[Marxism] Tsipras negotiating w/ Eurozone Syriza; Melenchon on Greece, Varoufakis interview
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * New proposals on way, focus on five key areas I Kathimerini, Athens, May 16 http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_16/05/2015_550084 Greece is due to finish sending on Saturday its latest proposals to the country’s lenders in the hope that it will have a response by the beginning of next week and that talks in Brussels can resume with the aim of concluding a deal that would unlock another 7.2 billion euros in bailout funding. Kathimerini understands that there are five key areas in which Athens and its creditors are still some distance apart and will have to work on over the next few days. These are macroeconomic forecasts, fiscal targets, new measures, labor market reforms and pension cuts. Greece and the institutions appear to have converged on the growth forecast for this year, with both sides predicting the economy will expand by 0.5 percent. On fiscal targets, there also appears to be a meeting of minds. The primary surplus target for this year is expected to be between 1 and 1.5 percent, rising to 1.5 to 2 percent next year and to 3.5 percent from 2017. With regards to new measures to cover this year’s fiscal gap, Athens and its lenders have yet to agree on a comprehensive package. It will, however, include an overhaul of Greece’s value-added tax. It is likely that there will be just two, rather than the current three, rates. The top rate is set to be between 18 and 20 percent, while the lower rate between 8 and 9 percent. The government is also considering leaving in place the solidarity tax on incomes above 30,000 euros without the 30 percent reduction that the previous coalition had introduced. Other taxes may also be introduced. Greece and its lenders seem far apart on the issue of labor reform as the government insists that collective contracts should be reintroduced and that the institutions’ demands for relaxing the restrictions on mass dismissals should not be met. On pensions, the government is proposing the scrapping of early pensions as an alternative to introducing the “zero deficit” rule, which would mean stopping public subsidies to pension funds. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis insisted that “no red lines have been crossed” by the Greek side so far. However, on Thursday night Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragaskis was on the receiving end of heavy criticism regarding the government’s negotiating strategy when he met with members of SYRIZA’s political secretariat. Tsipras hoping to persuade his ministers on deal I Kathimerini, Athens, May 16 http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_16/05/2015_550107 People close to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras remain confident that the vast majority of SYRIZA MPs will back any deal with lenders despite the objections that have been raised over the past few days regarding the content of negotiations. Tsipras presided over two lengthy cabinet meetings last week, when a number of ministers raised concerns about the issues being discussed with the institutions, particularly labor and pension reforms. However, sources said that Tsipras believes he can ensure the necessary support for any agreement by convincing his ministers that it is the best deal his government can get. His biggest concern is about how the leader of SYRIZA’s left-wing, Energy Minister Panayiotis Lafazanis, will react. Lafazanis was said not to have been particularly vociferous in the meetings, stressing simply that the coalition should not cross its “red lines.” The prime minister believes that if he is able to talk Lafazanis around then it will lead to most, if not all, MPs belonging to the minister’s Left Platform voting for the deal. However, if Tsipras sees that he cannot get the necessary support for a deal from his own party, he may consider putting the agreement to a referendum. The possibility of a vote has been played down over recent days by government officials but this does not mean Tsipras might not turn to it as a final option. [Lafazanis apparently has gone along with further privatization of Port of Piraeus which he earlier opposed. dayne] Greece came close to not paying IMF I Kathimerini, Athens, May 17 http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_17/05/2015_550106 The Greek government is hoping that it will be able to reach a technical agreement with lenders this week, paving the way for it to receive the funds that would allow it to continue meeting its obligations. The difficulty the coalition is facing in servicing its debt and paying pensions and salaries was highlighted by events a few days ago, when – as Kathimerini can reveal – Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote to International
[Marxism] Would leaving euro be more of a catastrophe for Greece than staying?; abandoned factories, real estate crisis, capital flight; Wallerstein
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Would leaving euro be more of a catastrophe for Greece than staying? Leaving the single currency will have all sorts of economic and political costs for Athens, but Iceland’s experience after the banking crisis could prove illuminating by Larry Elliott, Economics editor The Guardian, May 17 http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2015/may/17/-real-question-greece-staying-euro-catastrophe-iceland Yanis Varoufakis rues the day when Greece joined the euro. The Greek finance minister says his country would be better off if it was still using the drachma. Deep down, he says, all 18 countries using the single currency wish that the idea had been strangled at birth but understand that once you are in you don’t get out without a catastrophe. All of that is true, and explains why Greece is involved in a game of chicken with all the other players in this drama: the International Monetary Fund, the European commission, the European Central Bank and the German government. Varoufakis wants more financial help but not if it means sending the Greek economy into a “death spiral. Greece’s creditors will not stump up any more cash until Athens sticks to bailout conditions that Varoufakis says would do just that. Things will come to a head this summer because it is clear Greece cannot make all the debt repayments that are coming up. It has to find €10bn (£7.3bn) in redemptions to the IMF, the ECB and other bondholders before the end of August and the money is not there. Greece’s creditors know that and are prepared to let the government in Athens stew. They know that Greece really has only two choices: surrender or leave the euro, and since it has said it wants to stay inside the single currency, they expect the white flag to be fluttering any time soon. Greece’s willingness to go ahead with the privatisation of its largest port, Piraeus, will be seen as evidence by the hardliners in Brussels and Berlin that they have been right to take a tough approach in negotiations with the Syriza-led government. But before he admits he has lost the game of chicken, Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, should think hard about Varoufakis’s analysis. Was it a mistake for Greece to join the euro? Clearly, the answer is yes. Would Greece be better off with the drachma? Given that the economy has shrunk by 25% in the past five years and is still shrinking, again the answer is yes. Can you leave the euro and return to the drachma without a catastrophe? Undoubtedly there would be massive costs from doing so, including credit controls to prevent currency flight, and a profound shock to business and consumer confidence. There are also the practical difficulties involved in substituting one currency for another. In a way, though, this is not the question the Greek government should be asking itself. Greece has been suffering an economic catastrophe since 2010. It is suffering from an economic catastrophe now and will continue to suffer from an economic catastrophe if it stays in the euro without generous debt forgiveness and policies that facilitate, rather than impede, growth. So the real question is not whether leaving the euro would be a catastrophe, because it would. The real question is whether it would be more of a catastrophe than staying in. There are both political and economic dimensions to this question. Politically, Tsipras has a real dilemma: the Greek people voted for less austerity, Greece’s creditors want no let-up in austerity. He can please one or the other but not both. Bowing the knee to Angela Merkel would allow Greece to get access to the short-term finance that will allow it to pay its debts, but it will be political suicide for Syriza. Sooner or later, Tsipras has to decide what he wants to do: continue with a populist approach that is incompatible with euro membership or return reluctantly to the policies that have been pursued by the centre-left and centre-right governments since the crisis erupted. Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, has suggested that one solution would be for Greece to hold a referendum on whether it wants to go or stay. The message coming out of Berlin is that Germany doesn’t care much either way. If Greece wants to knuckle down to structural reform, that’s fine. If Greece wants to return to the drachma, that’s also fine. Schäuble strongly suspects that faced with the choice, Greece would vote to remain a member of the single currency. But plebiscites are funny things, and the question asked would matter. The answer to the question “do you want Greece to continue using the euro?”, would be different to “do you want Greece to continue using the
[Marxism] Don’t Be So Sure the Economy Will Return to Normal
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * (The author of this article is a libertarian, which makes his gloomy prognosis on the capitalist economy all the more remarkable.) NY Times, May 17 2015 Don’t Be So Sure the Economy Will Return to Normal By TYLER COWEN It is hard to avoid the feeling that our current economic problems are more than just a cyclical downturn. We know that the economy has gone through some bad times. But what exactly are we experiencing? One relatively optimistic view is that observed deficiencies — like slow growth in real wages and the overall economy, persistently low interest rates and low levels of labor participation — are merely temporary. In this view, these problems will dwindle after manageable problems like high levels of public or household debt have been reduced. Another commonly heard view is that we made the mistake of letting the last recession linger too long, allowing some of its features to became entrenched. That analysis suggests that if we correct past policy errors, whatever they may have been, an underlying normality will re-emerge. There are some nuggets of truth in both of these arguments, but there is a much more disturbing possibility that could turn out to be more accurate: namely, that the recession was a learning experience that we haven’t fully absorbed. From this perspective, the radical and sudden changes of the financial crisis were early indicators of deep fragility and dysfunctionality. Slowly but surely, we may be responding to these difficult revelations by scaling back our ambitions for the economy — reinforcing negative trends that were already underway. In this troubling view, we have finally begun to discover some unpleasant truths. Borrowing a phrase from the University of Toronto economist Richard Florida, it’s possible that we are experiencing a “Great Reset.” Let’s consider an analogy to see how this might work in practice. Well before the recent recession, many colleges and universities realized that they could not afford so many full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members, and they began to increase their reliance on lower-paid adjuncts. Few institutions fired large numbers of full-timers suddenly, because that could have left them understaffed if trends reversed. Longstanding protections of tenure were also a constraint. Instead, many administrators added modestly to the number of adjunct faculty members, sometimes over decades, relying on retirement and attrition to manage the shift in a relatively smooth manner. That evolution reflects a more general principle: Institutional rigidities don’t permit adjustments to occur all at once, but by studying continuing changes we may be able to peer around a corner and see where a sector is headed. Such processes are scary because we may be watching the slow unfolding of a hand that, in its fundamentals, has already been dealt. There are signs that a comparable story may apply to the American economy more broadly. In manufacturing, for example, Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Caterpillar and Navistar (formerly International Harvester) all pay many of their new workers much less. In some of these two-tier structures, the new wage may be as little as half the old one. In addition to this rapid change, the companies also seem to be reducing the ranks of highly paid workers through slow attrition. Here is another change that might be a broader sign of a pending reset: A heavy burden of adjustment in the overall labor market is being borne by the young. Wages for the typical graduate of a four-year college have dropped more than 7 percent since 2000, and the labor force participation rate of the young has been falling. One consequence is that young people are living at home longer and receiving more aid from their parents. They also seem to be less interested in buying their own homes. All of these factors could indicate that our economy is evolving into one that will offer far less favorable long-run wage prospects. Much research has shown that the effects of a recession can be pernicious for decades: Earning a lower wage in earlier years is predictive of lower wages through the rest of one’s career. While we are seeing economic problems for the relatively young, they will eventually become dominant earners in the economy and the major force behind broader statistics. In short, are these economic problems transitory, or are we glimpsing the beginnings of a grimmer future? If a reset is underway, we might have to accept that public policy cannot reverse it easily. Once unsustainable economic structures begin to fail, it takes a
Re: [Marxism] Would leaving euro be more of a catastrophe for Greece than staying?; abandoned factories, real estate crisis, capital flight; Wallerstein
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 5/17/15 10:50 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: A little perspective is required. Iceland has a population of about 323,000--about 20,000 less than Aurora, California. That's Aurora, Colorado... _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Would leaving euro be more of a catastrophe for Greece than staying?; abandoned factories, real estate crisis, capital flight; Wallerstein
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 5/17/15 10:36 AM, Dayne Goodwin via Marxism wrote: No question, Iceland had a very tough time. There were massive capital outflows from its over-extended banking sector, and its currency, the krona, depreciated by 40%. The economy contracted sharply, the IMF was called in and capital controls were introduced. A little perspective is required. Iceland has a population of about 323,000--about 20,000 less than Aurora, California. It also has an economy that is export-oriented, with its fisheries number two in the world next to Norway. As opposed to Greece, it has flourished for a half-century or so until it ran into a brick wall in 2007. By contrast, Greece has been dysfunctional economically since the 1930s. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Sankara's revolutionary legacy delved into in new biography
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * A popular uprising in 1983 in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), a small and poor land-locked country in western Africa, had led to an obscure, but charismatic army officer becoming head of state. This was inspiring news for those looking for a new breakthrough against imperialism. It had come after the depressing news that Margaret Thatcher's Britain had defeated Argentina in the Malvinas and Ronald Reagan's United States had crushed Grenada's revolution. https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59023 -- “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism “The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Obama on Syria this week: Like I've been saying...
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * New from Linux Beach: Obama on Syria this week: Like I've been saying... http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2015/05/obama-on-syria-this-week-like-ive-been.html *On Thursday*, 14 May 2015, *President Obama* held a Press Conference at Camp David. Since it immediately followed the *Gulf Cooperation Council *summit with representatives of five Arab governments, he couldn't entirely avoid the subject of *Syria*. This is what he had to say https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/14/remarks-president-obama-press-conference-after-gcc-summit: ... with respect to Syria, we committed to continuing to strengthen the moderate opposition, to oppose all violent extremist groups, and to intensify our efforts to achieve a negotiated political transition toward an inclusive government --without Bashar Assad -- that serves all Syrians. There are those on the /Left/ and the Right that will use these words to say Obama is still moving forward with his regime change plans for Syria. I wonder if they also believe the many other fine words in Obama's speech, like his /urgent need/ for a Palestinian State, or do they just selectively decide that he tells the truth about his plans for Assad? This YouTube video, published on 8 May 2015, will give you a clue about how much Obama really is supporting the moderate opposition in Syria, and BTW they are only training Syrians to fight ISIS, not Assad. They make that abundantly clear. *More ...* http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2015/05/obama-on-syria-this-week-like-ive-been.html _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The parasite and the shoneens: 'Prince' Charles visits south of Ireland
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[Marxism] The US destruction of Vietnam and the Pentagon School of Falsification
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://www.laprogressive.com/vietnam-lessons/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Latin America and Caribbean to help Asia's stranded refugees, Correa says
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Latin America is shaming Australia... Correa said: “If the problem continues then we will provide our total support including food supplies as well as CELAC welcoming those impacted by the crisis in order to alleviate the tragedy that is taking place.” https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59058 -- “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism “The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Was ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf promoted posthumously by Obama?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * /New from Linux Beach now back in Venice Beach:/ Was ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf promoted posthumously by Obama? http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2015/05/was-isis-leader-abu-sayyaf-promoted.html In the *White House* statement https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/16/statement-nsc-spokesperson-bernadette-meehan-counter-isil-operation-sy-0 announcing the *US Special Forces* operation in *Syria* yesterday, NSC spokesperson *Bernadette Meehan*, said the man they got, *Abu Sayyaf*, was the intended target of the raid: Abu Sayyaf was a senior ISIL leader who, among other things, had a senior role in overseeing ISIL’s illicit oil and gas operations – a key source of revenue that enables the terrorist organization to carry out their brutal tactics and oppress thousands of innocent civilians. He was also involved with the group’s military operations. The funny thing about Abu [meaning father of] Sayyaf is that nobody that has been studying ISIS leadership seems to have ever heard of him before. I've been writing about ISIS since http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-current-military-situation-in-syria.html July 2013, almost a year before it took Mosul and declared itself a /caliphate./ That doesn't make me an expert, so it really doesn't mean much that I've never heard of him, but I do know experts that should have heard of him, and when they say they've never heard of him, I know this guy was not that important. The hands down best book I know of on the subject of ISIS is *ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror*, by *Michael Weiss* and *Hassan Hassan*. Now, they are experts, and I've followed the work of both of them for a long time, so when I hear Michael Weiss say he's never heard of Abu Sayyaf, I know there is something fishy about the Pentagon story http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=128832source=GovDelivery. Besides, if this guy is really as important as they now say he is, why did they not already have a price on his head like they do for the other top ISIS leaders? If this was like the hunt for the Baathists in Iraq a decade ago, some of which are now in ISIS, I'd have to conclude they weren't playing with a full deck, because before this raid, Abu Sayyaf didn't have his own card. I think the Pentagon is trying to put lipstick on a pig. I think this guy is pretty low-level, and not the kind of target that they would risk US soldiers on the ground for. I think they were after a really important target, maybe the leader *Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi*, maybe somebody else in top leadership or responsible for Kayle Mueller's captivity, but definitely a big cheese, and they missed. Maybe Obama was looking to distract attention from questions about the accuracy of his tale around the *bin Laden* mission with another daring US Special Ops kill or capture. I don't know about that, but I know one thing for sure: Abu Sayyaf is no bin Laden! The *Syrian Observatory for Human Rights* [SOHR] is saying http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/05/u-s-led-coalition-operation-kills-abo-omar-al-shishani-assistant/ 32 IS militants were killed by US air strikes and by a /dropping off operation in al-Omar oil field near al-Besera east of Der-Ezzor./ They say among them, /4 commanders 3 of them were Moroccan including the assistant of Abo Omar al-Shishani the military chief in IS./ Abu Sayyaf isn't mentioned but that's just a nom de guerre anyway. I don't think Obama put US boots on the ground in Syria to kill an /assistant./ It is interesting that the Syrian Army is also claiming credit for these kills, raising the curious question of to what degree this operation was co-ordinated with the Assad regime. After all, They did openly acknowledge they had /the full consent of Iraqi authorities/ and and acted /consistent with domestic and international law./ If consistent with international law meant respect for Syrian sovereignty, that would imply the knowledge and consent of the Assad regime, but according http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/world/middleeast/abu-sayyaf-isis-commander-killed-by-us-forces-pentagon-says.html?_r=0 to the *New York Times*: The White House rejected initial reports from the region that attributed the raid to the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. /“The U.S. government did not coordinate with the Syrian regime...,”/ said Bernadette Meehan, the National Security Council spokeswoman. I strongly suspect Abu Sayyaf was not the real target, he was just the best they could do, so now, in death, he has been promoted by the Pentagon, the CIA, the White House and
[Marxism] Pimping for Israel: Lady Gaga, Madonna and Dionne Warwick
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[Marxism] IMF leak signals ‘progress’ with Greece, but threat of default in June
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * IMF leak signals ‘progress’ with Greece, but threat of default in June by Paul Mason Channel 4 News, Britain, May 16 European negotiators have just days to conclude an agreement with Greece or a critical payment to the IMF on 5 June is likely to be missed, according to a leaked document seen by Channel 4 News. See the full, leaked, confidential document, below [at http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/imf-leak-signals-progress-greece-threat-default-june/3695] In an memo dated 14 May, the IMF’s staff state: “There will be no possibility for the Greek authorities to repay the whole amount unless an agreement is reached with international partners.” They point to the €1.5bn due to the IMF in June as the first vulnerable payment. Channel 4 News understands Greek negotiators made clear last week that the €1.56bn owed to the IMF in June, beginning with a payment on 5 June, cannot be paid without a deal. The IMF memo confirms that there has been “some recent progress” in negotiations between Greece and its lenders: on VAT reform, tax collection and regulations that would make it easier for Greek companies to go bust and be restructured. But the tight timetable, and growing tension between the IMF and the Europeans, mean next week’s Euro summit in Riga looks like the last chance to do a deal before Greece technically defaults on a payment to the IMF in early June. This assessment goes further than the formal words used at the conclusion of the Eurogroup last week, and confirms there is momentum towards a deal. ‘Quick and dirty’ The IMF names the outstanding issues as: pension reform, deregulating the labour market, and the re-hiring of 4,000 former civil servants as the issues preventing a deal. The document acknowledges progress on labour reform “in the past”, signalling that the rehiring and pensions issues are what stand between Greece and a deal this week. But the document reveals critical differences between the EU, ECB and IMF that could lead to a collapse of the negotiations. Basically, the EU is looking for a deal that papers over the cracks and takes the Greek banking system off life support, while the memo confirms the IMF’s own rules do not allow what it calls a “quick and dirty” outcome. But the “progress” has triggered a major row behind the scenes between the EU and the IMF. Debt default The EU negotiators, by agreeing to drop their demands for Greece to run a 3 per cent of GDP budget surplus in the next two years, have paved the way for an interim deal that would allow them to reprieve the Greek banking system, currently on temporary life support. But the IMF document says, “it was made clear that no disbursement will be made until a full staff level agreement on a comprehensive review is reached”. The document concludes by reiterating that the IMF has to “play by the rules and not obscure the fund’s mandate”. In a critical passage, albeit in coded language, the IMF staff outline major differences with the Europeans: “While staff emphasised they are not pushing the European partners to consider debt relief, at the same time staff noted the numbers need to add up. In particular it was noted there is an inverse relationship between reforms and sustainability.” This translates as: the more austerity the Europeans demand, the bigger the chance that Greece defaults on its debts. And the IMF – unlike the EU – cannot sign off on a plan where austerity provokes a debt default. Greek government sources believe the IMF could seek to offload its loans to Greece onto the European Stability Mechanism created during the debt crisis of 2010, if its own rules leave it unable to sign off a deal done this month. Meanwhile Greek economy and public finances are deteriorating rapidly. The IMF noted that: “non-performing loans are at very high levels and – going forward – the system might suffer from important stress. The staff also noted a dramatic deterioration in the payment culture in the country”. This last refers to the near gridlock of the Greek system of inter-company payments as betwen €30 and €35bn has flowed out of the banking system – into the cash economy and abroad – since Syriza came to power. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: GILLES d'Aymery Obituary - New York, NY | New York Times
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * He was the publisher and editor of Swans, an online magazine that I wrote many articles for over the years. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=174876556 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Same-sex marriage referendum on Friday in south of Ireland
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Ah but will the Catholic Church ever allow legalized abortion and contraception? Sent from my iPhone On May 17, 2015, at 7:25 AM, Philip Ferguson via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * With just five days to the referendum on same-sex marriage in the south of Ireland, polls continue to indicate that a hefty majority of public opinion supports the right of same-sex couples to wed. It looks like the south of Ireland will be the first country where the population have voted in favour of gay marriage. What happened to the south of Ireland as the bastion of incredibly socially-conservative Catholicism? https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/irish-society-and-politics-and-the-referendum-on-gay-marriage/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/bwpurplewins%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Same-sex marriage referendum on Friday in south of Ireland
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphone Barbara Winslow via Marxism wrote Ah but will the Catholic Church ever allow legalized abortion and contraception? For the sake of clarity, contraception is now legal. You can even find condom vending machines in pub toilets now. Abortion is still a hot potato. The Supreme Court issued a ruling some years ago demanding legislation but no government has dared to do anything about the ruling yet. On same-sex marriage the church has been campaigning against it, even getting the Pope to issue a statement, but it seems that most practising Catholics, the majority of the population, sre ignoring the Pope's advice! Einde O'Callaghan Sent from my iPhone On May 17, 2015, at 7:25 AM, Philip Ferguson via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: With just five days to the referendum on same-sex marriage in the south of Ireland, polls continue to indicate that a hefty majority of public opinion supports the right of same-sex couples to wed. It looks like the south of Ireland will be the first country where the population have voted in favour of gay marriage. What happened to the south of Ireland as the bastion of incredibly socially-conservative Catholicism? https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/irish-society-and-politics-and-the-referendum-on-gay-marriage/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Same-sex marriage referendum on Friday in south of Ireland
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They didn't want to allow legal contraception. They lost.
They didn't want to allow abortion information to be legal. They lost.
They didn't want to allow divorce. They lost.
They didn't want the legalisation of gay sex. They lost.
They don't want same-sex marriage. They'll lose on Friday.
They've been pushed back on the right to abortion, but it's the thing
they've most been able to stop significant progress on. However, they're
fighting a losing battle on that. it's just going to take a bit longer and
be a bit harder fight.
The point is that the Catholic Church simply no longer has the same hold
over either the population at large or the institutions of both state and
civil society it once infected with its poisonous anti-humanism.
The tide has come in for social progress and gone out for religious
obscurantism and reaction in Ireland.
What the Catholic church will and won't allow now simply doesn't count
for much in Ireland.
Phil
On Sun, May 17, 2015 at 6:01 PM, Barbara Winslow bwpurplew...@gmail.com
wrote:
Ah but will the Catholic Church ever allow legalized abortion and
contraception?
Sent from my iPhone
On May 17, 2015, at 7:25 AM, Philip Ferguson via Marxism
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote:
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With just five days to the referendum on same-sex marriage in the south
of
Ireland, polls continue to indicate that a hefty majority of public
opinion
supports the right of same-sex couples to wed.
It looks like the south of Ireland will be the first country where the
population have voted in favour of gay marriage.
What happened to the south of Ireland as the bastion of incredibly
socially-conservative Catholicism?
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/irish-society-and-politics-and-the-referendum-on-gay-marriage/
_
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[Marxism] Fwd: The Iranian Kurdish 'Revolution' The World Doesn't Know Is Happening
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * When demonstrations began on May 7 in Mahabad, S.Kurdax, a Syrian Kurd whose name has been changed for security reasons who was also forced to flee his own country when President Bashar Assad’s regime began arresting protesters in 2011, wanted to help. Along with several other Kurdish friends from the region, he created various social media accounts to provide accurate information from the ground in Iran, where many of his friends are demonstrating. “We as young people, as Kurds, we have to put the news on Twitter, Facebook and Skype,” Kurdax told IBTimes via Skype. “We tell the truth for our people.” His main news outlet is Facebook, where his page “Kurdish Revolution in Iran” has garnered more than 14,000 followers in less than two weeks. Kurdax said his group is organizing a “big revolution” in Iran for next Friday, but they are urging demonstrators not to resort to violence. full: http://www.ibtimes.com/iranian-kurdish-revolution-world-doesnt-know-happening-1924778 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
