Anxieties Stir as Greece Plans Referendum on Latest Europe Aid Deal

[Lars77]

Source: NY Times

ATHENS — In a surprise move that jolted Europe and put his political future in play, Prime Minister George A. Papandreou announced Monday that his government would hold a referendum on a new aid package for Greece, putting austerity measures — and potentially membership in the euro zone — to a popular vote for the first time.

The vote on the austerity package introduces a note of uncertainty in what had seemed to be a done deal, threatening the comprehensive agreement reached by European leaders last week to shore up the euro zone. A rejection by the voters would also be likely to be treated as a vote of no confidence in the government and lead to early elections.

The anxiety stirred up by those fears hammered United States financial markets on Monday, showing once again how the domestic politics of even the smallest members of the European Union can create troubles that not only threaten the currency but reverberate around the globe.

Addressing lawmakers on Monday evening, Mr. Papandreou said the decision on whether to adopt the deal, which includes fresh financial assistance, debt relief and deeply unpopular austerity measures, properly belonged to the Greek people.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/world/europe/greece-to-hold-referendum-on-new-debt-deal.html?_r=2&ref=global-home

[JackRiddler]

1. Oh shit!

They're actually going to allow democracy in Greece?

[Lars77]

2. That is against the rules of disaster capitalism. I can see people dropping their monocles over this

[Dover]

3. What ARE the full ramifications of a 'no' vote?

I can't imagine they are going to actually risk a 'no' vote. Maybe they'll use the same privatized voting machines we use here which are so
(wink wink) reliable. It's the 'new demockery' invented right here in the USA where people only need to believe their vote counts.

----

WSJ -

A "yes" vote in the referendum could deflate the massive street protests and strikes that threaten to paralyze Greece as it tries to enact a brutal austerity program to earn rescue loans from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund.

A "no" vote, however, could bring down the government and cut off international funding for Greece, leaving the country facing a financial meltdown.

[Harmony Blue]

4. Well, a "no" vote

would be a big screw you private bankers we are rebuilding our country from scratch.

[Dover]

5. Hmmm.... we need to put that one on the ballot right here at home!

Let's just call the whole thing off.

[Amonester]

6. Maybe the Greeks will take the "Iceland" route?

I sense a big "eff you bank$ter$" coming up...

[JackRiddler]

7. You and everyone else should ask what the full ramifications of a Yes vote are.

Yes vote means debt slavery for generations, privatization of everything, and a country run by remote control by banks in Frankfurt, Paris, London and New York. Also, a signal to the rest of the world, especially the Indignados and Occupy movements: Surrender, Dorothy!

Still, the odds favor a No, and you gotta wonder why Papandreou would go for it. I'm of several minds on the question. Does he think his side can fix it? Does he think this is the only chance he has not to be swept away? Is it a hail-mary to evade his responsibility and save his own credibility (regardless of the result) in the certain knowledge that default will come anyway down the line, so he might as well not look like a tyrant? To stave off calls for new parliamentary elections within his own party, and thus keep his office? Is it actually his tricky way of bowing to the Troika officially (who knows how tightly they may have his balls and those of all his associates in a vice?) while allowing Greeks to tell the Troika to fuck off in plainer language? Dunno. I'm very much surprised.

In parliamentary elections, one of which I saw, Greeks vote by choosing their preference from a set of preprinted paper ballots representing different parties, folding it, and putting it in a box. The counting is by hand, with multiple parties present. Small and very political country, you know? Honestly, I don't know if this has changed in the last 10 years, but given the Greek sense for political history and all-too profound awareness of election-rigging stretching back thousands of years, I doubt it.

[Celefin]

8. ding ding!

Indeed.

A yes vote will cause widespread misery in Greece without solving even one of the wider systemic issues.

I'd rather the whole system hit a wall sooner than later, while we still have some resources left to pick up the pieces.
And hit the wall it will. There is nothing even close to cover the enormous amounts of leveraged funny money in the system.

Just think how much money could have been saved by letting the banks fail and the shareholders bleed while saving healthy businesses and pension funds.
If you can't afford to take risks, don't invest.
If you can and do take risks, don't complain when you lose.

If you live by the 'free market' you can bloody well die by it.

[Name removed]

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