Global Economic Intersection
Advertisement
  • Home
    • 카지노사이트
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Investments
    • Invest in Amazon $250
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Best Bitcoin Accounts
    • Bitcoin Robot
      • Quantum AI
      • Bitcoin Era
      • Bitcoin Aussie System
      • Bitcoin Profit
      • Bitcoin Code
      • eKrona Cryptocurrency
      • Bitcoin Up
      • Bitcoin Prime
      • Yuan Pay Group
      • Immediate Profit
      • BitQH
      • Bitcoin Loophole
      • Crypto Boom
      • Bitcoin Treasure
      • Bitcoin Lucro
      • Bitcoin System
      • Oil Profit
      • The News Spy
      • Bitcoin Buyer
      • Bitcoin Inform
      • Immediate Edge
      • Bitcoin Evolution
      • Cryptohopper
      • Ethereum Trader
      • BitQL
      • Quantum Code
      • Bitcoin Revolution
      • British Trade Platform
      • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Reddit
    • Celebrities
      • Dr. Chris Brown Bitcoin
      • Teeka Tiwari Bitcoin
      • Russell Brand Bitcoin
      • Holly Willoughby Bitcoin
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
    • 카지노사이트
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Investments
    • Invest in Amazon $250
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Best Bitcoin Accounts
    • Bitcoin Robot
      • Quantum AI
      • Bitcoin Era
      • Bitcoin Aussie System
      • Bitcoin Profit
      • Bitcoin Code
      • eKrona Cryptocurrency
      • Bitcoin Up
      • Bitcoin Prime
      • Yuan Pay Group
      • Immediate Profit
      • BitQH
      • Bitcoin Loophole
      • Crypto Boom
      • Bitcoin Treasure
      • Bitcoin Lucro
      • Bitcoin System
      • Oil Profit
      • The News Spy
      • Bitcoin Buyer
      • Bitcoin Inform
      • Immediate Edge
      • Bitcoin Evolution
      • Cryptohopper
      • Ethereum Trader
      • BitQL
      • Quantum Code
      • Bitcoin Revolution
      • British Trade Platform
      • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Reddit
    • Celebrities
      • Dr. Chris Brown Bitcoin
      • Teeka Tiwari Bitcoin
      • Russell Brand Bitcoin
      • Holly Willoughby Bitcoin
No Result
View All Result
Global Economic Intersection
No Result
View All Result

Germany Wants to Bail Out Its Austerity Measures – Not Greece

admin by admin
March 31, 2015
in Uncategorized
0
0
SHARES
15
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

by Peter Bloom, The Conversation

After several months of tense and often antagonistic negotiations, Greece and its creditors appear to be at a stalemate. In order to receive a further bail-out funds, the Syriza government has proposed a set of reforms that in the view of Germany, the ECB and the IMF “don’t make the grade”.

To many, any compromise by Syriza represents a tragic surrender of its principles and a blow to the emerging anti-austerity sentiment rising across Europe. As one Athenian commentator observed:

They were voted in to say no. No to the same old, same old. Because the people have been desperate, they have felt humiliated and impoverished.

For others, Syriza must accept a “course correction” and embrace “responsible” economics required for ensuring the country’s present and future financial solvency. In this view:

“Greece’s fate lies in Athen’s hands, not Berlin’s”.

Indeed this stand-off seems to have reinvigorated the defenders of austerity. A recent Wall Street Journal article openly rebuked Syriza’s struggle, declaring:

there’s a growing sense that the best purpose Greece could now serve is as a demonstration of the dangers of failing to make other economies competitive. You can never save someone from himself, but you can try to learn from a bad example.

Regardless of the outcome, the rhetoric surrounding these negotiations reveals a troubling public campaign to politically strengthen these conservative economic measures, whether or not they are actually economically effective. This raises renewed questions of whether these negotiations are meant to “bail out” Greece – or the very idea of austerity.

Reaching an Agreement

On Friday, Syriza proposed to its creditors a set of reforms which aimed to avoid defaulting on their loans and the “bad scenario” of leaving the eurozone altogether. The troika of creditors, however, has demanded further austerity measures which include cutting government subsidies to the pension system, privatising state assets and weakening collective bargaining.

This would be a compromise for a government that rode to victory in no small part based on its vocal and vehement rejection of austerity. This is hardly surprising in light of austerity policies leading to unemployment rates of 28% nationally, without reducing the debt or providing the economic growth it promised.

But, despite maintaining that they would compromise so long as they stuck to the overarching commitment to stop the damage done by austerity, the Greek government has been forced to bow to what they have termed the “blackmail” of the pro-austerity lobby. As the Greek president Alexis Tsipras has described:

on the side of the troika, what we saw was something like blackmail. ‘If you don’t cut pensions, if you don’t fire people, we will not give you this bit of funding.’

Germany has been accused, in this respect, of “destroying the Greek economy in order to save it”. In the end, Syriza is being given a potentially unwinnable political ultimatim: either die quickly from lack of capital or slowly by more austerity.

A matter of irresponsibility?

It is telling how Germany has responded to the Greek situation. While much of Europe and the world have rallied round the economically beleaguered nation, the German government has gone on the attack in order to defend austerity.

They have shifted the blame for the failures of these policies to Greece and, by proxy, all other countries who have suffered disproportionately from austerity. Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, stated during negotiations:

The new Greek government has totally destroyed the trust of its European partners … this is a serious setback. Until November, Athens was on a road that could have led it to exit the crisis. This has gone.


Not seeing eye to eye: Germany and Greece’s finance ministers. EPA/Michael Kappeler

More recently, this rhetoric has taken an even more severe turn. Greece lodged an official complaint with the German foreign ministry for the condescending tone Schäuble took with the Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. He supposedly referred to Varoufakis as “foolishly naïve”, a statement he later blamed on a mistranslation.

This echoes a months-long campaign by German leaders to paint not just Syriza but the entire Greek economic and political system as “irresponsible”.

Blaming the victim

These declarations continue a dangerous and false narrative painting austerity as responsible and evidence-based against opponents who are portrayed as radical and delusional. However, this popular discourse is extremely, and intentionally, misleading. As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has said, the demand that Greece accept austerity was based on growth and unemployment assumptions, which were downright fanciful:

The troika (the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission) while pretending to be hardheaded and realistic, was peddling an economic fantasy. And the Greek people have been paying the price for those elite delusions.

Rescuing austerity not Greece

Of course Germany has much to gain from blaming Greece. Significantly, a number of northern European countries – Germany prominent among them – have substantially profited from these policies. The euro crisis created conditions that have benefited the German economy. It enjoyed the windfall of negative interest rates on bonds, unemployment is down and exports are booming.

And yet it is easy to peddle the myth that the real drug is social welfare and public investment for which the rest of society must pay. The eurozone’s wealthier citizens say they should not have to waste their tax dollars on profligate “lazy” foreigners who refuse to be economically sensible. They insist that these countries deserve all the suffering they experience because it is their fault for being irresponsible.

This rhetoric of austerity and fiscal responsibility shifts criticism away from a conservative financially driven ideology of Europe’s elites onto its most affected victims. Never mind that thus far the loans to southern Europe have actually saved richer countries including Germany money. Or that the real drain on our treasury is the tax avoidance of the very financial elites who now join in the chorus for fiscal accountability.

The latest agreement between Greece and its creditors appears to be more about rescuing austerity than saving Greece. With Germany demanding that Greece’s reform plan “must add up”, before releasing the funds the crisis-hit country needs to operate, Europe is clearly at a crossroads. Will it keep bailing out austerity and its elite supporters by blaming its most affected victims?

The ConversationThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Previous Post

California Water Wars: Another Form of Asset Stripping?

Next Post

Here’s Why We Appreciate Housing Sales and The Fraud MUST Go On

Related Posts

Addresses With Over 1 Bitcoin Surge To New Highs: Investor Optimism Soars
Econ Intersect News

Addresses With Over 1 Bitcoin Surge To New Highs: Investor Optimism Soars

by John Wanguba
September 29, 2023
Unlocking the Future: Google's Game-Changing Move to Advertise NFT Games Starting September 15th
Business

Unlocking the Future: Google’s Game-Changing Move to Advertise NFT Games Starting September 15th

by John Wanguba
September 8, 2023
Bitcoin Is Finally Trading Perfectly Like 'Digital Gold'
Economics

Bitcoin Is Finally Trading Perfectly Like ‘Digital Gold’

by John Wanguba
August 5, 2023
Can Worldcoin Overtake Bitcoin?
Economics

Can Worldcoin Overtake Bitcoin?

by John Wanguba
August 4, 2023
Bitcoin Is Steady Above $29,000 Awaiting US NFP Figures
Economics

Bitcoin Is Steady Above $29,000 Awaiting US NFP Figures

by John Wanguba
August 4, 2023
Next Post

Here’s Why We Appreciate Housing Sales and The Fraud MUST Go On

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized

Browse by Tags

adoption altcoins bank banking banks Binance Bitcoin Bitcoin market blockchain BTC BTC price business China crypto crypto adoption cryptocurrency crypto exchange crypto market crypto regulation decentralized finance DeFi Elon Musk ETH Ethereum Europe Federal Reserve finance FTX inflation investment market analysis Metaverse NFT nonfungible tokens oil market price analysis recession regulation Russia stock market technology Tesla the UK the US Twitter

Archives

  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • August 2010
  • August 2009

Categories

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized
Global Economic Intersection

After nearly 11 years of 24/7/365 operation, Global Economic Intersection co-founders Steven Hansen and John Lounsbury are retiring. The new owner, a global media company in London, is in the process of completing the set-up of Global Economic Intersection files in their system and publishing platform. The official website ownership transfer took place on 24 August.

Categories

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Addresses With Over 1 Bitcoin Surge To New Highs: Investor Optimism Soars
  • Unlocking the Future: Google’s Game-Changing Move to Advertise NFT Games Starting September 15th
  • Bitcoin Is Finally Trading Perfectly Like ‘Digital Gold’

© Copyright 2021 EconIntersect - Economic news, analysis and opinion.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Bitcoin Robot
    • Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Code
    • Quantum AI
    • eKrona Cryptocurrency
    • Bitcoin Up
    • Bitcoin Prime
    • Yuan Pay Group
    • Immediate Profit
    • BitIQ
    • Bitcoin Loophole
    • Crypto Boom
    • Bitcoin Era
    • Bitcoin Treasure
    • Bitcoin Lucro
    • Bitcoin System
    • Oil Profit
    • The News Spy
    • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Trader
  • Bitcoin Reddit

© Copyright 2021 EconIntersect - Economic news, analysis and opinion.