The euro ‘family’ has shown it is capable of real cruelty by Suzanne Moore

[Demeter]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/13/euro-family-angela-merkel-greek-bailout?CMP=ema_565

The seemingly indestructible Angela Merkel can go without sleep, and still manage a half smile and speak about Greece’s wish to remain in “the euro family”. This may sound reasonable and pleasant. All families have their little local difficulties, don’t they? But they work through them. People see reason. When they are forced to. By infantilising Greece, Germany resembles a child who closes its own eyes and thinks we can not see it. We can. The world is watching what is being done to Greece in the name of euro stability. It sees a nation stripped of its dignity, its sovereignty, its future...What kind of family, we might ask, does this to one of its own members? Even Der Spiegel online described the conditions that have been outlined as “a catalogue of cruelties”, but perhaps we should now put it another way, given Jean-Claude Juncker has denied that the Greek people have been humiliated. Juncker instead says that this deal is a typical “European” compromise. Yes, we see.

The machinations of financial institutions (the troika) have been exposed as much as the institutions themselves. Who runs these banks, and for whom? Twitter slogans talk of the three world wars: the first waged with guns, the second with tanks and this third world war waged by banks. Extreme? Well, there clearly is more than one way to take over a country.

The eurozone and Gemany want regime change in Greece, or at least to split Syriza. Alexis Tsipras has fought tooth and nail for something resembling the debt restructuring that even the International Monetary Fund acknowledges is needed. The incompetence of a succession of Greek governments and tax evasion within Greece is not in doubt. But the creditors of the euro family knew this as they upped their loans, and must now delude themselves that everything they have done has been for the best. It hasn’t, and now that same family will go in and asset-strip in broad daylight a country that can no longer afford basic medicines. In three days Greece is supposed to push through heaps of legislation on privatisation, tax and pensions so it can be even poorer...Trust is gone in this European project. François Hollande, ever the pseudo–mediator, may rattle on about the history and culture of Greece. Its value has actually been shown. Its value is purely symbolic. It is worth nothing.

The euro family has been exposed as a loan-sharking conglomerate that cares nothing for democracy. This family is abusive. This “bailout”, which will be sold as being a cruel-to-be-kind deal is nothing of the sort. It is simply being cruel to be cruel.

[pscot]

1. The Euro 'family' is behaving like they always have

At least they aren't killing one another. Yet.

[Demeter]

3. Unless one considers suicide in despair a form of murder--which I do

Economic and psychological warfare is "better", because only the people are wrecked. The infrastructure usually is untouched (unless it's a fire or suicide bombing...)

[pscot]

4. The money bomb

Instead of a messy cleanup, you end up with an army of serfs. From an ownership standpoint, it's ideal.

[Igel]

2. The reporter is entertaining.

"It sees a nation stripped of its dignity, its sovereignty, its future...What kind of family, we might ask, does this to one of its own members?"

"The incompetence of a succession of Greek governments and tax evasion within Greece is not in doubt. But the creditors of the euro family knew this as they upped their loans..."

I'm not sure that the incompetence, as the Guardian puts it in treating the Greeks with the utmost of dignity, was all that known; the ability to make promises and not follow through, I think, the irresponsibility took them a bit aback. Hard to know what to do with it.

But the second quote fully explains the first. (I'd add that if dignity is something external, Greece lost it when it started to shake its tin cup while asking for a handout. It lost much of its sovereignty years ago but just pretended otherwise ... which led the the larger problem, to be sure. It's not been stripped of its future; it has one, and its welcome to it.)

BTW, I'm in the kind of family that does this to its own. I took my mother to court, had her declared incompetent, and had a conservator and guardian appointed. She was furious. She was humiliated. She was incompetent. My MIL had one of her grown sons declared incompetent; he was, and will always be, somebody's ward.

This also happens all the time in other ways. When you declare bankruptcy, you have to propose a plan on how you're going to stop getting further into debt. Often the creditors have a good idea about this, and the judge or outside consultant certainly does. Part of the plan, eventually, involves how to pay down the debt. This can involve restructuring and paying off the full amount, triaging debt and having some paid off and some forgiven. Some kinds of debt can't be forgiven. And creditors have a say in this restructuring. Assets can be sequestered or put into escrow or sold off. Who knows--perhaps Greece will get a second write-down of its debt, the first was a duzie but it obviously needs a second. If it needs a third it should just be liquidated--give the islands to Italy, much of the mainland to Bulgaria--neither Macedonia nor Turkey would sit well, I'm afraid.

The Guardian likes SYRIZA and that, sadly, colors its reporting. I don't think many of the EU leaders do--but Hollande, I think, had few problems with them and ultimately he's a third of the Troika. I'm not sure how they feel about Tsipras himself. But I seriously doubt that they much care about SYRIZA. It doesn't matter who reorganizes, who keeps their words, who's around for restructuring debt. As long as it gets down efficiently with a modicum of bird flipping and abuse. The EU is too big and complicated a problem to worry about petty thinks like the internal politics of a country.

At the same time, I'd agree with a commentator I heard a couple of weeks ago who said that this entire situation would have been greatly aided by a mediator. (Stopping the name calling would also help. Only idiots and arrogant politicians--but I both repeat myself and am redundant--insult and verbally abuse those they have to negotiate with, then complain that the negotiations are unnecessarily hard.)