Hi I've been writing on how energy policy could help Syriza during the Greek crisis - mostly in the long run, but given the situation I also include ways that could contribute immediately to solving the humanitarian cirsis. (Not a full solution - just help)
However, though this is directed mainly to Syriza I put together the briefest possible summary of the crisis. No nuance, no evidence just straight out telling it as concisely as possible while hitting the main points. If someone wanted to criticize and suggest improvements it would be a big help. Here is a link to the Document on Drive. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B11UgVNFOcF6dXpyY3NHa3RaTDg&authuser=0 Here is the whole thing, though I suspect you will need to use the link cause email will screw up the formatting: =================== The Greek economy crashed in 2008, along with the rest of Europe, but it fell further and more terribly. The Greek centrist social democratic government of PASOK led by George Papandreou took power from the conservatives in 2009 and discovered that the previous government had collaborated with corrupt bankers to falsify key economic indicators and borrow money that could never have been paid back even before the crash. This had hidden how badly the Greek economy was doing from the rest of the world until the crash. Thus the crash left Greece with a much bigger debt compared to its economy than the rest of Europe. The EU and international institutions made a deal with PASOK to bail out Greece's creditors and some of Greece's top bankers, but not the Greek people. As penalty for the fraud that had primarily victimized the Greek people, the Greek health care system was destroyed, replaced by American style health insurance, their by-no-means generous pensions cut The Greek education system was crippled. This austerity program produced a 25% unemployment rate and a GDP shrank at a faster rate than that of the United State during the great depression. PASOk fell to the Conservative New Democracy party, which implemented worse austerity than occurred under PASOK. Syriza, a coalition of most parties to the left of PASOK defeated both the right wing New Democracy Party and the centrist "Socialist" PASOK party in January of 2015. It was elected on a platform of raising taxes on the rich and cracking down on widespread tax evasion by the wealthy, lowering taxes on the working class, providing free electricity to those who had their power cut off , restoring pensions, free education, union rights as well as health care. Syriza also promised to end various other EU imposed austerity measures, such as the requirement that Greece maintain a government spending surplus during a depression. It also promised to crack down on the culture of corruption in Greece that crossed party lines and end oligarchic control of institutions that were supposed to be democratic, possibly by replacing those corrupt institutions with new more democratic ones. Syriza has attempted to negotiate with the EU. It has shown willingness to dial back its program, but not enough to suit the oligarchs. Negotiations have been conducted on the following lines: EU: You have anemia. To cure it you must stay the course: One bowl of gruel a day, and leeches applied to your body twice daily. Syriza: Come on. An anemic needs to eat more than cruel. Possibly iron infusions, at least an iron supplement. EU: Pish-posh. I'm the doctor.. Syriza: If I stick to the gruel diet, can I at least have an iron supplement, and stop the leeches? EU: You will follow the full plan. In fact, cut the gruel to half a bowl a day. Syriza: how about an iron supplement and fewer leeches? Eu: No. Half a bowl of gruel a day, and twice the leeches! And stay away from iron supplements. Trust Doctor Dracula. Syriza: Maybe I'd be better off leaving this hospital! Eu: No! Stay here and stick with the plan. If you do, as a compromise, we will let you drink the Kool-Aid. If you edit or comment please put the edits or comments in square brackents. -- Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow Solving the Climate Crisis web page: SolvingTheClimateCrisis.com Grist Blog: http://grist.org/author/gar-lipow/ Online technical reference: http://www.nohairshirts.com
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