Greece exemplifies the failure of austerity and the dystopia and suffering caused by the neoliberal elite

On Tuesday the Greek Government announced that it could not — and would not —  transfer a 1.6 billion euro debt repayment to the IMF. And with that Greece officially defaulted on the IMF.

 

The UK Guardian has a live report facility  on the Greek crisis on its website.

Jerome Roos points the finger directly at the IMF and international financial elite who he says are responsible for the Greek economic  and political crises:

"In any civilized country, those responsible for such vast suffering and loss of life would have been sentenced to prison years ago."

In Roar Magazine Roos writes that the IMF and the financial must accept their responsibility for the crises and calls on them to cancel the Greek debt

"The evidence for the IMF’s criminal complicity in the collapse of the Greek economy is simply overwhelming. Yes, the officials at the Fund bear direct responsibility for the years of untold suffering they have inflicted upon millions, including the tens of thousands who died because they could not obtain adequate medical treatment or who, driven to despair by the lack of economic prospects, took their own lives................. In its review of the 2010 bailout, the IMF itself admitted that “in retrospect, the program served as a holding operation” to allow private creditors and domestic elites to escape the crisis without having to share in the burden of adjustment. This can only lead us to one possible conclusion: Greece may have defaulted on the IMF tonight, but the IMF itself defaulted on the Greeks a long, long time ago. It is high time for the creditors to pay their dues and return the immense moral and material debt they owe to the people of Greece".

Bill Mitchell continues to be the best Australian commentator on the Greek Crisis (and economic matters).  Mitchell argues that the Greek crisis is an:

 "overt laboratory for the failures of fiscal austerity and the easy sounding but evil in practice ‘growth friendly structural reforms’ (aka hack as many public benefits from ordinary citizens and transfer as much national income to the rich)"

In an article on his excellent blog Billy Blog  he wrote:

"My header this week is in solidarity for the Greek people. I hope they vote no and then realise that leaving the dysfunctional Eurozone will promise them growth and a return to some prosperity. They can become the banner nation for other crippled Eurozone nations – a guiding light out of the madness that the neo-liberal elites have created. While Greece battens down against the most incredible attack on European democracy since who knows when – perhaps since the Anschluss that led finally to war breaking out a year later in Europe, one wonders how low the Brussels elite will go to preserve control of the agenda."