As I noted in my last post, this is fundamentally a war between the Eurocrats vs. democrats.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/07/eu-greece-battle-is-battle-of-eurocrats.html
The EU is outraged that democracy finally got a turn at bat last Sunday. However, this was entirely self-inflicted as they had already gotten virtually every concession out of Tripas but then had to spike the ball by trying to force him out of office.
He called their bluff when he called that election. They were outraged though they tried to pretend their complaint wasn't with elections per se-just they claimed the timing was icky: Why now?!
The obvious answer being If not now, when?
But this is the original sin of the euro-it was from its inception about usurping the voters of each country to unelected technocrats at the EU. They had won but their distaste for democracy was so great they had to spike the ball and now the whole thing is unraveling.
There is a lot of calumny against Tripas-this hatred for him is what led the EU to overreach-that he is an ignorant demagogue that doesn't know what he's doing. Then Ambrose Pritchard's profile shows that it's true that he came into office in January, 2015 way too optimistic about getting the EU to compromise in any way.
Perhaps that was naive on his part though the EU itself comes across much worse as Krugman says.
I know that’s not how most people see it. But think of it this way: we have just witnessed Greece stand up to a truly vile campaign of bullying and intimidation, an attempt to scare the Greek public, not just into accepting creditor demands, but into getting rid of their government. It was a shameful moment in modern European history, and would have set a truly ugly precedent if it had succeeded.
But it didn’t. You don’t have to love Syriza, or believe that they know what they’re doing — it’s not clear that they do, although the troika has been even worse — to believe that European institutions have just been saved from their own worst instincts. If Greece had been forced into line by financial fear mongering, Europe would have sinned in a way that would sully its reputation for generations. Instead, it’s something we can, perhaps, eventually regard as an aberration.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/europe-wins/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body
I'm with Krugman-I'd like to be able to say it's an aberration. In the history of the EU at least, however, it's no aberration at all.
Tripas though did come in thinking he could work with the EU. This was very similar to the battle between Obama and the GOP Congress in 2009 where he came in thinking he and they could find common ground somewhere.
Mitch McConnell though let us know the truth when declared the number one GOP objective was not fixing the economy but destroying Obama.
Obviously the analogy doesn't mean there are no differences between the two situations-Obama at least had a majority in Congress at the time though the GOP stonewalling did work as they took over Congress in 2010- but when you think about it there are a lot of similarities between the GOP Tea Party Congress and the EU. First and foremost-that neither compromise at all. Ever.
It doesn't matter what happens as a result. The opposition is absolutely impervious to any kind of appeal of reason. You may as well talk to a brick wall. Which is exactly how authoritarian institutions work.
So not only may a Grexit be good for the Greek economy-maybe the only thing that can bring back growth-but it will be a real victory to democracy as well.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/07/eu-greece-battle-is-battle-of-eurocrats.html
The EU is outraged that democracy finally got a turn at bat last Sunday. However, this was entirely self-inflicted as they had already gotten virtually every concession out of Tripas but then had to spike the ball by trying to force him out of office.
He called their bluff when he called that election. They were outraged though they tried to pretend their complaint wasn't with elections per se-just they claimed the timing was icky: Why now?!
The obvious answer being If not now, when?
But this is the original sin of the euro-it was from its inception about usurping the voters of each country to unelected technocrats at the EU. They had won but their distaste for democracy was so great they had to spike the ball and now the whole thing is unraveling.
There is a lot of calumny against Tripas-this hatred for him is what led the EU to overreach-that he is an ignorant demagogue that doesn't know what he's doing. Then Ambrose Pritchard's profile shows that it's true that he came into office in January, 2015 way too optimistic about getting the EU to compromise in any way.
Perhaps that was naive on his part though the EU itself comes across much worse as Krugman says.
I know that’s not how most people see it. But think of it this way: we have just witnessed Greece stand up to a truly vile campaign of bullying and intimidation, an attempt to scare the Greek public, not just into accepting creditor demands, but into getting rid of their government. It was a shameful moment in modern European history, and would have set a truly ugly precedent if it had succeeded.
But it didn’t. You don’t have to love Syriza, or believe that they know what they’re doing — it’s not clear that they do, although the troika has been even worse — to believe that European institutions have just been saved from their own worst instincts. If Greece had been forced into line by financial fear mongering, Europe would have sinned in a way that would sully its reputation for generations. Instead, it’s something we can, perhaps, eventually regard as an aberration.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/europe-wins/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body
I'm with Krugman-I'd like to be able to say it's an aberration. In the history of the EU at least, however, it's no aberration at all.
Tripas though did come in thinking he could work with the EU. This was very similar to the battle between Obama and the GOP Congress in 2009 where he came in thinking he and they could find common ground somewhere.
Mitch McConnell though let us know the truth when declared the number one GOP objective was not fixing the economy but destroying Obama.
Obviously the analogy doesn't mean there are no differences between the two situations-Obama at least had a majority in Congress at the time though the GOP stonewalling did work as they took over Congress in 2010- but when you think about it there are a lot of similarities between the GOP Tea Party Congress and the EU. First and foremost-that neither compromise at all. Ever.
It doesn't matter what happens as a result. The opposition is absolutely impervious to any kind of appeal of reason. You may as well talk to a brick wall. Which is exactly how authoritarian institutions work.
So not only may a Grexit be good for the Greek economy-maybe the only thing that can bring back growth-but it will be a real victory to democracy as well.
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