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HuffPo: German-Led Eurogroup Launching Coup Against Greek Government
. . .
The world's rich nations assumed that what institutions like the IMF did in the South wouldn't hit the North. Capital, however, marched on. And on Sunday night, it marched into Athens with an offer to Greece that would end the idea that capitalism and democracy can survive together there. Reads the offer, provided by a source close to the talks , from the European financial elite, which call themselves the institutions: "The [Greek] government needs to consult and agree with the institutions on all draft legislation in relevant areas with adequate time before submitting it for public consultation or to Parliament." It would be a government in name only. Not only would the Greek people be forced to accept the kind of deal they rejected overwhelmingly at the polls just a week earlier, but they'd be blocked from implementing any future policies Germany disapproved of.
"The triumph of the West, of the Western idea, is evident first of all in the total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western liberalism," Fukuyama wrote. But, instead, the absence of a viable alternative emboldened capital: with the threat of socialism gone, there is less need for either half of what's known in Europe as social democracy. In a previous interview with HuffPost, French economist Thomas Piketty highlighted the interaction. "The existence of a counter model was one of the reasons that a number of reforms or policies were accepted," he said, arguing that people in capitalist countries fared better thanks to the threat of communism. "In France, it's very striking to see that in 1920, the political majorities adopted steeply progressive taxation. Exactly the same people refused the income tax in 1914 with a 2 percent tax rate. And in between, the Bolshevik revolution made them feel, after all, that progressive taxation is not so dangerous as revolution."
During negotiations over the future of Greece, the Greek Syriza government repeatedly offered such progressive taxation as a way of achieving some of the budget surpluses the institutions were demanding. The offer was rejected, however, with the institutions arguing that higher taxes on the rich might slow growth. With no fear of revolution, the interest in progressive taxation is gone.
Paul Krugman, under the headline "Killing the European Project," put the blame squarely on Germany:
"The triumph of the West, of the Western idea, is evident first of all in the total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western liberalism," Fukuyama wrote. But, instead, the absence of a viable alternative emboldened capital: with the threat of socialism gone, there is less need for either half of what's known in Europe as social democracy. In a previous interview with HuffPost, French economist Thomas Piketty highlighted the interaction. "The existence of a counter model was one of the reasons that a number of reforms or policies were accepted," he said, arguing that people in capitalist countries fared better thanks to the threat of communism. "In France, it's very striking to see that in 1920, the political majorities adopted steeply progressive taxation. Exactly the same people refused the income tax in 1914 with a 2 percent tax rate. And in between, the Bolshevik revolution made them feel, after all, that progressive taxation is not so dangerous as revolution."
During negotiations over the future of Greece, the Greek Syriza government repeatedly offered such progressive taxation as a way of achieving some of the budget surpluses the institutions were demanding. The offer was rejected, however, with the institutions arguing that higher taxes on the rich might slow growth. With no fear of revolution, the interest in progressive taxation is gone.
Paul Krugman, under the headline "Killing the European Project," put the blame squarely on Germany:
The trending hashtag ThisIsACoup is exactly right. This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief. It is, presumably, meant to be an offer Greece can’t accept; but even so, it’s a grotesque betrayal of everything the European project was supposed to stand for.
THE REST:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/12/thisisacoup_n_7781736.html
Also, this...
https://twitter.com/DoMeNiKuSS/status/620388122031951872
8 replies
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and those who fail to recognize this fact are doomed to allow it to continue if not help to facilitate it.
