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Ear to the Ground

Greece Hits the Help Button

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Posted on Apr 23, 2010
Flickr

Thousands of angry Greeks have taken to the streets in protest of austerity measures imposed by the government in Athens.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, declaring that the “moment has come,” formally requested the activation of a $60 billion financial aid package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

It’s seen as a humiliating moment for Greece, and probably the largest multilateral rescue of a country ever attempted. —JCL

Al Jazeera English:

George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, has asked the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to activate a financial aid package, designed to help pull the euro zone member out of its debt crisis. The request on Friday followed negotiations with EU and IMF officials over the details of the $60bn emergency rescue package.

Financial data published on Thursday showed a worse-than-expected budget deficit of 13.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). “The moment has come as the market has not given us breathing space,” Papandreou said.

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By samosamo, May 6, 2010 at 12:26 pm Link to this comment

************************


Forced privatization; ask the countries of South America how
well it works, ask Indonesia, ask Russia, ask ........... They all
forfeited their sovereignty just to get a goddamn loan from the
imf.  And it is nothing more than the top .0001% of the
greediest people’s clearing house of putting claim to other
countries’ natural resources due to dire and failing financial
decline which in itself was the subverted cause from those imf
hooligans of most any country’s financial failing.

I’m telling you, only the whole of the people on earth working
together can overthrow these most despicable charlatans who
will continue to steal everything until they are stopped and
stopped they can be.

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By minutemenmedia, May 6, 2010 at 9:59 am Link to this comment

The bottom line is this”  When the IMF comes to your country with “Austerity Measures,” you are done.
It’s the kiss of death for an economy, and the middle class.  Read Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine,” she articulates these patterns with stunning clarity.
See if you can find just one example, just one, where the IMF instituted “Austerity Measures,” and the economy showed ANY sings of recovery.  It does not happen.
The IMF was designed to subvert and dominate economies. this is the modern battlefield, the bank controls the country, the economy, and ultimately, their leaders.
We should support Greece in this fight against the IMF, it’s simply a matter of time until they bring “Austerity Measures” to the USA ... in fact, if you look closely, you might already notice a few—like moving GM to China.

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By makedonski, April 24, 2010 at 5:48 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

To anyone who actually knows something about history, the French revolution of 1789 led to the disintegration of the state, political blood-baths, the collapse of the economy, the murder of tens of thousands of innocent French citizens and the dictatorship of Napoleon which in turn led to incessant wars in Europe.

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By Commune115, April 23, 2010 at 11:36 pm Link to this comment

If the Greeks have any self-respect they would rebel and carry out a Revolution in the 1789 French style.

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By samosamo, April 23, 2010 at 3:57 pm Link to this comment

Be what it may, and I thought greece had been through a
session of using that criminal group the international monetary
fund, I wonder if they know what they are doing because now
the imf will call the shots in greece and dictate ‘reform’ or
rescue and I bet before it is over people of greece will rather
want to have their country back instead of some fucking private
corporations owning and running everything.

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By Miko, April 23, 2010 at 1:50 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

When you say “rescue of a country,” you really mean
“rescue of a government.”  If the government of Greece
collapsed and the people repudiated the government’s
debt, the people would not only be fine, but would be
substantially better off.

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