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A comment on Greeks Reject Bailout Terms. Parent comment

Re:Greeks Reject Bailout Terms by jwdunne on Sunday July 05, 2015 @05:02PM (#9834948)
Except that major spending cuts during a downturn are harmful, which is what Greece has been in pretty much since austerity. Greece has problems, I admit, but austerity during a downturn only makes that worse. Party comes along and says it wants to do invest in the economy because, clearly, austerity isn't working and we won't give them a chance.

There are reports from the IMF and many other leading figures that now say austerity has had more of a negative impact than once thought. Greece has been cutting its spending or else it wouldn't have been given more money, as per the terms of the bail out. The effects of those cuts have been mediocre and, in fairness, harmful.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/26/imf-inequali... http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/15/focus-on-low... http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/10/12/i... http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/18/a... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22223190 http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-04-18/faq-reinhart...

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Re:Greeks Reject Bailout Terms by crimsoneer on Sunday July 05, 2015 @05:29PM (#9835082)
Greece was doing rather well at the end of 2014 before Syriza decided to stop playing ball.
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Re:Greeks Reject Bailout Terms by jwdunne on Sunday July 05, 2015 @05:32PM (#9835100)
I don't see an unemployment rate of 25% plus more spending cuts inbound as doing rather well. It was falling but very slowly.
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Re:Greeks Reject Bailout Terms by vidarh on Sunday July 05, 2015 @07:03PM (#9835479)
Not according to the IMF, who, while their report have some choice words for the Greek government too, have made it quite clear that the bailouts have been a total disaster.
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