Watching RT's latest report from Greece, i have to wonder where a bankrupt state is getting the money to pay for such massive police actions - the European Central Bank? Do they offer emergency loans for jack boot efforts to 'maintain public order'? Does the IMF grant an exception to its austerity requirements in the interest of keeping those who agree to economic restructuring in power? i don't know where all those gas canisters and urban warfare helicopters came from, but somebody's footing the bill.
Germany has been insisting that private investors be brought into the loan package for Greece; Germany, of course, wants to do everything possible to save the euro. An article in Der Spiegel explains, 'The worry is that any appearance of forcing private investors to come on board, could lead the ratings agencies to give Greece a default rating -- a move that could lead to an incalculable chain reaction on the financial markets. The ECB is also concerned about losses on its own books, given that the central bank owns Greek government bonds valued in the billions.' As journalist Stylianos Chrysostomidis points out, 'The money from all those loans - they don't go to the real economy.' Americans should be able to understand this easily enough, as they continue to look under their floorboards for the $740 billion in TARP funds handed out to US banks in 2007/8. It's the same old Trojan horse, built to save bankers and other investors, most of whom probably don't even live in Greece, though i suspect many have luxury yachts moored there. Unfortunately, border controls on investment bankers are moot in a world where cash is moved electronically from one hemisphere to another, so there's little the Greek people can do to prevent those folks from entering and then running off with deeds to the Parthenon and Lesbos.
i had to laugh when i read that 'endemic tax evasion' is part of the structural problem in the Greek economy, since chronic corporate tax filings of $0 have been endemic in the US economy for decades. Still, the EU-conscious editors of The Independent warn that, 'Greece is heading for a level of debt – 160 per cent of its total annual output – that it cannot reasonably be expected to repay, and certainly not while its national growth prospects are so weak. Yet instead of working with European private banks to ease Greece's debt burden, the European Central Bank and the IMF are demanding that Athens repays in full, no matter the short-term impact on the Greek economy.' Whether or not Papandreou succeeds in forming a new coalition government, it seems clear to me that the only viable solution for Greece is not to completely restructure its REAL economy, rather to stop letting the derivatives market, et al. run rampant. The eurozone may not be happy with that (obviously not) but in the long run, an EU that prioritizes needs from the ground up - not the boardroom, down - will be better for everyone.
i had to laugh when i read that 'endemic tax evasion' is part of the structural problem in the Greek economy, since chronic corporate tax filings of $0 have been endemic in the US economy for decades. Still, the EU-conscious editors of The Independent warn that, 'Greece is heading for a level of debt – 160 per cent of its total annual output – that it cannot reasonably be expected to repay, and certainly not while its national growth prospects are so weak. Yet instead of working with European private banks to ease Greece's debt burden, the European Central Bank and the IMF are demanding that Athens repays in full, no matter the short-term impact on the Greek economy.' Whether or not Papandreou succeeds in forming a new coalition government, it seems clear to me that the only viable solution for Greece is not to completely restructure its REAL economy, rather to stop letting the derivatives market, et al. run rampant. The eurozone may not be happy with that (obviously not) but in the long run, an EU that prioritizes needs from the ground up - not the boardroom, down - will be better for everyone.
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