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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI'm Gonna Try This Again... Because It's NOT About Greece, Or The Eurozone... It's About ALL Of Us..
Krugman warned...
Stiglitz Warned...
Chomsky Warned...
And Now...
Michael Brenner - Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations; Professor of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh
Warns...
Ironic... since Greece was the birthplace of Democracy...
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Our Greek Tragedy
Michael Brenner - HuffPo
Posted: 07/10/2015 9:18 am EDT Updated: 57 minutes ago
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The stakes in this drama far exceed the economic fate of the Greeks. At issue is the neoliberal project to replace Europe's (and America's) enlightened social philosophies with a rude plutocracy. The debt crises are the direct consequence of the Great Financial crisis of 2008, which the reckless financial consortia and their political enablers had spawned. Adroitly, they have seized the occasion to go on the offensive and to extend their control. Such an audacious project required a mythic tale to justify it. That tale features the alleged profligacy of the debtor countries, their moral failure and the righteous virtue of their superiors and strict instructors ensconced in the Troika. Syriza, with Varoufakis as the point man, were exposing the myth for the self-serving fiction it is.
For all dogmatic creeds and their promoters, facts are incidental and ultimately irrelevant. Nevertheless, here are a few:
Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy all had lower social expenditure relative to GDP than Germany. Spain, for example, was running budget surpluses until 2008. Its debt to GDP ratio was only slightly higher than Germany's (Ireland too kept its budget in surplus). Between 1999 and 2007, Spain and Portugal on average had substantially lower budget deficits than did Germany. Even Italy's debt to GDP ratio is no greater than that of Great Britain between 1999 and 2007. (The latter has been spared the crisis thanks to its being outside the eurozone and, therefore, able both to control its own money supply and to allow exchange rate fluctuations.)
Greece is the one country that legitimately can be judged as having handled its finances irresponsibly. Perhaps its most egregious action was to cook the books so as to obscure the full budget deficit when preparing its application to join the eurozone. This was done under the conservative government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, who preceded George Papandreou in office. The private financial firm that devised and promoted the scheme? Goldman Sachs. Goldman then proceeded to short Greek debt. Again, Greece was the exception that disproves the blanket condemnation of the southern European countries. It also is noteworthy that the country where the state expenditures constitute the highest percentage of GDP, and which has the most extensive social programs, is Denmark. Over the past 12 years, its rate of economic growth surpasses that of everyone in the EU and OECD. The highest productivity in the OECD is found in Finland and (unreformed) France -- not Germany. Oh, by the way, Greeks work more hours per year than do Germans. (This is taken from a piece I did for the Huffington Post in March 2013, "Ms. Merkel Builds Her Dream House."
Further discomforting facts for the myth-makers:
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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/our-greek-tragedy_b_7769474.html
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It is us. And sadly, it's Americans that caused the fiasco in the first place.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)are present in this EuroFiasco.
It's chaos more than anything, with states with disparate interests who are trying to run a continent's economy via consensus instead of via centralized political authority.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)From a historical perspective, what has been happening in the West is not at all obscure. In effect, a highly successful campaign has been launched to curtail and then roll back the great postwar social compact that occurred under the headings of Social Democracy, Christian Democracy, "One Nation" Toryism, or Gaullism in France (leftist variety). Its rough counterpart in the US was the New Deal. All of those political movements have been co-opted or otherwise neutralized over the past 30 years.
The method is two-pronged. The main tactic has been to buy off or buy out the elites of those parties and movements. That can take the form of an outright takeover, as the Democrats have sold themselves to corporate and mainly financial interests. In Europe, the preferred method was to clandestinely buy either a 51 percent share or a blocking minority share. (Strauss-Kahn was a "Socialist" even as he worked to undercut any proposal for southern European debt relief when head of the IMF and in need of financial help from the endangered French banks to fuel his run for the presidency.) That has occurred in Germany (SPD), France (Socialist), UK (Labour), Spain (Socialist) and the smaller countries as well. Italy is more complicated because of the residual strength of the former Communists in the "Left" formation. In France, the situation is so ludicrous that the Finance Minister of a "leftist" government is former head of MEDEF -- the counterpart to the American Business Roundtable.
The other prong is ideological: a comprehensive assault on the intellectual and philosophical premises underlying the social compact. Market fundamentalism in one form or other has been the proselytizing creed that has sapped the morale and ethical purpose of political elites of the above mentioned. A hybrid blend of Ayn Rand's adolescent doctrine of selfishness, deformed Adam Smith and Social Darwinism, it has been merchandized from academia to the pulp press. It has helped that weak, vacuous leaders could be personally bought off -- Tony Blair, the Clintons, Obama, Hollande, the entire SDP leadership in Germany for a generation. They, in my view, are the greatest sinners.
The strategy has worked beautifully...
OP article.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)not liking the outcomes of elections.
The social safety net isn't being shredded in Europe. It's been expanded in the US.
There's no real policy or political analysts, just the same trite buzz words and phrases.
The author thinks that everyone who disagrees with him is part of an evil conspiracy. Such people keep themselves irrelevant by choice.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Greece is just the beginning.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Greece got itself into trouble and made itself dependent on those who do not have its best interests at heart.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)What happened to that rule???
And who's at fault in such a scenario ?
Risk versus Reward... Bankruptcy... Prison Time...
I'd love to know.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Poorly designed institutions lead to conflict.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)victim. These financial leaches are off to find the next victim.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
salib
(2,116 posts)The welfare queen all over again.
Dog whistle for those right-wing ears.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)
Warpy
(114,615 posts)if Republicans are allowed to keep running up debt so they can kill Social Security and Medicare by crying poverty. That kind of poverty will attract the attention of the IMF and I can guarantee you that the IMF that learned nothing from the Argentine debacle in 2001 has learned nothing from Greece in 2015.
Hydra
(14,459 posts)But that would be nothing new the 2006-2008 "Recession" was a forced crash and look at who came out with more goodies afterward?
Warpy
(114,615 posts)but I've noticed the dividends go up every time the minimum wage does.
But yeah, I noticed who did the best and it wasn't any of us on DU.
Hydra
(14,459 posts)But I have more expenses too, so came out just treading water again.
I'm sure you are, but watch your stack carefully- lots of indicators that it's going to happen again, and possible soon.
Warpy
(114,615 posts)All that QE money did was hyperinflate the stock market because it never got past the 1%. I have no illusions about my present net worth, which I find hilarious because I'm just not the type. That it's only temporary is oddly comforting.
Should it stay hyperinflated, Doctors Without Borders will get a nice chunk of change when I kick the bucket.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)On our shores.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)That is why the coming election is so fucking critical. As if you didn't already know that.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)them, and we need him sooner, not later. That is what Greece failed to do and what led to its downfall: impose and collect taxes from those with the money to pay them.
salib
(2,116 posts)We need a movement that elects enough progressives to make it happen.
StarzGuy
(254 posts)So, in a real sense, they will reap what they sow. This is why I can't only place the blame at the feet of republicans.
I rely on both Social Security Disability Insurance and Medicare. I only hope I'm not alive when the s**t hits the fan and these programs are gone for ever. If I am still around, then I will have to make a decision as to whether it's time to take my life, such as it is today.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,876 posts)Comparing an entire country with the population of the LA Metroplex and nowhere near the economy, with the entirety of the United States is incongruous.
If it was a fact that traders the world over in the past looked to Greek government debt securities as a safe place to store money, then I might say the comparison was valid.
But that is clearly not the case.
Warpy
(114,615 posts)but never say never.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)The truth never gets old.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
Thespian2
(2,741 posts)Many people will come to recognize Fascism...once the take-over is complete...think TPP and TTIP...
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts) truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)makes me wonder.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)The German people didn't recognize what was happening to them either.
Wake the fuck up, people!
99Forever
(14,524 posts)
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Let's hope enough will wake up in time.
The Revolution is on.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)I'd Host.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts) JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Varoufakis asked Lagarde pointedly whether the IMF believed that the Greek debt was sustainable. When she began to mumble an answer, the Dutchman interrupted her and pronounced: "Don't answer; this is a take it or leave it proposition." Don Corleone as the face of plutocratic Europe.
The answer is "No" according to the IMF's own experts whose analysis was leaked last Thursday. The back story is that the IMF staff has come to recognize the illogicality of the EU's austerity strategy but has been muffled by the leadership. Lagarde is a corporate lawyerThe method is two-pronged. The main tactic has been to buy off or buy out the elites of those parties and movements. That can take the form of an outright takeover, as the Democrats have sold themselves to corporate and mainly financial interests. In Europe, the preferred method was to clandestinely buy either a 51 percent share or a blocking minority share. (Strauss-Kahn was a "Socialist" even as he worked to undercut any proposal for southern European debt relief when head of the IMF and in need of financial help from the endangered French banks to fuel his run for the presidency.) That has occurred in Germany (SPD), France (Socialist), UK (Labour), Spain (Socialist) and the smaller countries as well. Italy is more complicated because of the residual strength of the former Communists in the "Left" formation. In France, the situation is so ludicrous that the Finance Minister of a "leftist" government is former head of MEDEF -- the counterpart to the American Business Roundtable. who never studied economics. In the early 2000s she threaded her way into conservative political circles in France and held a couple of low level ministerial jobs. Sarkozy, the embodiment of American style neoliberalism, chose her to be Minister of Finance. When Strauss-Kahn, the alleged sex offender, lost control in a Manhattan hotel room, the French claimed the position as their own.
. . . .
Only a very small fraction of "bailout" money to Greece went to Greeks. It has gone to bail out the creditor banks whose feckless conduct fueled the crisis. Moreover, most of the capital inflow during the preceding period was speculative investment in real estate and other inflated assets rather than durable productive capacity. Those are the people whose own gambles were covered up by Goldman Sachs and who now are being repaid by the IMF and ECB, which serve as their debt collectors. Admittedly, this is hard to follow when the media have taken omerta oaths not to embarrass their corporate owners or to jeopardize the flow of favors that they receive from the financial community.
. . . .
The method is two-pronged. The main tactic has been to buy off or buy out the elites of those parties and movements. That can take the form of an outright takeover, as the Democrats have sold themselves to corporate and mainly financial interests. In Europe, the preferred method was to clandestinely buy either a 51 percent share or a blocking minority share. (Strauss-Kahn was a "Socialist" even as he worked to undercut any proposal for southern European debt relief when head of the IMF and in need of financial help from the endangered French banks to fuel his run for the presidency.) That has occurred in Germany (SPD), France (Socialist), UK (Labour), Spain (Socialist) and the smaller countries as well. Italy is more complicated because of the residual strength of the former Communists in the "Left" formation. In France, the situation is so ludicrous that the Finance Minister of a "leftist" government is f
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/our-greek-tragedy_b_7769474.html
Wonderful article. Thanks for posting.
Lots of gossip for those who enjoy it.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)why did you post the Republican Platform?
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Link ???
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)platform. I.e., the Republicans have a fascist agenda.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)If WillyT is suddenly pushing the Republican platform, then I'm really Lilith come to steal your soul.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I think my humor missed the mark.
donna123
(182 posts)are doing anyone a favor by trying to make Greece the symbol of inequality and the mascot of victims of plutocracy. Even this economist admits Greece was at fault to some extent. The other countries that ran into trouble, Ireland, Spain, etc, are not acting like Greece is acting right now. Is this just about social programs? Isn't Finland against Greece? Aren't Scandinavian countries identified more with being "socialist" than capitalist? I heard in Greece, people don't pay into their pensions the way they do in most countries, including in the US, except for military. How can that work?
There is definitely something wrong with this world right now where there is such extreme income inequality. Even California that passed minimum wage of $15, that doesn't go into effect for several years by which time it should probably be more, like $20. It's ridiculous. I believe in a pension system, 401ks are not the answer. A pension system has lower costs, easier to be managed. People don't need to know about investing. I also believe in personal responsibility though. Those who helped Greece cook the books should be held responsible. Criminal and civil charges would be a great start. Can someone make that happen? But seems Greece also needs to reform, the culture needs to understand they can't keep not paying taxes. Sure every country has tax cheats but it seems in Greece, it is endemic.
It also struck me, it would be nice to see some more women from all European countries as ministers/leaders. Seeing the pix of the EU meeting, mainly men. Yes I know Merkel, Lagarde, and that latvian president but that's what? all of 3 people compared to like 50 men.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)The 1% industry, international shipping, was not taxed.
Their 2nd leading industry, tourism, had major tax breaks.
How is that the fault of the average Greek person? It is the plutocracy that wrote the rules.
How is that *any* different than our major corporations -- the oil industry and Walmart come to mind -- actually being *subsidized* by corporation welfare.
"trying to make Greece the symbol of inequality and the mascot of victims of plutocracy."
Greece made themselves the symbol by standing up to the plutocracy that ruined them. The rest of the PIIGS countries have simply rolled over. The only part of this story that the media is making up is blaming the Greek people instead of laying the blame where it belongs.
donna123
(182 posts)Is this not true? When property taxes are being collected, people are supposed to say whether they have a pool or not. I read that aerial views showed some large percentage of homes having pools and yet that same area claimed a very small # of pools and in response to this scandal, these homeowners covered their pools with pool covers so they cannot be easily seen rather than admitting they have pools. This is not fault of just people as the govt needs to enforce these things somehow but if it is well accepted in Greece that these things are ok and everyone does it, that is a problem if you expect social services and pensions. It's a cultural problem.
If Greek magnates are stocking money in Swiss banks, can govt not go after them or ask EU to go after them? Like the US did. US fined Swiss banks and gave these tax dodgers the chance to pay their taxes and not face criminal/civil penalties. Remember when that happened? The Swiss banks are the most corrupt of all. If Greece wants to bring up Nazi Germany, they should be talking about Swiss banks and how they acted.
I am all for not subsidizing corporate welfare, I refuse to shop at Walmart out of principle plus their stuff is low quality, 10.10 minimum wage is not enough, but tying these issues in with what's going on with Greece is not a winning strategy IMO.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)donna123
(182 posts)I just googled some keywords
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/10/26/tax-evasion-plan-no-receipt-no-pay/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-10/getting-rich-greeks-to-pay-taxes-is-tsipras-biggest-test-at-home
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/world/europe/02evasion.html
Now that I think of it though, the house pool thing shows how the system needs reform. It's a pretty stupid policy to assess property tax by asking people to admit they own a pool. The ones who actually stated they have a pool might be considered dumbasses by others since pretty much everyone was being dishonest. Greece needs to do like here, county assesses property tax and if you think it's wrong, you protest it officially. Greece would also have to make sure though that their officials aren't bribed to lower property tax. I think that's another big problem culturally.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)emsimon33
(3,128 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)You are pointing at the handwriting on the wall, and most of us have seen and acknowledged it - the stubborn few, however, stick their fingers in their ears and say "LA LA LA I can't hear you LA LA LA".
Thank you for all you do - and I wish the deaf ears would take their fingers out and listen for a change.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
malaise
(296,101 posts)All will learn the hard way
randome
(34,845 posts)In the case of Greece, money is about...money. Surprising, huh? Greece is not the socialist revolution you are dreaming of nor is it simply a case of the 'struggling proletariat' if that's what you are implying.
Greece fucked up multiple times. Goldman Sachs fucked up. The previous Greek administrations fucked up. And finally the people themselves fucked up by 'volunteering' to not pay taxes.
As for austerity, it can't be defended but neither can it be discounted when Greece has taken so much of other people's money and thrown it away.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Reading is fundamental.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Where have I heard that term before ...
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)
muriel_volestrangler
(106,210 posts)I am appalled that Brenner has got that wrong, and that Huffington Post just prints it without checking a basic fact like that.
Greece joins eurozone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1095783.stm
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In a PASOK conference held in the summer of 1996, following Andreas Papandreou's death, Costas Simitis was elected leader of the party and called early elections seeking a renewed public vote of confidence. Although the Imia crisis had somewhat tarnished his image, the country's economic prosperity and his matter-of-fact administration won him the September 1996 general election with a 41.5% of the vote. Under Costas Simitis' leadership, PASOK had two major successes: In September 1997 Greece won the right to stage the 2004 Summer Olympic Games and in 2001 it was confirmed that the country would be included in the Eurozone, for which it had failed to meet the convergence criteria in 1998. Costas Simitis won another term in April 2000, narrowly winning with 43.8% of the vote and 158 seats: a substantial achievement for a Party which had been in power almost continuously for nearly 20 years.
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Nevertheless, the party was losing its traditional appeal to the Greek lower and middle classes. In order to revitalize the party's chances for the next elections, Costas Simitis announced his resignation as the leader of the party on 7 January 2004. He was succeeded by George Papandreou, son of Andreas Papandreou. The party members were expecting that Papandreou could reverse the slide in the opinion polls which saw the opposition New Democracy (ND), under Kostas Karamanlis, 7% ahead at the start of the year.
Although Papandreou reduced ND's lead in the polls to 3%, was unable to reverse the view of a majority of Greek voters that PASOK had been in power too long and had grown lazy, corrupt and had abandoned the inclusive, progressive principles of economic parity on which it was founded. ND had a comfortable win at the 2004 legislative elections held on 7 March 2004, placing the party in opposition after eleven years in office with 40.55% share of the vote and 117 seats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhellenic_Socialist_Movement
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In previous years, Italy used a similar trick to mask its true debt with the help of a different US bank. In 2002 the Greek deficit amounted to 1.2 percent of GDP. After Eurostat reviewed the data in September 2004, the ratio had to be revised up to 3.7 percent. According to today's records, it stands at 5.2 percent.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-debt-crisis-how-goldman-sachs-helped-greece-to-mask-its-true-debt-a-676634.html
polly7
(20,582 posts)
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Unsurprisingly, money feels like money should decide things.
If banks can tell countries to meet their obligations by gutting pensions, and not by raising taxes on the wealthy, banks are the real government.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Are the people sovereign, or is property sovereign?
CharlotteVale
(2,717 posts)
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
Zorra
(27,670 posts)http://struggle.ws/mexico/ezln/1997/jigsaw.html
Octafish
(55,745 posts)by JOHN PILGER
CounterPunch, July 13, 2015
An historic betrayal has consumed Greece. Having set aside the mandate of the Greek electorate, the Syriza government has willfully ignored last week’s landslide “No” vote and secretly agreed a raft of repressive, impoverishing measures in return for a “bailout” that means sinister foreign control and a warning to the world.
SNIP...
For a small country such as Greece, the euro is a colonial currency: a tether to a capitalist ideology so extreme that even the Pope pronounces it “intolerable” and “the dung of the devil”. The euro is to Greece what the US dollar is to remote territories in the Pacific, whose poverty and servility is guaranteed by their dependency.
In their travels to the court of the mighty in Brussels and Berlin, Tsipras and Varoufakis presented themselves neither as radicals nor “leftists” nor even honest social democrats, but as two slightly upstart supplicants in their pleas and demands. Without underestimating the hostility they faced, it is fair to say they displayed no political courage. More than once, the Greek people found out about their “secret austerity plans” in leaks to the media: such as a 30 June letter published in the Financial Times, in which Tsipras promised the heads of the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF to accept their basic, most vicious demands – which he has now accepted.
When the Greek electorate voted “no” on 5 July to this very kind of rotten deal, Tsipras said, “Come Monday and the Greek government will be at the negotiating table after the referendum with better terms for the Greek people”. Greeks had not voted for “better terms”. They had voted for justice and for sovereignty, as they had done on January 25.
The day after the January election a truly democratic and, yes, radical government would have stopped every euro leaving the country, repudiated the “illegal and odious” debt – as Argentina did successfully — and expedited a plan to leave the crippling Eurozone. But there was no plan. There was only a willingness to be “at the table” seeking “better terms”.
CONTINUED...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/13/the-problem-of-greece-is-not-only-a-tragedy-it-is-a-lie/