In the wake of Greece’s historic ‘No’ vote this weekend, European leaders are scrambling to cement a new deal after the resounding rejection of the austerity program that has heretofore dominated fiscal policy and conversation. European Parliament President Martin Schulz confirmed that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will address parliament plenary on Wednesday morning. Tsipras is expected to put forth a new …
Financial Nonsense Overload – Dmitry Orlov
“Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad” goes a quote wrongly attributed to Euripides. It seems to describe the current state of affairs with regard to the unfolding Greek imbroglio. It is a Greek tragedy all right: we have the various Eurocrats—elected, unelected, and soon-to-be-unelected—stumbling about the stage spewing forth fanciful nonsense, and we have the …
Greece and the Euro: Towards Financial Implosion By Prof Rodrigue Tremblay
In sowing the seeds of the Greek crisis, European politicians have made the same mistakes as American politicians before the financial and banking crisis of 2008-09, that is to say encourage excessive indebtedness of some economically weak countries with loan guarantees. What really created the conditions for a major financial and banking crisis in the U.S., starting in 1999 when …
Greece – Risk of False-flagging Greece into Submission and Chaos? By Peter Koenig
As we move closer to the 5 July referendum, it becomes clearer every day – Brussels, Washington and Berlin are waging an open “class war” against Greece, because the Greek people, the citizens of a sovereign country – the first democracy in Europe, the country that gave Europe her name – these people have had the audacity to democratically elect …
Defying Troika, Greece Chooses ‘Democracy Over Fear’ With ‘No’ Vote on Austerity by Deirdre Fulton
News outlets are officially reporting that the ‘No’ side has won a decisive victory in Greece, rejecting a bailout offer from foreign creditors that would have imposed further austerity and economic hardship. Reuters reports that government officials “immediately said they would try to restart talks with European partners,” perhaps as soon as Sunday night. 25% of votes in, #oxi leading by 60%. Estimates that this will …
Behind the Greek Crisis By William R. Polk
Focusing exclusively on the monetary aspects of the Greek crisis the media misses much of what disturbs the Greeks and also what might make a solution possible. For over half a century, Greeks have lived in perilous times. In the 1930s, they lived under a brutal dictatorship that modeled itself on Nazi Germany, employing Gestapo-like secret police and sending critics …
The Birthplace (Greece) vs. the Farce (the United States) of Democracy by PAUL STREET
Democracy is among other things the rule of majority public opinion. Plutocracy is the rule of the wealthy few over and against the popular majority. To understand the different meanings of these two terms, you can consult a dictionary. You can also look at the very different decision-making processes on display regarding major political-economic policies in Greece (the ancient homeland …
Financial Bombshells: Greece and JPMorgan By Bill Holter
Not that almost any and all news today is enough to make you scratch your head, two pieces of news yesterday were bombshells! I am talking about Greece’s stance of staying IN the Eurozone and the Zerohedge article regarding JPMorgan “cornering” the global commodity markets. Let’s first start with Greece, who could have seen this one coming? They are taking the …
Are European authorities trying to force regime change in Greece? – MARK WEISBROT
It’s ironic but not surprising that the European Central Bank decided Sunday to limit its credit to Greece by enough to force the Greek banking system to close. This has pushed Greece closer to a more serious financial crisis than the country has had in the past five years of austerity-induced depression. Why did the ECB decide to take this …
The Greek Debt Crisis and Crashing Markets by MICHAEL HUDSON
Back in January upon coming into office, Syriza probably could not have won a referendum on whether to pay or not to pay. It didn’t have a full parliamentary majority, and had to rely on a nationalist party for Tsipras to become prime minister. (That party balked at cutting back Greek military spending, which was 3% of GDP, and which …