Barack Obama signals support for Greece’s call to loosen austerity programme

[azmom]

President Barack Obama has warned that imposing tough austerity programmes on Greece could backfire on its creditors.
“You cannot keep on squeezing countries that are in the midst of depression,” Mr Obama told CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”.
“At some point, there has to be a growth strategy in order for them to pay off their debts to eliminate some of their deficits.”
His comments come as Yanis Varoufakis, the new Greek finance minister, was set for talks with his British counterpart on Monday as he seeks to build support for a renegotiation of his country’s 240 billion euro (£180 billion) bailout in the face of German opposition.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/11383848/Barack-Obama-signals-support-for-Greeces-call-to-loosen-austerity-programme.html

[pampango]

1. From Athens: Obama on Greece: ΄Austerity is not effective; there must be growth΄

When the economy is in freefall, you need a strategy of growth, not just pressuring a population that is suffering more and more, U.S. President Barack Obama said in interview to CNN, in response to a question about Greece.

According to AMNA, asked whether he agreed with new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that "austerity is not effective," Obama said that you cannot continue to pressure countries in recession - at some point there must be a strategy of growth in order for these countries to be able to repay their debts and reduce some of their deficits.

He said there is no doubt that the Greek economy was in urgent need of reforms, and that the collection of taxes in Greece is famously tragic. In order for Greece to become competitive in the global market, they should have put a series of changes in the pipeline. These changes, he said, are very hard to achieve if the people΄s living standard has dropped by 25% - this cannot be sustained either by the Greek society or the political system.

The U.S. president said he was concerned about growth in Europe and that fiscal discipline was significant, while structural reforms are necessary in many of these countries. He added however that the American experience is that the best way to reduce deficits is to restore fiscal balance, grow, and when you have an economy in free fall, there must be a strategy of growth and not just try to pressure a population that is suffering more and more.

http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=2217479

[Newest Reality]

2. Well,

it would be good to warn about the same thing here in the U.S, even though our particular brand of "squeeze" is not being emphasized or labeled as austerity.