Jeffrey Sachs writes:\u00a0 After months of wrangling, the showdown between Greece and its European creditors has come down to a standoff over pensions and taxes. Greece is refusing to acquiesce to demands by its creditors that it cut payments to the elderly and raise the value-added tax on their medicine and electricity.<\/p>\n
Europe\u2019s demands \u2013 ostensibly aimed at ensuring that Greece can service its foreign debt \u2013 are petulant, naive, and fundamentally self-destructive. In rejecting them, the Greeks are not playing games; they are trying to stay alive.<\/p>\n
Whatever one might say about Greece\u2019s past economic policies, its uncompetitive economy, its decision to join the eurozone, or the errors that European banks made when they provided its government with excessive credit, the country\u2019s economic plight is stark. Unemployment stands at 25%. Youth unemployment is at 50%.<\/p>\n
Greece\u2019s GDP, moreover, has shrunk by 25% since the start of the crisis in 2009. Its government is insolvent. Many of its citizens are hungry.<\/p>\n
Conditions in Greece today are reminiscent of those in Germany in 1933. Of course, the European Union need not fear the rise of a Greek Hitler, not only because it could easily crush such a regime, but also \u2013 and more important \u2013 because Greece\u2019s democracy has proved impressively mature throughout the crisis. But there is something that the EU should fear: destitution within its borders and the pernicious consequences for the continent\u2019s politics and society.\u00a0\u00a0 Greek endgame<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeffrey Sachs writes:\u00a0 After months of wrangling, the showdown between Greece and its European creditors has come down to a standoff over pensions and taxes. Greece is refusing to acquiesce to demands by its creditors that it cut payments to … Continue reading ![\"Greek](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Greek-Endgame.jpg\")
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