Comments on: Adventures with reprofiling, Lee Buchheit edition http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/11/16/adventures-with-reprofiling-lee-buchheit-edition/ A slice of lime in the soda Wed, 22 May 2013 01:01:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: dandraka http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/11/16/adventures-with-reprofiling-lee-buchheit-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-44716 dandraka Mon, 19 Nov 2012 08:50:07 +0000 https://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/?p=19463#comment-44716 Thank you for this post Felix... it's stuff that makes us Greeks despair. Some of us actually saw hope in the coming of IMF et al., hope that they would (maybe) clean up the mess and leave the country better run. But to read this, from the most well-informed AND least-constrained of sources is to pack your bags and either head for out of the country (as I did) or to the rural areas (as some people I know did) where you can at least survive. I could never imagine that respected institutions would turn out to be complete clowns. Poor Greece, for all it's undeniable faults, really really REALLY deserved better. Thank you for this post Felix… it’s stuff that makes us Greeks despair.

Some of us actually saw hope in the coming of IMF et al., hope that they would (maybe) clean up the mess and leave the country better run.

But to read this, from the most well-informed AND least-constrained of sources is to pack your bags and either head for out of the country (as I did) or to the rural areas (as some people I know did) where you can at least survive.

I could never imagine that respected institutions would turn out to be complete clowns. Poor Greece, for all it’s undeniable faults, really really REALLY deserved better.

]]> By: qusma http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/11/16/adventures-with-reprofiling-lee-buchheit-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-44682 qusma Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:05:52 +0000 https://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/?p=19463#comment-44682 One very important point that I feel is constantly missing from these discussions is that austerity has been both more painful than it should've been, and rather useless in terms of results, because the Greek government has refused to enact any pro-growth measures. The Germans have been hounding them right from the start, but the Greek system is completely captured by special interests. The few growth-inducing policies that have passed, have done so years late and typically only half-heartedly. I can only see two ways out of this: complete collapse and a rejection of socialism and cronyism in the Greek political consciousness, or some sort of Greek Thatcher stepping in and fixing the place up (highly unlikely). Perhaps the Germans could take control of the government but I don't see the Greeks giving up their sovereignty, despite being utterly unable to run their own country. One very important point that I feel is constantly missing from these discussions is that austerity has been both more painful than it should’ve been, and rather useless in terms of results, because the Greek government has refused to enact any pro-growth measures. The Germans have been hounding them right from the start, but the Greek system is completely captured by special interests.

The few growth-inducing policies that have passed, have done so years late and typically only half-heartedly.

I can only see two ways out of this: complete collapse and a rejection of socialism and cronyism in the Greek political consciousness, or some sort of Greek Thatcher stepping in and fixing the place up (highly unlikely). Perhaps the Germans could take control of the government but I don’t see the Greeks giving up their sovereignty, despite being utterly unable to run their own country.

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