I like the guy, could he be any more scathing of what Germany have done??
Greeks apologise with huge horse
15-05-12
THE nation of Greece said sorry to the European Union with a present of an enormous wooden horse.
Left outside the European Central Bank in the dead of night, the horse has now been moved into the ECB’s central lobby where it is proudly on display.
A gift tag attached to the horse, which is surprisingly light for its size and has small holes along the length of its body, suggested that it should be placed in the bank’s vaults overnight to avoid it being targeted by thieves.
Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, said: “How nice of the Greeks to acknowledge the trouble we’ve been put to on their behalf with this wonderful horse, handmade and so large it could hold a dozen double-decker buses.
“The card with it, which had a teddy bear dressed as a hobo on the front, explained that Greece made us this because they don’t have enough money for a present, which brought a tear to my eye.
“However, unless they can somehow find billions overnight then austerity measures must continue.”
Oddly, Greek representatives in Brussels have hinted that they may soon be in a position to settle their debts and have puzzled the French and German banks that hold their loans by asking if there is any discount for cash.
The government of Spain has reacted angrily to the gift, accusing the Greeks of trying to bribe the ECB and redoubling their own efforts to weave a gigantic sombrero-wearing straw donke
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Greece to be allowed to join BRICS if their economy improves, which it certainly will if they exit the EU.
After Argentina’s default, their economy grew at 9% per annum between 2003-2007.
Sorry in advance for the large font - I can’t find a way to reduce it. This gives an interesting insight into the imbalance in global finances
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Why aren’t the Skates in that list?
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Here’s an open letter from five leading economists, including Piketty, the chap that managed to impress CB Saint earlier with his scathing assessment of Germany’s position.
I’ve heard Merkel’s situation described as a Gordian knot, which I can’t really disagree with. If Greece leave the single currency and start printing their own, it’ll quickly become the number one holiday destination for cash-strapped families. They could even see the growth that Argentina did during 2003-07, and that could convince the other countries that are closer to peril that an exit from the single currency is a better option than continuing to enforce austerity. Places like Italy, Spain and Portugal, which also have thriving tourist and cultural attractions. I suspect even Ireland, famous for being hugely expensive, would also see a boost in its visitors.
The second option is more of the same. Something that looks good to her propagandised flock, many of whom think that the Greeks are getting what they deserve. Might keep her in power. Utterly fucking impractical. Plus the rest of the world, particularly those on the other side of the Atlantic, have got a keen eye on this. She can only please her own people if she ignores the rest of the world.
The only honourable option would be to attempt to get a realistic debt restructuring package on the table, even if it means falling on her sword afterward.
Linked article
“History will remember you for your actions this week”
I wonder what she’s going to be remembered for?
This is why I can never entirely hate Nigel Farage, tawdry as UKIP’s General Electioneering turned out.
Suzanne Moore has a decent piece in the Guardian today. Left winger coming out against Europe.
The solution almost a decade ago was to split into a Hard Northern and Soft Southern Euro.
It is not the fault of the Greek Nation that they are in this mess. Anybody with a GCSE and the ability to read could see that the Southern States were not following the same rules as the rest of the EU on implementation, on Inspections and on managing the actual bduhet requirements that Euro membership needed.
The FAULT lies with the people who did not enforce penalties on the “Southern Softies” from the day the Euro came in.
We ALL know why that is - Germany needed them in the Euro to keep it’s value down.
Germany it’s savers and Pensioners ripped off the Southern States by pushing a flawed concept to death.
The fall out is going to hurt and the EU itself could crsh & burn.
They were supposed to create a single Europe. It is becoming more divided by the second
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So the final humiliation of the Greeks is almost in place, with the loss of fiscal sovereignty the price to pay to ensure that austerity is forcefed to the populus.
One regional issue seems to have escaped everyone’s attention in all this, and it could really mess things up far worse than any supposed flirting between Tsipras and Putin. The Greeks and the Turks are historic enemies. They last fought a war in 1974, over control of Cyprus. With Greece weakened as never before, the Turks may feel emboldened to revive their longstanding territorial claims over a number of other Greek islands and some of the mainland.
At the very least, there’s no doubt that the whole Grexit crisis has left Greece vulnerable to its old enemy in a way that must be deeply tempting to a territory-sensitive Islamist regime.
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Whatever happens, this is now a PR nightmare for Germany.
#ThisIsACoup trending all over Europe last night.
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Varoufakis has weighed in with another blog post. Calls the agreement a New Versailles Treaty, just as he termed the deal of 2010.
Never before has the European Union made a decision that undermines so fundamentally the project of European Integration. Europe’s leaders, in treating Alexis Tsipras and our government the way they did, dealt a decisive blow against the European project.
Tsipras to resign.
The revolt by hardliners angry at what they view as a betrayal of the party’s pledge to fight austerity left Tsipras short of the 120 votes he would need – two-fifths of the 300-seat assembly – to survive a censure motion and he was widely expected to call a confidence vote this week or next.
He has now decided to skip that step, deciding instead to go straight to the country in an attempt to silence rebels and shore up public support for the draconian three-year bailout programme, which entails a radical overhaul of the Greek economy including further tax hikes, spending cuts and major reforms of health, welfare, pensions and taxation.
Snap elections to be called.
Current political and business thinking.
Don’t solve a problem, give it to our children & grandchildren
Assume you’re talking about Greece and not that car-crash of our own political landscape?
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Global mate think global.
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That’s true, but @Cobham-Saint would be equally well served by having a look at Varoufakis piece in the Guardian for a taste of how global interests work. The IMF were initially supportive of the Greek plan to have bills they could pay off. The EU and the ECB were not.
It’s not even new, that. We had a spate of global interests superceded by the desire of individual empires or movements about a century ago, and look where that got us.