The music in Europe is dying.
And so is civilisation.
Plato is now officially redundant in Greece.
This is a cartoon by the brilliant political analyst… cartoonist Yanis Ioannou. Plato is being fired from his Academy owing to the government’s retrospective redundancy orders for teachers.
Teachers are no longer needed in the brave new neoliberal world.
Bewrare of hubris!
Marianno Rajoy in the middle of his slush fund scandal, which he is talking his way out of. Silvio Berlusconi expected to be let off taxation fraud. Evangelos Venizilos, shielded tax dodgers by stuffing the so called Lagarde list in his pocket. And probably many more that we either suspect or don’t know enough about yet.
But what do these particular three have in common? Why, they can’t, they simply can’t be held into account because that would… destabilise the neoliberal agenda being rammed down Europe’s throat!!!
Rajoy has a clear cut majority in Madrid and he has shown exceptional zeal in screwing his people and his country to the satisfaction of neoliberal dogma. Why, he has achieved an unemployment rate of 26%! Not as good as Greece, but good enough to keep those unacceptable labour costs down.
Silvio Berlusconi has not behaved nearly as well as the troika neoliberal dogma would like, which is why The Frau contrived to summarily dismiss him amid sneer at with her then side kick, whatsis name? The one already consigned to oblivion? Yes. Him. Sarkozy. But the thing is, if he is convicted, then oh dear! What will happen to the Italian government coalition? We cannot risk any destabilisation! Especially not in Italy, now can we?
And last but not least, perhaps the darling of the troika. Venizelos (who hasn’t a clue about economics, but then nor, it appears does the troika) was the previous Minster of Finances and a greater success than he there couldn’t have been. He was the one to introduce the extortion tax. The exorbitant tax on houses, paid through the electricity bill on pain of having your current cut off.
The troika are so pleased with this catastrophic and barbaric tax (well they would be, wouldn’t they?) that it wants to make it permanent. Given half a chance this is precisely what the current Greek Quisling government will do. But in addition to that, Venizelos also set the foundations for the unemployment to soar to 27% and counting, thereby ensuring cheap, just about slave labour.
So even though the party he is pretending to lead has dropped from 44% in 2009 to somewhere between 5% and 7% now, he is absolutely essential! He props up the Stournaras regime ostensibly headed by the fool Samaras, which has turned out to be the best, most loyal troika government in the whole of Europe.
Therefore though Papapconstantinou, the Fin Min before him has been rightly arraigned for shielding tax dodgers, Venizelos has not and will not be as long as the troika regime reigning in a harsh totalitarioan way in Europe has its way.
But remember, it never was true that “there is no alternative!”. There is always an alternative and it’s about time an alternative to this vicious, not to say ineffective in its own terms at that too, neoliberal iron fisted ideology storms in to replace it. Oh, and not one single truth, but debate over many.
An excellent interview by James Galbraith was posted on Yannis Varoufakis blog. Gloomy of course, in a way, in that it appears the very EU let alone the EZ may well not survive. Germany has to decide what she wants to do. But it seems to me she has already decided and will roundly confirm her decision in the up coming elections.
In short, Germany wants all the benefits of the Euro but has no intention of conceding any of her sovereign rights, or agreeing to say Eurobonds or even a banking union I would say by the way she is procrastinating over this. In other words she wants all of the benefits but none of the costs.
And unfortunately, this is the best recipe for European disaster. A disaster that is already upon us. And perhaps in the worst possible way in Greece, where our government is acting more and more like nothing but Merkel’s props by the day, despite so many opportunities to at least cry foul! From the IMF’s admission that they got the formula wrong, to the IMF again insisting that there has to be a large haircut of official debt, otherwise no dice, to Enrico Letti’s open disparaging of the whole Greek so called bail out package.
Stournaras and Samaras refuse to budge. No! We will carry on with this destructive policy to keep The Frau happy, in the groveling hope she might be nicer to us after her election. Though why on earth she should be, especially after having won an election on the pledge that Greece will get no respite, remains a mystery to the general public if not to the wise and confident Mr Stournaras.
But perhaps Mr Stournaras is doing the whole of Europe a favour after all. Perhaps his very obsequious servility in bowing to the Mistress is what will speed up events and lead to the break up sooner rather than later. Because if it’s not going to be fixed, as appears highly unlikely, then it’s best to get it over and done with and move on to rebuilding the economy and our lives in a way no longer remotely resembling the inhuman neoliberalism we are currently being force fed with.
And while politicians such as Francois Hollande are talking positively about Europe’s prospects, the IMF issues a dire warning that the eurocrisis is far from over and that grave dangers lie ahead. Thereby throwing the proverbial spanner in the works of the Euro propaganda machine.
All the upbeat Euro myopics, from Francois Hollande to all the rest of them, keep saying that the crisis has ended or is ending. It’s a bit surprising that when they reiterate this wishful thinking at several month’s intervals, they see no reason at all why they should explain why it didn’t happen the last time they stated it had.
They are so desperate that it MUST happen that they keep repeating it like a mantra so it will happen, all the time clutching at straws, instead of making a serious assessment of what is really going terribly wrong and putting it right. But that’s what comes from a Union created NOT to reconcile France and Germany and thereby bring harmony and cooperation to the Dark Continent, but to embody and give expression to this conflict.
In has excellent book “The Rotten Heart of Europe”, Bernard Connolly anlyses this underlying rivalry all too well. How the EMU came about from this Franco-German struggle each to dominate or get the better of the other, with Germany always being the one destined to win the struggle, in the end.
Resulting in a Pyrrhic victory of necessity, however, since the problem of the Euro would be resolved on the streets of Paris. If Hollande carries on in this criminally inept way, I dare say that is precisely what will happen. And perhaps not only in the Streets of Paris either, once Berlin has had its way with Europe.
German victories do have a propensity to be short lived and end up in creating absolute havoc.
Lots of upbeat news today. Recession flattening out. Recovery predicted for second half of 2013. Orders up. Jobs being lost at a lower rate. Will this turn out to be the triumph for austerity the Germans unswervingly insist upon? You might think so from today’s data. But an upswing in Europe is dependent on strong growth in the rest of the global economy, as Larry Elliott points out.
However, all this renewed optimism generated by these figures fails to take into account two very important factors (at least two). The first being that for the global economy to achieve strong growth, high levels of consumption have to be restored to Europe. If Europe fails to restore a good level of consumption, global growth will be sluggish and anaemic. But such a condition simply horrifies German policy makers. For them austerity uber alles. And may the rest of the world be damned.
The other factor is the underlying cause of all the Euro misery which no one but no one addresses. At least none of those supposedly trying to solve the crisis. And that is the inherent imbalances of the Euro. The abysmal design of the common currency that has led to the surpluses in the north and the deficits in the south.
What is more, countries struggling like Greece, the worse hit by the crisis, do not have a hope in hell of ever recovering with a strong currency like the Euro. The very efforts to “reform” and restore fiscal rectitude and all that under such conditions merely leads to growing unemployment, shrinking revenues hence more taxation and cuts and eventually a total collapse (which we are already dangerously near).
Nevertheless, as Yannis Varoufakis rightly points out, a Greek exit from the Euro at this point would lead to a horrific situation where there would be a mass bank run throughout the Mediterranean at least and beyond and a painful, disorderly collapse of the whole unsustainable system.
But who is going to address these root causes of the crisis? Who is even going to officially recognise the truth? The Commission with the disastrous Olli Rehn as head of economic affairs? The German government, now openly and unashamedly running the show? The French, who as is their wont, care only about making a show of being an equal to Germany, which they never really are?
This is an impasse. A dangerous impasse. And one that could even make the current capitalist global economy collapse if serious people don’t get round to seriously addressing the serious problems the Eurozone suffers from. For the moment from Barrosos, Olli Reh, Schauble, Merkel, to Samaras and Stournaras, with a great many others in between, we only have clowns. And ones that don’t even make us laugh.
France’s finance minister has declared that the French recession is over, hot on the heels of this morning’s upbeat industrial morale reading
Here we go again. We eagerly await Barroso’s declaration that the crisis is behind us, and Schauble’s assurances to the same effect.
Greece, however, as always, is not pulling it’s weight!
So when it turns out, yet again, that recession is far from receding, that the crisis is getting worse, as will become apparent immediately after the German elections, We will all know who to blame!!!
As to the bright and brilliant Moscovici, who is so intelligent that all these meetings bore him to sleep, a French or francophone blogger commented: la recession est finie, maintenant commence la depression (or words to that effect).
Allons enfants de la patrie!
The one on the left. Though the one on the right runs a close second. (At least Stournaras, whatever else, had the sense not to smile!)
This his been one of Antonis Samaras most despicable days so far. And there have been some! 4,000 police were deployed all over the city, all demonstrations throughout the city were banned. A law passed by the hated junta outlawing gatherings of over three people was resurrected to turn Athens into a ghost town
Ironically, very reminiscent of the ghost town the Germans encountered when they drove triumphantly into Athens in 1941. Then it had been the people who disappeared behind closed doors and shutters as the conquerors drove in. This time it was Antonis Samaras, the grand son of Penelope Delta who committed suicide when she heard the Germans were coming in to Athens, who arranged for this despicable reception. Not to shun and snub the conqueror, but to protect him from the ire and hate of his own people.
Even Merkel’s visit did not entail this fascist ban on not just demonstrations but gatherings of people in the City. How lower can you stoop Antonis? Just how much lower?
Of interest is that the US Secretary of State for the Treasury is paying a surprise visit to Athens too on Sunday. No police will be deployed, no closing down of the city and all the trajectories to and from the airport. It will be a normal visit. Not one of the conqueror reviewing his spoils, while the so called prime minister cringes and bows, smiling obsequiously before him.
Now if that stark contrast doesn’t speak millions, I don’t know what does.
Perhaps the end, after all is nigh! We can only hope.
In answer to the revelation (well, revelation? Common knowledge rather) in the S?ddeutsche Zeitung, that there is a funding gap in the Greek so called bailout programme of 10 billion which must be addressed, Olli Rehn’s spokesperson, Simon O’Connor said:
We’ve known for a while, of course, that the sums in the Greek programme don’t quite add up.
Very British that (though the gentleman is probably Irish). “The sums don’t quite add up”. Just a little you know. Just a touch. Just a wee little bit that is… Nothing to worry about! Hmmm…
The Guardian also reported that: “Last week, Reuters got hold of the latest Troika report into Greece. It showed that Greece risked running up a deficit of up to 0.5% of GDP this year and in 2014 unless it met its tax collection reform plans.”
More attempts at black humour. The problem, they assume is the tax collection reform! Well it isn’t. The problem is that after a sharp and continuing recession of 25% so far and counting, with unemployment at 27% officially, and growing, there is not much left to suck up in taxes.
Greeks are being threatened with incarceration should they dare fail to pay their exorbitant, unfair and illogical taxes, with money they simply do not have.
So, what will happen since the Greek taxpayer has already been sucked dry? Well, quite simply we will go back to a dark age in our recent past. The age of political prisoners, lasting just about from the end of the Civil War (!949) to the end of the colonels’ junta (1974). (The island prisoner camps will have to be reopened.)
Only of course this time we won’t be political prisoners but economic prisoners. And since this will affect an ever growing number of the population, who is expected to fund this exercise? All those investors jostling at Mr Stournaras’ door to buy up Greek assets?
If there was a dearth of such mythical people, this last will positively make them run away in droves!
Not that there were any in the first place. Who is going to invest in a country with no consumers? With an idiotic taxation system that penalises business? With such an entangled bureaucratic mess you often cannot even cut through with bribes? And costs as high as the sky, in energy costs, transportation costs, financial costs, owing to the obsession with over taxation. Labour costs? Oh yes. They have gone down incredibly and are, we are told, very competitive.
Someone’s got a great big gap in their common sense if they think the slave labour imposed will do anything, anything at all to induce investment in the environment the troika and the inept Greek Quislings have created between them.
In 1995 Bernard Connally, who used to work for the European Commission and was in fact head of the unit then responsible for the analysis of the European Monetary system, published a book: “The Rotten Heart of Europe:The Dirty War for Europe’s Money” which was a brilliant critique of the ERM and the EMU.
It has been republished now, and when reading it one gets goose bumps on how prophetic it was. Of course this prophecy is nothing to do with any kind of sixth sense but merely with common sense and a sound knowledge of how Economics really works. Both of which Bernard Connally shows he had in abundance. Neither of which can be found in those deciding European policy at the moment.
He was born in 1949, studied PPE at Oxford, and post graduate Economics at Manchester University. I stress his date of birth because it means that when he studied Economics both in Oxford and Manchester, considered one of the best Economics departments at the time, the dogmatic kind of Chicago school indoctrination had not yet taken over the study of this subject.
The whole book is incredibly prescient over what the Euro would and has led to. It is written with insights, knowledge, oh and he was rewarded for his pains with persecution. He was drummed out of the Commission and forbidden to set foot in the holy place again. He had blasphemed against the Holy Euro.
I would like to quote a passage from his chapter entitled Wars of Religion (apt in itself): In this instance referring to Italy, “Would they simply stand and watch a financial and political collapse; or would they find some means – probably in direct contradiction to the Maastricht Treaty – of taking over the burden of Italian debt and, in counterpart, exerting direct, almost colonial, influence on Italian Economic and budgetary decisions?” For Italian read Greek, but also Portuguese, Irish etc.
He referred to this as a nightmare scenario. Is there any doubt that we are in fact living in this nightmare scenario so brilliantly foreseen in 1995? And since Bernard Connally diagnosed the cause of this nightmare, he has also pointed to the solution. It is worse than criminal that the only solution to the unwarranted pain being inflicted on Europe is being willfully and catastrophically ignored.
This was reported as “good news” by the Quisling government’s propaganda machine (that is private radio and TV in Greece.) He is reported to have said that in April 2014, a month before the so called Memorandum/”Reform” programme currently poisoning Greece to death comes to an end, the EU will provide more help for Greece! At a price of course, as is tacitly understood. The price being even more debilitating austerity measures.
Jesus Christ and the Lord have mercy on us!!! But that’s what comes from putting a pig farmer in charge of the Eurozone under the illusion that a pig farmer should know about handling PIIGS. Hmm… Krugman’s acronym of GIPSI is so much nicer. But anyway.
So what has this farmer told us? Succinctly that the whole plan is failing miserably, that by the end of the programme when it was predicted that the economy would have returned to health under their ministrations and Greece would “return to the markets”, the Greek economy will in fact be in a far worse state than ever before!
But out of the kindness of their hearts they are willing to keep us in a coma on a drip of life support. Not, you understand to help the Greek economy in any way. Greece is a dead cause. However, since the totem of the almighty Euro, the project of the single currency, must not be allowed to disintegrate, Greece must be kept in this moribund zombie state, for the greater glory of Germany! You see, Germany remains firmly under the illusion that this is in her own interest if in no one else’s and that it will remain so for ever more!
The trouble is that you can’t keep a corpse on life support forever. The longer it takes to explode the more violent the explosion will be. And the fall out will go way beyond the Danube if they insist on this cruel, vicious, savage, self serving and ultimately counter productive course. As it appears they intend to.
Heaven help us all!
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