How the world sees Greece
Some U.S. economists are arguing that Greece should leave the eurozone, seeing this as the only practical way to revive the Greek economy. Most Greeks want rid of austerity too but don’t trust their government if it left, writes Stephen Fidler.
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Return of negotiators to capital marks critical turning point in six-month stand-off
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WASHINGTON -- Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) says the German government has refused to take responsibility for its biggest banks, whose reckless lending spurred the current Greek debt crisis. During a recent interview for HuffPost's "So, That Happened" podcast, Brown argued that the German government has "damaged" the European project by insisting that Greece implement aggressive austerity measures after six years of economic depression. Listen to the full interview below. Brown begins at the 19:05 mark: "I think it's been damaged," Brown said of the European Union. "I think when the big guys have the ability -- the Germans, and secondarily the French, have the ability to beat up on the smaller, poorer nation ... I think the lesson goes out: 'Don't do what Greece did.' The problem is, the lesson also is, 'no restraint on risk-taking by big banks.'" Brown is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over U.S. involvement in international finance. He argued that the negotiations over EU funding for Greece resembled recent bank bailouts in the United States. In both cases, lenders who made bad loans were rescued by government funds without having to reform their practices or rescind executive pay or bonuses. In Greece, however, the public has also been required to accept harsh austerity measures as a condition for receiving bailout money that its government ultimately turned over to big banks, mostly in France and Germany. "There seems to be almost an abdication of responsibility from, I think, the European community, from the German government and from the banks," Brown said. To listen to this podcast later, download our show on iTunes. While you're there, please subscribe, rate and review our show. You can check out other HuffPost Podcasts here. Have a story you'd like to hear discussed on "So, That Happened"? Email us at your convenience! -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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In a message marking the 41st anniversary since the fall of the 1967-1974 military junta and the restoration of democracy in Greece, President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos urged Greeks on Thursday to reaffirm their commitment to Europe and stressed that they must not allow either the causes or the consequences of this seven-year dictatorship
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“Betty, Tsipras’ Iron Lady” is the headline chosen to embellish a recently published article in French magazine “Paris Match,” aiming to capture reader attention on the profile of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras‘ companion. “Alexis Tsipras’ companion functions as a constant reminder of his uncompromising conscience. Discreet in her public appearances, Peristera Baziana has a great influence on Greece’s Prime Minister. Since they met in school,
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Final decisions concerning the reopening of the Athens Stock Exchange will be taken next week, senior Finance Ministry officials said on Thursday. Representatives of the Bank of Greece (BoG), the Capital Markets Commission, the stock exchange and the Members Association of the Athens Exchanges are currently deliberating on how to smoothly resume the operation of
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FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors. ETF investors should care about earnings (Investors.com) ETF investors think because they are diversified across a certain industry or sector they don't have to worry about earnings season. However, that's not the case. Investors.com notes, "It's not unusual for one company's story on revenue growth to be replicated multiple times across the same industry." If ETF investors want to be diversified, they should consider investing in several different sectors. Social Security Disability will run dry in 2016 (Bloomberg) While Social Security is projected to run dry in 2034, Social Security Disability will run out of money next year, unless action is taken. According to Bloomberg, trustees noted Social Security’s Disability Insurance trust fund will only be able to meet 81% of its payments after 2016. One possible solution is to divert funds from the main Social Security account. SPONSORED BY Nationwide® Retirement isn’t always easy to navigate – but with a robust collection of tools, products, and services, Nationwide® can simplify the details of some of life’s toughest retirement challenges. Find out how to help your clients reach the financial goals they want. Gold isn't recovering anytime soon (Business Insider) Gold has been slammed in recent weeks, falling 11% from its May high of $1228 to its current price near $1090. Morgan Stanley thinks there is still more bad news to come. In a recent note, the investment bank says, "The backdrop is deteriorating" thanks to "The passing of deflation risk, anticipation of the US Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike, another debt resolution for Greece and the collapse in China's equity markets." The bank believes the worst-case scenario is a drop to $800 per ounce, another 27% from here. Credit Suisse is shifting its focus (Reuters) Credit Suisse's new CEO, Tidjane Thiam, wants to take the Swiss investment bank in a new direction. Reuters reports Thiam wants to shift the investment bank's focus to the wealth management arena, where it is already the fourth largest player in a crowded field. "We will put the emphasis on the private banking and wealth management business because it's more capital-light and (has) better returns," Thiam said. Specifically, the bank wants to increase its presence in Asia, which Thiam noted is home to 70% of the world's population. Advisors continue to move around (Think Advisor) Wells Fargo has added three industry veterans. Nick Borgfeldt, who has 37 years of experience brings $176 million in client assets from Morgan Stanley while Larry Pullman and Jeff Kerrigan leave behind UBS with their combined 40 years experience and $165 million in assets. Elsewhere, Raymond James has poached a trio of advisors. Alex Bryan, CFP; Ryan Bartley; and Robert Torney are bringing their $300 million on board from UBS. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How much sex you should be having in a healthy relationship
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If Greece defaults on the ECB, it would likely be forced to cut off the emergency central bank loans currently keeping Greece's financial system alive.
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If Greece defaults on the ECB, it would likely be forced to cut off the emergency central bank loans currently keeping Greece's financial system alive.
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Viewed from Berlin or London, the financial woes of Italy and Greece can look dangerously similar. Both sit on mountains of public debt and suffer from ...
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Greece's hopes for a deal with international lenders for a third bailout will or won't work, depending on who you speak with. The post World Press View: The Greek Deal is a Roll of the Dice appeared first on The National Herald.
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Traditionally in Greece, ouzo is mostly enjoyed taverna-side, with an array of seafood and other salty mezedes adorning the table. The ouzo most often is consumed on the rocks, its clear appearance instantly turned milky upon contact with the ice. But what if you simply want to drink ouzo late in the evening, as if […] The post Tetteris No. 5 – A Strong, Sipping Ouzo appeared first on The National Herald.
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Greek citizens must ask if the narrow confines of the utilitarian wasteland that is the Eurozone conform to their needs. The post Question: Should Utilitarianism Keep Greece in Eurozone? appeared first on The National Herald.
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It is not the surge of an outsider in Labour’s leadership contest that is surprising but the face of that surge. With an appetite for a fight outside the Westminster bubble, Corbyn must learn who will vote for Labour in futureThe remarkable thing about the Jeremy Corbyn surge is not so much the surge. Most European countries have at least one insurgent, radical outsider party – Syriza is one among several in Greece, there is Podemos in Spain, Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement in Italy, and here in the UK, Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP as well as a newly energised Green party. So, if a Labour leadership contest failed to produce an English equivalent it would have been more odd than the fact that it has.What was less easy to anticipate was that the face of the 21st-century left in England wears a greying beard and something that looks quite like a Mao cap, and has more than 30 years’ unbroken service as MP for Islington North. This new hero of first-time voters, the scourge of the Labour Westminster establishment and the man who may conceivably inherit the mantle of Ed Miliband is a 66-year-old white man from north London. Continue reading...
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Rolling coverage of the Greek debt crisis, the world economy and the financial markets, after Athens takes another step towards a third bailoutGreece to shrink by 2.5% this yearStock market won’t open this weekEurozone consumer confidence hit by Grexit talkBundesbank says debt relief possibleSee who rebelled last nightIntroduction: Athens closer to third bailoutHere’s how the action unfolded overnight 7.13pm BST No point staying up until 3am with this blog, I think. Let’s have a closing summary.Greece took a step closer to a third bailout early this morning, after MP voted to accept legal and banking sector reforms at a late-night session in Athens.While there is no breakdown available yet of Eurozone consumer confidence in July, it looks highly probable that the heightened crisis in Greece contributed to reduced perceptions of the economic outlook.This was certainly true of both Belgium (especially) and the Netherlands, where confidence weakened. 6.57pm BST Greece’s largest opposition party, New Democracy, has decided to keep its current interim leader, Evangelos Meimarakis, in place until next spring.New Democracy decides Meimarakis will remain as leader until spring 2016, reports @geoterzis. 62 of 76 ND MPs had asked for this #Greece Continue reading...
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Officials from EU, ECB and IMF creditors prepare to return to capital for talks on third bailout despite Alexis Tsipras’ personal pledge against itGreece is bracing for the return to Athens of officials representing the reviled “troika” of creditors as the debt-stricken country prepares to start negotiations for a third bailout.Mission chiefs with the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund fly into the Greek capital on Friday for talks on a proposed €86bn (£60bn) bailout, the third emergency funding programme for Athens since 2010. Continue reading...
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After the hard-won deal with its European creditors, the Greek parliament this week approved the next phase of bailout reforms. As a result of the agreement, Greece’s banks reopened on Monday after a three-week holiday. Also Monday, EU interior ministers met to discuss Europe’s plan for the growing influx of migrants. But aside from that […]
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The members of the Greek parliament passed a second package of reform measures to reform the judiciary and the banking system. Reforms on farmer’s taxes and pensions were postponed without objections from creditors side. They should be voted on at the beginning of August. The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was backed by an overwhelming […]
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ATHENS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Greece's creditors prepared on Thursday for the start of bailout talks in Athens, after lawmakers adopted a second package of reform measures before dawn despite a left wing rebellion that may bring early elections.
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Greece's liquidity-starved banks got a new cash injection from the European Central Bank on Wednesday, hours before a key vote in parliament on ...
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Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has won a difficult gamble in convincing the Greek parliament to agree to tough reforms demanded by Greece's creditors, but he is paying the price of deep splits within his radical-leftist Syriza party.
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Fund also reiterates pressure for debt restructuring
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It is another potentially-embarrassing revelation which Portugal’s prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho has deftly swatted to one side, blaming everything on “confusion” suffered by EC Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. The latter was widely reported telling Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper that he had hoped to start talks on Greek debt relief in October “but this date was rejected because some countries - like Ireland, Portugal and Spain - did not want it before their elections”.
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In the six months since the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks, Europe's landscape has not improved: terror in Lyon, the Greek default crisis, and worrying actions against refugees and migrants. Such strain on the continent's socioeconomic system, indeed its very ideals, has put increasing pressure on the most vulnerable, especially minorities. And Europe's Jews have been first among those impacted. Faced with rising anti-Semitism, terrorism, and unclear financial prospects, many have gone so far as to predict the mass exodus of millions of European Jews or urged them to flee. But that is not happening. The vast majority of Jews are staying put and looking to maintain their position in European society, continue gains made in strengthening Jewish life, and overcome the odds. And those odds raise pervasive concern -- but not just regarding physical safety for Jews. Many worry about the impact of Europe's already unstable economy on poor and middle class Jews, especially ironic given anti-Semitic tropes on prolific Jewish wealth. But together with their neighbors, they suffer under double-digit jobless rates across the Eurozone and are included among growing numbers at risk of poverty or social exclusion in many western European countries, including Spain, at 29.2 percent, and Greece, at 36 percent, according to Eurostat. Add to this austerity measures -- increases to income tax for low wage earners, the VAT, and healthcare fees in countries like Hungary, Italy, and Portugal -- and many needy Jews may face eroded social benefits. For example, Jewish Care, a UK based social service provider, noted a 17 percent increase in their caseload from 2012 to 2013. Then there're threats to Europe's social fabric: Growing populism, nationalism, and xenophobia furthered by groups like Jobbik, Golden Dawn, National Front, and UKIP. Lack of advancement and integration opportunities for youth-at-risk -- especially young Muslims -- combined with the highest youth unemployment rate since before WWII leads to disaffection, extremism, and the embrace of Islamist groups like ISIS. Yet Jews, despite historic persecution and genocide, seek out partnerships with civil society groups, including moderate Muslims, to fight for human rights, tolerance, and equality. They realize they are victims of hate, but not the only ones. Recent cooperation by European Jews and Muslims to fight bans on ritual slaughter and circumcision are noteworthy, as are protests by Danish Muslims against anti-Semitic attacks in Copenhagen. Jews have also taken on hate themselves, recently protesting neo-Nazis in London or exposing those in power who whitewash Holocaust-era complicity. Moreover, anti-Semitism is no longer state-sponsored and Jews are well integrated into Europe's vast cultural, business, and political life. Imagine recalling a moment when highly placed government representatives of European nations decried hatred and acts of violence against Jews in the media, parliamentary bodies, and on the streets? Which leads us to the undeniable fact that Jewish life is thriving in Europe, even where Jewish fears are palpable. In France, the building of a new $11 million, 45,000 square foot Jewish cultural center in Paris - home to the majority of France's 600,000 Jews - points to this phenomenon as does the more than 160 Jewish schools serving 30,000 children throughout the country. A 35 percent increase in participation at Budapest's main Jewish Community Center, attended by growing numbers of Central Europe's largest Jewish population, stands in the face of the headlines. And in the Hungarian countryside, the JDC-Lauder International Jewish Summer Camp at Szarvas expanded to a fourth session this year to accommodate 2,000-plus campers and counselors, the majority from Europe. New Jewish nursery schools have opened in Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, and Romania where collectively hundreds of Jewish children will attend pre-schools in 2016 in places where Jewish life was almost entirely erased by the Nazis and Communists. In Poland, one finds many of the country's 25,000 Jews participating in two major Jewish centers in Warsaw and Krakow, synagogues, educational seminars, Jewish street festivals, and classes for those with newly-discovered Jewish roots. "The story of the Jews in Europe isn't yet ready to be relegated to museums," reflects Diana Pinto, the Italian-Jewish historian who rebukes those who portend the end of Jewish life in Europe. So how do we uphold this remarkable Jewish resurgence and build resilience in the face of many challenges? In late June I joined dozens of European Jewish leaders, activists, and members of the European Council of Jewish Communities in Barcelona to devise a framework. Holistic resilience for Jewish communities, as we envision it, integrates physical safety, psychosocial strength, emergency planning, risk assessment, leadership development, unified communications and messaging, economic planning, and building civil society partnerships. To make that happen, we must pool our resources, expertise, and create pan-European platforms to collectively build the future. True, implementation will depend on each local Jewish context. But ultimately, we must bolster our ability to adapt to changes in the environment, respond to crises, and continue communal activities, including maintaining the huge gains made in rebuilding and carrying forward a legacy of European Jewish creativity. Daniel Emmanuel, a 62-year-old Greek insurance broker and son of Holocaust survivors who I met in Spain, epitomized this boldly optimistic attitude. In the face of unprecedented economic demise, he set up a special committee in the Greek capital to aid dozens of his fellow Jews find employment and survive the storm. And Emmanuel himself has no plans to leave, even as things get worse all around him. "We're fighters," he said, reflecting on his community and the Jews of Europe overall. Indeed, we are. And the fight is not over yet. Diego Ornique is the Europe Director for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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Today, Saturday and Sunday the church will host its 48th annual Greek Fest, and the goal is to raise $25,000, or about 25 percent of the church's ...
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Source: www.independent.co.uk - Thursday, July 23, 2015 A team of international inspectors is expected in Athens on Friday to begin negotiating with the government over the country’s third bailout after a second batch of crucial reforms were voted for in parliament despite an ongoing insurgency within the ranks of the ruling Syriza party.All Related
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A look at what lies ahead for negotiations
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'Le Foll, your Greece awaits you' read one protest banner in which French farmers appeared to compare the crisis on the hands of Agriculture Minister…
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The Greek parliament took a step closer to negotiations on an new €86bn bailout after MPs voted to reform the judiciary and banking…
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BERLIN (Reuters) - On July 17th, her 61st birthday, Angela Merkel stepped to the podium in the Bundestag and urged German lawmakers to approve a new round of bailout negotiations with Greece, warning of "chaos and violence" if Athens were pushed out of the euro zone.
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Let's tell it straight: "Europe" committed suicide last weekend in Brussels. It was an assisted suicide. The IMF wrote the original story line and set the scene; the European Central Bank provided the revolver and ammunition; while Germany unrelentingly urged that the suicide was a necessary act of moral redemption that was imperative to save the EU from eternal damnation. This was a psychodrama of historic proportions. At the end, the blunt truth is that "Europe" is now dead -- a memory for the ages. "Europe" as an ideal, "Europe' as an aspiration, "Europe" as a community of peoples bound by a common identity (if not an overriding one), "Europe" as a potential enlightened player on the wider international stage, "Europe" as a mutual aid association, "Europe" as a model -- all those "Europes" are gone. Yes, the elaborate structure of institutions remains; the dense mesh of formal rules and regulations still pertain; technocratic Europe is an indelible part of the continent's economic and social fabric -- with or without a faltering Britain likely to sail away into its own private dreamland. What is gone are the sentiments of solidarity, the ensuing comity of outlook, the ingrained habits of cooperation -- the intangibles. Without them, that imposing superstructure is like a skyscraper built on shifting sands, in danger of toppling when the next big shake comes. This was a collective suicide involving several persons. They were a mixed lot. The main protagonist in the last act was Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece and head of the insurgent Syriza Party whose victory in the December elections stunned the financial and political establishment from Washington to Frankfurt and Berlin by posing a seeming challenge to their draconian rule over the economies of the European Union. Syriza rejected the severe austerity imposed on Greece, its underlying flat earth economics, and the demands that the country's market socialist regime be replaced by a Salafist version of neoliberalism -- one that entailed the selling-off of public assets to bail out the foreign private banks who were Greece's ultimate creditors. Tsipras, and therefore Syriza, has proven to be a paper tiger. The talk was brave, the gesture of a referendum powerful theater, but Tsipras had not the conviction and above all the courage to be a leader in battle. Faced with the arrayed forces of the Troika and the financial powerhouses they represent, Tsipras knew from the outset that he would cave in were Athens' request for a rewriting of the terms of their contract rejected. When predictably the request was thrown back into his face, he didn't have the intestinal fortitude to test his mettle amidst the stormy seas of an exit from the Eurozone. Tsipras is a soft man -- not someone ready to sacrifice convenience, comfort and career for a noble cause. His opposite numbers read him correctly. As the crisis mounted, he had sent them repeated signals that he was looking for a way out: the last minute offer of concessions even after the referendum had been called; the discomfort at the resounding "No" that sent him scurrying for the protective cover of the "Yes" promoting opposition; the parting of the ways with Varoufakis. Indeed, over the preceding six months, Draghi, Lagarde, Dijsselbloem, Schauble and Merkel had taken his measure and realized that he was more lamb than lion. Come the climactic post-referendum negotiations, they had their knives out and sharpened. His verbal temerity in company with his timidity under pressure made some (the Germans) lust to extract the last ounce of blood -- from him and from Greece. Unintentionally, Tsipras had acted as the Judas goat. The Greeks were led to a worse fate than any they had imagined -- by a route that 61 percent of them thought they had rejected in the referendum vote. There is no reason to mince words: they were betrayed. Democracy was betrayed. Tsipras added insult to injury when, on his return to Athens with an accord that in effect pronounced Greece's death sentence as a sovereign country, he declared that his government had salvaged Greece's future by ignoring the mandate of the referendum vote -- the very mandate that he had arduously campaigned for. This rightly harsh judgment of Tsipras as facilitator of Greece's humiliating subjugation should not obscure the vindictive acts of the others who pronounced sentence and imposed the penalty -- all the while blindly ignoring the consequences for Europe and, ultimately, themselves. Led by Germany in the persons of Wolfgang Schauble and the overshadowed Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Troika inflicted punishments that went beyond all previous austerity programs. They served no rational economic purpose -- as the IMF staff itself had to admit. They became punishment for punishment's sake; for defying the will of the global financial combine. Varoufakis called the terms "a new Versailles Treaty." That is not quite accurate; for some of the terms are more onerous than those imposed on Germany after WW I. The grossest offense is a forced sell-off of national assets valued at $50 billion to be placed in a fund managed by external parties, which is dedicated entirely to repay private banks and other financial institutions who have bought up Greek debt. (The equivalent for the United States, on a proportionate population basis, would be $1.6 trillion, transferred to foreign banks, from coerced sales at bargain prices of American ports, airfields, military bases, bridges, toll highways and choice real estate. Taking account of differential GDP as well, that comes to something like $4 trillion). The "trust fund" ploy tore aside the veil concealing to whom the actual beneficiaries of the bailout credits (that Greece is being forced to repay in full) have gone to. It is primarily the private banks, not the citizens of Germany and other states that are the official creditors. Popular anger, thereby, was diverted from the financial behemoths to Greece and the Greeks. That created a powerful political dynamic whereby heated rhetoric directed at "lazy and freeloading" southerners became a staple of public discourse and political debate. No alternative narrative has any standing in Germany. For Merkel, this has been a cool-headed political calculation reinforced by her adherence to a rather primitive form of neoliberal economics. Like many politicians from the former Soviet world, she operates within a dichotomous worldview that has Lenin and von Hayek as the two magnetic poles. Schauble is a more interesting case -- not in terms of how sophisticated his economic thinking is, but in terms of personality. The wheelchair-bound finance minister was the victim of an assassination attempt in 1990 that left him paralyzed. Evidently, he harbors a bitterness about his life's misfortune that finally has found discharge in violent denunciation of Europe's debtor nations. His moralistic calls for pain and penance resemble those of preachers berating a congregation of lost souls for their sins. Schauble, indeed, has received cruel blows of fate -- physically and in being outmaneuvered by the clever lady from the DDR who usurped his role as heir apparent to Helmut Kohl, who admired and supported him until Kohl's sudden fall from grace. Throughout the multi-year Eurozone drama, Schauble played the heavy inside the German government with Merkel leaning ever so slightly against his unyielding pressure. When the Greece crisis broke, Merkel gradually yielded the limelight to Schauble. In the climactic two weeks, Schauble was the voice and face of Germany. It was an angry, vindictive face. The challenge from Varoufakis was taken personally -- at the intellectual and individual level. Style has something to do with it -- a contrast perhaps accentuated by the robust and virile persona of Varoufakis. At the concluding meetings where Greece's punishment was doled out, Schauble became a wild card driven by emotion as much as mind. Unrestrained by Merkel, he lost control. At one point he screamed at ECB Director Mario Draghi: "I am not an idiot." Draghi had merely pointed out that the debt was arithmetically un-payable given the new conditions that Germany wanted to impose. That exchange nearly brought the talks to a collapse as both the Greeks and Germans seemed prepared to leave the room with a Greek exit from the Eurozone inescapable. Chancellor Merkel bears the main responsibility for the Schauble pyrotechnics. A statesman or stateswoman, at a moment of crisis, does not hide behind a subordinate -- particularly one prone to volcanic eruptions. In this squalid drama, supporting roles were played by Francois Hollande of France and Matteo Renzi of Italy. They were shocked by German vindictiveness and worried that a bust-up might imperil the Eurozone's stability via volatile financial markets. They also shared anxiety about the likely impact on their own fragile economies and their fragile political standing. Hollande pushed France forward in the envisaged role of mediator. He had sent experts from Paris to Athens to help the Greeks shape their proposals (in effect, terms of surrender) in terms that stood a better chance of placating the Troika. In Brussels, he proposed easing the German demands at the margins. The net effect was insignificant. Hollande had three motivations. One, any French President feels compelled to take a high profile whenever on the international stage -- especially a European stage. Two, he -- like France's entire political class -- has a stake in perpetuating the image of a Franco-German partnership acting in concert to manage the European Union's affairs. That is a dated conception no longer consonant with reality -- as the recurrent monetary crises have demonstrated vividly. Nonetheless the myth must be kept alive for domestic political reasons. Hollande's political standing and reelection prospects were the third reason for his largely futile efforts to insert France into the Greek-German confrontation. Hollande had had his own bruising encounter with International Finance Inc. Running on an anti-austerity platform in 2012, he juxtaposed a growth oriented strategy to the prevailing European orthodoxy. A few colleagues went so far as to toy with the idea of teaming up with Italy to form a countervailing bloc. All was quickly abandoned within days of Hollande's entering the Elysee. A small group of French banking leaders representing the country's largest financial institutions told him in no uncertain terms that a serious initiative that entailed looser financial policy would trigger a sell-off of French bonds and a hike in interest rates for loans to cover the national deficit. They emphasized that this was not a "threat' but rather a prophecy -- a la the Delphic oracle of Greece. So it was good bye to all that. None of this made much difference. One diplomat put it in pithy words: "The Greeks were crucified." For his efforts, Hollande wants to be esteemed as Europe's Prince of Peace and the Savior of the Euro. What roles were played by the ECB's Draghi and Lagarde from the IMF? For them the overriding objective was to avoid a Grexit from the Eurozone. For that might have unforeseen consequences detrimental to the smooth workings of global finance. Lagarde had been embarrassed by the leaked IMF documents showing unmistakably that the Greece's debt burden was unsustainable; hence, the parameters of the deal on the table were arithmetically absurd. Draghi was the one who could provide emergency financial services either to prevent a total bank collapse in Greece in the event of a Grexit or to paper over the gaps in the German sponsored plan were it accepted by the Greeks. Schauble's emotionalism in pressing for vindictive penalties jeopardized the ECB's aims and objectives. Draghi and Lagarde are two cool-headed international technocrats in service to the international financial community. They behaved accordingly. The implications of the great Grexit drama are profound. Most obviously, Greece has been reduced to the status of an indentured servant of the financial powerhouses. There is no logical way that it can escape in this generation. In the process, it has lost its sovereignty for all practical intents and purposes. It also has seen its democracy severely compromised -- this in a country that has struggled to build and sustain viable democratic institutions since WWII. This is a humanitarian tragedy, above all. The systemic consequences are even more profound. Germany has demonstrated that it is unprepared to exercise enlightened leadership in Europe. The Eurozone is its creation, serves German economic interests, and depends on sagacity in Berlin for guidance. The last is manifestly lacking. Merkel does not understand the meaning of international leadership. It goes beyond clever political maneuvering at home to stay in power; it goes beyond securing short-term national interests; it goes beyond stroking one's pet ideas and maintaining ideological purity. A benign hegemon bears the responsibility to create public goods for the collectivity it oversees. That means order, stability and taking into account the peculiar needs and circumstances of its dependent members. At times, doing so means making minor sacrifices of one's own narrow interest for their sake and for the sake of the common enterprise. It means valuing persuasion over imposition. Leading with a light touch is all the more essential when the differentials of power are relatively small and the leader's position derives from no exceptional sources of authority. All of this is alien to Merkel's mindset -- and evidently that of the German political class generally. That's odd given that Germany has been the greatest beneficiary of such leadership as exercised by the United States for more than half a century. Moreover, Germany's political class has revealed a matching parochialism. An important ingredient of that parochialism is an unseemly emotionalism. Public discourse is permeated with self-pitying complaints of victimization. The psychology of this is difficult to penetrate for an outsider. Objectively speaking, it is the Greeks who are suffering as victims -- not the Germans. Nor is there any historical basis for portraying the Greeks as Germany's victimizers. Quite the reverse. Of course, the fictional story crafted by Merkel et al that has the Germans giving the Greeks a gift -- which those ungrateful layabouts refuse to repay -- plays into this psychological syndrome. Still, many leaders do know the facts and yet still manage to work themselves into a lather over alleged Greek duplicity. This attitude is not a German exclusive, although the moralizing and self-righteousness is most pronounced there. Similar sentiments are heard on the lips of government officials and commentators in the Netherlands, Finland, Austria and elsewhere. Oddly, the first two countries themselves have fared badly in economic terms from the self-administration of the austerity snake oil. Finland's GDP is 7 percent lower today than it was in 2008 -- at the bottom of the OECD world standings. What is more important to these countries' leaders is that the neoliberal theology be preserved and that the neoliberal Church retain its authority. None of this is comprehensible without emphasizing how the triumph of neoliberalism has transmuted postwar Europe's enlightened creeds in ways that endanger both domestic well-being and the European project of which it is both cause and effect. For the tenets of neoliberalism are antithetical to the ethos and principles that have created today's Europe (and today's "West" overall). For one, it exalts the individual while denigrating the communal. Personal welfare is praised, policies directed at the public welfare are disparaged or neglected. It posits a me vs. you, a we vs. them, conception of social relations. It emphasizes the preferential over the mutual. Two, that encourages stereotyping and condemnation of the losers: the poor, the weak, the dependent. This process has proceeded even further in Britain, not to speak of the United States, than it has in continental Europe. The direction and momentum are obvious, though. The stereotyped "them" has not taken on the extreme xenophobia that came close to destroying Western civilization in the first half of the 20th century. There are too many countervailing factors in the equation. However, it is manifesting itself in coarse treatment of the aliens within, i.e. immigrants. The combination of acting only in accord with narrow self-interest and avoiding sticky European problems has been manifest in the inability of the EU to agree on a joint approach to the refugee crisis. Thus, Italy finds itself being treated with a disregard that resembles the fate of the Greeks. In the context of these developments, it is wholly natural that there should be similar hardening of attitudes toward the weaker and poorer members of the European Union. There is the same pinched attitude in defining self-interest, the same selfishness masquerading as righteousness, the same proclivity to destroy rather than to build. Above all, the same tendency to dehumanize and to depersonalize the other in justification for doing what one feels entitled to do. Europe of the EU will survive the death of "Europe." It simply will be a nastier place. The night of July 12-13 -- the "night of the long knives" -- is destined to haunt a soulless Europe for many years to come. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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After calling the Greek government to approve controversial budget cuts and financial overhauls, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made a strong reappearance, this time putting pressure on Eurozone’s leadership, asking for a detailed debt restructuring plan for Greece in order to move ahead with a new three-year bailout program. IMF top spokesman Gerry Rice revealed on Thursday that
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Eighty-seven refugees, mainly of Syrian origin, disembarked on the Greek island of Amorgos on Thursday morning. After local authorities were informed about the presence of illegal immigrants on the island, they quickly rushed to provide their assistance. Among the immigrants were several children, as well as four Afghans. According to Amorgos Mayor Nikos Fostieris, the refugees are temporarily hosted
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Despite the high unemployment rate in Greece due to the current debt crisis, no wave of Bulgarians leaving the country to return to their homeland is observed, Bulgaria’s labor attaché to Greece Ekaterina Dimitrova told Focus Information Agency. During the interview, Dimitrova did not try to hide her concerns regarding a possible return of Bulgarian workers to their
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A Greek woman has started the first crowdfunding campaign for a hotel in northern Greece. The campaign is organized through IndieGoGo and aims to raise 1,000,000 dollars in order to help set up a hotel in Greece. The campaign is in the “flexible funding” category, which means that if the goal is not reached, then the money
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Bank of America CFO Bruce Thompson is leaving the organization in what Wall Street insiders say is the latest step in an ongoing consolidation of power at the top of the company. The man tightening his grip on the bank is chief executive and chairman Brian Moynihan. He has led the bank as CEO for about five years, and added the chairman title late last year. Thompson's departure is widely seen by those on Wall Street as evidence of Moynihan extending his influence even further. A number of the top posts at Bank of America are now held by executives who like Moynihan moved to the bank as part of Bank of America's 2003 $47 billion FleetBoston acquisition. Business Insider reached out to bank analysts and other industry insiders who say the age of Moynihan is unlikely to end anytime soon. Bank of America did not returns calls seeking comment. One Wall Street insider said the firm has “an extremely weak board of directors” that has not been aggressive with leadership. Mike Mayo, bank analyst with CLSA, went a step further, describing the bank's corporate governance as "horrendous". He added that the bank is too big to buckle to shareholder pressure, and that it would take a combination of hedge funds and regulators to force the bank to break up into smaller pieces. He said “the Boston power is tightening its grasp,” referring to the group of former FleetBoston executives now in senior posts at Bank of America. He also views Thompson’s ouster as a mystery. "Between the Loch Ness Monster, Stonehenge and the real reason why the CFO of Bank of America got fired, I think it’s among the world’s great mysteries.” One Wall Street insider said: “Clearly Moynihan is increasing his influence over the organization, which is a good thing, because it’s a f****d up organization.” Chris Whalen, senior managing director and head of research with the Kroll Bond Rating Agency, said it’s possible Bank of America could consider asset sales including Merrill Lynch under Moynihan. “What the Fed has told banks is to get smaller,” Whalen said. “And, to avoid risk." Another analyst points out that between the departure of Thompson and wealth management head David Darnell, Bank of America has reduced the list of potential candidates to replace Moynihan yet again. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 mind-blowing facts about Greece's economy
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On June 26th the Greek government announced a snap referendum on a new Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and ...
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Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis says he does not believe in the country's latest bailout plan and his government should "hand over the ...
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After discussion and debate dragged on into the early morning hours, the Greek parliament overwhelmingly adopted a vast new set of cost-cutting ...
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I recently met Greece's former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, in the lobby of a five-star hotel in Athens. Our meeting came at the end of a ...
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WASHINGTON—A senior International Monetary Fund official injected further uncertainty about the future of Greece's emergency bailout Thursday by ...
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… Hera in Ancient Olympia, western Greece, on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 … ] groups… to substantial migrations from Greece and a Hellenic origin for … . Agrigento (Akragas in Greek) was a rich Greek colony, founded in western …
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Greek banks are largely funded through deposits, but the impending process of “resolution” could provide clues for investors holding bank bonds in ...
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Nearly a month ago Greek voters rejected more economic austerity as a condition of another European bailout. Today Athens is implementing an even ...
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Greece's parliament on Thursday approved a second batch of reforms needed to help unlock a huge international bailout for the stricken economy.
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LAST week a Danish surveillance aircraft spotted a rickety fishing boat stuffed with would-be migrants 24 nautical miles off the Libyan coast. It alerted the Italian coast guard in Rome, which in turn dispatched Poseidon, a Swedish multipurpose vessel on patrol in the Mediterranean. Three hours later the ship’s crew ran into 613 men, women and children, from places as far apart as Nigeria and Bangladesh. One by one they clambered aboard, where they were given food, water and a quick health check before awaiting their delivery to shore. Like trophies, pictures of the vessels the Poseidon has intercepted adorn a stairwell below the ship’s mess hall. Since its deployment to Sicily on June 1st as part of an expansion of Operation Triton, the European Union’s border-surveillance mission in Italy, Poseidon has taken part in 14 rescue operations and saved 2,600 souls. If only Europe’s governments could co-operate as happily. This week marked their latest failed attempt to reach a piddling goal: the relocation of 40,000 asylum-seekers from Italy and Greece, which are groaning under...
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The Greek Parliament approved early on Thursday the second set of reforms, which Athens has to implement in order to start negotiations on a third bailout with its international creditors. The parliament passed two more prior actions, which concern the adoption of a European bank resolution scheme and the change of the civil procedure code. A total of 230 MPs voted in favour of the reforms, 63 were against, while five MPs abstained, daily Kathimerini reports. The vote was crucial as it would show whether Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has restored the confidence of his party. Dissent within SYRIZA seems to have slightly decreased as only 36 MPs did not support the reforms, while the rebels within the main ruling party against the first round of reforms were 39. The former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who had opposed the first round of reforms, voted in favour of the second set. However Varoufakis issued a statement, saying that he did so only to help the government buy time, as according to him, the agreement with the creditors was to fail. Tsipras called on MPs to support the bailout agreement in order to counteract Greek opponents, who were forcing the country out of the eurozone. The Greek PM assured that his government would never allow banks to seize the primary residences of Greeks. The 977-page bill, which was discussed on Wednesday, will simplify the process required for courts to reach a decision and write EU rules for dealing with failing banks into Greek law. The new reforms will protect a taxpayer from the cost of bank failures and foresee that unsecured depositors, who have more than EUR 100 000 at an individual bank, will face losses before taxpayers. The legislation provides that shareholders, senior and junior creditors will be in line to take a hit before depositors. The law will not come into effect until the beginning of 2016 and Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told MPs that Greek banks would have been recapitalised by then.
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Initial rationing predicted; all economic indices would collapse
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Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras contained a rebellion in his left-wing Syriza party to win parliamentary approval on Thursday for a second package of reforms required to start talks on a financial rescue deal. A first set of reforms that focused ...
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