Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Debunking Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs

"As Tsipras moves grudgingly to the center and purges his government and his party (if he manages it) of people like Varoufakis and Lafazanis, it is high time for their cheerleaders to look beyond ex cathedra macroeconomics. They should have the honesty to admit that in the hands of such men, an exit from the euro, which Greeks never voted for anyway, either in January or in July, would have been an unmitigated catastrophe, dwarfing the costs even of the bad deal struck on July 13. And they should know by now that the best hope of building the institutions capable of supporting long-term growth in Greece lies within the eurozone, not in the desperate disorder that would sweep the country outside it."

The 'cheerleaders' whom Yannis Palaiologos refers to in this excellent article are the American economy professors Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs. Those are certainly 'experts' whom the current Greek government should beware of!

PS: It is very worthwhile to read the comment section of this article!
PPS: Palaiologos' book "The 13th labor of Hercules" is very well worth reading!
PPPS: And here is another excellent article by Nikos Kostandaras!

3 comments:

  1. Debunking x != claiming x is wrong without providing any fact or argument.
    X is excellent != x is something you like.

    Next time try to look up words first...

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  2. Yes, Nikos Kostandaros is one of the few realists in the Greek media. I think today's article in Ekathimerini (not his) "An Orphan Memorandum" best sum up where we are. Please Greece, please Europe, lets get out of this unholy alliance that nobody wants.
    Now is the time to do it, the banks are closed, the market has done it's thing. Lets get out of it in a planned way, before the politicians start blowing more hot air in the Greek balloon.
    Lennard

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  3. You are missing something.

    For the article about Krugman, Stiglitz and Sachs the critisism has a basis but some of their arguments have a logic.

    The key issue:

    Which was the "logic" of Tsipras-Varoufakis and the main target?

    The 1rst day was debt the 2nd europe to stop austerity and the 3rd both.

    Not something clear.

    The results today:

    a) For many people in Greece there is a large perception that Tsipras was a victim from bad people in eu imf etc,who wanted to end his career!

    b) Varoufakis knew from April in Riga the Schauble "plan", so why the gov do not afraid Schauble in April?

    What changed? The antilipsis that markets will collapse, Schauble will afraid, or the zero possibility for funding from other sources?

    The critique from professors and Varoufakis, was a key for Schauble.
    A defencive approach was useless.

    The effort was Tsipras to receive a message, (internal division in German politics, possible gov collapse, where Merkel was No2 ) that he can understand and interprete.

    This was quite handy.

    "The one who lives from a battle with an enemy has a personal interest in maintaining the enemy alive."

    Friedrich Nietzsche


    MS

    ReplyDelete