What shall we ask them ?
Shall we ask them if its rational to think that an imposition of austerity isn't necessary... if you always spend more than you earn ? In many instances it is an error to generalize from individual experience to the economic behavior in the aggregate... but, spending more than you take in is one of those instances in which the choice is valid. No one, including countries, can borrow more than they are willing to pay back... without inviting a range of negative consequences... Greece isn't different than others in terms of that being the rules of reality... Greece is different only in having borrowed way more than others, and thinking that shouldn't make a difference in terms of being able to continue borrowing more than they can pay back.
It makes perfect sense for Greeks to vote to end austerity... if what that means for them is (as they may think) only that the prior history of Greek government largesse will resume... independent of economic reality. Or, it makes sense if Greeks think the impact will be to transfer the risks, so that others will end up bearing the costs of their choices, for them. That's not going to happen, though. Success in transferring those risks to Europe, will doom Europe faster and more obviously than sending Greece packing will.
Voting for change... won't change economic reality. If Greece leaves the EU and the Euro to avoid austerity... the result will be a vastly more oppressive FORM of austerity... when lenders quit lending, or shorten the terms of loans, while charging vastly higher interest to discount the risks Greece imposes. Greece has reached a level of debt that is unsustainable... in part because Greeks appear to have so little concern that the debts be paid back as agreed.
Austerity is one path to de-leveraging... that requires changing future expectations to account for the fact that debt you take on does have to be paid back. Greece is so deep in debt that austerity, to work, has to be deep, and long lasting. Opting out of austerity... means opting in to other forms of de-leveraging... without having had the conversation about what they require and entail: debt forgiveness... or default.
Debt forgiveness... essentially says "you should have known better than to lend to us, because you should have known not to trust we'd pay you back"... while default says the same thing... only it says it in a different way, with a raised middle finger.
Market reality is that unsustainable debts get forgiven all the time... typically when borrowers, through no fault of their own, are made incapable of paying back the debts. But, that's an instance in which the error of generalization from the individual to the aggregate is an error... it doesn't work. If you personally go bankrupt... the banks will shrug off the loss, and banish you from future borrowing for a time. If your country goes broke... banks won't just shrug off the loss as readily... but, they'll address future borrowing with necessary changes in the terms to account for the risks that a nations behavior imposes. Make the risks of default higher than before... and you'll have to accept more onerous terms, and pay vastly higher interest rates than before...
Greece also isn't different than other countries in Europe, or the United States, for that matter, in terms of its having set a different policy course. We're all pretty much on the same course as Greece... just not getting there quite as fast... so Greece's choices are problematic for others who don't want anyone paying attention that closely to their own choices... making Greece inconvenient. Greece is just more aggressive in the implementation of that policy, resulting in their having arrived at the end point in the game sooner than others will, only because Greece has been in too much of a hurry to reach and then exceed the limits of their credit card.
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