Although it is not completely clear the situation as per ekathimerini.com seems that the Greek state is softening it’s stance on liberlisation of the taxi sector and seems to be prepared to revert to an older agreement. However
The article is not clear on what exactly the situation is. It is also reported that the taxi drivers are toning down their protests. Not blocking roads for so long, no letting people pass tolls for free etc.
The US debt ceiling debate goes on. The similarities between the Obama and Papandreou are striking. Both leaders were/are threatening apocalypse scenarios if the debt is not increased. Obama and Geitner talk about knock on effects throughtout the global financial system, I talk about the international banks working to closely with each other to be called competitors and they are in fact particiapting a massive international banking cartel.
Obama’s speech last night talks about the USA not paying it’s bills, higher interest rates, greater good and country above one’s self. Of course it is all nonsense. The US government will still take in around 2.2 trillion dollars in revenue regardless of whether the debt ceiling is raised or not so the government will still have money to pay debt interest. The only way the US will default is if Obama says the people who lent the USA money are at the bottom of the pile when it comes to getting their money back.
The fact that Obama is saying default is very telling. Let me give an analogy. A business is having budget problems. The management of the company is negotiating what to do. During the negotiations one of the parties comes out and in front of the employess it says the other party is being unreasonable, that they want this and they they want that and they are going to put the business into bankruptcy.
What would be the reaction of the employees?
Maybe it would be “What do you want us to do?”, “Why are you telling us this?”, “I thought you guys were in control?”
And it is much the same with Obama. It gives the press a massive story, it gives people something to talk about but further than that? It’s all down to the politicians to sort it out.
I mean what purpose is there for Obama to come and say the USA could default? What purpose does it solve to say the social security system will collapse and it will be the other parties fault?
Why would someone want to do that? As Papandreou’s speech did before the vote on the second round of austerity measures in Greece the only purpose can be that it is to try and make the other party look bad. To make the other party look like the bad guy, to make the other party look like they are putting something above the welfare of themselves and their country.
So is this what such a serious problems according to Obama has come down to? Name calling? Guilt trips?
From where I am standing it looks like a massive shakedown of the Amercian people by the international banking cartel. Don’t forget, at the end of the day, the more debt America gets into the better the balance sheets of the money centre banks look.
Meanwhile back in Greece tax evasion seems to be the number one problem for the country! The Greek government is desperate and incompetent. The government departments and political parties have shownt hey are not capable of managing their budgets but they still insist that giving them more money is the answer.
The Greek government treats it’s citizens with utter contempt.
It is reported that the President is pushing politicians to sort out the tax evasion problem. I do not know how anyone can say that the President is acting in the national interest when he says this. Like I said, the government has shown it’s incompetence, to give it even more money would be completely stupid.
And that is not to mention the fact that the Greek economy is in a downward spiral at the moment. To say that taking more money out of the hands of Greek at this time will be helpful to Greece is simply false.
There is also an article in ekathimerini.com today which covers Greece’s options regarding default and the consequences of default. The article shows a complete and utter misunderstanding of reality.
Like I did yesterday, the article raises so many false statements I have to take it apart paragraph by paragraph.
The article starts The recent deal on the Greek debt provides Athens with a significant breather, pushing away the specter of full and uncontrolled bankruptcy. That’s the good news – So the author says that the “controlled bankruptcy” deal, if, it is passed will give Athens a breather.
Okay on the face of it sounds like a simple statement but of course it is not. If you only mention the positive aspects of something, the something always sounds good. Let me highlight the bad points of this deal.
The author is saying it is okay for the Greek of today to pass on billions of Euros of debt and debt interest payments to the children living in Greece today and the grandchildren of the Greeks today. That is the long and the short of the situation. Is it an acceptable decision to do this?
The next paragraph is large so I will break it down into 2 pieces
The bad news is that some critics will try to convince us that we should have threatened, or even carried out, an organized default in order to get a better deal. It’s the usual motley alliance of leftists, populists and nationalists who really believe that Greece would be better off by threatening to blow up the global credit system. – Now the author is talking about “organised default” didn’t he just say that the deal provides Greek with breathing room? Maybe he doesn’t class paying your debts on time as a default?
Anyway, moving on, “motley alliance of leftists, populists and nationalists” – okay so everyone in Greece is united on this issue but what is his point here?
And then he rolls out the number favourite line of PASOK, Papandreou, Venizelos. Blow up the financial system. Ignoring the fact that the statement is not true. (if the system “blows up” it will not be Greece’s fault) the author is saying that it is okay for Greeks to sacrfice so people in other countries can benefit. I have just typed that but I still can’t get my head around it. Is the author saying that Greek should be the slaves of other countries? I do not know what politicial belief that is, please let me know if you know.
The same people argue that “whatever the outcome, the Europeans and the Americans will not let us drown.” The problem of course is that if their theory were to be put into practice, the results could be devastating. It’s like somebody trying to convince you that there is life after death; but to find out if he is right, you have to die first. – I don’t know if that is the “philosophy” ie Europe and the USA not letting Greece drown, has someone done a survey? If so, please send me a link.
And then he goes on again with the Papandreou speak. Life after death, as if Greece will “die” if it defaulted. The author has obvioulsly not got the slightliest clue about the subject he is talking about. Default does not wipe a country of the map, defaults do not kill countries. Let me give some examples of recent defaults so you can see that the author is completely wrong.
Iceland
Russia
Argentina – very similar to Greece but worse
Ecudaor – interesting
Uruguay
In any case, the eurozone deal would never have been agreed on if the Greek Parliament had not passed the ambitious yet painful midterm program. In the world of the markets, there is no such thing as debt relief without painful austerity measures. “In the world markets there is no such thing as debt relief without painful austerity meansures” A completely false statement. Greece is at liberty to do whatever it needs to for the best interests of it’s citizens.To say that the “world markets” forced austerity on Greece is completely untrue. Papandreou was offered austerity as an option and he took it.
Of course the risk is still here. This government, which has repeatedly gone from hyper to hypo, might fall asleep at the wheel, thinking, “We’re fine for a few years.” A large number of ministers resist every painful decision, whether it’s layoffs in the state sector, the liberalization of closed-shop professions or the privatization of public utilities.– this I completely agree with.
The Germans, and other Western Europeans, have warned in closed meetings that their patience has run out. From now on, they want to see results — and nothing but results. Any delay or machination will be met with a tough response. The deal made clear that the Europeans wish to help Greece, but they would abandon the country to its fate — if we decided to go it alone. Well I think we all know that the Greek government is not going to come up with results. The evidence is everywhere in Greece that the country is going in the exact opposite direction Papandreou claims he wants it to go. So what it the “tough response”? I think we can rule out military action. “Abandon the countries to its fate”. If this did happen the large number of ministers the author refers to in the previous paragraph will certainly have to do the things they will not do at the moment.
As a senior German official told one of his Greek counterparts: “We are doing all we can to keep you inside the eurozone. If you decide that you can no longer afford to stick with us, we shall respect your decision and, again, make everything we can to facilitate a smooth exit.” – As I have said before I do not like it when “government officials” are not named. If they are making a statement on behalf of Germany then they need to take responsibility. Going back to the point about Greece not being able to afford to stay in Euro. That statement makes absolutely no sense unless Greece has to pay a subscription fee to be part of the Euro but I don’t think it does does it?
The fact of the matter is that the current crisis that Greece is in is exactly what the Euro was created for and will do exactly what is needed to make Greece a solid member of the Eurozone. The Euro is a new currency, 7 years at the time of writing, and so far has not faced any major problems which is suprsinig considering the magnitude of the effect it has had and the size of the change.
Greece is simply experiencing growing pains as it comes into line with the other economies inside the Eurozone like Germany, France and Holland. Okay Greece had the books cooked by the international banking cartel to allow it to become part of the Euro but whereas cooking the books was enough to get into the Euro, Greece is now being forced to make the numbers it cooked a reality and that is what this crisis is attempting to do.
If Greece had taken no bailout money, it would have been forced to reform government because the money simply wouldn’t have existed for the government to continue wasting it. The Greek government would have beend forced to get its books in order.
The Greek government is now going after money held abroad by Greeks. It is as if the Greek state believes that the Greek people are the property of the state and they are entitled to anything their citizens have.
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