EU Austerity – Page 2 – on the semi-periphery

Podemos’ Pablo Iglesias likes ‘The Wire’

Posted on 2015/02/19 - 2015/02/23 by jd

AMY GOODMAN: And do you have any words of advice for President Obama, now in his second term? He can’t run again. Whether he will be a lame-duck president or a legacy president remains to be seen.

PABLO IGLESIAS: I don’t know. I don’t know what could I say to President Obama. There is something that I like. We both love The Wire, the HBO series. And I like Omar, too. And I read that Obama like this character, this character Omar. And I don’t know.

AMY GOODMAN: Why do you like The Wire?

PABLO IGLESIAS: I think it’s probably the best TV series in order to explain how the power works, how the power works in politics, in media, in the organization of the work. I think it’s a masterpiece. I used to teach political geography in my faculty, and all the time I was saying to my students, “You have to see this TV series, because it’s great in order to understand how the power works.”

AMY GOODMAN: Do you have anything like that in Spain?

PABLO IGLESIAS: Not in that level. I think that The Wire is the best series.

via The Next Syriza? As Greece Rejects Austerity, Meet the Activist Who Could Become Spain’s New PM | Democracy Now!.

Word for the day: Seigniorage

Posted on 2015/02/18 by jd

George Monbiot writes about Greece:

‘…One of these radical ideas was proposed a few months ago by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times. He suggests stripping private banks of their remarkable power to create money out of thin air. Simply by issuing credit, they spawn between 95% and 97% of the money supply. If the state were to assert a monopoly on money creation, governments could increase their supply without increasing debt. Seigniorage (the difference between the cost of producing money and its value) would accrue to the state, adding billions of pounds to national coffers. The banks would be reduced to the servants, not the masters, of the economy….’
via A maverick currency scheme from the 1930s could save the Greek economy | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian.

also see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seigniorage
http://lexicon.ft.com/term?term=seigniorage

The Mayor is also pro-shoplifting

Posted on 2015/02/09 - 2015/02/09 by jd

‘…On the face of it, the Spanish town of Marinaleda is indistinguishable from any other in its region. Nestled in the picturesque Campiña valley, the surrounding countryside is made up of rolling green hills, miles of olive plantations and golden fields of wheat stretching as far as the eye can see. The town is pretty, tranquil and typical of those found in Andalusia, Spain’s poorest and most southerly province.
It’s also a democratic, anti-capitalist village whose mayor actively encourages shoplifting…’
via A City Where Everyone Works, There Is No Police, And The Salary Is 1200 Euros |.

Are we an economy or a society?

Posted on 2015/02/05 - 2015/02/05 by jd

[SYRIZA] were elected on scrapping that debt but in the hope of saving the temple they are according to Paul Mason offering instead to “swap 60 per cent of its debt owed to the EU, for bonds that are paid back very long-term, and which pay no interest unless the economy is growing”
This mess illustrates not only the hostility to democracy at the heart of the EU project but also the lack of meaningful democracy in the lives of everyone in Europe. We are not equals in a society whose shape we determine together, we are slaves to market forces, forces that are fully determined to punish any section that seeks to escape its command.
via Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland).

Why SYRIZA chose to join forces with Independent Greeks

Posted on 2015/01/30 by jd

If not the first two, then the third is the only option…

Q: Why SYRIZA chose to join forces with Independent Greeks
A: Following yesterday’s results, there are 6 political parties other than SYRIZA who entered the Greek parliament: outgoing coalition members New Democracy and PASOK, neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, the communist party of Greece KKE, a recently-formed, so-called centrist party, To Potami, and Independent Greeks. I will not discuss here the possibility that SYRIZA forms a coalition with New Democracy, PASOK or Golden Dawn, as all three are political science-fiction. This leaves us with KKE, To Potami and Independent Greeks.
via Theodora Oikonomides: SYRIZA -Independent Greeks: Strange bedfellows.