the aspect of collective punishment. Sensible people trying to maximise the return on their loans would restructure them to take some loss but to enable Greece to recover to be able to pay the bulk of them. Instead the focus seems to be punishment for irresponsible lending.

mafribe 11y ago
Singling out a groups as scapegoats for all blame and the aspect of collective punishment In line with many on the right, you are singling out Germany as a group as a scapegoat! Indeed Syriza's approach to the negotiations was to run a divide-and-conquer on the EU, trying to pit the rest of the EU against Germany. This backfired badly. Germany isn't paying for Greece In what sense? Greece owes Germany €88.7 Billion. Sensible people trying to maximise the return on their loans would restructure them to take some loss but to enable Greece to recover to be able to pay the bulk of them. Which is of course exactly what the troika is trying to do (however imperfectly), and much debt has already been written off or rolled over, but the Syriza government is blocking this as much as possible. there is something profoundly undemocratic Greece is perfectly free democratically to decide to ignore the troika, and default on all debt. Greece is also free to other other countries to pay for its debt, e.g. Japan, the US, Venezuela. But Greece has no unconditional right to other people's money. Why should Latvia and Lithuania, who are much poorer than Greece, finance a ridiculously bloated Greek military? There are much poorer countries still, Cambodia, Malawi, Niger, Angola. Why is it so vital that the rest of the world blows billions on fairly wealthy Greece, rather than these much more needy countries?
peterfirefly 11y ago
> No reforms in the world will allow Greece to meet the current liabilities, even the IMF says so. That is demonstrably NOT what the IMF says. Quite the contrary, in fact. http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/07/03/tsipras-is-wrong-imf-report-does-not-back-idea-greeces-debt-is-unpayable/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/07/03/tsipras-i...

mafribe 11y ago

Singling out a groups as scapegoats for all blame and the aspect of collective punishment In line with many on the right, you are singling out Germany as a group as a scapegoat! Indeed Syriza's approach to the negotiations was to run a divide-and-conquer on the EU, trying to pit the rest of the EU against Germany. This backfired badly. Germany isn't paying for Greece In what sense? Greece owes Germany €88.7 Billion. Sensible people trying to maximise the return on their loans would restructure them to take some loss but to enable Greece to recover to be able to pay the bulk of them. Which is of course exactly what the troika is trying to do (however imperfectly), and much debt has already been written off or rolled over, but the Syriza government is blocking this as much as possible. there is something profoundly undemocratic Greece is perfectly free democratically to decide to ignore the troika, and default on all debt. Greece is also free to other other countries to pay for its debt, e.g. Japan, the US, Venezuela. But Greece has no unconditional right to other people's money. Why should Latvia and Lithuania, who are much poorer than Greece, finance a ridiculously bloated Greek military? There are much poorer countries still, Cambodia, Malawi, Niger, Angola. Why is it so vital that the rest of the world blows billions on fairly wealthy Greece, rather than these much more needy countries?

peterfirefly 11y ago

> No reforms in the world will allow Greece to meet the current liabilities, even the IMF says so. That is demonstrably NOT what the IMF says. Quite the contrary, in fact. http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/07/03/tsipras-is-wrong-imf-report-does-not-back-idea-greeces-debt-is-unpayable/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/07/03/tsipras-i...