Nov ekonomski eksperiment: kako deluje “varčevanje na kvadrat”?

Marcus Bensasson v Bloombergu ima prav: na primeru grškega (vsiljenega) eksperimenta bomo lahko dopolnili učbenike ekonomije z novim spoznanjem, kako deluje “varčevanje na kvadrat” oziroma varčevanje na varčevanje oziroma kako deluje varčevanje v gospodarstvu, katerega BDP je že padel za četrtino. Na primeru Grčije bomo lahko videli, kako zelo hudo je to lahko. Na žalost.

It could be a chapter in an economics textbook: What happens when severe austerity is imposed on an economy that’s already lost a quarter of its output?

Greece will find out how bad it could be.

Vir: Marcus Bensasson, Bloomberg

“Grški deal” je kot Versajski sporazum za Nemčijo

Yanis Varoufakis ima prav: grški deal je enako poniževalen in katastrofalen za Grčijo, kot je bil Versajski sporazum iz leta 1919 za Nemčijo. Metode za pokoritev Grčije pa so podobne kot pri državnem udaru leta 1967, le da so takrat uporabili tanke, tokrat pa banke.

‘This is the politics of humiliation,’ he told Late Night Live. ‘The troika have made sure that they will make him eat every single word that he uttered in criticism of the troika over the last five years. Not just these six months we’ve been in government, but in the years prior to that.  

‘This has nothing to do with economics. It has nothing to do with putting Greece on the way to recovery. This is a new Versailles Treaty that is haunting Europe again, and the prime minister knows it. He knows that he’s damned if he does and he’s damned if he doesn’t.’

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“Grški deal” je dizaster

Economically, the new program is perverse, because it will plunge Greece deeper into depression. It envisages raising additional taxes, cutting pensions further, and implementing automatic spending cuts if fiscal targets are missed. But it provides no basis for recovery or growth. The Greek economy is already in free-fall, and structural reforms alone will not reverse the downward spiral.

The agreement continues to require primary budget surpluses (net of interest payments), rising to 3.5% of GDP by 2018, which will worsen Greece’s slump. Re-profiling the country’s debt, which is implicitly part of the agreement, will do nothing to ameliorate this, given that interest payments already are minimal through the end of the decade. As the depression deepens, the deficit targets will be missed, triggering further spending cuts and accelerating the economy’s contraction.

Eventually, the agreement will trigger Grexit, either because the creditors withdraw their support after fiscal targets are missed, or because the Greek people rebel. Triggering that exit is transparently Germany’s intent.

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Vikend, ko so ubili evro

Nisem prepričan, da se finančni ministri in predsedniki vlad zavedajo, kaj so naredili prek vikenda, ko so “kao” preprečili Grexit. Se bom popravil, prepričan sem, da se jih velika večina niti približno ne zaveda, da so ta vikend ubili evro in postavili evropsko integracijo ne samo nazaj pred leto 1950, ampak nazaj pred prvo svetovno vojno. V čas hegemonističnih teženj velikih držav in boja za nadvlado ne glede na sredstva. Morda si Schäuble lahko čestita, da je z brutalno taktiko in ponižujočo kapitulacijo Grčije discipliniral vse ostale članice in jih, ob ekonomski nadvladi, tudi politično podredil nemškim interesom. Toda to je ekstremno kratkoročno in kratkovidno razmišljanje.

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Grška paralela: Kako smo reševali slovenske in nemške banke

Bine Kordež

Tako kot spremljamo nasprotne pozicije Grčije in upnikov pri iskanju rešitve za nastalo situacijo, so enako ali še bolj razdeljeni tudi komentarji in ocene teh dogajanj. Pri tem je vse bolj glasna ter tudi z več podpore stran, ki kritično gleda na nepopustljivost Grkov pri uvedbi reform (kot se razlaga sporni element dogovora). Ljudem je pač bližja razlaga, da mora vsak sam plačati za svoje zmote in dolgove, ne pa da to pričakuje od drugih. To je seveda logično, a druga stran poskuša dokazati, da način »reševanja« Grčije in njenih dolgov ni v nadaljnjem stiskanju, varčevanju in odrekanju ljudi, ker se je že do sedaj to izkazalo kot neučinkovito. Če bi dodatno znižanje plač in pokojnin Grkov omogočilo vračilo njihovih dolgov (kar je pravzaprav osnovna skrb vseh upnikov in ne položaj Grčije kot takšne), potem bi bilo to verjetno upravičeno. A dosedanja gibanja kažejo, da je tovrstna politika samo še dodatno zmanjšala možnost, da bi Grki svoj dolg poravnali. Za še en pogled na nastale razmere, je zanimiva primerjava razvoja dogodkov v Grčiji in pri nas. Nadaljujte z branjem

Se je grška kapitulacija splačala?

Hvala, dobro vprašanje.

Prvo vprašanje je seveda, ali bo Grčija sploh dobila priložnost za kapitulacijo. Nemški finančni minister Schaueble je čez vikend via FAZ objavil načrt, da bi Grčija morala začasno za 5 let izstopiti iz evra. Kar je v svojem bistvu neumnen in nelogičen predlog. Če bi izstopila (in plačala ceno za izstop), zakaj bi se kasneje sploh želela vrniti?! Kdo si pa še želi biti v monetarni uniji z Nemčijo?! Problem, ki ga imajo države v evrski uniji, je, da v visoki travi, kamor so vrgle ključ od evra pred desetletjem in pol, ključa ne morejo najti.

In po današnjem drugem dnevu “otroškega vrtca” je očitno, da je atmosfera med “partnerji” povsem zastrupljena. Schauebleja, katerega osnovna motivacija je očitno in zgolj le še kaznovanje Grčije, je moral miriti in prekinjati celo Mario Draghi, predsednik ECB. Toda prav daleč od Schauebleja niso tudi nekateri drugi ministri, predvsem finski ter “vzhodnoevropski”, kjer tudi naš minister pridno asistira nemškemu “wahnsinnu”.

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Dr Schäuble’s Plan for Europe: Do Europeans approve? – Article to appear in Die Zeit on Thursday 16th July 2015

yanisv's avatarYanis Varoufakis

Pre-publication summary: Five months of intense negotiations between Greece and the Eurogroup never had a chance of success. Condemned to lead to impasse, their purpose was to pave the ground for what Dr Schäuble had decided was ‘optimal’ well before our government was even elected: That Greece should be eased out of the Eurozone in order to discipline member-states resisting his very specific plan for re-structuring the Eurozone.

  • This is no theory.
  • How do I know Grexit is an important part of Dr Schäuble’s plan for Europe?
  • Because he told me so!

I wrote this article not as a Greek politician critical of the German press’ denigration of our sensible proposals, of Berlin’s refusal seriously to consider our moderate debt re-profiling plan, of the European Central Bank’s highly political decision to asphyxiate our government, of the Eurogroup’s decision to give the ECB the green light to shut down our banks.

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Ozadje “grškega deala”: With partners like these you don’t need enemies

Razpadanje “evropskega partnerstva” pri živem telesu. Nemcem se je očitno odtrgalo. Malce ozadja po izboru Reutersa

Such was the “tough, even violent” atmosphere, in the words of one participant, that after an overnight break the German and French finance chiefs, Wolfgang Schaeuble and Michel Sapin, sat down to clear the air between them before resuming on Sunday.

Schaeuble also crossed swords with ECB governor Mario Draghi, snapping at the Italian central banker “I’m not stupid!”

“It was crazy, a kindergarten,” said a source describing the overall course of nine hours of talks on Saturday among weary ministers attending their sixth emergency Eurogroup in three weeks. “Bad emotions have completely taken over.”

Schaeuble and others seemed to favour a “Grexit”, another participant said. The European Central Bank’s Draghi seemed “the strongest European” in the room, most opposed to the risky experiment of cutting Greece loose and braving Schaeuble’s ire by interrupting him during a discussion on Athens’ debt burden.

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Krugman o “grškem dealu”: Eurogroup list of demands is madness

Se ne bi mogel bolj strinjati:

Even if all of that is true, this Eurogroup list of demands is madness. The trending hashtag ThisIsACoup is exactly right. This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief. It is, presumably, meant to be an offer Greece can’t accept; but even so, it’s a grotesque betrayal of everything the European project was supposed to stand for.

Can anything pull Europe back from the brink? Word is that Mario Draghi is trying to reintroduce some sanity, that Hollande is finally showing a bit of the pushback against German morality-play economics that he so signally failed to supply in the past. But much of the damage has already been done. Who will ever trust Germany’s good intentions after this?

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