Krugman: the "dastardly ploy" by those "left-wing Greek radicals" is completely reasonable.
OK, so as I understand the latest from the new Greek government, Yanis Varoufakis is saying that he and his colleagues don?t care what happens to the headline value of the debt ? if you want to claim that there has been no write-off, OK. What they want instead is substantive but not outrageous relief from the burden of running primary surpluses (surpluses ex interest payments), reducing the amount of resources transferred to creditors from 4.5 to 1-1.5 percent of GDP; they also want flexibility to achieve these surpluses with a mix that includes more revenue and less spending austerity.
This is a dastardly ploy by those left-wing radicals. You see, it?s completely reasonable.
Once we?ve granted that the debt won?t really be paid in full, the question is how to manage that less-than-full payment. As I?ve argued, the key point is to grant Greece some relaxation ? but not elimination ? of the requirement that it run large primary surpluses, thereby creating room for recovery. And that?s what Greece is now asking for.
The point for now is that Syriza is making sense. The next move is up to the creditors.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/whos-unreasonable-now/
Those "dastardly left-wing Greek radicals" are being more reasonable than Germany.
Cheers
OK, so as I understand the latest from the new Greek government, Yanis Varoufakis is saying that he and his colleagues don?t care what happens to the headline value of the debt ? if you want to claim that there has been no write-off, OK. What they want instead is substantive but not outrageous relief from the burden of running primary surpluses (surpluses ex interest payments), reducing the amount of resources transferred to creditors from 4.5 to 1-1.5 percent of GDP; they also want flexibility to achieve these surpluses with a mix that includes more revenue and less spending austerity.
This is a dastardly ploy by those left-wing radicals. You see, it?s completely reasonable.
Once we?ve granted that the debt won?t really be paid in full, the question is how to manage that less-than-full payment. As I?ve argued, the key point is to grant Greece some relaxation ? but not elimination ? of the requirement that it run large primary surpluses, thereby creating room for recovery. And that?s what Greece is now asking for.
The point for now is that Syriza is making sense. The next move is up to the creditors.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/whos-unreasonable-now/
Those "dastardly left-wing Greek radicals" are being more reasonable than Germany.
Cheers
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