Its the Friday lay day blog. Lay day means rest, sometimes. The Greek government paid €450 million back to the IMF bloodsuckers yesterday which apparently calmed markets (Source). How can a so-called bankrupt country afford to pay that sort of cash? Well it can by causing more unemployment and poverty. The Government is trying to appease the Troika (IMF, ECB and the European Union) so that they will given them more cash in the coming weeks. Appeasement is an appropriate word here. Just as in the historical context, it means going along with something evil that will ultimately backfire and cause more grief. But then according to the US economist James Galbraith, in his latest apology (April 7, 2015), Syriza is – The Real Thing: An Anti-austerity European Government. Funny about that. Unless it is flying below all perception, Syriza seems trapped by an anti-democratic force that is intent on squeezing any notion of abandoning austerity from its agenda. And, try to square Galbraith’s claims against the insights provided by Alain Badiou and Stathis Kouvelakis in this interchange (April 3, 2015) – Dangerous Days Ahead.Bill Mitchell – billy blog
The Troika is the enemy and its either exit or capitulation
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
6 comments:
The Eurozone can only rightly be regarded as the playing out of a disproportionate power situation where those who have accrued income can use it to set up "toll booths" in society to yield "rent" and making money on lending is but one form of "toll booth." Those in this dominate accrued money position would do well to remember that "credit is simply borrowing income the government hasn't created yet."
H/T to Paul Meli:-
http://economicsrantsnmusings.blogspot.com/2013/06/does-credit-drive-economy-part-ii.html
Apologies. I've just checked the web site I've referenced. It's been taken down.
Bill is totally right! And as always, thank you Tom Hickey for bringing this!Yes,we in the so called "MMT community",need to broadening our minds,and you makes great effort!Thank you Tom!
Speaking of enemies...
The increasing attacks on democratic rights also make clear that Syriza is preparing to press ahead with further attacks on the working class. Syriza representatives have exploited clashes on the fringe of anarchist protests to call for a massive build-up of the state’s repressive powers. Deputy Minister of the Interior Giannis Panousis demanded the immediate reestablishment of the hated communal police, which fell victim to the previous government’s austerity measures.
Along with the police, the military is also excluded from budget cuts. On 15 March, Tsipras signed a contract for the modernisation of five surveillance aircraft at a cost to the state of €500 million. Defence Minister Panos Kammenos of the right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL) demanded the expenditure in order to be able to meet NATO requirements.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/04/10/gree-a10.html
Thanks, Jan.
Along with the police, the military is also excluded from budget cuts. On 15 March, Tsipras signed a contract for the modernisation of five surveillance aircraft at a cost to the state of €500 million. Defence Minister Panos Kammenos of the right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL) demanded the expenditure in order to be able to meet NATO requirements.
This is why Greece can't expect much from either Russia or China. As long as they remain Atlanticists, the Eurasians will view them with suspicion. However, Greece stands on the cusp of Europe and Eurasia, so Russia and China will continue wooing them, in the hope that Greece will eventually come to the conclusion that its future lies more East than West.
A significant factor in this mix is that many northern Europeans hardly regard Greeks as European or European enough. There's a lot of actually bigotry involved, if one reads the statements of even European leaders about "lazy" Greeks. Think to whom "lazy" is applied pejoratively in the US, for example. Right, the N-word and it is not "Nazi."
Complicating the military situation is the longstanding Greek-Turkish kerfuffle over Cyprus,even though they are both members of NATO.
BTW, Turks are lower on the social totem pole wrt to northern Europeans than Greeks. It's doubtful that Turkey would ever be admitted to the EU and they seem to have figured that out.
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