The European Tribune is a forum for thoughtful dialogue of European and international issues. You are invited to post comments and your own articles.
Please REGISTER to post.
Greece should default on all sovereign debt owed to entities that are not individuals, and all sovereign debt in excess of 100.000 owed to individuals.
Then Greece should present the ECB with an ultimatum: Either the ECB carries Greek debt at the Frankfurt overnight rate until Greek GDP has recovered to the pre-crisis peak level and the hysterical children in the international money markets have stopped throwing their infantile hissy fit. Or Greece will leave the , and convert all debt owed by Greek citizens and government agencies to the new currency, without compensating the creditor. Greece could then conduct its economic policy without consulting the markets that have failed so completely.
As an ardent supporter of the European project, it gives me no pleasure to make a recommendation that may result in a breakup of the -zone. But I can no longer in good conscience watch Greece commit economic suicide for the sake of the failed economic doctrines at the core of current -zone policy. Enough is enough.
None can dispute that Greece has serious economic problems. But those problems are not caused by the public debt; the problems are what is causing the debt. Attempting to solve Greece's problems by paying down the public debt is akin to bathing a fevered man in cold water to lower his temperature: It does not cure the problems, and it causes new damage in the process.
As citizens of Europe, we all have to endure occasional misguided policies from the European Union. Just as we as citizens of our countries have to endure occasional misguided policies from our national governments. But enough is enough. By imposing devastating austerity policies on Greece, the European Union has signally failed the first duty of any government: To serve and protect its citizens and the common weal. If these policies made economic sense, the matter would be debatable. But they do not. Austerity represents a triumph of dogma over thought - it has never worked to resolve a crisis like the Greek, and it never will work. Not in Asia, not in Latin America, not in Hoover's America, not in Europe.
It is time to say no to this insanity, in the only language that will get through to the financial parasites who propagate it. Enough is enough.
- Jake Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.
by gmoke - Jun 10
by Frank Schnittger - May 31
by Oui - May 30 50 comments
by Frank Schnittger - May 23 3 comments
by Frank Schnittger - May 27 3 comments
by Oui - May 13 66 comments
by Frank Schnittger - Jun 10
by Oui - Jun 91 comment
by Oui - Jun 58 comments
by Oui - Jun 257 comments
by Oui - Jun 112 comments
by Oui - May 31122 comments
by Oui - May 3050 comments
by Frank Schnittger - May 273 comments
by Oui - May 2742 comments
by Oui - May 24
by Frank Schnittger - May 233 comments
by Oui - May 1366 comments
by Oui - May 928 comments
by Oui - May 450 comments
by Oui - Apr 30273 comments
by Oui - Apr 2666 comments
by Oui - Apr 8108 comments
by Oui - Mar 19145 comments