finance

The Greek people’s efforts to end the economic depression, recover their sovereignty and reverse the regressive socio-economic policies, which have drastically reduced living standards, have been thrice denied.

Something’s profoundly wrong with our global financial system. Pope Francis is only the latest to raise the alarm: “Human beings and nature must not be at the service of money. Let us say no to an economy of exclusion and inequality, where money rules, rather than service. That economy kills. That economy excludes. That economy destroys Mother Earth.”
What the Pope calls “an economy of exclusion and inequality, where money rules” is widely evident. What is not so clear is how we got into this situation, and what to do about it.

From the outbreak of Europe’s debt crisis in 2010, Germany and the Troika institutions of the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF have come to wield immense influence over the continent and the populations within it. This video examines the individuals and institutions of power in Europe.

Greece’s debt can now only be made sustainable through debt relief measures that go far beyond what Europe has been willing to consider so far.
— International Monetary Fund

RT | July 15, 2015 European creditors should either write down a massive amount of Athens’ debt or give Greece a 30-year grace period if they want it to recover and repay, according to a Reuters’ report citing International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials and a secret study. Taking into account Greece’s growing financial needs, its […]

The people of Greece have rejected austerity with an emphatic “No” in a referendum. The corporate media reacted predictably. Reuters depicted Greeks as defying Europe.
The language in the Reuters piece was palpably biased. It portrayed Greeks as having “overwhelmingly rejected conditions of a rescue package” [italics added] put together by “creditors” and “lenders.”

Over the past decade fundamental changes have taken place in Southern Europe, which have broken with previous political alignments, resulting in the virtual disappearance of traditional leftist ’parties, the decline of trade unions and the emergence of ‘middle class radicalism’.

Tim Geithner is seated at Charlie Rose’s exclusive Table Ronde, his fashionable curly locks carefully askew on his lofty forehead, his hands expressively illustrating his financial competence. He has published a book destined for stardom, Stress Test, and he confronts Charlie who loves to flog best sellers before they are.

About 75% of US employees work 40 hours or longer, the second longest among all OECD countries, exceeded only by Poland and tied with South Korea. In contrast, only 10% of Danish workers, 15% of Norwegian, 30% of French, 43% of UK and 50% of German workers work 40 or more hours. With the longest work day, US workers score lower on the ‘living well’ scale than most western European workers. Moreover, despite those long workdays US employees receive the shortest paid holidays or vacation time (one to two weeks compared to the average of five weeks in Western Europe).

Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of The Bubble and Beyond (2012), Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1968 & 2003), Trade, Development and Foreign Debt (1992 & 2009) and of The Myth of Aid (1971).
*****