The Problem of Greece Is Not Only a Tragedy - It Is a Lie

[marmar]

The Problem of Greece Is Not Only a Tragedy - It Is a Lie

Tuesday, 14 July 2015 10:41
By John Pilger, Truthout | Op-Ed


An historic betrayal has consumed Greece. Having set aside the mandate of the Greek electorate, the Syriza government has willfully ignored last week’s landslide "No" vote and secretly agreed on a raft of repressive, impoverishing measures in return for a "bailout" that means sinister foreign control and a warning to the world.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has pushed through parliament a proposal to cut at least 13 billion euros from the public purse - 4 billion euros more than the "austerity" figure rejected overwhelmingly by the majority of the Greek population in a referendum on July 5.

These reportedly include a 50 percent increase in the cost of health care for pensioners, almost 40 percent of whom live in poverty; deep cuts in public sector wages; the complete privatization of public facilities such as airports and ports; a rise in value-added tax to 23 percent, now applied to the Greek islands where people struggle to eke out a living.

There is more to come.

"Anti-austerity party sweeps to stunning victory," declared a Guardian headline on January 25. "Radical leftists" the paper called Tsipras and his impressively educated comrades. They wore open-neck shirts, and the finance minister rode a motorbike and was described as a "rock star of economics." It was a façade. They were not radical in any sense of that cliched label; neither were they "anti-austerity."

.......(snip).......

Greece’s debt, reports an audit by the Greek parliament, "is illegal, illegitimate and odious." Proportionally, it is less than 30 percent that of the debt of Germany, its major creditor. It is less than the debt of European banks, whose "bailout" in 2007-2008 was barely controversial and unpunished. .............(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/31842-the-problem-of-greece-is-not-only-a-tragedy-it-is-a-lie