Greek socialist demands

These are the demands of the new Syriza left-coalition in Greece. I think we could do with some of these things here, particularly the thorough investigations into the banks behaviour. Goldman Sachs and Barclays in particular.

In Greece, Goldman Sachs verified the Greek economy and government finances as first-rate, then sold derivatives globally to hedge Greek debt failure, then shorted those derivatives, then profited from Greek collapse and then acted as an agent in sales of Greek public property to privatisers.


1) The immediate cancellation of all impending measures that will impoverish Greeks further, such as cuts to pensions and salaries.

2) The immediate cancellation of all impending measures that undermine fundamental workers' rights, such as the abolition of collective labor agreements.

3) The immediate abolition of a law granting MPs immunity from prosecution, reform of the electoral law and a general overhaul of the political system. According to Keep Talking Greece, that would include abolishing the 50-seat bonus for the party which wins the most seats.

4) An investigation into Greek banks, and the immediate publication of the audit performed on the Greek banking sector by BlackRock.

5) The setting up of an international auditing committee to investigate the causes of Greece's public deficit, with a moratorium on all debt servicing until the findings of the audit are published.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/08/eurozone-crisis-greece-elections-bailout

Sounds better for Greece than just rotting away in debt for eternity.

Perhaps what they need most is the ability to control their own currency...

They have that, its called dumping the Euro but too many are scared of a doomsday scenario.

I say they should leave the Euro and see how many creditors turn against them for setting in motion the destruction of their biggest cash cow.

Well if they leave the Euro they will probably be much better off fairly quickly - the Drachma will plunge in value, tourism will surge, lots more cash will roll into the country. The debts will be reneged on and for a while they won't borrow, but like Argentina and other countries that did this, they will soon be on the road to recovery, or at least, to it not being as painful as before.

The ordinary people of Ireland would also be much better off if the country refused to honour the banks vast speculative debts.

It is an absolute disgrace Goldman Sachs have not been done for fraud. They were clearly selling things they knew were poor quality assets, and flogging them off as gold bullion.

You really think ex Goldmanite Mario Draghi is going to go after Goldman's? Who do you think helps fund the campaign contributions and debt trains American and European politicians feed off? I say **** the Greeks, they knew their economy was not worthy of joining a common currency union with Germany and they deliberately fiddled their books to get cheap debt and fund their public sector binge spending, they aren't innocent grannies on the street.

It is an absolute disgrace Goldman Sachs have not been done for fraud. They were clearly selling things they knew were poor quality assets, and flogging them off as gold bullion.

You really think ex Goldmanite Mario Draghi is going to go after Goldman's? Who do you think helps fund the campaign contributions and debt trains American and European politicians feed off? I say **** the Greeks, they knew their economy was not worthy of joining a common currency union with Germany and they deliberately fiddled their books to get cheap debt and fund their public sector binge spending, they aren't innocent grannies on the street.

No they aren't, but that hardly means we should excuse and condone the actions of Goldman Sachs. They need to be held to account for the mess they helped create.

It's not the only country or the only time where they have carried out systematic fraud and criminal acts on a grand scale and (apparently - or so far) got away with it.

It would appear that the mere name "Goldmans" is enough to persuade prosecutors to leave well alone. I wonder why.

Who paid GS to cook the Greek books?

They don't cook for free and they just came up with what was asked and paid for.

They don't cook for free and they just came up with what was asked and paid for.

The Irish have themselves to blame for the mess they're in. They voted no but took a bribe and voted yes. Then the boat sank and they couldn't swim and we had to bail them out, typical.