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Ignoring everything else, watching this whole saga unfold has been absolutely incredible. In a global environment mainly involving conservative powers, seeing a
by NamTaf 11y ago
Ignoring everything else, watching this whole saga unfold has been absolutely incredible. In a global environment mainly involving conservative powers, seeing a left-wing party take left-wing views to the negotiation table is utterly fascinating.
The next few days are going to be incredible. I really do hope Yanis stays on with the Greek government - his knowledge is clearly beneficial even if his ability to negotiate is lacking (for reasons I'm partially sympathetic to given the qualifications of his counterparts). He definitely has a position to play in the Greek government adivsing their plays in the coming future.
e: I'd absolutely love to see him and Wayne Swan (AU centre-left-wing treasurer during the GFC) sit down and discuss both the AU and Greek history between GFC and now. Swan and co. implemented a massive stimulation package that's widely credited as saving AU from feeling the bulk of the pain of the GFC and was relatively unique in its existance amongst the approaches of various nations. I think both of them could have quite the discussion about how both AU and Greece approached this and the resultant effects then to now.
- danieltillett 11y agoAustralia had the massive advantage of its own currency and a low government debt. Australia had room to manoeuvre through the GFC where as Greece went into it with a currency it does not control and very high debt levels resulting from reckless (and fraudulent) lending. While Wayne Swan did OK, I doubt he could have done much if he had been the Greek finance minister in 2008.
- peterfirefly 11y agoOn the other hand... having a huge list of potential internal reforms that will all improve the economy is a different kind of room for manoeuvre ;)
- contingencies 11y agoAustralia had the massive advantage of its own currency and a low government debt. Not to mention a relatively natural resource-based economy, and significant trade with China... one of the other least GFC effected parts of the world.
- danieltillett 11y agoYes Australia got lucky. The point I was making is that it is hard to play well when you are dealt the hand Greece was dealt in 2008.
- NamTaf 11y agoI wasn't trying to say the situations are similar. What I was suggesting is that the two examples give fascinating case studies into how differing approaches cause braoder social and financial effects. Both men strike me as realtively knowledgeable in financial matters and both come from the left side of politics in constrast to the usual 'economically strong' parties, so I'd be interested in listening to them discuss these topics. I've no doubt that the Greek government was trammeled in ways that the AU government was not. We were in a comparitively very healthy position with a significants surplus to draw upon and an ongoing (at the time) resources export boom, among other things.
- danieltillett 11y agoYes Australia got much luckier than we really deserved. Having a relatively small population sitting on top of a huge amount of natural resources allows us a lot of slack. I only wish we did more with our lucky situation.
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