Stiglitz is precisely one of the Academia economists to whom I referred earlier with a touch of politician. As a general rule he has been historically wrong when speaking about real world conditions. Let's not forget that he is one of those who praised Chavez economic rule in Venezuela, the Syriza confrontational attitude when they took power and also tried to meddle in Spain whose subsequent growth came totally against his expectations.

I don't waste my time reading him. As soon as I opened the link and noticed the name Stiglitz didn't read further.

On what concerns Greece, there was no real case for bailing them out then and what is happening is exactly what was expected. They were bailed out (again!) merely for political reasons, specially because Donald Tusk didn't let it go any other way when it all pointed to a lack of agreement. Given that Mrs. Merkel also wanted to hold on to Greece, when things looked desperate she grabbed the hand offered by Tusk and an agreement (or sort of...) happened. It would had been prefereable for everybody just letting the Greeks fall. Including for the Greeks themselves. There are societies which, because of their very nature, are not able to be rich and prosperous. The way Greeks approach money, work, state, citizenship, etc, etc, is mediocre to say the least. They won't ever be prosperous. Now, the Euro is designed considering that all its members work towards their own prosperity which, in turn, leads to the prosperity of the whole. It's an utopia, of course, but it is the thinking behind the whole shebang. Now, this is true for Germans, Dutch and some others but far from true when we speak about Greeks or Portuguese. The rules of the Euro are alien to these societies and, therefore, they are not able to function within them. They don't even understand them and the results are those which we all see. I think it would be better for everybody to just allow them to exit the Euro and live life the way they know, the way they can according to their culture and the way they want. Any harm is of their own making and, with time (decades, not years), maybe (or maybe not) they can, on their own, move forward towards other paths.


What has been coined as "Austerity" is merely going back to living within one's means instead of borrowing and living the present with the future people's earnings.