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Samizdata quote of the day Greece became what it is today through the tireless efforts of Andreas Papandreou, the anti-Pinochet, who helped create a second Greek lost decade, ran up the national debt, raised the natural rate of unemployment, and kept inflation sky-high. Today, Greece, relative to the E.U. 15, is in the same place in RGDP per capita terms as it was in the early 1960s, before the economic boom under the Junta. Greek convergence with the rest of Europe ended in the late 1970s, and it actively fell behind in the 1980s. Clearly, as Andreas was the anti-Pinochet, blaming neoliberalism for the post-1980 economic stagnation in various countries (including Communist ones!) is simply being unconscionable.
– E. Harding, commenting here. The main article itself by Scott Sumner is also well worth reading.
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The post is true.
Although I have some doubts about an “economic boom under the junta”.
Did the Colonels do anything good economically?
Germany is shit scared of Greece.
Certainly a rape and torture boom under Junta. Fun if you like being bum-raped, I guess.
As to Greece. The Greeks have not received any bailout from the EU; that’s all gone to the banks. See, when banks make bad investments, its the job of you and me, the little taxpayers, to bail them out.
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts- the gifts are probably on hire purchase.
Kind of funny how the Germans are being so antsy, given they force me to pay for their trains.
I can still remember Papandreou speaking in the German Bundestag some five-six years ago, begging Germans for more of their hard earned money and promising them solemnly to have Greeks to change their lazy lifestyle, getting back to wealth producing work and paying back all the borrowed money.
It proved to be a GIGANTIC PILE OF BULL.
As it ALWAYS is with the promised given by the LEFTIST PARASITES.
Pardone, your intellect is UNDONE; as in the case of the Chilean Gen Pinochet who has indeed rescued Chile from the Cuban style commune-fascism and put his country back on the track to the economic recovery (Pinochet is really the one deserving the Peace Nobel Price), so did the Greece the so called “black” colonels.
As to the “bum rapes” you are mentioning in your nonsensical rant, such fantasies can only be generated in the degenerated brains of the LEFTIST PARASITES like yourself.
In fact, the Greek commies deserve something much more brutal than the “bum rapes”
Bogdan, that would have been the son of Andreas Papandreou, George.
It’s not that Greeks are lazy, they are very energetic, with many of them thinking up new ways to live off the State and off borrowed money. It takes effort to burn through €320,000,000.000. If reports of 3 pensioners in Greece now for every 4 workers (presumably including State employees) are correct, that simply isn’t going to last. Also an economic freedom rating for Greece, as per the article:
The three countries directly above Greece in economic freedom are Niger, India and Suriname, the three right below are Bangladesh, Burundi and Yemen. It’s a strange neighborhood for a developed European country.
As for the Colonels, essentially Keynesians economically.
The bailout money is primarily to bailout European Banks and German defence contractors.
The simple solution to debt is to abolish all pensions and totally separate the state from banks (who should be allowed to die if they fail). Strangely, the austerity hawks avoid talking about the need to abolish pensions totally to eliminate debt, because they are intellectual cowards.
So, a bunch of investors made bad investments and got burnt.
Tough.
If I make a bad investment I don’t see lick spittle politicians runnng around trying to get my money back. Funny that.
And as for those who speculate or deal in derivatives (bundles of turd) and other such worthless crap. I hope they all die of cancer.
Pardone, the bailout money is to allow Greece not to repay its debts, for now. Both the banks and bodies that lend to a government on the basis of being paid out of future tax revenues and the people who live off the funds lent are living in a Fools’ Paradise, and neither ‘deserve’ the money.
As for those who deal in derivatives, they can perform useful functions, spreading risk. But take away the torrent of credit money flowing into the system, and the whole edifice would collapse, leaving behind scope for economic activity on a rational basis.