A guest blog from Jeb Brugmann: A Greek Tragedy in 6 Parts OR How northern Europe (also) avoids its systemic problems
1. IT STARTED AS A POLITICAL PROJECT, aimed at eliminating European nationalistic tendencies and ensconcing a single common market. All the parties involved were aware, if not also complicit, that the 'numbers' were being cooked to support the political project. To build Eurozone membership in the 1990s and early Aughts, creative national accounting was used to meet financial thresholds for entry (e.g., 3% deficit/GDP threshold) . European statistical and financial institutions knew that the fiscal household in a number of countries was in poor condition, but chose to look the other way on Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Germany and France themselves violated the 3% threshold in years leading up to the 2007+ global financial crisis (GFC). These facts are overlooked amidst today's theatre of self-righteous northern European finger-wagging towards Greece. Meanwhile, the European financial institutions (and the IMF) have continued to cooked...
