The New Reality in the Greek Crisis
With the Greek people voting against austerity measures, a new reality emerges in the Greek crisis. The people, having spoken, won't stand for the European Union's demands that government stop paying for its promised entitlements, which include pensions for the retired and elderly.
Prior to the vote, media reports put forth poll results that gave the advantage to "Yes." In reality, "No" won by 61%. Whence did the media get that "Yes" projected result? In their dreams, we suspect. It looks like another example of the establishment wanting its way, and planting media stories to get it.
But now the new reality sets in, except it's not what was portrayed before the election. You see, the way the pending vote was presented last week - at least in reports by those same media sources - it seemed that Greek's voting "No" were rejecting the European Union and the Euro. Perhaps some were. But the "No" vote will not, after all, push Greece out of either the Union or the Euro. So what to make of those stories about "what Europe will look like after Grexit" (i.e., Greece's exit from the Union), or how Greece abandoning the Euro will affect that venerable currency? Apparently there's not much to make out of it. Speaking of the resignation of Greece's finance minister, this Bloomberg article makes it clear things aren't necessarily heading in the direction of Grexit at all.
Prior to the vote, media reports put forth poll results that gave the advantage to "Yes." In reality, "No" won by 61%. Whence did the media get that "Yes" projected result? In their dreams, we suspect. It looks like another example of the establishment wanting its way, and planting media stories to get it.
But now the new reality sets in, except it's not what was portrayed before the election. You see, the way the pending vote was presented last week - at least in reports by those same media sources - it seemed that Greek's voting "No" were rejecting the European Union and the Euro. Perhaps some were. But the "No" vote will not, after all, push Greece out of either the Union or the Euro. So what to make of those stories about "what Europe will look like after Grexit" (i.e., Greece's exit from the Union), or how Greece abandoning the Euro will affect that venerable currency? Apparently there's not much to make out of it. Speaking of the resignation of Greece's finance minister, this Bloomberg article makes it clear things aren't necessarily heading in the direction of Grexit at all.
His abrupt resignation followed victory in Greece’s Sunday referendum with a larger-than-forecast 61 percent of the vote for the “no” campaign he backed along with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. With euro-area governments signaling it’s up to Greece to offer proposals, Varoufakis’s absence may help lower the temperature in its efforts to avoid an exit from the euro zone and secure a new bailout from European partners.And so the new reality begins to look a lot like the reality we've been seeing for months and years. The can has been kicked again. How many ways can you kick a can? We'll find out as the endless bailout negotiations enter their next stage. It's really taken on the characteristics of a drama series, with each episode leaving you in suspense, waiting for the next installment. Except that those of us with lives to live may not tune in next week.
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