COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS, cpanayotakis at gmail.com
Panayotakis is associate professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY and author of Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy. He said today: “The Greek government is claiming success after the announced agreement over the largest sovereign debt restructuring in history. The sharp rise in global financial markets after the deal was secured shows that this was a success for banks and global financial capital that will get more of their money back than they would if Greece were to go through a ‘disorderly’ default. Meanwhile, the austerity policies that accompany this ‘success’ have led to a depression in Greece that is unprecedented in length and depth. Unemployment continues to rise, already reaching 21 percent for the general population and surpassing 50 percent for young Greek workers. As destitution and desperation spread, it is clear that the only success the Greek government can be proud of is its continued ability to prioritize the interests of Greek and international capitalist elites over those of its citizens. How long the majority of the Greek population allows its government to score such ‘successes’ remains to be seen.”
See Panayotakis’ pieces: “The Eurozone Fiasco”
