Austerity is just class war-Noam Chomsky

[Dusty Bake Activate]

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about Syriza in Greece, a movement that started as a grassroots movement. Now they have taken power, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. And then you have Spain right now. We recently spoke to Pablo Iglesias, the secretary general of the group called Podemos, that was founded, what—an anti-austerity party that has rapidly gained popularity. A month after establishing itself last year, they won five seats in the European Parliament, and some polls show they could take the next election, which would mean that Pablo Iglesias, the 36-year-old political science professor and longtime activist, could possibly become the prime minister of Europe’s fifth-largest economy. He came here to New York for just about 72 hours, and I asked him to talk about what austerity measures have meant in Spain.

PABLO IGLESIAS: Austerity means that people is expulsed of their homes. Austerity means that the social services don’t work anymore. Austerity means that public schools have not the elements, the means to develop their activity. Austerity means that the countries have not sovereignty anymore, and we became a colony of the financial powers and a colony of Germany. Austerity probably means the end of democracy. I think if we don’t have democratic control of economy, we don’t have democracy. It’s impossible to separate economy and democracy, in my opinion.


AMY GOODMAN: That was Pablo Iglesias, the head of this new anti-austerity group in Spain called Podemos, which means in English “We can.” The significance of these movements?

NOAM CHOMSKY: It’s very significant. But notice the reaction. The reaction to Syriza was extremely savage. They made a little bit of progress in their negotiations, but not much. The Germans came down very hard on them.

AMY GOODMAN: You mean in dealing with the debt.

NOAM CHOMSKY: In the dealing with them, and sort of forced them to back off from almost all their proposals. What’s going on with the austerity is really class war. As an economic program, austerity, under recession, makes no sense. It just makes the situation worse. So the Greek debt, relative to GDP, has actually gone up during the period of—which is—well, the policies that are supposed to overcome the debt. In the case of Spain, the debt was not a public debt, it was private debt. It was the actions of the banks. And that means also the German banks. Remember, when a bank makes a dangerous, a risky borrowing, somebody is making a risky lending. And the policies that are designed by the troika, you know, are basically paying off the banks, the perpetrators, much like here. The population is suffering. But one of the things that’s happening is that the—you know, the social democratic policies, so-called welfare state, is being eroded. That’s class war. It’s not an economic policy that makes any sense as to end a serious recession. And there is a reaction to it—Greece, Spain and some in Ireland, growing elsewhere, France. But it’s a very dangerous situation, could lead to a right-wing response, very right-wing. The alternative to Syriza might be Golden Dawn, neo-Nazi party.

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/05/noam_chomsky_austerity_is_just_class_war_partner/

 

[88m3]

Drop a JDAM on that Commie and call it a day.

 

[Ghost_In_A_Shell]

continue to pursue austerity Ideology contrary to fact, troika. and bring the nazi's back while you're doing it.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Its ALWAYS the lenders fault, huh?

 

[Ghost_In_A_Shell]

Its ALWAYS the lenders fault, huh?

Yeah , that conclusion is pretty accurate in this case .The troika saw the program that they created made Greece's output 25% lower than it was when the program was put into place over 5 years ago. And they most likely took noticed of the fact that the greece economy has shrunk in nominal terms for every year of the program (it only grew slightly in “real” terms last year because the rate of deflation exceeded the rate of decline of nominal output). Unemployment hit the Great Depression level of 25%–meaning that 40% more Greeks were out of a job the EU promised . And the Greek government debt to GDP ratio rose to 180%, not because Greeks weren’t paying debt down, but because the GDP fell faster than the debt was reduced.

Despite all of this , troika continued the program, continued to sing the same old austerity song when Greece's gdp outlook report showed quite differently FOR THE PAST 5 YEARS.

so yeah, its damn well it is their FAULT

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Yeah , that conclusion is pretty accurate in this case .The troika saw that program that they created made Greece's output 25% lower than it was when the program was put into place over 5 years ago. And they most of noticed that the economy has shrunk in nominal terms for every year of the program (it only grew slightly in “real” terms last year because the rate of deflation exceeded the rate of decline of nominal output). Unemployment hit the Great Depression level of 25%–meaning that 40% more Greeks were out of a job the EU promised . And the Greek government debt to GDP ratio rose to 180%, not because Greeks weren’t paying debt down, but because the GDP fell faster than the debt was reduced.

Despite all of this , troika continued the program, continued to sing the same old austerity when Greece's gdp outlook report showed quite differently FOR THE PAST 5 YEARS.

so yeah, its damn well it is their FAULT

Greeks can't get their house in order yet want to be in control of their own prosperity.

Laughable.

Tell them to get their shyt in order or forever be at the mercy of others.

I have no pity for them.

 

[Poitier]

Lenders need to learn that you risk losing your money when you loan it out.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Lenders need to learn that you risk losing your money when you loan it out.

And lendees need to stop bytching when its time to collect

 

[Poitier]

And lendees need to stop bytching when its time to collect

aint shyt to collect

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

aint shyt to collect

WHICH IS WHY Greece is being told to go fukk themselves

 

[Poitier]

WHICH IS WHY Greece is being told to go fukk themselves

Which defeats the purpose of the EU.

Either way, another European economy collapses and the EU/Germany is now exposed for what they are. My ancestors are smiling.

 

[88m3]

Lenders need to learn that you risk losing your money when you loan it out.

Lending standards are already incredibly strict hurting business and the middle class or do you factor that into your assessment, Napoleon?

 

[Poitier]

Lending standards are already incredibly strict hurting business and the middle class

I like your sense of humor

 

[tmonster]

 

[newworldafro]

http://news.yahoo.com/latin-america-celebrates-greek-austerity-no-vote-095822566.html

Latin America celebrates Greek austerity 'No' vote

12 hours ago

Buenos Aires (AFP) - A handful of countries across Latin America congratulated Greece on its Sunday referendum in which voters rejected creditors' austerity demands.

More than 60 percent of Greek voters said a resounding "No" to further austerity measures in return for bailout funds in a Sunday referendum that could see the country crash out of the eurozone.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, whose country defaulted on a mountain of debt more than a decade ago, called the vote a victory.

"Greece: decisive victory for democracy and dignity," she wrote on Facebook Sunday, expressing Argentina's "solidarity with the brave Greek people and their government."

"We hope Europe and its leaders understand the message from the vote. You cannot require anyone to sign their own death certificate," she said.

Argentina defaulted on $100 billion in debt in 2001, and in recent years has fought bitterly in the courts with investors who bought up some of that debt at fire-sale prices.

Meanwhile, Evo Morales, Bolivia's leftist president, congratulated Greece on Sunday, calling the referendum a defeat against "European imperialism."

Morales, a harsh critic of free-market economies, said the referendum was "the beginning of the liberation of the European people."

"I congratulate the great Greek people for the triumph of their 'no vote' over debt, which is a defeat inflicted on European imperialism," he was quoted as saying by state-run news agency ABI.

Cuban President Raul Castro echoed the other leaders, congratulating Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Monday in Granma, the official state newspaper.

"I extend sincere congratulation for the 'No' victory in the Greek referendum," he said.

"That result shows the Greek people's majority support for the brave government policy over which you preside," he told Tsipras.