Europe

Greece: More on Race to The Bottom

Yanis Varoufakis (r) and his former counterpart, German Finance Minister Schauble. Despite his denials, Schauble has the same medicine in store for the German working class.

German Finance Minister Schaeuble (l) and his former Greek counter part, Yanis Varoufakis. Despite his denials, Schauble has the same medicine in store for the German working class.

Slightly over a month ago, we printed an article which explained that what’s really under way in Greece is to use the economic crisis there to drive down the living standards of Greek workers and then use that as a battering ram against the workers throughout the EU. Now, a new article in today’s Wall St. Journal again confirms that.

That article is titled (in the print edition) “Berlin Avoids Own Medicine”. It explains: “Many of the overhauls on Athens’ to-do list are inspired by the labor market, welfare and budget measures that Germany enacted in 2003 and 2004, when it was struggling with high unemployment and slow growth. Others—such as lifting restrictions on Sunday shopping and deregulating pharmacies—go further and would likely face a political and legal backlash if attempted in Germany.”

The chief architect of the attacks on Greek workers – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble – denies there are any plans for similar attacks on German workers. Of course he denies it; he has to keep their support. But one economist from a “non-partisan” think tank – the Centre for European Reform – gave the game away. “The attitude in Germany and in policy circles is that we don’t have a problem, so we get the luxury of keeping distortions of the free market.” (Note: “distortions of the free market” means anything that doesn’t just leave the hungry to starve the the poor living in the streets.) 

In other words, as soon as the German economy hits a speed bump, the same prescription will be enforced. Beware, German workers!

Categories: Europe, Uncategorized

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