The grand plan is moving along nicely, the corporate dream is on the horizon. Thanks to the Troika, Europe is moving rapidly to a cheap labour economy. Slashing of social spending, wage cuts/freeze, and high unemployment, all the necessary ingredients for the corporate vision of a European sweatshop economy. The only thing that can now stop their greed driven vision is the people, do we accept a life of deprivation for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, or do we take control and shape society to the needs of all our people?
By Murray SmithRead the full article HERE:
October 16, 2012 -- Frontline, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with the author's permission -- It sometimes seems as if Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has been going on forever. But in fact it really only manifested itself in 2010, a result of the bailing out of private banks with public money and other public spending due to the crisis. And in May of that year Greece became the first country to ask for help and to receive so-called “aid” – really, it cannot be repeated too often, loans that must be paid back – from the now infamous "Troika", the IMF-ECB-European Commission.
This aid was conditional on Greece adopting policies of austerity and structural reforms, all regularly supervised by those who have become known as the “men in black”, the inspectors of the Troika. In an article in the UK Guardian on October 8, 2012, Alexis Tsipras, leader of the radical left coalition Syriza, makes two key points. First of all, the money lent to Greece goes into an escrow account used for repaying past loans and interest on them and for recapitalising private banks. It cannot be used otherwise, for example for useful social spending. Second, he writes: “We believe that their aim is not to solve the debt crisis but to create a new regulatory framework throughout Europe that is based on cheap labour, deregulation of the labour market, low public spending and tax exemptions for capital."
