Monday, March 9, 2015

Bill Mitchell — Greece goes back into depression – having never left it

Conclusion 
I note that some of the Greek government politicians are now talking about holding some sort of vote (referendum) on what to do next should the negotiations with the Eurogroup fail. 
Before they do that they should provide a public education campaign informing the Greek people that their penchant for remaining in the Eurozone is:
1. Inconsistent with their desire for a return to prosperity.
2. Not necessary for them to remain a part of the greater European narrative and all that that brings (relative to military coups etc).
 
The problem is that the Syriza leadership doesn’t even accept 1. and 2. so what hope is there?
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Greece goes back into depression – having never left it
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

8 comments:

Dan Lynch said...

Bill has done a good job covering Greece, not falling for the Syriza "hope and change" like many.

Kristjan said...

This topic is becoming so emotionally charged that it is best to keep your mouth shut. I don't quite understand how people fall in love with certain politicians and political parties but they do. Even the MMT-ers who know that Syriza is promising a pie in the sky. Bill is one of the few lefties who is straight about this. Ok I am over-generalizing a little. In the beginning I hoped too, might be Syriza's strategy, may be they play a game I don't know the rules off etc. When YV was saying that he was saving capitalism in whole Europe then I had doubts about his sincerity. Now watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1KSmcUyAZwU 2:00 I have no doubts, he is not sincere and his "let me pray for you brother" is not working on me. Pray for yourself. He is fingering off Germany "stick the finger to Germany and say you can solve this problem yourself" (after Greece has defaulted). Does this look to you like man who wants to save capitalism in whole Europe and he is not just about Greece? I understand Syriza had a contradictory mandate to begin with but I don't buy his bs for a second.

NeilW said...

BTW Bill is back at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Malmo's Ghost said...

Greek default in 10 9 8.....

Tom Hickey said...

Thanks for the update, Neil. Fixed.

mike norman said...

I said this was going nowhere even before Bill Mitchell did. We said it here on this blog. I said it from the minute they brought on Varafoukis--even before. When Tsipras said he was not leaving the euro.

Calgacus said...

I still maintain that it is just too early to tell. Of course Syriza could be "hope and change". But they also could be hope and change. :-) Yes, Syriza, Tsipras, Varoufakis have said foolish things, and proposed unlikely to be useful plans like defaulting within the Euro, and told and believe in fairy tales about the horror of Grexit. But they have also said sensible and logical things; Varoufakis last year predicted a few months of negotiations which would probably fail and lead to Grexit. Lapavitsas said about the same. There are strong currents within Syriza and the Greek people - who are not so wedded to the Euro as often asserted - and which might lead their leaders. See table 4 And this suggests that this story is not over.

NeilW said...

If you can't accommodate financial saving, you have to confiscate it.

All they can do is soak the rich, who will then use the Euro peg to move their wealth elsewhere.

I'm not seeing a lot of reports about what the Greek government is actually doing to change things. Have they passed any new laws yet?