3 comments

• Comment Link Sunday, 30 May 2010 16:43 posted by Timo

  The austerity program advocated by Sachs will simply erode Greece's ability to pay, by further stripping/eroding productive capabilities. Greece will be in a worse position in a few years than it is now. Look at what is happening in some of the Baltic states. Austerity programs are designed to further cripple those that embark on them. This is a polarization issue. At the opposite pole, those countries demanding austerity programs for countries like Greece, embark on full employment budgets. The hypocrisy couldn't be more apparent.
• Comment Link Sunday, 30 May 2010 18:46 posted by Timo

  And I forgot to mention first time round, that Sachs was talking about simply servicing debt. Not paying down principle. In other words Greece will be taking on more debt to simply pay interest charges. That is what it sounded like. This has never worked. If only Monty Python had sent this up forty years ago. At least we could get a good laugh out of it. As it is, it is too painful to watch. The IMF has used this same kind of gimmick from over forty years ago. It never, ever works. The debtor country is turned into a colonial cul de sac, to the benefit of the creditor nation(s).
• Comment Link Thursday, 17 June 2010 00:11 posted by Wat Kromer

  And I forgot to mention first time round, that Sachs was talking about simply servicing debt. Not paying down principle. In other words Greece will be taking on more debt to simply pay interest charges. That is what it sounded like. This has never worked. If only Monty Python had sent this up forty years ago. At least we could get a good laugh out of it. As it is, it is too painful to watch. The IMF has used this same kind of gimmick from over forty years ago. It never, ever works. The debtor country is turned into a colonial cul de sac, to the benefit of the creditor nation(s).
  +1