EU, IMF Manufactured Greek Debt Crisis Through Accounting. “We had the role of a rubber stamp...” - a former board member of Greece’s national statistical authority has revealed that she and other members were forced to sign off on falsified deficit and debt figures that plunged their country into an ongoing economic depression.
Greece’s Statistics agency employees walk past the logo of the agency in Piraeus, near Athens. Serious errors in Greek deficit data, revealed last year, helped trigger the European government debt crisis rattled world markets and confidence in the euro. (AP/Petros Giannakouris) Yanis Varoufakis defends secret plan for parallel Greek payment system - live updates.
Yanis Varoufakis has just released a statement defending his work creating a parallel payment system during his time as finance minister.
The statement, from “the Office of Yanis Varoufakis”, insists that he was fully authorised to carry out the work. It also criticises the media for their “far-fetched” articles, and denies the claim that he ever planned to hijack all taxpayers tax file numbers [which he does not actually say on the leaked Tapes]. Greece Approves 'Terms of Surrender' to Austerity.
By Deirdre Fulton | Common Dreams Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivers his speech to Parliament in Athens on July 16.
After a lengthy and tense debate that stretched into the early hours of Thursday morning, the 300-member Greek Parliament voted by a majority of 229-64 to pass what former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis—one of those to vote “No”—is calling the “Terms of Greece’s Surrender” to European creditors. The €86 billion bailout comes at a high political and social cost, forcing the imposition of harsh austerity measures and economic reforms tougher than those rejected by more than 60 percent of Greek voters in a July 5 referendum. Among the measures included in the rescue package, which provides for debt restructuring and allows Greece to remain in the Eurozone, are: tax hikes, pension cuts, and the privatization of public property. Grexit or Jubilee? How Greek Debt Can Be Annulled. - Advertisement - Where democracy was born and died by dw.com The crushing Greek debt could be canceled the way it was made -- by sleight of hand.
But saving the Greek people and their economy is evidently not in the game plan of the Eurocrats. Greece's creditors have finally brought the country to its knees, forcing President Alexis Tsipras to agree to austerity and privatization measures more severe than those overwhelmingly rejected by popular vote a week earlier. No write-down of Greece's debt was included in the deal, although the IMF has warned that the current debt is unsustainable. Schrödinger's Cat Is Dead. - Advertisement - The battle to assemble the funds for the Greek bailout and the short-term bridging finance for the gap between the immediate needs of the Greeks for liquidity which would allow Greek banks to open for business has demonstrated to the world what most economists have known for years -- there is no real money behind these bailouts.
There has been precious little actual transfers of cash between the ECB, the IMF and the European Union to debtors like Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Greece. It Starts: Greeks Rebel Against Bailout, Risk Collapse. Greece’s union of civil servants, Adedly, called for a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, and for a series of demonstrations, the first one tonight at Syntagma Square, just below the Parliament, and another one on Wednesday evening, when Parliament is expected to vote on the new, even tougher, and immensely hated bailout package.
The union for local government employees, Poe-Ota, also called for a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, the AFP reported. Two other demonstrations against austerity and the “euro” are planned for Monday night, one organized via social networks, the other by Antarsya, an anti-euro party that didn’t make it into Parliament. It would be the first strike against the leftwing Syriza coalition since it came to power six months ago.
Solving the Greek Problem. - Advertisement - Euros(image by Images_of_Money) License DMCA On July 5, 2015, the Greek voters decided "NO" in a referendum on lenders' demands for further austerity in exchange for bailout accommodations.
"No" is the appropriate answer to lenders who want higher taxes and lower spending that have crippled the Greek economy--unemployment is about 25 percent, economic growth is moribund, and the debt is higher than when the sad, sordid affair started. What Greece needs is a "Marshall Plan for Greece" that would further restructure the debt: debt forgiveness, revision of the repayment schedule, and cuts in interest rates on the debt.
Absent this, exit from the European Union (EU) would remove Greece from the "troika" clutches, namely, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission (EC), which are making demands on Greece that cannot be met. 'Austerity Has Won': Greece Submits to Divisive Reforms. European Council president Donald Tusk made the announcement of what he referred to as an “agreekment” early Monday morning following a 17-hour round of negotiations in Brussels.
The deal was immediately blasted as a “humiliating” surrender of national sovereignty. An editorial on the Iskra website, which reflects the views of anti-austerity Syriza hardliners, charges that the agreement reestablishes and extends the guardianship of the Troika and solidifies “social enslavement.” “The Greek people must not become disappointed, on the contrary it must remain stubborn, as it did in the referendum and the countrywide protests for a ‘No’ to the very end,” read the editorial. “A ‘No’ to clash with the bailout, neo-liberalism and austerity which are institutionalized in the Eurozone.” Greece — The One Biggest Lie You Are Being Told By The Media. First published in July 2015 By Truth and Satire Every single mainstream media has the following narrative for the economic crisis in Greece: the government spent too much money and went broke; the generous banks gave them money, but Greece still can’t pay the bills because it mismanaged the money that was given.
It sounds quite reasonable, right? What Stinks about Varoufakis and the Whole Greek Mess? Something stinks very bad about Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and the entire Greek mess that has been playing out since the election victory of the nominally pro-Greek Syriza Party in January.
I am coming to the reluctant conclusion that far from being the champion of the hapless Greek people, Varoufakis is part of a far larger and very dirty game. The brilliant psychologist Eric Berne, author of the seminal book Games People Play, would likely call the game of Varoufakis and the Troika, “Rapo,” as in the rape of the Greek people and, ultimately of all the EU, Germany included. How do I come to this surprising conclusion? What we have witnessed since is what can only be called a clown show, one in which the laugh is on the Greek people and EU citizens as a whole. The Latest: IMF: Ready to Work With Greek Govt Again. Exclusive: Greece’s Varoufakis Set To Blow Whistle On Germany’s Worrying Plan For Europe.
Greek Ex-Finance Minister Owns German Politician On Solution To Eurozone Crisis. Growth vs Austerity? It's a no-brainer for a logical guy like Varoufakis It’s been a crazy few days for Greece, with the people’s decision to reject further bailouts and austerity measures making history last Sunday (full story here). The hero of the hour is Greece‘s ex-finance minister Yanis Yanoufakis, who was forced to resign after winning the referendum result he had been fighting for these past few months. His reason? Shady, un-named international creditors refuse to negotiate with Greek Prime Minister Tsipras further unless Yanoufakis leaves the party. Page 2 of Article: Greece And The EU Situation. - Advertisement - Reprinted from Paul Craig Roberts Website I doubt that there will be a Greek exit. The Greek referendum, in which the Greek government's position easily prevailed, tells the troika (EU Commission, European Central Bank, IMF, with of course Washington as the puppet master) that the Greek people support their government's position that the years of austerity to which Greece has been subjected has seriously worsened the debt problem.
The Greek government has been trying to turn the austerity approach into reforms that would lessen the debt burden via a rise in employment, GDP, and tax revenues. The first response of most EU politicians to the Greek referendum outcome was to bluster about Greece exiting Europe. Harmonization vs. Centralization: How the Euro Failed Greece. Credit: lorenzog. / Foter / CC BY-NC-NDWhen the Euro was introduced, it was pitched as a tool of cross-border harmonization. No longer would EU member states and their citizens have to juggle competing currencies. With the euro in place, money could move more easily across borders, and so, in theory could, goods and services; it was a vehicle for making trade simpler, and reducing the barriers to labor mobility that had arisen from the patchwork of individual currencies across the continent.
It was a way toward more Europe, not less. Greece — The One Biggest Lie You Are Being Told By The Media. Showdown in Athens. Reprinted from Counterpunch Greek finance minister for Syriza party Yanis Vvaroufakis. (image by YouTube) "Will the United States, Germany, the rest of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund -- collectively constituting the International Mafia -- allow the new Greek leaders of the Syriza party to dictate the conditions of Greece's rescue and salvation?
The answer at the moment is a decided "No. " -- William Blum, The Greek Tragedy, CounterPunch"The Greek economy is finished. " Putin Orders Special Forces To Protect Greek Leaders Life “At All Costs” World's Largest English Language News Service with Over 500 Articles Updated Daily "The News You Need Today…For The World You’ll Live In Tomorrow. " What You Aren’t Being Told About The World You Live In Picking up the Pieces: Practical Guide for Surviving Economic Crashes, Internal Unrest and Military SuppressionBy: Sorcha Faal “In the span of less than 3 months gasoline prices will rise 500%.
The prices of both food and shelter rise over 300%. (Continued)