Greeks Reject More Crippling Austerity In Bailout Referendum

(Photo: Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images)

In a blow to European austerity hardliners led by Germany's small-bore, right-wing burgermeister- cum- Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Greek people voted overwhelmingly to reject "austerity by blackmail" measures that would further cripple the cratered Greek economy:

(Reuters) - Greeks voted overwhelmingly "No" on Sunday in a historic bailout referendum, partial results showed, defying warnings from across Europe that rejecting new austerity terms for fresh financial aid would set their country on a path out of the euro.

With nearly a fifth of the votes counted, official figures showed 60.4 percent of Greeks on course to reject a bailout offer from creditors that was the official issue of the ballot. The figures showed the Yes vote drew 40.1 percent.

Let's step back for a little perspective as to how events have come to this pass.  

How would further austerity measures contribute to economic growth in Greece?  Damned if Merkel, her French poodle Francois  Hollande, and her bankster lap dogs at the European Central Bank, European Commission and IMF care.  Here's Maryland business Prof. Peter Morici:

"Neither Germany's finance ministry, nor any other European government or competent private institution, has tabled a credible analysis demonstrating how more austerity and labor-market reforms (read more layoffs and wage cuts) will instigate growth and not result in even bigger losses for bondholders down the road," he wrote for CNBC. "Another round of austerity would only further pummel the Greek economy, and impose economic deprivation that European leaders should be ashamed to engineer." (our emphasis)

Whose greedy fingerprints are all over this debacle?  Here's former Obama economic adviser Jared Bernstein:

One reason Greek government debt grew so quickly was that Germany, the Eurozone’s powerhouse economy that’s been imposing austerity on the Greeks, used the money from its trade surpluses not to buy imports from weaker peripheral economies, like Greece, thereby helping to foster more balanced growth and less debt in the region. Instead, they bought Greek debt, financing the run-up we’re dealing with today.  (our emphasis)

So, why the irrational, hardline pressure on Greece to knuckle under to Europe's Germany's unreasonable demands?  Here's Mark Weisbrot, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research:

“So European authorities continue to take steps to undermine the Greek economy and government, hoping to get rid of the government and get a new one that will do what they want," he wrote in The Globe and Mail this week.  (our emphasis)

That's right.  The suits in the European bankster club and their right-wing politicos in Europe want to squeeze Greece in order to oust its left-wing government.  What they've done, in their overboard cruelty and rigidity, is to give Greek Prime Minister Tspiras a stunning mandate to reject further unreasonable austerity whose only result so far has been to crash the Greek economy.  Greek democracy at its best.

BONUS:  Paul Krugman on the "truly vile campaign of bullying and intimidation" that Greece stood up to today.