Krugman: the "dastardly ploy" by those "left-wing Greek radicals" is completely reasonable.

[pampango]

OK, so as I understand the latest from the new Greek government, Yanis Varoufakis is saying that he and his colleagues don’t care what happens to the headline value of the debt — if you want to claim that there has been no write-off, OK. What they want instead is substantive but not outrageous relief from the burden of running primary surpluses (surpluses ex interest payments), reducing the amount of resources transferred to creditors from 4.5 to 1-1.5 percent of GDP; they also want flexibility to achieve these surpluses with a mix that includes more revenue and less spending austerity.

This is a dastardly ploy by those left-wing radicals. You see, it’s completely reasonable.

Once we’ve granted that the debt won’t really be paid in full, the question is how to manage that less-than-full payment. As I‘ve argued, the key point is to grant Greece some relaxation — but not elimination — of the requirement that it run large primary surpluses, thereby creating room for recovery. And that’s what Greece is now asking for.

The point for now is that Syriza is making sense. The next move is up to the creditors.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/whos-unreasonable-now/

Those "dastardly left-wing Greek radicals" are being more reasonable than Germany.

[el_bryanto]

1. Hopefully they can negotiate something like this - that does make a lot of sense to me.

I'm kind of torn on the Greece situation - although largely supportive of Syriza (as deep austerity is no way to recover from an economic downturn), I also see the argument that they did borrow the money, and, painful or not, they do have an obligation to pay it back.

Bryant

[libdem4life]

2. They have been propping up the Euro for years. Same as our dollar, except the Euro is

still not the global currency, so we can prop up longer with more economic powers. We can't imagine what it is to have a higher authority come in and say our dollar is worthless so now the globe will trade in, say yen or rubles or yuan or whatever.

A good deal of national pride and culture is found in the currency...it's a native value and name...the Euro was a made up name...a socialization of currency. Now it's opponents are considered radical and Left Wing.

[pampango]

3. Syriza may be considered 'radical' and anti-austerity but they are not anti-euro, AFAIK.

SYRIZA say they have no intention of leaving the eurozone.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_1_25/01/2015_546509

[libdem4life]

4. That is true at this point. It has been floating around a bit, as I've read, and if the

anti-austerity movement gains momentum, as it surely is and will likely continue, there is real concern that a Southern Bloc, which has yet to materialize, could pose a problem.

The reason they fear even giving a little to Greece is that it creates a precedent and shows vulnerability and won't be the last country to require reorganization.

Again, I'm no expert, but fascinated by what is happening.