Michael Hudson says Greece’s Finance Minister Varoufakis is proposing austerity on the banking class rather than on the working class to balance the budget.
SHARMINI PERIES, EXEC. PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore.
The four-month extension secured by the Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, on Friday came with the condition that Greece provide a list of measures to quell the concerns of its international lenders, especially the German banks represented by the finance ministers in Brussels, who feared that Athens might bail on the promises to cut spending and implement austerity measures. So, on Sunday, Athens provided that list.
Now joining us to discuss the tabled plan is Michael Hudson. He is a distinguished research professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. His upcoming book is titled Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroyed the Global Economy.
Thank you so much for joining us, Michael.
MICHAEL HUDSON, ECONOMICS PROF., UNIV. MISSOURI, KANSAS CITY: Thank you.
PERIES: So, Michael, these international banks represented by the finance ministers now in Brussels, when they were in crisis and we the public treasury bailed them out, they had no problem with that. Why are they now refusing to assist Greece at a time of need when in fact some politicians and even the troika is being more receptive to what Greece is saying?
HUDSON: Because what’s at issue really is a class war. It’s not so much Germany versus Greece, as the papers say…
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Relevant posts:
- Wright, Τ. (2015) “Will Syriza’s Victory in Greece Mean Easing Austerity?“, Newsweek, 29 January.
- Antonakakis, N. & Collins, A. (2015) “The impact of fiscal austerity on suicide: On the empirics of a modern Greek tragedy“, Social Science and Medicine Journal, Volume 112, July 2014, pp. 39-50.
- Mitchell, B. (2014) “The loaded language of austerity – but all the sinners are saints!“, Bill Mitchell Blog, 27 November.