Here's more from Escobar:
"The catalogue of Spain's 'austerity' is the usual catalogue of neoliberalism in trouble. A previous, nominally socialist and now an ultra-conservative government have furiously decimated unemployment, retirement and severance benefits; turned virtually all labor contracts into precariousness hell; steeply raised fees for education and transportation; vastly militarized the police; and spent fortunes to bail out banks." ("All the pain in Spain," Pepe Escobar, Aljazeera)
Now that the ECB's lending program (LTRO) has failed and Spanish banks are more indebted than ever (Spanish banks borrowed more money from the ECB than any other country -- 227.6 billion euros or $300 billion -- what's next?
For starters, ECB president Mario Draghi will be forced to revive the vastly unpopular Securities Markets Program (SMP) and purchase more Spanish debt outright. Investors will see this as a sign of desperation since Draghi scotched the idea of reviving the program just last week. Now he will have to reverse himself and hastily resume the EZ's version of QE.
Restarting the program will set off fireworks in Berlin where hardliners at the Bundesbank will fight tooth-and-nail to stop Draghi in his tracks. Even so, the wily ex-G-SAX managing director Draghi will undoubtedly outmaneuver his rivals and the bailout will go forward. That means big finance's plan to crush organized labor, savage the social safety net and reduce EZ workers to a life of debt peonage will continue apace.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
