The Tough Love of ‘Austerity’

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

      RJL

Cairo, Egypt  2 days ago

To obsess on the vocabulary -- "austerity" -- detracts from essential 
facts. Greece, a country of 10 million citizens, has amassed a debt of 
more than 200 billion euros (at this level, the exact figure is 
trivial). Breathtaking. The Greeks have lived far above their means, 
failed to generate internal revenues (taxes, fees) to pay for it, and 
then hid the financial reality in fraudulent accounts and statistics. 
The rest of Europe (not solely the Germans) are no longer keen to 
support their profligacy, early retirements and bloated bureaucracy. 
Yes, there is surely a need for greater humanitarian aid to the poor, 
for which there is high international support. But no more deficit 
spending. Getting the Greek economy going again is a Greek problem -- 
not a European one.




On 08.08.2015 05:19, Dave Monroe wrote:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/magazine/the-tough-love-of-austerity.html
> -
> Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
>

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