Greece Passes New Austerity for New Loans — Sharmini Peries interviews Michael Hudson

Michael Hudson: ​I wouldn't call it a negotiation. Greece is simply being dictated to. There is no negotiation at all. It's been told that its economy has shrunk so far by 20%. It has to shrink another 5% making it even worse than the depression. It's wages have fallen and must be cut by another 10%. Its pensions have to be cut back. Probably five to 10% of its population of working age will have to immigrate. The intention is to cut the domestic tax revenues because labor won't be paying taxes and businesses are going out of business. The intention is to lower the government's revenues by so much that Greece will have to sell off even more of it's public domain to foreign creditors. Basically it's a smash and grab exercise and the role of Tsipras is not to represent the Greeks because the TROIKA have said, "The election doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what the people vote for. Either you do what we say or we will smash your banking systems." Tsipras's job is to say, "Yes I will do whatever you want. I want to stay in power rather than falling in election."

Neoliberalism, neo-imperialism, neocolonialism.

Michael Hudson:​ It's being held an example for the same reason the United States went into Libya and bombed Syria. It's to show that we can destroy you if you don't do what we say. If Spain or Italy or Portugal seeks not to pay its debts, it will be ... Its banking system will be destroyed, its currency system will be destroyed and basically the principle is that finance is the new form of warfare. You can now destroy a country's economy not by invading it. You don't even have to bomb it as you've done in the near east. All you have to do is withdraw all credit in the banking system, isolate it economically from making payments to foreign countries so that you essentially put sanctions on it. You'll treat Greece like they've treated Iran or other countries. ​We have life and death power over you. The demonstration effect is not only to stop Greece but to stop countries from doing what Marine Le Pen is trying to do in France: withdraw from this Euro Zone, which is basically: the class war back in business. The class war finance against labor, imposing austerity, imposing shrinking living standards, and lowering wages, and cutting back social spending. It's demonstrating who's the winner in this economic warfare that's taking place.

The hidden agenda of neoliberalism that distinguishes it from economic liberalism is the assumption, based on history, that democracy has never existed and that oligarchy has been the rule.  Therefore, classical liberalism is pie-in-sky, but it can be used to fool the masses into accepting oligarchical rule under the guise of "freedom and democracy." Liberalism can able to used as a subterfuge for carrying out a policy of global domination by the capitalist oligarchy of the West enforced by the military and intelligence services. Students of contemporary history and international relations know this, but most people have no idea about what is actually happening and are beguiled by the narrative that the oligarchs feed them in the media they control. A big problem is that the left is internationalist and falls into the trap of supporting the neoliberal globalist power grab without realizing it. This leaves the nationalist right to oppose the power grab and the nationalist right is rising in power. TRRN Greece Passes New Austerity for New Loans