One thing the Right is really good at is turning a blind eye as diaster steadily builds up and then blaming everyone else when it happens. Osborne is a past master at this, ignoring the riskiness of deregulated banks and then trying to make the victims pay (‘We’re all in it together’). But Lagarde at [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Greece’
Syriza still on course for victory, says poll, but margin remains tight
May 25th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Greece’s radical left party, Syriza, is still leading in the race to win the country’s elections on 17 June, according to a public opinion poll for Greek ‘Sky” TV. Syriza is outpacing conservative New Democracy by a four-point margin, with the smaller parties, especially those below the 3% threshold being squeezed. However, New Democracy has also [...]
Tsipras confronts neo-liberal blackmail – vote on austerity, not euro
May 23rd, 2012 by Ben Folley.At the weekend, Europe’s neo-liberals stepped up their attempts to blackmail the Greek people into accepting the painful terms of austerity by creating a false debate on Euro membership being the decisive issue in the election. David Cameron, speaking in Chicago, said to them, “you can either vote to stay in the euro, with all [...]
Greek Apocalypse Now? Not quite
May 21st, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Robert Chote, the OBR chair, is normally a serious and measured man, but to say, as he did, that the UK would suffer ‘irreparable damage’ from a Greek default or that the UK ‘may never recover’ is grossly overdoing it – more reminiscent of the saloon bar than the forum of the Government’s leading economic advisers. [...]
Greek exit won’t save euro: fundamental restructuring needed
May 15th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.With the smart money on an early Greek exit, the two main questions to arise are: what will happen to Greece, and what future then for the Eurozone? If Greece leaves, the exchange rate will drop sharply from 340 drachmae to €1 at entry to the euro to perhaps 1,000 drachmae, a loss of value [...]
New poll points way to Syriza-led Greek government after new election
May 11th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.A new poll by Marc for Alpha TV in Greece puts left coalition Syriza in first place with 23%, up 6% from the result last Sunday. The poll asked how respondents would have voted had they known the result. Syriza gained support from across the board, 18% of those who voted at the weekend for [...]
Another credit crunch looms
Mar 9th, 2012 by Ann Pettifor.The finance sector is signalling alarm, and our politicians are once again asleep at the wheel. Another “credit crunch” may be looming. The most significant evidence emerged from the ECB’s second Long Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) on Thursday last week. The LTRO is simply language intended to disguise the “printing of money” by the ECB [...]
Where is austerity working well? In Greece, say Tories
Mar 8th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Conservatives in the Welsh National Assembly have revealed, when looking for the benefits of austerity measures, they look to Greece and claim that it’s working well there. No mention of Britain. No mention of 20% unemployment in Greece. Nor the cut of 22% in the minimum wage (32% for young people). Nor cuts of 12% in [...]
Austerity Isn’t Working – time to invest in growth and jobs
Feb 28th, 2012 by Lee Brown.Austerity isn’t working. The disastrous Tory economic experiment has left the economy stagnating, household incomes falling at their fastest rate in decades and unemployment soaring towards three million. Even by the criteria the government has set itself, that of reducing the deficit, it is failing. The Tories are set to borrow £158 billion more than [...]
The Ukrainian goose & Greek gander
Feb 21st, 2012 by Ann Pettifor.The following is about the Ukraine, hardly a model of transparency, accountability and democracy. But it is interesting for what it tell us about the thinking of the great imperial powers (GIPs). On the one hand today’s GIPs make a great to-do about the need for democracy, often insisting that it is a condition for [...]
