“All partners share the same objectives and the same concerns, in other words (that) Greece is … returned to economic stability, can reaccess markets as soon as possible,” Lagarde told reporters.
“Obviously from the IMF΄s perspective, we expect a real fix, not a quick fix, and that means clearly debt that is sustainable as quickly as possible.”
Her comments come as the IMF and the EU clash over how Greece can bring its debts down to a sustainable level, reigniting fears that Europe΄s troubles could flare again.
Euro zone finance ministers have suggested Greece, where the euro zone debt crisis began, should be given until 2022 to lower its debt to GDP ratio to 120 percent but Lagarde has insisted the existing target of 2020 should remain, in an unusually public airing of disagreement.
Here are a couple of pieces of news which, in my opinion, should draw much more attention than the question of debt sustainability by 2020 or 2022!
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_13/11/2012_469875
http://www.capital.gr/News.asp?id=1665698
it helps readers if links have titles/short hints about what is all about
The “good news” Unilver article only goes to show what a lot of people, including myself, have been saying for a long time. Greece is going to be used to transfer jobs from high cost countires to cheap labour countries, of which Greece is now one. It is also a cheap labour country where labour and social security rules and regulations are being dismantled at break neck speed.
Just to balance the good news, over the last 6 months Unilever has
– sacked over 800 workers in the UK and Wales.
– closed its factory in Clinton USA with the loss of 154 jobs
– Started layoffs in Israel with a view to close the operation completely and move it to Turkey. Over 2500 jobs will be lost.
– sacked over 140 workers in their Owensboro (Kentucky) plant, with another 450 jobs soon to follow.
– sacked 440 people in their Hagerstown (Washington) plant
– sacked 140 employees in Daviess County USA (“Ragu” pasta sauce plant)
The overall plan for Unilever was announced in their Rotterdam headquarters some time ago. Unilever intends to lay off 25,000 people world wide, by 2013.
This so called investment is the last kind of “investment” Greece needs. These are dead-end, throw-away jobs (how many? 30? 40?) which pay peanuts and don’t do anything other than consolidate poverty. As soon as people start getting notions of maybe earning a decent wage the factory ups and leaves. In Europe the target is low wage Greece or Spain (Ford), in the middle east it is low wage Turkey, in the Americas it is low wage Mexico.
This is not investment, this is profiteering on a large and disgusting scale.
Greece is on course to be reduced to a cheap labour, no labour rights country, and Unilever is only one of the first vultures to come in and take advantage of the situation. There will be more, no doubt. But good news it is not. It only goes to confirm that the laying to wast of Greece as an economy is on course to succeed as planned.
balance is important. your job is my unemployment. probably Univeler heard that it can have Greeks work for 510-580e/m and even 250e/m for part-timers
Exactly. In fact, they are “outsourcing” most of the production, so they are not even taking any risk. No investment, so they can simply sever contracts tomorrow and go elsewhere. Contracts? What contracts. Ford Belgium just put 15,000 people on the street in one go, and plans on moving the whole factory to Spain. Belgian government threatens to sue them, Ford says bring it on. They will bog that down in court for years, and if and when it ever does get there, the resulting fine is peanuts to them anyway. That’s how these guys work.
Talking about Ford, they even managed to get EU grant-aid to build a factory in Turkey that will tke over the production of 2 UK plants to be closed soon! Eu sponsoring the closure of EU factories and shedding of EU jobs. And none of the Merkels or Schaubles of this world see anything wrong with that…
I’ll say it again, these are not the kind of jobs Greece needs. Greece need indigenous jobs created by and for people living in Greece, not cheapo moneymakers for the Unilevers and Hewlett Packards of this world. Multi nationals are not what is needed, in fact they are exactly what is not needed.
but at this stage Greece (1:4 without job) is it won’t say Noo to such jobs, not to mention the happy politicians heralding (short term) investments and jobs for everyone for a bag of peanuts even thought they won’t be able to have a life with this money. Same is valid for Spain & Portugal.
And then the crisis will move up to the north with rising unemployment. Soon all Europeans will work for the interests of banks and capitalists (oups! pepper in my mouth).
This is the start of the race to the bottom. Supermarket tactics. Squeeze one supplier by squeezing out another. Squeeze one worker by squeezing out another 2000 or so. To give you an idea of what lies ahead, the claim to faim of the new CEO for Ford Europe and Africa, Mr. Stephen Odell, is having been responsible for the sacking of 120,000 people. Today Greece is the flavour of the month, tomorrow Greece gets a size 12 up where the sun don’t shine, sideways…
I know people will not see any further than “the job”. which brings us full circle. In order to get out of this mess, people need education, not dead end jobs. Education as in people need to be allowed to and assisted with developing who they are, they do not need to be moulded into a temporarily useful piece of factory fodder. While the Southern periphery is on it’s knees, and many more countries to follow (for don’t make the mistake thinking this is where it will stop!), it should give leadership in a new direction. Not succumbing to the same old trap of false job security and guaranteed money at the end of the week/month. Look where it got us all…