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Post by jdredd on Aug 14, 2014 0:06:39 GMT -5
There is an amusing full-page piece of crude propaganda in today's New York Times labeled "Meet Argentina's 'Vultures'", and shows a picture of people who supposedly are owed big bucks by Argentina. What cracks me up is the picture shows a bunch of crabby looking old folks, no doubt all wealthy. The ad is paid for by some bogus organization called the "American Task Force Argentina", which if is not bankrolled by rotten billionaire Paul Singer, I'll eat my shorts.
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Post by jdredd on Aug 15, 2014 23:24:22 GMT -5
rt.com/news/180492-argentina-us-anti-terrorism/"The government of Argentina is ready to use an anti-terrorism law to seek criminal charges against a US-based international printing company, which unexpectedly closed its plant on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Workers of RR Donnelley in the Argentinian capital came to work on Monday to be informed of the plant’s closure due to an "insurmountable crisis," according to AP. The company’s sudden filing for bankruptcy and shutting down its printing presses has left around 400 people jobless. "We are facing a real case of fraudulent behavior and an attempt to intimidate the population," Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said in a Thursday speech cited by Reuters. She believes there has been no sufficient ground for the company to shut down in a move which undermined the country’s economy. It could then be a violation of the anti-terrorism law, the president assumed. Argentina enacted its anti-terrorism law in 2011, but has not yet applied it. Kirchner accused the printing company of being linked to foreign hedge funds or “vulture funds”, as they are called in Argentina, whose decade-long legal battle against the country in the US courts resulted in Argentina’s July default.“There is an almost Mafiosi network on an international level,” she said. " Looks like Argentina just doesn't want to play by the rules of international finance. Must be Argentinian "exceptionalism", I guess.
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Post by jdredd on Aug 22, 2014 19:00:40 GMT -5
www.bbc.com/news/business-28891208"Argentina's plan to exit its debt default by asking investors holding defaulted bonds to swap them for new locally issued debt has been ruled "illegal" by a US court. New York Judge Thomas Griesa said the plan was "lawless". However, he stopped short of finding the country in contempt of court. Argentina was trying to get around an earlier court ruling banning it from paying interest to investors who had accepted restructured bonds. Mr Griesa ruled in July that the country must first pay the hedge funds holding out for full payment on the bonds on which it defaulted in 2001. "I want to be very clear, this proposal is a violation of the current orders of this court... it is illegal and the court directs that it cannot be carried out," Mr Griesa said on Thursday." Paul Singer's favorite puppet judge rules again. I wonder what pressure is being applied to Argentina behind the scenes? Maybe the CIA should send a drone to take out Kirchner...
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Post by jdredd on Jan 27, 2015 2:40:16 GMT -5
www.wsj.com/articles/ecb-board-member-says-greece-must-repay-debt-restructuring-talks-possible-1422261074"Greece and its creditors veered toward confrontation as its new, leftist government pledged to make good on promises to reverse years of public-spending cuts despite warnings from Berlin and other European capitals that doing so could plunge the country, and Europe, into deeper crisis. Europe’s political establishment sought to show respect for the will of the Greek people on Monday while also swiftly moving to douse hopes in Athens that it would substantially relax the country’s bailout terms, which many Greeks blame for their economy’s deep malaise." I started this thread in 2011 with the Greek debt crisis, and here it is again. Let the battle begin between little Greece and the international plutocratic investors. Debt is what makes Capitalism Capitalism, of course. The odds are against the Greeks, but anything is possible. Or so they say. Maybe Greece will inspire some other indebted nations to grow some stones.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 8, 2015 13:29:39 GMT -5
www.bbc.com/news/world-33044766"Greece debt talks - main sticking points International creditors want pension cuts, slimmer civil service, VAT reform, fewer tax rebates and more private sector investment, reports say. Mr Tsipras has ruled out increased VAT on energy and reduced supplementary payments for poorer pensioners. Athens wants lower primary budget surplus targets, but both sides appear close to agreement. According to reports, creditors want a budget surplus of 1% of GDP this year and 2% next, while Greece has proposed 0.8% for 2015 and 1.5% for 2016." So wealthy international investors want pensions reduced for retired Greeks. Nice.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2015 23:10:04 GMT -5
www.bbc.com/news/world-33044766"Greece debt talks - main sticking points International creditors want pension cuts, slimmer civil service, VAT reform, fewer tax rebates and more private sector investment, reports say. Mr Tsipras has ruled out increased VAT on energy and reduced supplementary payments for poorer pensioners. Athens wants lower primary budget surplus targets, but both sides appear close to agreement. According to reports, creditors want a budget surplus of 1% of GDP this year and 2% next, while Greece has proposed 0.8% for 2015 and 1.5% for 2016." So wealthy international investors want pensions reduced for retired Greeks. Nice. Who care cares about Greece! See how socialism work? Nope liberals wet dream doesnt work! you ran out of other peoples money!
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Post by jdredd on Jun 12, 2015 23:39:19 GMT -5
www.economist.com/news/europe/21654186-greeces-creditors-demand-alex-tsipras-prime-minister-make-up-his-mind-calling-time"Today’s decision by creditors calls time on the negotiations. It is a deliberate move to force Mr Tsipras to make up his mind—and soon—rather than stretching negotiations out to the end of the month in the hope that the creditors will yield. The Greek prime minister must now decide whether he is willing to confront the hard-left faction within Syriza that is unwilling to compromise at all. If he is not, then the outcome will be dire within days. Deposit freezes and capital controls will have to be imposed, delivering a further blow to an economy that is already back in recession. An exit from the euro might not be immediate but could become inevitable: the Greek government would be forced to default not just on the €1.5 billion due to the IMF this month, but on nearly €7 billion-worth of bonds held by the ECB, which should be redeemed in July and August." This might be suspenseful if the outcome wasn't a foregone conclusion. I'm sure the behind-the-scenes pressure is intense, possibly involving physical threats. In the end, Tspiras will stab the left in the back. So what else is new? Obama is doing the same thing when it comes to war in Iraq.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 28, 2015 13:38:15 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/25/greek-debt-disaster-bad-daily-life.html"Tsipras offered 0.74 percent of GDP in sales tax revenue. The creditors had asked for 1 percent. The prime minister included a wide range of tax increases, including a VAT hike to 11 percent on basic foodstuffs, energy and water. But the creditors wanted 13 percent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) apparently rejected tax increases that fall on the wealthiest segments of society, as well as those on gambling and lottery revenue, derived from a highly monopolized private market. The troika of negotiators also has not accepted a one-off corporate tax increase of 12 percent on profits over 0.5 million ($560,000) to meet 2015 fiscal targets. Meanwhile, for its part, the IMF argues that Greek promises of improved tax collection are in vain. At the same time, creditors are insisting on eliminating the lower tax rates and deductions for farmers and poor island residents. The agricultural and tourism sectors in Greece are mostly small family and cooperative arrangements. They employ a third of the population and, notably, nearly 40 percent of the agricultural population is 64 years and older. Essentially, the IMF is lobbying for shifting the tax burden away from corporations and wealthy individuals to the poorest and most vulnerable members of society."
The IMF is just following the Republican Prime Directive: Pamper the rich, stick it to the poor.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 30, 2015 23:08:00 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/?utm_source=aje&utm_medium=redirect"Greece defaulted on a loan payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday, just hours after eurozone finance ministers rejected a last-minute Greek appeal for an extension of its current bailout program. An IMF representative confirmed that it had not received the funds but also said that Athens requested an extension on repayment, which the IMF executive board would consider in "due course." Before the clock ticked down to the Tuesday midnight deadline, when an offer of billions of euros in locked-up bailout funds expired, eurozone finance ministers hastily arranged a conference call to discuss the new Greek request, which was part of an unexpected proposal Athens made late Tuesday for an altogether new two-year rescue deal." Capitalism, of course, is based on debt. Will those that live by debt die by debt?
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Post by jdredd on Jul 2, 2015 13:22:18 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/?utm_source=aje&utm_medium=redirect"Greece needs a cash infusion 50 billion euros ($55 billion) over the next three years to recover from its debt crisis and stabilize the economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday. But Greece already received 240 billion euros ($265 billion) in bailouts in the last five years — a sum greater than the country’s GDP. Yet that massive injection of cash has done little to mitigate the suffering of the Greek people. More than a quarter of the workforce remains unemployed, food insecurity is on the rise, and financial analysts say the country’s public infrastructure is badly underfunded. In effect, Greek citizens are still waiting for a bailout. So where did all that money from Greece’s first two rescue packages go? Back to creditors, mostly. “This is a giant creditor-debtor standoff,” said Mark Blyth, a professor of political economy at Brown University and the author of “Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea.” “The creditors have been made whole.” It's the whole investor/loan shark scam, headed by the Imperialist Monetary Fund. But trust me, Greece will fold and bend over for it's creditors. Syriza will be intimidated or will sell out or will be driven out of office. But it's fun to watch the show in the meanwhile.
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Post by jdredd on Jul 4, 2015 14:16:37 GMT -5
www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33393759"Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has accused Athens' creditors of "terrorism", the day before a referendum on an international bailout. Speaking to Spain's El Mundo newspaper, he said the country's lenders wanted to "instil fear in people". Huge rallies were held by both sides in the referendum on Friday night. The government has urged voters to say "No" to the terms of a bailout package, but opponents warn that this would see Greece ejected from the eurozone. Greece's current bailout programme with the European Commission, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB) ran out on Tuesday." I guess it's not just the USA that gets to throw around the "T" word to describe anyone they don't like.
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Post by jdredd on Jul 5, 2015 21:38:00 GMT -5
www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33403665"Greek voters have decisively rejected the terms of an international bailout. The final result in the referendum, published by the interior ministry, was 61.3% "No", against 38.7% who voted "Yes". Greece's governing Syriza party had campaigned for a "No", saying the bailout terms were humiliating. Their opponents warned that this could see Greece ejected from the eurozone, and a summit of eurozone heads of state has now been called for Tuesday. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said late on Sunday that Greeks had voted for a "Europe of solidarity and democracy". If someone thinks the vampires investors are done sucking Greece dry I think they are mistaken. They will get their pound of flesh one way or another. There is always the Greek Army to do their bidding. Again.
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Post by jdredd on Jul 6, 2015 7:36:53 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/7/6/greek-finance-minister-resigns-after-decisive-no-vote-on-bailout.html"Greece’s often outspoken finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was replaced Monday in a move seemingly aimed at smoothing the way to negotiations with creditor nations just hours after the country overwhelmingly voted against the continuation of punishing austerity measures. Varoufakis said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had judged that his resignation "might help achieve a deal" and that he was resigning for that reason. He was told that some eurozone finance ministers, many of whom have been vocally critical of the Varoufakis’ brash style, would appreciate it if he didn’t attend meetings. "I shall wear the creditors' loathing with pride," Varoufakis said in his announcement. Greeks voted took to the polls Sunday to reject creditors' proposal for more austerity measures in return for rescue loans. The referendum "will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage," Varoufakis said." The first casualty in Europe's war against Syriza. I wonder if there where any death threats?
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Post by jdredd on Jul 13, 2015 0:12:56 GMT -5
blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/07/10/who-will-win-the-battle-between-two-greeces/"The debate between “two Greeces” mirrors a parallel divide within economics, pitting the neoliberal direction of the Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman tradition against the modern neo-Keynesians such as Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Piketty and Paul Krugman. French author and economist Piketty and four other left-leaning economists have argued for the Troika to lighten up on austerity programs in Greece and to loosen the purse strings. “The medicine prescribed by the German Finance Ministry and Brussels has bled the patient, not cured the disease,” they wrote in the Nation. But the Keynesian crowd’s critique doesn’t solve the underlying problems in the Greek economy, including an extremely bloated public service sector that employs one in four Greeks, pension plans more generous than other developed countries and too many state monopolies." Are those really the problems of the Greek economy? I'm skeptical. They don't seem all that serious. Something else must be going on.
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Post by jdredd on Dec 9, 2015 2:35:31 GMT -5
I'm abandoning this thread. It isn't "Investors vs. the World", the situation is more like "Investors ARE the World". Debt and Darwinism reign.
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