For Greece, It's Austerity -- or Else

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Published on Monday, February 6, 2012 by Common Dreams

For Greece, It's Austerity -- or Else

"Bankruptcy for Greece would be hell."

- Common Dreams staff

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel continue their push for Greece to accept further austerity measures in order to receive bailout funds and warned that Greece was "running out of time" to accept the deal presented to them. Today Merkel told Greece that it needed to make up its mind on taking the reform package while Greek unions announced a nationwide strike for tomorrow in protest of the austerity measures.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel upon her arrival for a joint Franco-German cabinet session at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday February 6. (AFP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure) Agence France-Presse reports:

A sharp warning by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that it was time for Greece to fulfil its undertakings and would not get any fresh aid unless it did highlighted a more uncompromising tone.

And Reuters adds:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Greece on Monday to make up its mind fast on accepting the painful terms for a new EU/IMF bailout, but the country's political leaders responded by delaying their decision for yet another day.

Failure to strike a deal to secure the 130 billion euro ($170 billion) rescue - much of which Germany will fund - risks pushing Athens into a chaotic debt default which could threaten its future in the euro zone.

Speaking in Paris, Merkel expressed the exasperation spreading among euro zone leaders at seemingly endless wrangling in Athens that has yet to produce a definitive acceptance of the austerity and reform conditions demanded by the lenders.

"I honestly can't understand how additional days will help. Time is of the essence. A lot is at stake for the entire euro zone," she told a news conference with President Nicolas Sarkozy.

But leaders of the three parties in the coalition government appeared to need at least one additional day.

The Guardian blog following the Eurocrisis looks at the repurcusions of Greece not accepting the bailout terms and therefore going bankrupt:

What would actually happen to the country if Greece does go bust?

That's what the country's technocrat prime minister Lucas Papademos is finding out, as the various meetings about its debt and austerity measures drag on. Papademos has asked experts at Athens' finance ministry to compile a detailed analysis of what bankruptcy would entail. Our correspondent Helena Smith says:

The verdict, according to Greek officials, is that it will make Argentina "look like a picnic in comparision." What we are experiencing now with all the austerity is actually a form of paradise. Bankruptcy for Greece would be hell."

Papademos, a macro-economist, intends to present the report at the meeting (we all hope) he will finally hold tomorrow with the three party chiefs backing his coalition.

Presumably to push them into finally backing the proposals.

In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel, Luxembourg Prime Minister and head of the Euro Group Jean-Claude Juncker also pushed the need for Greece to accept the economic reforms, including privatizations, or head towards bankruptcy.

Der Spiegel: But they're still not doing enough. The Greeks were supposed to raise €50 billion by privatizing state assets. But now Athens has acknowledged that this figure was just plucked out of the air. How do you explain that to EU citizens?

Jean-Claude Juncker: I'm currently engaged in explaining to the EU's citizens the improvements that have been made in Greece. However, when it comes to the issue of privatization, I prefer to address the government in Athens because in this respect it is falling considerably short of what was agreed. Greece has to realize that we're not going to let up on the privatization issue.

SkyNews reports that Greece's two major unions have called for a 24-hour strike on Tuesday in response to the austerity push:

"If these measures are adopted and the government does in fact cave into pressure," warned Thanos Vassilopoulous of Greece’s biggest labour union, GSEE, "then workers will be faced with an armageddon."

"We must resist. We must revolt."

GSEE and Adedy, the civil servants union, have called for a 24-hour nationwide strike on Tuesday, warning of heightened strike action in response to added austerity.

The BBC notes this on weekend developments:

Talks on Sunday between Greek PM Lucas Papademos and the leaders of his three-party coalition over new austerity measures ended without full agreement.

The measures include:

Further government spending cuts equal to 1.5% of GDP

Re-capitalisation of Greek banks - whilst retaining their independence

Reducing labour costs, including a cut in the minimum wage and holiday bonuses

Further civil service job cuts

Cuts to the size of pension programmes

On Sunday, the prime minister's office said that some agreement had been reached in some areas. But there were disagreements over the size of job cuts, cuts to the minimum wage, pension cuts and the ending of a so-called 13th or 14th month's pay as a holiday bonus.

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Posted by NateW

Feb 6 2012 - 1:18pm

If the Greek police and military refuse to enforce 'austerity measures,' then the game is up.

Posted by GDS

Feb 6 2012 - 1:24pm

So at some point, things get so bad that the Greek government is overthrown in a revolution and the successor regime refuses to honor the debts of the deposed government. There's precedent. After the American Civil War, Confederate Bonds were worth ... nothing.

Posted by John Shade

Feb 6 2012 - 2:32pm

The Confederate bonds are a separate matter in as much as the US never agreed that the South seceded legally so the debt they incurred was illegal and worthless.

In the case of the biggest revolution of all, the Soviet Revolution, although they repudiated the imperial debt, the Soviets paid up on many specific bonds from 1921 on. For their general debt that they incurred with Czar bonds in the late 19th century, most of that was sold to British and French households and the Soviet government paid off on the English bonds in 1986 and some of the French bonds in 1996. Many French bond holders are still litigating against Russia. The debt did not go away.

Repudiation of debt is something a country can do, but it doesn't go away in the books of the creditors so it means that the creditors won't lend money any longer till the original debt is paid even if it is almost a century later.

If Greece were to do this, they would face a few immediate consequences. First they would have to invent value to pay bills. You can do that by taxing, borrowing or printing money. If they increase taxes as they have tried, they are going to get people in the streets. They wouldn't have anyone to borrow from so that is out and if they printed money to pay bills, they are increasing inflation.

In the case of Argentina, they made an offer of 65% discount to investors and paid off most debt rather than negating per se. Most investors took that deal but some held out and because of those hold outs, Argentina still has problems raising debt which limits how much the government can participate in growth in Argentina.

Repudiation is a route, but it is not the silver bullet that some think it is.

If Greece repudiated debt, it would be one harvest away from starvation literally. The government would have no international options at that point.

Best way is to negotiate and to force the creditors to retire existing debt at a discount. If you think the austerity of the EU now is bad, then Greece with no way to get money in an emergency would be WAY worse...

Posted by Wilber1

Feb 6 2012 - 3:02pm

Eric Toussaint has written a lot about legitimate and illegitimate debt. Legitimate debt is debt taken on by governments within the democratic system, usually for production and the betterment of the general public. Illegitimate debt would be something like what the Fed has done. The Fed has transferred potentially as much as 26 trillion dollars onto the public. Did we vote on this? Did elected officials decide to do this directly, or did the so called "independent" Fed do so in secret? If so, is the debt legitimate? Was the debt, for example, that Suharto piled up in Indonesia legitimate? He stole billions, he was given the money in an authoritarian, non-democratic system. Should the people of Indonesia be made to pay for THAT debt? How about Brazil under the neo-Nazis? Or Haiti, paying for their centuries old revolution? If not, then what? Why should we allow this to go on indefinitely?

I think finance should be treated like a public utility and done by the government. Why lend to central banks at a low rate then have them lend back to us at a higher rate? Why use them to lend to the productive economy? Do we need private interests there, skimming off some for themselves without earning it (any more than the government would at least)? Are these damn private banks needed? Maybe, maybe not, but it would make sense to at least have the conversation.

Posted by drosera

Feb 6 2012 - 9:25pm

Let's be clear what the Greece problem is all about. It is about enforcing austerity on the Greek people so that German and French banks will not have to be bailed out by their respective governments. All the anger of Merkel and Sarcozy is directed at Greece, not at the banks that foolishly underwrote bad debt. The banks should suffer--their stockholders, in particular--not just the Greek people.

What needs to be done is to revive the drachma and use it for all transactions not involving foreign companies. That would be taxes, utilities (at least in part), most food, rent, hospital care and so on. Euros gained from the tourist trade must be obtained by the government to get necessities from outside. Workers would have to be paid in drachmas--at least until things stabilized. Argentina used plenty of complementary currencies until it got back on its feet. That is what Greece must do.

Posted by rubberneckduck

Feb 7 2012 - 9:37am

The richest investors lured the Greeks deeper into debt with promises of prosperity and then used the debt to privatize the Greek State. This isn't a bailout, it's a hostile takeover.

Posted by gardenernorcal

Feb 7 2012 - 10:24am

That's exactly what it is.

Posted by Wilber1

Feb 7 2012 - 5:29pm

I don't think they offered prosperity at all really. They offered a kick back. Sell off the public domain, hand it over to us creditors, and we'll make you rich. We will give you power. None of the people in power, even from the socialist parties, really believes any of these policies will lead to prosperity, and for that matter neither does many of the economists from IMF. There are endless quotes from the heads of the IMF, World Bank, the BIS, telling the rich member states that it economically benefits them, at the expense of the poorer countries, to take part in the racket and they've changed the system to funnel the surplus to themselves and finance. When Lula took over in Brazil there was a big debate about what to do about the crippling debt. Should the Brazilian people pay for debt piled up by the right wing dictatorship (most of which was stolen and sent to offshore banks)? The answer was yes, they should and he did. Haiti has been paying France for the debt of its revolution for centuries. They have paid it many times over. Numerous countries pay more in debt servicing than in social programs, and have for some time. Did the elites who signed up for these deals, in places like Latin America, really think they were benefiting their countries? No, and when it didn't they took their stolen money and retired in Florida.

It is attempting to do without violence what countries did in the past through war, and they call it a bailout. It is a bailout of the financial capitalists, and nothing else.

Posted by GDS

Feb 7 2012 - 10:32am

Thanks for the helpful comments. I've not seen anything in the media that deals with the question of what would happen if the Greek government were to fall.

Posted by Michael Desautels

Feb 6 2012 - 1:31pm

I've been watching events unfold in Greece for some time now. Greece seems to me a bellweather of things to come. I look at the smiling, smug and self-satisfied faces of Merkel and Sarkozy and an instantaneous intuitive reaction against wells up.

Call their bluff, citizens of Greece. Let the chips fall where they may. Perhaps some will fall on the heads of the one percent.

Probably most will fall on our heads - but at least we'll be off our knees.

Manysummits

=======

Posted by canardtahiti

Feb 6 2012 - 2:59pm

great comment, and my sentiments exactly. Writing to you from France, where Sarko's goose is cooked. He has already lost the coming election and his replacement, Monsieur Holland, will be re-negotiating everything with Merkel. Hopefuly this will include a refusal to honor debts based on bundled US sub-prime mortgages. Sarko is a pure neocon + AIPEC+ Wall Street creation. We are going to send him back to the black hole from whence he slithered, he is a traitor and an ego-maniac.

Posted by Michael Desautels

Feb 6 2012 - 6:28pm

canardtahiti

My ancestors on my father's side were from the area of the Sarthe River in France, as I understand it. I follow the fortunes of France as time permits, and I was sad to see Sarkozy elected.

I hope you are right, and I hope France will reclaim France, as I hope Greece will become Greece again.

These trends wherein bigger is always better are false even from an evolutionary perspective. Diversity is the Way of Nature.

Manysummits

========

Posted by canardtahiti

Feb 7 2012 - 2:30pm

Well you certainly have a French name, Monsieur Desautels! On a more serious note, France is heading the way of Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland...and democracy is finished here is we don't break the backs of finance cabal that sooo-cleverly locked us all into this debt-straightjacket. It was very clearly planned as a means of destroying the euro + european unity.

Posted by Wilber1

Feb 6 2012 - 1:52pm

If the left of center governments in Latin America and other places care they should step up and help Greece, should Greece default. The only way that countries, social movements, working people, can fight off the creditors and their running dogs, is to band together. Support each other and act in unison. If many indebted countries in Europe banded together, along with other countries in similar positions elsewhere, they would have a better chance. Spain negotiating alone is up against it, but Spain, Greece, Italy and the other indebted countries negotiating together is a different matter. This is what the third world, non-aligned, movement was about. It slowly withered away thanks to neoliberalism, but that is obviously a failed, non-sustainable path. Venezuela helped Argentina when it defaulted. It would not have recovered like it did if Venezuela forced neoliberalism on them like the IMF would have. That is the idea behind things like producer cartels. If the countries individually didn't band together to have control over market conditions their terms of trade would continue to deteriorate. If they band together and plan together the producers can raise their prices and get better returns when trading with other countries. Austerity is simply going to make a bad situation far worse and it will hand most of Greece over to the international creditors.

We are at a crossroads. It would be a real shame if years from now people looked back at the opportunity we had to break away from neoliberalism and we chose not to or were scared away. If we don't break away we are handing the 21st century over to the damn financial capitalists and the rentier class.

Posted by glenn ford

Feb 7 2012 - 11:53am

All together now! Default! Destroy the Plutocracy! Union Solidarity! All Power to All People!

Posted by FRTothus

Feb 6 2012 - 2:34pm

Corrected for accuracy: "The verdict, according to Greek officials, is that it will make Argentina "look like a picnic in comparision." What we are experiencing now with all the austerity is actually a form of paradise. Bankruptcy for Greece would be hell [for the bankers]."

Posted by socialist

Feb 6 2012 - 3:43pm

It would be interesting to think about: if Greece rebels against bankster occupation and is unable to collect the loot, Will Germany send in the German Army to collect for the German banks? Just a thought, because we will very likely see even more violent rebellions in Greece and it will not be pretty.

Posted by Vern

Feb 6 2012 - 3:48pm

Cut the EU lose and mend the rift with Turkey who is on the rise. They treat the mediterranean countries as ignorant backwaters anyway--Greece, Italy--the Northern Europeans treat them like southern red-haired stepchildren when their history and culture far surpasses anything from those rigid old barbarians. ;)

Posted by cadawa

Feb 6 2012 - 4:34pm

There is third alternative to the austerity imposed by private banking thugs like Goldman Sachs and bankruptcy. Drop the Euro and print your own money backed by the full faith and credit of the people of Greece which is all any currency is really backed by.. Beats the heck out debt slavery to crooks and widespread civil unrest.

Posted by skeptic888

Feb 6 2012 - 6:55pm

Enforcing "European discipline" and requiring Greece to go along with U.S. sanctions against Iran, will make the situation even more intolerable for the Greek population given its reliance on Iranian oil for 30% of its supplies. (See Casey Research report dated 1/31/12 at: http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/rippling-impacts-iran-oil-embargoes ) All of this will, in the end, accrue to the benefit of those financial institutions and wealthy investors (and countries) that have the economic resources or power to take advantage of depressions and forced sales of assets. Ultimately, one of the big prizes is the Eastern Mediterranean with its huge offshore reserves of natural gas. That is also an important reason why any of the vulnerable Mediterranean littoral states that don't play ball right now will find themselves even more at risk of being overthrown, since among their most important assets are their offshore energy reserves that fall within their EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), which the banks and energy companies would like to control. (This was one of the sticking points with Libya which was unwilling to let its EEZ be managed by the Europeans and ultimately the U.S.) To date, the only country with active wells in the area is Israel, which currently has a territorial dispute of its EEZ border with Lebanon, one of the countries on the target list.

Posted by amerisheep

Feb 6 2012 - 7:05pm

Like to see Greece not cower and break up the arrogant 'kozyness' between IMF, Merkel and Sarkozy --rebel, accept no more austerity measures from the Austerity Dictators who are bluffing. Set the example, and hopefully Romania, who's government just stepped down due to protests over austerity and privatization schemes, will follow the lead of Greece.

Posted by pbecke

Feb 6 2012 - 8:09pm

You have to laugh at the thought of Merkel and Sarkozy trying to impose austerity on a people who retire at 45 . Or is it 55? Good luck with that! Tee hee. Even some of the Greeks' dogs join in the riots! "Don't call us, Ange and Nick. We'll call you..."

Posted by AD

Feb 6 2012 - 8:45pm

The Luxemburg lap dog doing his version of the collaborationist with Frau Merkel and her ECB mad dogs calling the tune with the French poodle doing the back up! Gee with that kind of entertainment, who needs Friday the 13th? The Transylvanian blood suckers never had it so good. What will the people of the European Union do to defend democracy? Time to fight back! "Power to the people" as Thomas Paine said. Take the power out of the hands of the appointed and unnaccountable bureaucrats on the European Commission and the European Central Bank and back in the hands of the people's elected representatives in the European Parliament. Do it! Take a stand. Gerry Adams did. "It's time" as the victorious real Australian Labor slogan of 1972 said before that party's victory in that election. Drop the silly damn euro! Let Frau Merkel do her euro version of Harold Wilson's the "pound in your pocket" speech.

Posted by AD

Feb 7 2012 - 1:28pm

Pray for a confidence vote which the Greek prime minster and stooge for the Merkel/Sarkozy gang loses forcing an election with a victory by those willing to drop the euro.

Posted by AD

Feb 7 2012 - 1:45pm

Are die Greek people going to vollow die orders from die Reich Chancellor or not?

Posted by Jack37

Feb 6 2012 - 9:41pm

My native Greek friends have already been saying: "How many soldiers do the banks have?" To HELL with these EU parasites. Have lived in Greece off/on since the 1980s. Back then most Greeks knew well that EU membership would mean disaster between such unequal economies. Northern/German banks came in offering credit like candy, "don't worry there'll be jobs to cover them" (which never showed, natch), and have been trying to literally buy Greece out from under itself ever since. Did you know that German's #1 export-destination has been Greece itself? They just keep coming back with another bill of poisonous goods. Couldn't conquer with tanks, now they're using banks. Privatize the Parthenon, the islands, the water system? Why not just have "National Cut Your Throat Day"? Greeks aren't gonna take it. What are you when you've sold your country away, when outsiders own your birthright and heritage? Nothing! So the answer is obvious, hard as it will be. Greece must lead the way quitting the EU under "odious debt" doctrine. Criteria in many UN documents over time: Debts incurred without public knowledge/consent; debt payments will deeply harm the country in question; and there's really no chance of their ever being paid off/free of them (that was by design). So, let Greece go back to drachma, trust to its agriculture, tourism and educational strengths, and time will restore them to themselves on their own terms. Face it---every other road means permanent slavery and dispossession by parasitic criminals. FIGHT, Greece---For you will win.

Posted by Makati1

Feb 6 2012 - 11:43pm

If the Greeks have any backbone they will tell the EU where to put their 'requirements' and go the way of Iceland. Then, no matter how bad it gets, they can sit back and watch the rest of the EU implode while the world's tourists flock to Greece for the cheaper vacations. It's going to happen sooner or later so sooner is better for the Greek people. Then Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Italy can follow. Of course, the contagion would soon come to America, but it will anyway. Maybe the French would pull those guillotines out of the museum and use them on the bankers? What a great Summer that would make! Pass the Vino!

Posted by lnb

Feb 7 2012 - 10:30am

All true what you say. Better to go ahead with re-instating Glass-Steagall & bankruptcy reorganization procedures, and STOP with these pretenses of "making good" on fraudulent "investments". If necessary, go with Lincoln's gambit; print Greenbacks backed by a national laborforce's capacity to produce real value for work applied to real projects/products. That's all that makes ANY currency valuable (money is NOT a commodity. It's a means...of exchange).

Posted by kradek

Feb 7 2012 - 12:32am

George Karatzaferis, the leader of the right-wing Laos party, the junior partner in the coalition, was the most explicit on the possible consequences. “I am not going to contribute to a revolution that will humiliate us and that will burn Europe,” he said. Last week, the Laos party leader warned of a “social explosion” in Greece as a result of the cuts. In a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, he said the next round of austerity measures would cause an economic collapse and social unrest “of a kind that Europe has not seen for decades.” Karatzaferis added: “Reform cannot happen at gunpoint, especially when it requires the participation of the complex structure of an entire society. It is a time bomb for the entire western world.”

Posted by sLiMsHaDy

Feb 7 2012 - 1:55am

Yo, Greece! Don't put up with this eskata. Kick the nazi-fraulein and the french version of dubya to the curb, work on behalf of your own citizenry, and thereby tap into the strength and wisdom of your ancient past.

Posted by Rick

Feb 7 2012 - 8:13am

Banking Wasn’t Meant to Be Like This January 27, 2012 By Michael Hudson What will their future be – and what is the government’s proper financial role?

As published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

http://michael-hudson.com/2012/01/banking-wasnt-meant-to-be-like-this/

Posted by ddearborn

Feb 7 2012 - 8:16am

Hmmm So once again for the sake of Billions in PROFIT for a few already very rich banks and their owners an entire country of people must live in poverty and fear for decades? Wow how about the banks and bankers take a hike. Why must the people as a whole pay when those same banks never ever shared a penny profit with the people of Greece? Let the 5 or 6 banks and the couple of dozen really really rich bankers who are in charge take it in the shorts. This is crazy. Iceland had it exactly right. Instead of cowering to the bankers Iceland arrested them and the politicians that helped them. Iceland told the bankers to take their debts and stuff it. They stated rightly so, that the bankers never shared the profits with the people and therefore had no right to demand that they share the loses. And guess what? Iceland unemployment is very low, their currency has rebounded and they are not being strangled by mountains of phony debt. GO ICELAND. Funny how you don't here anything about Iceland in the media. Eventually people are going to realize that the MSM is part of the economic terrorist operation that is ongoing worldwide and do something about it.

Posted by gardenernorcal

Feb 7 2012 - 10:28am

"Der Spiegel: But they're still not doing enough. The Greeks were supposed to raise €50 billion by privatizing state assets. But now Athens has acknowledged that this figure was just plucked out of the air. How do you explain that to EU citizens?"

What exactly did the Greek people get in return for the tag sale on their nation?

Posted by Hobgobline

Feb 7 2012 - 10:47am

I've seen a fair bit about Iceland in the media, mainly about local authorities and pensions organisations who were duped by Icelandic banks into investing millions into their schemes, saw it all wiped out and now find that Iceland refuses to honour these debts. These weren't rich elites who were stung, but normal people with pensions, who pay their local authority taxes which now have to cut expenditure on their own public services to meet the loss. Basically, they were scammed and you support no compensation for that. If it was your money you had been tricked out of, would you still be so gung-ho about it?

You can't compare Iceland and Greece: Iceland isn't in the Eurozone but still has its own currency; it isn't even in the EU, although it wants to be.

Posted by glenn ford

Feb 7 2012 - 12:09pm

What if Iceland directly reimburses some civic loses, without utilizing corrupt banksters?

Posted by Hobgobline

Feb 7 2012 - 9:31pm

it would be good but they held a referendum and the people voted not to. As well as that, the debt is bigger than the GNP of the whole country several times over (the population of Iceland is only around 160,000) so it would take them a long time to repay. It's not a case of Iceland gallantly giving international finance the finger, it's a case of them being caught between a rock and hard place.

Posted by Z1

Feb 7 2012 - 10:48am

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Greece on Monday to make up its mind fast on accepting the painful terms for a new EU/IMF bailout, but the country's political leaders responded by delaying their decision for yet another day. And at the next meeting of the EU, I hope the representative from Greece leans over and gently whispers in Merkel's ear; Madam Chancellor, my country is going to intentionally default on our debt and we are going to drag you and the rest of Europe kicking and screaming into the shitter with us, TAKE THAT BITCH!

Posted by Kane Jeeves

Feb 7 2012 - 11:19am

This is Shock Doctrine plain and simple. And probably a test case for other countries.

Posted by Wilber1

Feb 8 2012 - 1:24am

No, Latvia is that test case.

Posted by 4thefuture

Feb 7 2012 - 11:31am

"Merkel expressed the exasperation spreading among euro zone leaders at seemingly endless wrangling in Athens that has yet to produce a definitive acceptance of the austerity and reform conditions demanded by the lenders."

Pesky democracy, I mean 'endless wrangling,' getting in the way of following orders, I mean 'conditions set by lenders.'

Posted by Hobgobline

Feb 8 2012 - 8:33am

What democracy, these things are decided by faceless suits behind closed doors without consulting the people at all. The former Greek PM suggested a referendum about the proposals and he was pilloried for it, so withdrew the idea.

Posted by writelady49

Feb 7 2012 - 12:17pm

Assuming that most know what Stratfor is from the much publicized Anonymous attack, this free, post-hack report provides some interesting info that I haven't seen in the comments. It is an analysis of the pros and cons of a possible option the German govt raised last week: to appoint a Euro commissioner to supplant the Greek govt,i.e. take away their sovereignty. Germany's Role in Europe and the European Debt Crisis | STRATFOR http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/germanys-role-europe-and-european

Posted by AD

Feb 7 2012 - 1:22pm

"We can have democracy. . . or we have great concentration of wealth in the hands of the few" as Louis Brandies, US Supreme Court jusitce wisely put it. The Europrean Union would be wise to heed his sage advice. Add to that the advice of Gerry Adams who along with John Major moved the Anglo Irish conflict from confrontation to negotiated settlement. Adams, this man of peace, is right. Dublin and all others in the EU would do well to heed his wise advice. Adams, as some may know faced several assassination attempts on his life by unionist fanatics for doing the right thing. I can recall Jeremy Corbin, back bench Labor MP bringing Adams into the British House of Commons to address that chamber. Corbin as some may know was a member of the Labor Campaign Group in the party. He surely would stand with the people of the EU for democracy today as well as should decent progressive people who want democracy not rule by the appointed European Central Bank or the appointed European Commission. A central bank I might well add based in Germany!

Posted by dkshaw

Feb 8 2012 - 12:12pm

Greece needs to dump the Euro, go back to the Drachma and tell the so-called European Union to go fuck itself.

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For Greece, It's Austerity -- or Else

"Bankruptcy for Greece would be hell."

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