Posted on 01/25/2015 6:01:49 PM PST by Lorianne
Voting in Sunday's much-watched Greek elections has ended, and exit polls suggest that the far-left Syriza party has captured nearly 40 percent of the vote. While this may not be enough to ensure a parliamentary majority in Greece's electoral system, it's now clear that Alexis Tsipras, a fiery 40-year-old once considered too radical for national politics, will lead the next Greek government. Tsipras has promised to end Greece's "austerity program," a series of spending cuts and tax hikes designed to reduce the country's enormous bailout debt, which equals 175 percent of its GDP. Freed from this burden, Tsipras argues, the Greek government will implement policies to generate economic growth.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, Greece has endured an extreme version of the troubles plaguing Europe as a whole. One in four Greek adults do not work, and the unemployment rate for the country's youth exceeds 50 percent. The black market is estimated to comprise half of Greece's economic activity. More than 200,000 have voted with their passports and emigrated. Given these conditions, the appeal of Syriza—once considered a fringe leftist party—has grown markedly.
Tsipras' victory presents the troika—a consortium consisting of the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund—with a series of unappetizing options.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Yep, good for Grease - they are telling Germany and others to SHOVE IT. I love it.
Greek governments have basically killed the patient with austerity policies.
Five years of them have not produced an economic rebound.
If its all pain, no gain - even sensible people will reject medicine to restore their health.
The difficulty is that Greece can’t inflate the currency, as it used to, while the drachma was legal tender. The principal option is default, followed by repudiation. That will lead to the expulsion of Greece from the EU. Putin has Russia’s immense holdings of natural resources to finance his spending sprees and prop up his feudal economy (whereby sectors are handed out to his cronies, and assets are seized on a whim). Greece has nice beaches.
The Germans are going to get burned financially, big time.
Greece can leave the Eurozone and follow its own policies.
None of which will be painless - as in getting its fiscal house back in order again.
But at least it would be Greeks making the decisions, not international lenders and that would be good in the long run both for Greece and for Europe.
Who knows they might have another Jennifer Anniston kicking around somewhere too.
Which is what happens when the government tries to tax productivity out of existence. I recall several decades ago reading that 30% of Italy's economy was underground. With oppressive economic policies, it's either that or go out of business.
Groundwork for WWIII continues to build. Large scale debt is not repudiated without consequence. War - to steal wealth and kill creditors, or seize assets as repayment - becomes the only option.
They need to cut down on their bloated public service sector, attack crony capitalism and slash taxes.
Its the only way they’re going to stimulate economic growth. And growing the economy will make reforms easier to sell.
You can’t sell jobless people austerity if there’s no hope things will get better for them.
And things are so bad in Greece people don’t see a radical leftist party like Syriza making things worse. But at least they have hope.
Popcorn time.
Time for Rainbows and Unicorns and fake wealth?
That depends on what EU governments do to collect. Greece owes 240b euros. If the EU insists on collecting by seizing all Greek assets and imports and banning all travel to Greece until it pays up, the country immediately becomes Bangladesh with nice beaches. Economically-speaking, the Greek parties on offer ranged between hard left, and really hard left. Syriza is the latter. Not surprisingly, this reflects the sentiments of the populace:
The degree of radical change Syriza can introduce even with an absolute majority will be limited by its lack of money and the unwillingness of 75 per cent of Greeks to leave the euro because a return to the drachma is not really feasible. Greece imports most of its needs and has no important allies in its confrontation with the EU. On the other hand, as the first radical-left government in Europe for decades, it will fight very hard to show that it can deliver on its promises to give free electricity to those cut off, provide food stamps for children, provide healthcare to the uninsured, provide accommodation to the homeless and raise the minimum wage from under €500 a month to €750.
Good for Greece? They just elected someone who is telling them what they want to hear. Trouble is, it is disconnected from reality. They can repudiate their existing debt, but who will buy their new bonds? They can print $$, but it will buy nothing outside Greece.
Basically, they are like a chicken running around with it’s head cut off.
Good for Greece? They just elected someone who is telling them what they want to hear. Trouble is, it is disconnected from reality. They can repudiate their existing debt, but who will buy their new bonds? They can print $$, but it will buy nothing outside Greece.
Basically, they are like a chicken running around with it’s head cut off.
She has/had a certain type of figure.
Most of Greece’s debt is owed to other European governments. A large part of it could be written off, allowing Greece to repay private creditors.
What clear is austerity will have to be eased to allow Greece to continue making payments.
Of course, that means both the Germans and the Greeks have to compromise. At the moment, its easier said than done.
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