The Bagman Speaks to Greece

[unhappycamper]

http://www.ekathimerini.com/201870/article/ekathimerini/business/imf-approves-126m-euro-disbursement-for-bailed-out-cyprus



IMF approves 126m euro disbursement for bailed-out Cyprus
BUSINESS 12:12

The International Monetary Fund has approved the disbursement of another 126 million euros ($140.5 million) for bailed-out Cyprus, saying that the island nation's reform program continues to be "a success."

The IMF said Wednesday total disbursements so far amount to around 882 million euros ($983.4 million) from a contribution of around 1 billion euros. Another 9 billion euros is being provided by the European Union's bailout fund.

IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa said Cyprus' economy fared better than expected in the first half of the year.

But he urged more efforts to deal with a huge number of bad loans, cautious spending in light of a high public debt and to expedite privatizations.

--

Privatizations are what IMF 'investors' are looking for.

[djean111]

1. Privatizations are what IMF 'investors' are looking for. Exactly.

And they are coming for American privatization big time.
The TPP and other corporate coups will emphasize privatizing our water and the post office and anything else they can get their claws into.


The TPP, TTIP and TISA agreements could transform public services by allowing multinational corporations into these services and limiting how governments can regulate the services they provide.

http://stopthetpp.org/fast-track-for-trade-deals-would-expand-privatization-of-public-services/

It’s not surprising that these trade negotiations have been held in secret. What we do know is devastating:

All Public Services Would Be Subject to Trade Rules. Generally, current trade agreements exclude nearly all public services. Under these trade deals, transportation, water treatment, education, health care, corrections and other public services would be affected.
Regulated Protections and Standards Will Be Undermined. The agreements would restrict the ability of governments to establish new regulations, such as worker safety, consumer protections, or licensing requirements. Negotiators claim these kinds of public safety regulations limit competition and are a “barrier to entry” by foreign for-profit corporations.
Privatization will be Expanded and Locked In. TISA would bar governments from converting existing private services to publicly based, and would prevent governments from shifting privatized workers back to the public sector, even if it’s shown that the privatization effort was a failure.
Off-Shoring the Public Sector. The “trade in cross border services”section of trade agreements forbids governments from requiring that a foreign firm set up a domestic operation to provide services. This would allow corporations in other countries to supply services to the U.S. without actually employing any U.S. workers.

HOW TRADE AGREEMENTS COULD EXPAND PRIVATIZATION TO BENEFIT MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS

Municipal water systems would be vulnerable to companies like Veolia, a French-owned multinational and the largest water and wastewater privatization firm in the world. Veolia has a tainted history of doing business in the United States.

Burlingame and Richmond, Calif., sued Veolia for dumping tens of millions of gallons of untreated wastewater and sewage into San Francisco Bay, and Indianapolis sued Veolia for overcharging 250,000 residents.

If those local governments wanted to return their water systems to municipal control, Veolia likely could use the provisions of the trade agreements to challenge that effort.

I know this may be swiftly attacked because the trade agreements are supposed to be "secret", but enough has been leaked so we know just why the agreements are secret. They are bad news for people, great news for corporations. I will never forget who shilled for or voted for these agreements, and will vote (or not vote) accordingly.

[polly7]

2. A financial coup ....

and it's spreading - to Ukraine and every other country unable to economically fight it off.

Makes me sick to see.