More bullshit from Greek politicians to get EU and IMF to loan 'em more money
More details on the utter, brazen charade that is Greece's likely default. Edited from Reuters.
A week ago the country's interior minister said the country will not be able to make a debt payment to the IMF due just four days from now unless it achieves a deal with creditors. And the "deal" the government seeks? "Loan us more money. Oh, but don't ask us to cut government spending because it ain't gonna happen."
Which means the country won't be any more likely to repay the proposed new loans than it can repay the ones due in four days.
How do you con normally hard-headed bankers into throwing good money after bad? Just like a community organizer: you guilt the well-off: A second government minister accused the country's lenders of subjecting Greece to "slow and calculated torture."
"Torture," eh? Is that some odd translation of "We Greek politicians absolutely refuse to reduce spending to match tax revenue. Plus, we and our bureaucrats like to retire at age 45 with extremely generous pensions. Cuz, you know, we deserve it."
After four months of talks with its eurozone partners and the IMF, the leftist-led government is still scrambling for a deal that could "release" up to 7.2 billion euros ($7.9 billion) "in aid" to avert bankruptcy.
Greece is supposed to make weekly repayments of 1.6 billion euros to the IMF in June, but the Interior Minister said the money "will not be given and is not there to be given."
Mr Voutsis was adamant that Athens certainly didn't want to default. "We are not seeking this, we don't want it, it is not our strategy," he said. Instead he said the country was seeking "a strong agreement [with lenders] so that the country will be able to breathe." Mr Voutsis said.
Yeah, no guilting efforts there, huh.
Before last week the government insisted it planned to make all upcoming payments. However, anyone able to read a balance sheet knew this was as reliable as "If you like your health insurance you can keep your health insurance."
The government doesn't want to cut spending because the populace likes the current level of "freebies" and has rioted when cuts have been proposed in the past. Like leftist governments around the world, it buys into the idea that cutting spending would make the economic situation worse.
Mr Voutsis said the government was determined to fight against the lenders' push for reduced spending, calling it "asphyxiation" and "extreme austerity."
The prime minister said the government was on a final stretch towards a deal but would not accept "humiliating terms".
Hard-left energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis characterized lender pressure in the last four months as "a drip-feed torture on the Greek people – one of the most horrible blackmail practices in world history – at the expense of the country."
"Repay what you borrowed, as you agreed" is "horrible blackmail" and "torture" eh? Nothing like inflaming the emotions of the next riot, eh guys?
He told party cadres the government must be ready to "avoid new measures and privatisations."
Yeah. Because the old measures have been working Sooo well.
After two days of deliberations the party's central committee approved the PM's proposed line on the negotiations – that a deal should include debt restructuring and an investment programme, but no cuts in wages or pensions.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Greece had made "enormous strides" towards reaching a deal with its lenders to avert bankruptcy but it was now up to the institutions to do their bit.
"We have met them three-quarters of the way, they need to meet us one-quarter of the way," he told Britain's BBC on Sunday.
That's astonishingly brazen, even for a politician. Sounds like a community organizer who's rallied 200 angry demonstrators into blocking the lobby of a bank, "negotiating" with management for what they need to give him to have the demonstrators leave.
"If you'll write off another half of our debt, we agree to sit down with you and negotiate some more on the remaining half."
Amazing. And apparently a universal characteristic of leftist politicians, who get elected--and keep their jobs--by opening the public treasury to the people--and their friends.
A week ago the country's interior minister said the country will not be able to make a debt payment to the IMF due just four days from now unless it achieves a deal with creditors. And the "deal" the government seeks? "Loan us more money. Oh, but don't ask us to cut government spending because it ain't gonna happen."
Which means the country won't be any more likely to repay the proposed new loans than it can repay the ones due in four days.
How do you con normally hard-headed bankers into throwing good money after bad? Just like a community organizer: you guilt the well-off: A second government minister accused the country's lenders of subjecting Greece to "slow and calculated torture."
"Torture," eh? Is that some odd translation of "We Greek politicians absolutely refuse to reduce spending to match tax revenue. Plus, we and our bureaucrats like to retire at age 45 with extremely generous pensions. Cuz, you know, we deserve it."
After four months of talks with its eurozone partners and the IMF, the leftist-led government is still scrambling for a deal that could "release" up to 7.2 billion euros ($7.9 billion) "in aid" to avert bankruptcy.
Greece is supposed to make weekly repayments of 1.6 billion euros to the IMF in June, but the Interior Minister said the money "will not be given and is not there to be given."
Mr Voutsis was adamant that Athens certainly didn't want to default. "We are not seeking this, we don't want it, it is not our strategy," he said. Instead he said the country was seeking "a strong agreement [with lenders] so that the country will be able to breathe." Mr Voutsis said.
Yeah, no guilting efforts there, huh.
Before last week the government insisted it planned to make all upcoming payments. However, anyone able to read a balance sheet knew this was as reliable as "If you like your health insurance you can keep your health insurance."
The government doesn't want to cut spending because the populace likes the current level of "freebies" and has rioted when cuts have been proposed in the past. Like leftist governments around the world, it buys into the idea that cutting spending would make the economic situation worse.
Mr Voutsis said the government was determined to fight against the lenders' push for reduced spending, calling it "asphyxiation" and "extreme austerity."
The prime minister said the government was on a final stretch towards a deal but would not accept "humiliating terms".
Hard-left energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis characterized lender pressure in the last four months as "a drip-feed torture on the Greek people – one of the most horrible blackmail practices in world history – at the expense of the country."
"Repay what you borrowed, as you agreed" is "horrible blackmail" and "torture" eh? Nothing like inflaming the emotions of the next riot, eh guys?
He told party cadres the government must be ready to "avoid new measures and privatisations."
Yeah. Because the old measures have been working Sooo well.
After two days of deliberations the party's central committee approved the PM's proposed line on the negotiations – that a deal should include debt restructuring and an investment programme, but no cuts in wages or pensions.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Greece had made "enormous strides" towards reaching a deal with its lenders to avert bankruptcy but it was now up to the institutions to do their bit.
"We have met them three-quarters of the way, they need to meet us one-quarter of the way," he told Britain's BBC on Sunday.
That's astonishingly brazen, even for a politician. Sounds like a community organizer who's rallied 200 angry demonstrators into blocking the lobby of a bank, "negotiating" with management for what they need to give him to have the demonstrators leave.
"If you'll write off another half of our debt, we agree to sit down with you and negotiate some more on the remaining half."
Amazing. And apparently a universal characteristic of leftist politicians, who get elected--and keep their jobs--by opening the public treasury to the people--and their friends.
posted by SF at
9:18 PM
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