Press TV has interviewed Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary of US Treasury from Atlanta, and Sean O’Grady, deputy managing editor of The Independent from London, to discuss the repercussions of Greece's 'No' vote to debt payment terms set by its international creditors.
Roberts believes European nations do not possess their own currencies and central banks to finance themselves, therefore, the EU “countries cannot revive on the exchange rate to take part of the adjustment.”
He also thinks the whole euro as the British believe is a huge mistake, because eurozone "destroys" the sovereignty of member states and it makes the adjustment process impossible.
The problem of Greece is not its economy, but the austerity package which hinders the path to reform, he says, adding that the European Union is trying to use the austerity to loot the Greek economy.
The Greeks are forced to sell their islands, ports and in general, their natural resources to pay back the international loans, then this is the process of looting a sovereign country, Roberts concludes.
For his part, O’Grady notes the Greeks prefer to remain in the eurozone, but they want to leave the obligations of the European single currency. He adds that the problem of Greece is that the Greeks have failed to reform their economy to make it competitive and make the tax system work.
The editor also argues that the Greeks borrowed money from international creditors during the boom years, but they did not invest the money in productive sectors of their economy.
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