Hillary News Roundup
Hillary told CNN she’s not running for president of the press. She’s running for president of the American People. Hopefully that means she won’t roundup the rest of us with ropes when she speaks.
She says people should and do trust me despite a June 2 CNN poll in which 57% said Hillary is not “honest and trustworthy”.
Greek Austerity
Last week Greece defaulted on its debt to the IMF. On Sunday Greek voters said “no” to more austerity from the IMF.
Surging socialist candidate Bernie Sanders applauds the Greeks for rejecting austerity from the Euro ruling class. Economics writer Stephen Moore says Greece needs less socialism and more privitization. The banks are shutting down and withdrawals are restricted. He says what’s happening in Greece is the usual outcome of socialism – economic collapse.
Roger Cohen in the NYT says the euro zone isn’t all that much into democracy anyway: “A vote cannot undo a debt or obscure colossal Greek irresponsibility.”
The IMF had demanded more taxes on Greek businesses. Moore says the country is already overtaxed. His solution is a Detroit style bankruptcy where pensioners and Wall Street investors all take a “haircut”.
Robert Samuelson says the Greek economy accounts for only 1.8% of the euro zone and its collapse might not have much effect on the rest of us. Greece only has a population of 11 million. Hell, we have 94 million out of work.
But this WSJ analysis says if Greece does leave the Eurozone the risk of contagion to more important economies is high.
Gay Marriage Bigotry
Everybody knows President Obama was against same sex marriage until he was for it. He said he evolved on the issue. Justice Kennedy and four other members of the Supreme Court also evolved this week. Now that it’s a civil right, opposition to gay marriage could be considered bigotry.
Greek Credit Swagger
Greece is in default. On Tuesday the government missed a payment deadline on its IMF debt. On Sunday Greeks will vote in a referendum to accept terms from the IMF for more loans. The terms include tax increases and pension cuts.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says he’ll step down if the referendum passes. Holman Jenkins in the WSJ says Greece has put a gun to its head saying, “Pay us ransom or the idiot gets it.”
The Greek economy is only 1.8 percent of the Eurozone. At 18 trillion in the hole, nobody has a credit swagger like Uncle Sam.
