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’.
[audio mp3="http://www.corbettreport.com/mp3/2015-06-19%20James%20Evan%20Pilato.mp3"][/audio]This week on the New World Next Week: Greece ups the ante by calling its debt illegal and odious; American police corruption back in the news with stop-and-seize; and Texas creates its own bullion depository.
[audio mp3="http://www.corbettreport.com/mp3/2015-06-17%20Austin%20Green.mp3"][/audio]The world is getting crazier by the minute, and this week's headlines are a case in point. From the Texas bullion depository to the Greek odious debt argument to the China-Russia gas deal, James and Alfred cover the stories that are destined to impact our lives in the near future.
The deal is that Greece gets new loans with which to repay existing loans in exchange for selling municipal water companies to private investors (water rates will go up on the Greek people), for selling the state lottery to private investors (Greek government revenues drop, thus making debt repayment more difficult), and for other such “privatizations” such as selling the protected Greek islands to real estate developers.
Greece has been in the headlines of the world’s financial press for the past five months, as a newly elected leftist party, ‘Syriza’, which ostensibly opposes so-called ‘austerity measures’, faces off against the “Troika” (International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and European Central Bank).
Early on, the Syriza leadership, headed by Alexis Tsipras, adopted several strategic positions with fatal consequences – in terms of implementing their electoral promises to raise living standards, end vassalage to the ‘Troika’ and pursue an independent foreign policy.
1.1 Austerity as a cost saving capitalist strategy
MORE than 800 migrants died on April 19 this year when their overcrowded boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast. The tragedy sent soaring this year’s Mediterranean death toll which was by then around 1,500 – 10 times the deaths during the same period last year.
Clearly, our creditors’ demand for more austerity has nothing to do with concerns about genuine reform or moving Greece onto a sustainable fiscal path. Their true motivation is a question best left to future historians – who, I have no doubt, will take much of the contemporary media coverage with a grain of salt.
The post Austerity Is the Only Deal-Breaker appeared first on BSNEWS.
