Interviewed by Kristina Bozic, for OBJECTIV
8 JunOn 13th March Kristina Božič paid me a great complement by interviewing me for slovenian journal Objectiv. The breadth and insightfulness of the questions gave me much pleasure. To read the article in its original home, click here. Alternarively, read on (Google translate does a decent job)… Continue reading
The IMF’s Anger – and what it means for the Eurozone’s crashing Periphery
6 JunThe IMF’s recent report on Greece constitutes the culmination of the Fund’s Mea Culpa regarding its complicity in a series of toxic bailouts that have contributed to the unfolding Kossovisation of the Eurozone’s Periphery. Back in March 2012 this blog reported on a preemptive strike by the IMF the purpose of which was to cover-up another foretold program failure. The IMF’s next step was to confess to major errors in the computation of fiscal multipliers; a recognition that the fiscal consolidation program imposed upon our hapless countries was never going to produce anything other than an intensification of the debt-deflationary crisis. (See this post which explained the unholy alliance between economic illiteracy and political expediency that led to those ‘errors’ and this more recent interview for my assessment of the IMF’s strategy vis-a-vis Europe at large.) Continue reading
In Perpetual Denial: Papandreou on TVO, interviewed by Steve Paikin (and responding to Varoufakis and Vaxevanis)
5 JunGeorge Papandreou, the former Greek PM, had a splendid chance a couple of days ago to come clean on the two fundamental errors that cost him his legacy and pushed Greece down a hideous rabbit hole: (a) Failing to acknowledge that the Greek state and banking sector was bankrupt, making preemptive haircuts essential (instead, his government opted for ‘extending and pretending’ by means of the largest loan in history, given on conditions of massively shrinking the bankrupt entity’s GDP!) And (b) to call for a fraudulent referendum on the 2nd Bailout, for the purposes of blackmailing voters into backing another dead-end ‘rescue’. Sadly, Mr Papandreou, eighteen months after have been scorned by Greek society, failed to utilise the excellent opportunity that Steve Paikin gave him to perform a redemptive Mea Culpa. Instead, he portrayed himself as a selfless saviour who put Greece on the road to sound government and meaningful reforms while, at the very same time, suggesting that Greece’s cleptocracy remains in full control of the country (jump to around 25′ where Mr Papandreou is responding to a statement by investigative reporter Kostas Vaxevanis – whose travails as a result of facing the cleptocrats down we have discussed here before).
See his response to a clip that Steve played of my assessment of his referendum strategy (which caused his resignation) at around the 14th minute of the video below – and read the post I had written at the time entitled: It is time to resign Mr Papandreou. For that interview of mine, again with Steve Paikin, see below.
Greek Success Story: The latest Orwellian Turn of the Greek Crisis
22 MayGreece’s Prime Minister recently flew to China, to woo Chinese investors. In his bid to be persuasive, he adopted a radical narrative: Greece is a Success Story. A country that almost perished in 2012 is now on the mend; on the road to stabilisation and growth; a wonderful opportunity, currently, for investors to pick up ultra cheap investments and to benefit from the forthcoming growth. How much of this is true, however? Continue reading
