... They have voted in an overtly left wing government that is going to implement policies that will directly challenge the IMF, ECB and world bank and which will bring them into direct conflict with Germany specifically and the neo-liberal hegemony more generally.
What they are challenging is whether the EU imposed austerity measures are the correct path to take to resolve the economic issues.
It isn't. Austerity only prolongs the economic problems and provides no solution. Meanwhile people suffer until the ignored processes that actually work to resolve the problem work their way through the morass created by austerity programs.
One only has to look at the US where the GOP has done everything they could to prevent recovery and job growth, anything that would make Obama look good. It's taken six years of austerity and failure to act, but the growth from the bottom has started anyway and has reached the point now where true recovery is beginning anyway.
The only ones that benefit from the austerity programs are the ones that caused the economic crisis -- the big banks and corrupt politicians in the banker pockets rolling back regulations on banks and "bailing out" (paying off) the banks that caused the problem with excessive greed and zero compassion for the working people.
If you are truly interested in resolving the economic problem you will:
- prosecute and jail the individual bankers and politicians that caused the economic collapse,
- divide the banks into small entities,
- bail out the people -- seize foreclosure properties by eminent domain and resell them to the people at reduced (to current) value with current interest rate mortgages,
- set a minimum living wage for all workers,
- require equal pay for work of equal value
- require mandatory overtime pay for all work over 40 hours/week
- require unions be allowed as a basic right of workers
- have universal single payer health-care and welfare de-linked from employment
- close tax loopholes and tax all money leaving the country
For starters.
I realize some of you will be somewhat bewildered by some of this, but it is because the US is rather backward compared to the EU countries and you already have some of these items.
It's certainly brave. But I can't help thinking that whatever the political, or even economic, rights and wrongs of this the forces against Greece are just too overwhelming for it to end well for them. I fear they will be made an example of by the powers that be determined to show what happens to those who reject the established economic consensus.
Or they will be the spark that ignites protest in the rest of the EU from the workers that are feeling the brunt of the austerity measures. Spain is having an election soon and they are taking a long strong look at what happens in Greece.
Interesting to see how it pans out and whether, as many may hope, Greece is the first small step towards a different kind of politics in Europe.
And maybe in the world, if it comes to the recognition that capitalism inevitably results in economic collapse without strong, lasting and socially oriented controls.
With the increase in productivity of workers from increasing AI\robot assistance we need a different paradigm than having all people working 9 to 5 jobs.
If we instead say that people deserve a guaranteed base annual salary for participating in the economy, then people can pursue fulfilling careers, from art to science to engineering and architecture and medical care, etc, without it being a decision predicated on how much you make, how many hours you work and how much you go to college.
The world could work on part time. The question is whether workers will demand their fair share of the production improvements or allow it to be concentrated in the greedy corporations.
We do no need fracking for oil, the world does not want fracking for oil as it destroys whole ecologies and destroys groundwater.
A socially and ecologically aware society would not build the KXL pipeline but would replace it with solar and wind energy
[/rant]
Enjoy
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