Europe appears to be walking and acting and forecasting as though it were still alive. In fact, it is not only its banks that have become Zombies, but the whole festering set up. Now, you may say since it is festering then it is not yet dead. But then again a Zombie is something that though dead thinks that it is still alive.
As always, Greece is the best example to illustrate the point. As Matina Stevis tweets:
Greece Unemployment Seen at 24.5% in 2014, 22.5% in 2015 — EC
and: * Greek Debt Seen at 125% of GDP in 2020, 112% of GDP in 2022 — EC
and: Greece GDP Seen Growing 0.6% in 2014; 2.9% in 2015; 3.7% in 2016-European Commission
And this is supposed to be good news and evidence that the Great Greek Catastrophe has, in actual fact, really been a great success!
The whole of the European project has taken complete leave of its senses. All these forecasts are complete nonsense and based on nothing more than, at best, wishful thinking, and in reality self serving propaganda.
There is no doubt in the collective European mind that for Greece to… well whatever it is they imagine by way of “recovery”, the country must not only continue with this catastrophic recession/depression inducing austerity panacea that has lead to the collapse of the economy, but even more step to up the pressure.
As for the appalling playing around with the figures so as to pretend that there actually was a so called “primary surplus”, this has been extremely well exposed by those of much greater authority than myself.
When the so called crisis beset this hapless country, there was an outcry against “Greek statistics” which was well warranted, a feeling that our corrupt politicians had made this great big f**k up through electoral machinations and spending on votes, and that at long last the EU was riding to the rescue to put all this right!
Well, unfortunately, quite the reverse has happened. First of all far from putting an end to “Greek Statistics” , the practice of blatantly cooking the books, it is the EC than has now adopted such methods in order to convince, whoever it may concern, that the Greek disaster is in fact a “success story” after all. And secondly, following this brazen deceit, the Greek government is being “allowed” to spend on pre election vote winning (it is hoped) expenses.
As to all the forecasts of a great big drop in unemployment to 22.5% in 2015 (!!! What a success!!!) and achieving a growth in GDP of 3.7% of GDP in 2016… Well, it will hardly be the first time the EC has made completely unrealistic and wrong predictions. Even these paltry and hardly “Successful”! figures in any way are doomed to be proved completely wrong if the present austerity and destructive policies are continued, as planned.