Hat tip to my good friend and MNE contributor, Roger Erickson, for this.
(Reuters) - The Greek government will sell its majority stake in the port of Piraeus within weeks, the country's deputy prime minister told China's official Xinhua news agency, a flip-flop from the leftist government as it seeks funds from its creditors.
The Syriza government of Alexis Tsipras took power in January on promises to end painful austerity, saying it would halt a string of privatisations including the sale of a 67 percent stake in the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP). Read article.
#NoBALLS
Well, okay, first of all I called this from the very beginning. I called the eventual capitulation by Syriza, by Tsipras, by Varoufakis. Go back and read my blog entries starting from January 26.
But enough of patting myself on the back. If you care anything about breaking the global grip of the oligopoly, the neoliberal rape, the plutcratic plunder, then this has to make you want to puke. Another sellout by the phoney, cowardly, BallLESS, (add your own adjective), liberal, progressive, left wing.
They go down so easy, don't they? No stomach for fighting. No stomach for just about anything except getting down on their knees and giving hand jobs to the elites. So quick to cede power and control to the plutocracy...willingly...on a silver fucking platter. Each and every time.
I'm just wondering what Syriza will do next? Re-fire those rehired workers?
And by the way, we'll be getting another taste of it here in the U.S. Guess who's being anointed Senate Minority Leader? Chuck Schumer (D-NY), friend of Wall Street and war, those two great, liberal Democratic values.
Schumer had in the past “succeeded in limiting efforts to regulate credit-rating agencies, for example, sponsored legislation that cut fees paid by Wall Street firms to finance government oversight, pushed to allow banks to have lower capital reserves and called for the revision of regulations to make corporations’ balance sheets more transparent.”
His behavior has changed very little since the crisis.
When Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ted Kaufman (D-DE) introduced an amendment to break up the largest banks, they were able to recruit the support of a handful of GOP senators, but Schumer worked alongside the Obama administration to kill it. He insists that capital gains tax rates stay lower than those of other income, a direct gift to fund managers. Read the rest of the article here.
Who needs the GOP when you have guys like Schumer?
WSWS will make you an honorary Trotskyist, Mike. SYRIZA may have no balls, but they don't need any to fulfill their roles as caretaker government.
ReplyDeleteI don't pay attention to labels, Bob.
ReplyDelete“..neoliberal rape, the plutcratic plunder..”? If so, it may be a very new form of rape and plunder in that the majority of large Chinese firms are still state owned. I.e. is Piraeus being bought by the Chinese state or by private sector millionaires?
ReplyDeleteRalph - Cosco (the Chinese partner in the Piraeus deal) is state owned, and is not private sector.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is arguably better to lease the port long term to China rather than sell it outright, it is the right move. It puts Greece at the heart of the Maritime Silk Road. That coupled with Greece being the gateway to Europe for Russian energy piped through Turkey would be a huge cash cow for Greece. Pure rent from transit fees, and also a lot of new investment. If I were a Greek leader, I would not be letting this deal go to some other country.
ReplyDeleteI speak in the bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteGreece is no longer sovereign.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Mike. I'm just sayin' that it's actually an opportunity. But that doesn't take the curse off it.
ReplyDeletethe Chinese never saw a major western foreign currency they didn't like...
ReplyDeleteThe Ken-Left, priceless! I'm gonna keep this post for future reference.
ReplyDeleteGraphically, it expresses all that's wrong with the "Left": non-threatening, pretty, acceptable, nice smile, nice hair, but no balls, no substance, no nothing whatever.
I'll buy you 2 beers, now!
They are not interested in fighting. They are interested in appeasement.
ReplyDeleteWhich, as anybody who has read history understands, has a lousy track record of success.