General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Austerity policies and the danger of fascism [View all]Mc Mike
(9,107 posts)Prof. Klein's 'Shock Doctrine' talked about a lot of Third World nations turning their backs on WTO, IMF, and World Bank (pp 576-8, in her chapter 'Shock Wears Off'), by going with the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas.) Greece isn't 3rd world, but it might as well be.
Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Argentina, Equador, Bolivia all gave the finger to the banksters. The IMF's lending portfolio went from 80% Latin America in '05 to 1% in '07. Argentina's Kirchner said "There is life after the IMF, and it's a good life." The 'Financial Times' reported that when World Bank managers dispensed [austerity] advice to the developing world, "they were now laughed at." The Latins appear to be mirroring the Yeltsin group's strategy, when they all pulled their Republics out from under Gorbachev, and reassembled them into a new Russia, not ruled by Gorby. It would be good if Greece could join a Southern Hemisphere oriented alternative to western banksters, along with all the other nations getting bled by the financial leeches. The country is like a frog in a skillet, they have to jump some way. Why not jump toward giving their people hope? At minimum, Greece has a lot of shipping capacity to offer any new financial cooperative that they join.
Hitler's nazis promised to give the finger to banks and corporations, but were the flunkies of those financial interests. They were created by big money interests, and completely subservient to them. Fascism was defined as 'Corporatism + Reaction'. Hopefully the Greeks will see through the nazi flunkies' lies, despite their country's current level of austere misery and financial shock.