I've been sort of following the news from Greece, but not in any great depth. If you'll recall, the European central banking authority and the IMF imposed, or attempted to impose, austerity measures on those countries that got caught in the Bush Economic Disaster of 2008. Iceland, wisely, told them to take a hike, Ireland and Spain somehow survived it, but the Greek government tried to follow the dictates of the Powers That Be -- and got kicked out of office.
Paul Krugman has a terrific column on the latest wrinkle in the Greek situation and how it's likely to affect the European Union:
Key phrase: "morality play economics." That perfectly describes the economic theories of the right. There's an element of punishment in conservative economics, but it's not directed at those who actually caused the problem -- if that were the case, a lot of bank executives in this country would be in jail right now.
And the whole austerity idea is crap, even though it probably makes sense to those who aren't thinking very deeply: if you're incurring massive debt, you should cut spending. That might work with a household budget, but to think it's going to work with a national economy is lunacy: as we learned here in 2009-2010, and as the British learned, the last thing you want to do when your economy is tanking is take money out. National economies just don't work that way.
And the Greek situation stands a very good chance of bringing the whole Eurozone toppling down, according to Krugman -- who has committed the politically unpardonable sin of so far being right, all the way down the line.
Via Digby, who has this to say:
This just appeared in my mailbox from The Guardian:
This is not going to be pretty.
Paul Krugman has a terrific column on the latest wrinkle in the Greek situation and how it's likely to affect the European Union:
Suppose you consider Tsipras an incompetent twerp. Suppose you dearly want to see Syriza out of power. Suppose, even, that you welcome the prospect of pushing those annoying Greeks out of the euro.
Even if all of that is true, this Eurogroup list of demands is madness. The trending hashtag ThisIsACoup is exactly right. This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief. It is, presumably, meant to be an offer Greece can’t accept; but even so, it’s a grotesque betrayal of everything the European project was supposed to stand for.
Can anything pull Europe back from the brink? Word is that Mario Draghi is trying to reintroduce some sanity, that Hollande is finally showing a bit of the pushback against German morality-play economics that he so signally failed to supply in the past. But much of the damage has already been done. Who will ever trust Germany’s good intentions after this?
Key phrase: "morality play economics." That perfectly describes the economic theories of the right. There's an element of punishment in conservative economics, but it's not directed at those who actually caused the problem -- if that were the case, a lot of bank executives in this country would be in jail right now.
And the whole austerity idea is crap, even though it probably makes sense to those who aren't thinking very deeply: if you're incurring massive debt, you should cut spending. That might work with a household budget, but to think it's going to work with a national economy is lunacy: as we learned here in 2009-2010, and as the British learned, the last thing you want to do when your economy is tanking is take money out. National economies just don't work that way.
And the Greek situation stands a very good chance of bringing the whole Eurozone toppling down, according to Krugman -- who has committed the politically unpardonable sin of so far being right, all the way down the line.
Via Digby, who has this to say:
Margaret Thatcher is laughing in hell. Along with some other memorable historical figures.
This just appeared in my mailbox from The Guardian:
The government in Athens and its creditors have reached a deal that will shore up Greece’s place in the eurozone after marathon overnight talks.
After 31 hours of acrimonious discussions spread over one tense weekend, a breakthrough came early on Monday morning. Donald Tusk, the head of the European Council, announced that the 19 leaders of the eurozone had unanimously reached agreement.
He said they were “all ready to go” on a new programme for Greece under the eurozone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, adding that Athens had signed up to “serious reforms”. . . .
In order to get these desperately needed funds, the radical left government of Alexis Tispras had to submit to draconian economic reforms that the Greek people had rejected in a referendum barely a week before.
This is not going to be pretty.
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