This goes back to the idea of euro inevitability. Still that doctrine would never have anticipated Greece's no vote yesterday.
Tsipras won yesterday but I guess a pound of flesh for the EU he is getting rid of his finance minister which is too bad for a couple of reasons.
1. He got under the EU skin so much. They deserve it, especially the German finance minister.
2. He really did have the best quotes-much better than his German counterpart.
"Varoufakis is certainly not without ambivalence towards the single currency, telling CNN in January:
"The problem is that once you're in (the euro), just like the Eagle's song 'Hotel California' - you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102806716
Krugman seems to be saying that Grexit is the best or even only optioni.
"It’s becoming hard to see any path that doesn’t lead to Grexit; it is also, although this is still something few want to accept, becoming increasingly obvious that Grexit is Greece’s best hope. Otherwise, where is recovery ever supposed to come from? Even with massive debt relief, Greece will be forced to run huge structural primary surpluses — that is, pursue tax and spending policies that would produce huge surpluses if the economy were anywhere near full employment — and in so doing keep its economy depressed for the foreseeable future."
"Or to put it a bit differently, what would be a straightforward policy problem if Greece had its own currency becomes an almost insoluble mess because it doesn’t. At some point the argument that the costs of a transition are too high wears thin."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/scattered-notes-on-the-euro/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body
However, this is not what Greece is saying. It's not what Varoufakis has said.
"In an interview with Australian public radio network ABC last week, the politician said the country had destroyed the printing presses used to make the currency when it joined the euro in 2001."
"We smashed the printing presses -- we have no printing presses."
“Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today,” Varoufakis said in one last flourish on his blog. “I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.”
http://fortune.com/2015/07/06/varoufakis-quits-as-greece-moves-to-exploit-franco-german-split/
Again, Varoufakis will be missed-he had all the best lines. Here he did a Dan Quayle. I wear your scorn like a badge of honor!
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/10/us/1992-campaign-quayle-attacks-cultural-elite-saying-it-mocks-nation-s-values.html
Tsipras won yesterday but I guess a pound of flesh for the EU he is getting rid of his finance minister which is too bad for a couple of reasons.
1. He got under the EU skin so much. They deserve it, especially the German finance minister.
2. He really did have the best quotes-much better than his German counterpart.
"Varoufakis is certainly not without ambivalence towards the single currency, telling CNN in January:
"The problem is that once you're in (the euro), just like the Eagle's song 'Hotel California' - you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102806716
Krugman seems to be saying that Grexit is the best or even only optioni.
"It’s becoming hard to see any path that doesn’t lead to Grexit; it is also, although this is still something few want to accept, becoming increasingly obvious that Grexit is Greece’s best hope. Otherwise, where is recovery ever supposed to come from? Even with massive debt relief, Greece will be forced to run huge structural primary surpluses — that is, pursue tax and spending policies that would produce huge surpluses if the economy were anywhere near full employment — and in so doing keep its economy depressed for the foreseeable future."
"Or to put it a bit differently, what would be a straightforward policy problem if Greece had its own currency becomes an almost insoluble mess because it doesn’t. At some point the argument that the costs of a transition are too high wears thin."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/scattered-notes-on-the-euro/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body
However, this is not what Greece is saying. It's not what Varoufakis has said.
"In an interview with Australian public radio network ABC last week, the politician said the country had destroyed the printing presses used to make the currency when it joined the euro in 2001."
"We smashed the printing presses -- we have no printing presses."
It;s kind of ironic that Varoufakis had promised to step down with a yes vote and is now stepping down with a no vote. However, this seems to be a consolation prize to the EU bigshots to feel like they won something. He's falling on his sword to please them.
According to Fortune, Greece is trying to exploit a rift between the French and the Germans. Basically that's what the last 150 years of European history has been about!
“Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today,” Varoufakis said in one last flourish on his blog. “I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.”
http://fortune.com/2015/07/06/varoufakis-quits-as-greece-moves-to-exploit-franco-german-split/
Again, Varoufakis will be missed-he had all the best lines. Here he did a Dan Quayle. I wear your scorn like a badge of honor!
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/10/us/1992-campaign-quayle-attacks-cultural-elite-saying-it-mocks-nation-s-values.html
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