It's hard to get around it: Eurocrats make the worst friends. They clearly want to return to Samaras and his New Democracy party but when he was in charge they did nothing but kick him in the teeth.
You seem to hear a lot from Tsipras' critics of how things were improving under Samaras. Even Lars Christensen in the middle of a convincing post that Greece ought to leave the euro and that with a Grexit they can start to grow again throws in a contradictory claim that things were getting-a little-better under the ND party.
"So yes, monetary easing can solve the demand problems in the Greek economy (I think that actually was under way prior to Syriza winning the parliament elections), but monetary easing will not do anything about Greece’s structural and constitutional problems."
http://marketmonetarist.com/2015/06/28/how-the-recovery-will-look-like-when-greece-leaves-the-euro/
This seems to me to be the disconnect-democracy. The Euro pundits always dismiss that. That was what Tsipras did that really outraged them-he got the voters involved. They are in principle opposed to that. This is not what Neoliberalism is about going back to Monetarism's penetration of Argentina in the 1970s.
If Samaras was so wonderful and things were turning around why did they vote him and his ND party out? The Scott Sumner answer would be ignorance-they don't know what he and his NL friends know about their own economy.
As Ezra Klein says, they should have treated this pre Syrzia leadership better if they loved it so much. Instead they just wouldn't throw it any kind of bone for it show to the Greek people:
"This is where the eurozone deserves some blame for the rise of Syriza. If the foreign technocrats thought the politicians who were running the country before Tsipras swept into power were so great, maybe they should have cut them a better deal so they would have a better record to run on than 25 percent unemployment and unending economic pain. But permitting Greece to fall into this kind of perpetual economic crisis and then being shocked when they elect untested politicians who promise radical change is a bit odd."
http://www.vox.com/2015/7/6/8902087/greece-syriza-eurozone
Klein is 100% right here. However I don't wholly agree here and I find this a little ironic:
"Syriza, Greece's ruling party, is a disaster. Hugo Dixon's indictment is as good as any:
"Tsipras [the leader of Syriza] has made a series of wild promises that he cannot deliver. Before January’s election, he pledged that he would tear up the country’s bailout programme while staying in the euro. The two are almost certainly incompatible goals, as the Greek people are now discovering at huge cost."
"In advance of Sunday’s referendum, he has given further assurances. One is thatsavers’ bank deposits are safe. He also said he will have a deal with Greece’s creditors within 48 hours of the plebiscite, if they vote no to the bailout plan. In fact, deposits are at risk and the chance of a deal in two days is virtually nil. A good democrat only promises what he or she can deliver. Tsipras is a demagogue."
Right-no politicians ever promise more than they can deliver here in America. Other than when Trump promised to create a record number of jobs or other GOP candidates promise 5% GDP.
Who can forget Newt Gingrich's criticism of President Obama for $4 dollar gas and his pledge to bring it down to $2.50-and this is supposedly the capitalist party.
P.S. Of course, that's the beauty of counterfactuals . If Gingrich had won he could have claimed that his policies gave us $2.50 gas. In fact, Obama the job killer gave us the same; the punch line here is that unless you want price controls there isn't much the President can do about gas prices. In this case supply and demand went to work.
You seem to hear a lot from Tsipras' critics of how things were improving under Samaras. Even Lars Christensen in the middle of a convincing post that Greece ought to leave the euro and that with a Grexit they can start to grow again throws in a contradictory claim that things were getting-a little-better under the ND party.
"So yes, monetary easing can solve the demand problems in the Greek economy (I think that actually was under way prior to Syriza winning the parliament elections), but monetary easing will not do anything about Greece’s structural and constitutional problems."
http://marketmonetarist.com/2015/06/28/how-the-recovery-will-look-like-when-greece-leaves-the-euro/
This seems to me to be the disconnect-democracy. The Euro pundits always dismiss that. That was what Tsipras did that really outraged them-he got the voters involved. They are in principle opposed to that. This is not what Neoliberalism is about going back to Monetarism's penetration of Argentina in the 1970s.
If Samaras was so wonderful and things were turning around why did they vote him and his ND party out? The Scott Sumner answer would be ignorance-they don't know what he and his NL friends know about their own economy.
As Ezra Klein says, they should have treated this pre Syrzia leadership better if they loved it so much. Instead they just wouldn't throw it any kind of bone for it show to the Greek people:
"This is where the eurozone deserves some blame for the rise of Syriza. If the foreign technocrats thought the politicians who were running the country before Tsipras swept into power were so great, maybe they should have cut them a better deal so they would have a better record to run on than 25 percent unemployment and unending economic pain. But permitting Greece to fall into this kind of perpetual economic crisis and then being shocked when they elect untested politicians who promise radical change is a bit odd."
http://www.vox.com/2015/7/6/8902087/greece-syriza-eurozone
Klein is 100% right here. However I don't wholly agree here and I find this a little ironic:
"Syriza, Greece's ruling party, is a disaster. Hugo Dixon's indictment is as good as any:
"Tsipras [the leader of Syriza] has made a series of wild promises that he cannot deliver. Before January’s election, he pledged that he would tear up the country’s bailout programme while staying in the euro. The two are almost certainly incompatible goals, as the Greek people are now discovering at huge cost."
"In advance of Sunday’s referendum, he has given further assurances. One is thatsavers’ bank deposits are safe. He also said he will have a deal with Greece’s creditors within 48 hours of the plebiscite, if they vote no to the bailout plan. In fact, deposits are at risk and the chance of a deal in two days is virtually nil. A good democrat only promises what he or she can deliver. Tsipras is a demagogue."
Right-no politicians ever promise more than they can deliver here in America. Other than when Trump promised to create a record number of jobs or other GOP candidates promise 5% GDP.
Who can forget Newt Gingrich's criticism of President Obama for $4 dollar gas and his pledge to bring it down to $2.50-and this is supposedly the capitalist party.
P.S. Of course, that's the beauty of counterfactuals . If Gingrich had won he could have claimed that his policies gave us $2.50 gas. In fact, Obama the job killer gave us the same; the punch line here is that unless you want price controls there isn't much the President can do about gas prices. In this case supply and demand went to work.
No comments:
Post a Comment