The West will never forgive Greece’s debt default, which if I understand/recall correctly wasn’t wholly the fault of Greece? It’s been a century since last decade, but was… Germany? USA? somehow involved with that?
Yeah it was German banks basically showering Greece with loans they knew Greece wouldn’t be able to pay back. Because they knew they’d have EU/USA’s back when the inevitable happens.
You mean Deutsche Bank? It definitely was heavily involved. It was a classic imperialist move of lending money to the foreign government for the purpose of that government then spending all of it on imports from the creditor country (and really, more often than not specifically on commodities produced by companies controlled by the bank issuing the loan).
Take this passage from Lenin’s Imperialism:
Finance capital has created the epoch of monopolies, and monopolies introduce everywhere monopolist principles: the utilisation of “connections” for profitable transactions takes the place of competition on the open market. The most usual thing is to stipulate that part of the loan granted shall be spent on purchases in the creditor country, particularly on orders for war materials, or for ships, etc.
Thanks for a concise summary. France being a bigger lender than Germany makes sense.
What is amazing to me is how quickly Iceland was forgiven, and how people are still angry at Greece.
Also, I remember when Debt Justice, then Jubilee, was buying US medical debt of the poorest, and the US squashed that.
I’m betting the world won’t be as forgiving when USA defaults, which seems inevitable, and another reason for government to be so militant about hegemony. But that’s vibes based, I’m trying to get awake.
The West will never forgive Greece’s debt default, which if I understand/recall correctly wasn’t wholly the fault of Greece? It’s been a century since last decade, but was… Germany? USA? somehow involved with that?
Yeah it was German banks basically showering Greece with loans they knew Greece wouldn’t be able to pay back. Because they knew they’d have EU/USA’s back when the inevitable happens.
Was Deutsch involved by any chance? 🤔
Eta also, fantastic how people are so quick to blame recipients and the offending institutions go Scot free.
You mean Deutsche Bank? It definitely was heavily involved. It was a classic imperialist move of lending money to the foreign government for the purpose of that government then spending all of it on imports from the creditor country (and really, more often than not specifically on commodities produced by companies controlled by the bank issuing the loan).
Take this passage from Lenin’s Imperialism:
Greek debt crisis was a modern example of that. Here’s a nice summary: https://debtjustice.org.uk/countries-in-crisis/greek-debt-crisis-case-banks-people
Thanks for a concise summary. France being a bigger lender than Germany makes sense.
What is amazing to me is how quickly Iceland was forgiven, and how people are still angry at Greece.
Also, I remember when Debt Justice, then Jubilee, was buying US medical debt of the poorest, and the US squashed that.
I’m betting the world won’t be as forgiving when USA defaults, which seems inevitable, and another reason for government to be so militant about hegemony. But that’s vibes based, I’m trying to get awake.