IMF Chief Lagarde to suffering Greeks: It's payback time: don't expect sympathy

[brentspeak]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/25/payback-time-lagarde-greeks

Larry Elliott and Decca Aitkenhead
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 May 2012 15.04 EDT

The International Monetary Fund has ratcheted up the pressure on crisis-hit Greece after its managing director, Christine Lagarde, said she has more sympathy for children deprived of decent schooling in sub-Saharan Africa than for many of those facing poverty in Athens.

In an uncompromising interview with the Guardian, Lagarde insists it is payback time for Greece and makes it clear that the IMF has no intention of softening the terms of the country's austerity package.

Using some of the bluntest language of the two-and-a-half-year debt crisis, she says Greek parents have to take responsibility if their children are being affected by spending cuts. "Parents have to pay their tax," she says.

Greece, which has seen its economy shrink by a fifth since the recession began, has been told to cut wages, pensions and public spending in return for financial help from the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank.

[sabrina 1]

1. Should anyone be surprised? She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to economics

and obviously shares the views of those she works for, that human life is disposable. Cruel, unfeeling, autocrat, like all of them. And stupid as the collapse of the world's economies under their control, demonstrates.

That is going to go over well in Europe. Where do they find these authoritarians so willing to destroy nations while pretending to be civilized?

[dkf]

2. She has seen too much misery such that what the Greeks are going through does not compare...

Asked whether she is able to block out of her mind the mothers unable to get access to midwives or patients unable to obtain life-saving drugs, Lagarde replies: "I think more of the little kids from a school in a little village in Niger who get teaching two hours a day, sharing one chair for three of them, and who are very keen to get an education. I have them in my mind all the time. Because I think they need even more help than the people in Athens."
---
In her interview Lagarde says Greece is not getting softer treatment than a poor country in the developing world, and that the IMF does not find it harder to impose strong conditions on a rich nation.

"No, it's not harder. No. Because it's the mission of the fund, and it's my job to say the truth, whoever it is across the table. And I tell you something: it's sometimes harder to tell the government of low-income countries, where people live on $3,000, $4,000 or $5,000 per capita per year, to actually strengthen the budget and reduce the deficit. Because I know what it means in terms of welfare programmes and support for the poor. It has much bigger ramifications."

http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/25/payback-time-lagarde-greeks?cat=world&type=article

[brentspeak]

4. She has seen too much misery of her bankster friends agonizing over which yacht to buy

While France has produced a Lagarde, it has also produced (back in the late 18th century) a very efficient and decisive contraption to deal with people like Lagarde.

[FarCenter]

12. I wouldn't worry about the kids in Niger

The Sahara is moving south. Niger is drying up under the impact of climate change.

They are going to die of starvation, disease, or war.

[riderinthestorm]

3. This article cements my view that Greece is going to be cut loose.

The language is unequivocal. She already knows Greece won't stand for the measures as outlined so she knows what's going to happen. She's just prepping the masses for the inevitable.

[girl gone mad]

5. Such blatant idiocy.

Hey parents, if your kids are going hungry because you can't afford to feed them, just pay more taxes.

Send even more of your money to German and French bankers. Problem solved.

Yes, this is really how neoliberals think. Any wonder we are now in the 5th year of this crisis?

[TheKentuckian]

6. Preach all the Gandhi you desire but these fucks will have to be dealt with Czar style

They are not going to be shamed and there are no hearts and minds to win.

Gandhi tactics are fine to build some momentum but in the end their power will have to be taken, they will not go peacefully into the night.

I'm not advocating a damn thing, it is what it is. Reality must be dealt with.

[Dawson Leery]

7. Disban the IMF?

[roamer65]

8. They need to default and dump the turd on Berlin.

[dkf]

9. The European banks already took the haircut.

The holders are now the ECB and other government institutions...oh and the Greek Central Bank, Greek banks in general and Greek Pensions.

[magical thyme]

10. ah yes, Europe cares so much about African nations

That's why they're buying up their arable land to grow food for Europe, while leaving the local Africans to starve.

[Odin2005]

11. The IMF can go to hell.