Jim Brunsden and Kerin Hope recite the Neo-Liberal Catechism as if it were Revealed Truth. The Greeks must meet the Austerity Standards set by its creditors, the recitation of Neo-Liberal Propaganda: Hit the targets, Stimulate the economy,Fix the banks, Create an investor-friendly environment.  Political Economy tarted up with Statistical Data! the policy of ‘Austerity’ is a FAILURE where ever  it has been visited upon populations by bankrupt Technocrats!

Here is the central propaganda claim of this polemic, the Welfare State is the enemy of the Market Ideology, enunciated by the trio of charlatans Hayek/Mises/Friedman! Privatisation is the answer:

Another challenge to build investor confidence is to complete flagship privatisations such as the €8bn Hellinikon project to redevelop Athens’ former international airport as a business, residential and leisure centre. “Hellinikon is a large enough project to be a catalyst for changing the Greek economy,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the centre-right New Democracy party.

Greece came 67th in the World Bank’s latest annual assessment of the “ease of doing business” in different countries — ahead only of Malta among EU member states.

On the human costs of this policy, all the reader need do is read this New York Times news story:

Headline:  Greece’s Bailout Is Ending. The Pain Is Far From Over.

…
But the price of Greece’s apparent turnaround has been steep. A wrenching downturn, combined with nearly a decade of sharp spending cuts and tax increases to repair the nation’s finances, has left over a third of the population of 10 million near poverty, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
…
To make the economy more competitive, Greece’s creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission — set austerity terms that included suspending collective bargaining and easing conditions for firing. Salaries in the public and private sectors fell more than 20 percent. The monthly minimum wage was cut to €586 in 2012, the second-lowest in the eurozone, from €751.

The cost of ‘Austerity’ is the impoverishment of ten million human beings, who must submit to ‘Market Discipline’, this is political, moral Bankruptcy!

Almost Marx

https://www.ft.com/content/bf654494-9578-11e8-b747-fb1e803ee64e