Greece: No Vote

      Sunday's vote in Greece voted No 61%
to Yes 39%.   Poor, confused, scared, leaderless voters.  Now they have to wait in line for everything.  Pity the poor,  the sick, the confined, the unemployed.  Now the years of neglect have come home.  The inculcated belief that they could continue the gravy train is finally shattered by reality.  They are all in uncharted waters.  Northern EU members/voters hope to keep Greece a viable member, but, they want change before anymore money is shunted southward.  Understandable.  Who likes free loaders?  No one, no where.   Populism-it sells, but at a price few will acknowledge.   Look at two examples: Argentina and Venezuela.  How are they doing?  Not so well.  Problems include soaring inflation, lack of foreign exchange, high crime, high unemployment, shrinking/ non existent growth, and a bewildered, confused populous.
     Some economists suggested a no vote would benefit Greece in negotiating with the ECB, the IMF, and Angela Merkel of Germany.  Those would be Joe Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, Paul Krugman, and Thomas Piketty.  That's quite a collection of heavy hitters.  Today, two other economists weighed in with their opinions.  They are Jeremy Bulow of Stanford University and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University. wsj.com  No light weights either.  Their position hinges on the necessity to correct structural economic conditions that prevent growth and restrain the ability to service sovereign debt to international creditors.  It's no secret that Greece has been running a corrupt system, fostered by corrupt politicians and a press that has been complicit in the cover up.  As 1 example noted, Greece has 133 separate pension plans that collectively provide for more that 33 % of the total population.  Income tax collections are less than proscribed and often ignored.  Property taxes account for a small amount of the total.   All this on top of a river of "black" money that circulates around the country and is accepted as a way to beat the tax man/national government which citizens regard as chronically and mostly corrupt.  Correct. 
     Angela is meeting with Francois of France in an attempt to save the Greeks from themselves.  Call it paternalism as Mr. Tsipras does; but it is really empathy coming from one who was raised in East Germany under the Soviet boot.
     More tomorrow.