Skip to content

Well no Ritchie, not really

What else the article says beyond the headline does not really matter much: the headline is the story that after five years of misery having been imposed, wholly unnecessarily, on Greece there are many who would argue that the misery should persist to ensure we do not “frighten the markets”.

So who are “the markets”? Let’s be blunt, it’s banking and related financial services entities. That’s it. No one can pretend that “the markets” are anything else but the vested interests of the City of London and its related entities around the world. It is this elite who must not be “frightened”, poor little dears that they are.

76% of the Greek debt is owned by governments (or bodies owned by governments).

The banks, the private sector holders, all already took a 70% haircut, recall? Maybe without much good grace but they did take that haircut.

This is about which Courageous State should have to take the next tranche of losses.

23 thoughts on “Well no Ritchie, not really”

  1. Actually Tim, he flipped as early as the first comment on this one. When it was pointed that ‘the markets’ meant ‘mine and your pension’ he moved straight onto ‘the debt is owned by the ECB’.

    So Ritchie is now saying that the Greek gov’t, having defaulted on the credit extended honestly by ‘the markets’ and having been proved not to be good for it, should now be entirely free to default on the credit extended honestly (at least in their dealings with Greek taxpayers; if not German taxpayers) by the ECB and IMF. In other words Socialist governments should never have to honour the debts built up by their predecessors, elected under exactly the same terms as they were. In fact, they shouldn’t have to honour debts at all.

    And all the time he doesn’t say – because he is an intellectual coward – that the only legitmate solution now is Grexit.

  2. bloke (not) in spain

    ” In other words Socialist governments should never have to honour the debts built up by their predecessors, elected under exactly the same terms as they were. In fact, they shouldn’t have to honour debts at all.”

    Well, if that’s what he’s saying, let’s heartily agree with him. Couldn’t think of anything more guaranteed to deter anyone ever lending a socialist government a cent ever again.
    What’s not to like?

  3. bloke (not) in spain

    In fact, let’s extend the principal to governments of all flavours.
    Just to be progressively in favour of equality an’ all that.

  4. The comments on this one are a joy. The neoliberals are swarming over the barricades.

    ,i.Benjohn says:
    January 27 2015 at 9:24 am
    Richard gave you five completely reasonable replies. If you have a rebuttal offer it. Don’t hide with sarcasm and snivelling rhetoric.

    Reply
    Jim says:
    January 27 2015 at 9:44 am
    I think branding a reasonably insightful and worthwhile comment “stupid” leaves little point in him responding. Very rude and no decency. How dare he not agree with Richard.

    Richard Murphy says:
    January 27 2015 at 9:47 am
    The comment was stupid

    I am a friend of the truth

  5. @TimN: almost all of them I think. Which really is the only sensible approach for a state that’s not in control of it’s own currency… like all of the Eurozone states.

  6. Indeed. The whole never-repaid debt thing only works if you control the currency. Which comes back to what people said at the start of the Euro; a fiat currency of this type cannot work unless there is political union. The current system is intrinsically unworkable.

  7. Murphy has come up with a solution.

    Park the Greek problem with the ECB because the ECB belongs to no one.

    Hurrah!

    (My comment that everyone in the Eurozone could claim “Je Suis La BCE” has not made the cut, sadly.)

  8. “What else the article says beyond the headline does not really matter much”

    He admitted in another article today (about the IEA comments on accelerated payment notices) that he doesn’t even bother reading the articles anyway.

  9. Meissen Bison

    The delete button is getting pressed a lot it seems. My response, that the ECB is born out of agreement between the electorates of sovereign nations and so IS German AND Dutch AND Austrians, was deleted as well.

    He’s back at it, claiming that the loss to the UK banks is nothing, so what’s the problem? If a fact is inconvenient, like the ECB holding the baby, he just ignores it.

  10. Ironman

    Quite so.

    His blog is geared towards his claque to a degree now that he’s little more than a performing seal clapping his flippers and with a ball on his nose.

  11. Ironman et al:

    ‘The comment was stupid

    I am a friend of the truth’

    Should be his epitaph – what an absolute numbskull…..

  12. Ironman

    I can presume most follow- up comments have at least partially fallen foul of the censor but if the Charlie Hebdo post was the most offensive post, this has to take the prize for most infantile I have seen in some time.

    As I think Tim N or GlenDorran said, I think it’s an inversion of the Gandhi quote regarding ‘first they ignore you’ – why is anyone listening to this utter rubbish and indeed shouldn’t anyone bringing him in front of a Select Committee be subject to censure in Parliament?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *