Noam Chomsky: Greek Debt Must Be Written Off, Brussels Are Destroying Greece

[Jefferson23]

* Of course he is not alone on this, many others are as well...stating the same.

4/20/2015

His belief that the Greek debt should be written off expressed the internationally acclaimed American nobelist scholar Noam Chomsky. As he said, the Greek debt should be written off in the same way the German debt was written off in 1953, just eight years after the end of World War II. Moreover, the American nobelist underlined that Brussels’ policies are destroying Greece.

In an interview to Euronews, Chomsky defended the leftist-led Greek government, highlighting that “SYRIZA came to power following a mandate of the people, who said that Greece must stop implementing Brussels’ policies and that German banks are destroying the country,” while explaining that such policies have led to the increase of the Greek debt. “50% of young people are unemployed and around 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. Greece is being destroyed,” he said.

Asked to comment on other countries facing similar problems, such as Spain and Portugal, the American scholar said their debt should also be written off. As he repeated, despite the imposed policies that are leading to disaster, there are signs of light on the horizon, namely the independence movements of Latin America, Greece’s SYRIZA and Spanish Podemos. “Hopefully there is finally an uprising of the people against the devastating economic and social policies deriving from the bureaucracy and the banks, and this is promising. It must be,” Chomsky concluded.

It should be noted that this was not the first time the American scholar publicly supported the Greek government. In an interview to American independent news agency Democracy Now last month, Chomsky said that the European Union’s response to the Greek SYRIZA-led coalition government requests was “extremely savage,” a reaction that Spain’s main opposition party, Podemos, could face as it is being projected as the next general election winner.


- See more at: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/04/20/noam-chomsky-greek-debt-must-be-written-off-brussels-are-destroying-greece/#sthash.2udmxChL.dpuf

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Brussels are destroying Greece?

Is that some sort of code?

And while I'm at it, when did Noam Chomsky win the Nobel Prize, and in what field? He's a linguist by training & career.

Nevertheless, as usual, I agree with Professor Chomsky.

[Jefferson23]

2. The OP uses the term nobelist, they should be more clear:

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. In addition, he is a member of other professional and learned societies in the United States and abroad, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association, the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, the Helmholtz Medal, the Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker Award, the 1999 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science, and others.[212] He is twice winner of The Orwell Award, granted by The National Council of Teachers of English for "Distinguished Contributions to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language" (in 1987 and 1989).[213]

He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Department of Social Sciences.[214]

In 2004 Chomsky received the Carl-von-Ossietzky Prize from the city of Oldenburg (Germany) for his life work as political analyst and media critic.[215] In 2005, Chomsky received an honorary fellowship from the Literary and Historical Society.[216] In 2007, Chomsky received The Uppsala University (Sweden) Honorary Doctor's degree in commemoration of Carolus Linnaeus.[217] In February 2008, he received the President's Medal from the Literary and Debating Society of the National University of Ireland, Galway.[218] Since 2009 he is an honorary member of IAPTI.[219]

In 2010, Chomsky received the Erich Fromm Prize in Stuttgart, Germany.[220] In April 2010, Chomsky became the third scholar to receive the University of Wisconsin's A.E. Havens Center's Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship.[221]
The Megachile chomskyi holotype

Chomsky has an Erdős number of four.[222]

Chomsky was voted the leading living public intellectual in The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll conducted by the British magazine Prospect. He reacted, saying "I don't pay a lot of attention to polls".[223] In a list compiled by the magazine New Statesman in 2006, he was voted seventh in the list of "Heroes of our time".[224]

Actor Viggo Mortensen with avant-garde guitarist Buckethead dedicated their 2006 album, called Pandemoniumfromamerica, to Chomsky.[225]

On January 22, 2010, a special honorary concert for Chomsky was given at Kresge Auditorium at MIT.[226][227] The concert, attended by Chomsky and dozens of his family and friends, featured music composed by Edward Manukyan and speeches by Chomsky's colleagues, including David Pesetsky of MIT and Gennaro Chierchia, head of the linguistics department at Harvard University.

In June 2011, Chomsky was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, which cited his "...unfailing courage, critical analysis of power and promotion of human rights."[228]

In 2011, Chomsky was inducted into IEEE Intelligent Systems' AI's Hall of Fame for the "significant contributions to the field of AI and intelligent systems".[229][230]

In 2013, a newly described species of bee was named after him: Megachile chomskyi.[231]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

Oh and yes, that is code for where Eurogroup met..I believe that is what he is referring to.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Is there really more than one Brussel?

[quadrature]

4. better idea...let the national gov't go out of business...

perhaps the European Union could run Greece,
sorta like the US runs Guam.

Guam does not need a navy
because Guam has the US Navy

[imthevicar]

5. That works out well for the People Of Guam...

[geek tragedy]

6. Well, no, Greece's own gross mismanagement of its own finances are what's killing Greece.

There's a bit of a difference between a devastating war and reckless fiscal policy.

Maybe they should start taxing their rich.

[Jefferson23]

10. No to what? No debt forgiveness..nada?

Krugman and Will K Black see it the same as Chomsky.

Krugman: Greece (and Europe) Deserve Democratic Ideals of Syriza

'Europe could do a lot worse — and if the creditors are vengeful, it will.'
by Jon Queally, staff writer
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/02/16/krugman-greece-and-europe-deserve-democratic-ideals-syriza

Who’s Unreasonable Now?
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/whos-unreasonable-now/?_r=0

Will the SYRIZA Victory Spark a Broad Anti-Austerity Struggle in Europe?
Professor William Black says the mainstream media has failed to explain the ordinary Greek's experience of austerity policy -

January 30, 2015

Transcript: snip* And by the way, this was famously done after World War II for this nation called Germany, and it was done for Poland in 1991, where more than half of the debts were written off, many of them owed to Germany. And then, eventually, 100 percent of the debts were written off for a large number of African nations. And debts were written off in the range of 50 percent to nearly 100 percent for a number of Latin American nations. But in the case of the Greeks, the Germans are now insisting that they pay 100 cents on the dollar when--or euro, in this case--when that is not possible and it will cause a catastrophe.

in full: http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13093



Patrick Cockburn

Sunday 1 February 2015

As in 1942, Germany must show restraint over Greece
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/as-in-1942-germany-must-show-restraint-over-greece-10015905.html

[geek tragedy]

12. Krugman isn't arguing for debt forgiveness, he's arguing for flexibility in debt payments

so that Greece can start an economic recovery, which would increase its ability to repay its debt while meeting its social needs.

Greece is not the poorest country in Europe--even under these hard times.

Even Black isn't arguing for Chomsky's absurd generosity with other people's money. He's arguing for a haircut, not a complete gift.

Why on earth would Germany just say "okay, keep ALL of our money, and we ask nothing in return. Heck, you don't even have to start taxing your rich people."

[Jefferson23]

14. Nonsense, you are ignoring what Germany could very well do, and they are not arguing against

them doing it..they are saying they know they won't, not that they shouldn't.

[geek tragedy]

15. Germany's government could do any number of things.

It could (and probably should) allow Greece more flexibility and be more reasonable about the austerity demands.

It could even give its own people's money to Greece in the form of a debt giveaway.

But, Germany's government is obligated to follow the will of its own citizens, not the voters in Greece.

Angela Merkel is not Greece's big sister, its mother or its guardian angel.

She's the duly-elected leader of the Federal Republic of Germany.

It's not her money, it's that of the German people.

The loans were not sold to the German people as a gift.

[Jefferson23]

16. She should be pushing for what was bestowed upon Germany...would be a good

measure for them to remember history. People don't need to be hurt further
than they already have been.

[geek tragedy]

17. Germany needs that money too--the east is still well behind the west economically.

Also, no German government could ask that of the German people and stay in power--they'd lose their legitimacy.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/10/uk-eurozone-greece-germany-idUKKBN0M623920150310

Germans--the ones whose tax dollars are at stake and who vote for Germany's government, really, really, really do not want to concede anything to Greece:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-15/germans-tired-of-greek-demands-want-country-to-exit-euro

(Bloomberg) -- Berlin cabdriver Jens Mueller says he’s had it with the Greek government and he doesn’t want Germany to send any more of his tax money to be squandered in Athens.

“They’ve got a lot of hubris and arrogance, being in the situation they’re in and making all these demands,” said Mueller, 49, waiting for fares near the Brandenburg Gate. “Maybe it’s better for Greece to just leave the euro.”

Mueller’s sentiment is shared by a majority of Germans. A poll published March 13 by public broadcaster ZDF found 52 percent of his countrymen no longer want Greece to remain in Europe’s common currency, up from 41 percent last month. The shift is due to a view held by 80 percent of Germans that Greece’s government “isn’t behaving seriously toward its European partners.”

It's pretty easy for us or Noam Chomsky to be generous with tens of billions of other people's money.

Merkel's not accountable to us, or to anyone in Greece.

She's accountable to German voters.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/germans-open-to-greek-euro-exit-poll-finds-1420791107

A majority—68%—were opposed to forgiving some of Greece’s debt to support an economic recovery in the country, while 28% regarded this as an option. Four fifths want the German government to urge the future Greek government to stick to austerity.

[Jefferson23]

18. She should remember history..and they're being vengeful if they don't become more

reasonable. Chomsky is well aware of what Germany is capable of doing, to suggest he is tossing around
other peoples money is a stretch. Greece can play their hand too, it's what can happen when you have
to deal with vengeful unyielding governments...so we'll see.


As Greeks And Germans Negotiate Debt, Reparations Issues Resurface
April 18, 2015 7:30 AM ET

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/04/18/400509851/as-greeks-and-germans-negotiate-debt-reparations-issues-resurface

[geek tragedy]

19. Germany certainly can be more reasonable--as Krugman suggests--

in allowing Greece flexibility in the payment terms.

But just cancelling every single euro of debt owed to the German people?

Irresponsible and illegitimate for someone in her position to attempt.

Chomsky is suggesting that Germany give Greece tens of billions of dollars. That's exactly what he's arguing for--a massive transfer of cash from German taxpayers to Greeks.

Reparations is a PR stunt and a talking point, not a meaningful point of discussion.

[Jefferson23]

20. Reparations is a point of dispute, not something Germany can ignore at will...leverage.

That is what happens when you're vengeful, they found leverage and will stall with it and I will state one last time, Germany
was given enormous debt forgiveness...they should think about that fact.

I think we have taken this as far as we can.

[whatthehey]

7. Paul Krugman possibly has some opinion about the Great Vowel Shift in medieval English

But I fail to see how it would be any more noteworthy than a linguistics expert's view on macroeconomics (the article is surprisingly careful not to mention exactly what kind of scholar Chomsky is....)

[Jefferson23]

8. Yea, he is a real dummy, like Krugman and William K Black who share the same opinion. n/t

[geek tragedy]

9. does Krugman favor writing off all of Greece's debt, or is he arguing

for more flexibility in the repayment process and reducing the austerity mania?

By late 2014 Greece had managed to eke out a small “primary” budget surplus, with tax receipts exceeding spending, excluding interest payments. That’s all that creditors can reasonably demand, since you can’t keep squeezing blood from a stone. Meanwhile, all those wage cuts have made Greece competitive on world markets — or would make it competitive if some stability can be restored.


The shape of a deal is therefore clear: basically, a standstill on further austerity, with Greece agreeing to make significant but not ever-growing payments to its creditors. Such a deal would set the stage for economic recovery, perhaps slow at the start, but finally offering some hope.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/opinion/paul-krugman-greece-on-the-brink.html

That's much different than expecting taxpayers in Germany to kiss the money goodbye.

[Jefferson23]

11. Look at what they're expressing over many months and the reasons Germany is sticking it to them

has no political motives, either? I don't see it that way...sorry.

[geek tragedy]

13. Germany's being stupid about this, partly because they really buy into the austerity thing.

But the loans to Greece were not sold to the German public as a massive welfare check. They were sold as loans.

German government's obligation is to its own citizens, not those of Greece.