
Grieķu taksometru šoferi protestē pret finansējuma samazinājumu. Atribūtika pazīstama arī Latvijā - zārks. Foto: AFP/LETA
Greece has long been bankrupt, various politicians and the ECB have just been in denial about this but with interest rates and CDS spreads exploding it seems that the end is indeed nigh on all fronts.
I have often had the question: What can/could Greece learn from the Latvian internal devaluation experience? My answer has been that they can learn that there is nothing for them to learn. No Southern European country is likely to be able to copy the Latvian experience (and this is not said in order to cheer over the Latvian experience - as I have often argued the current harsh and unpleasant austerity measures are - regrettably - necessitated by disastrous fiscal policy mistakes during the boom times of 2004-07).
Greeks took to the streets before consolidation measures were even introduced there - Latvians didn't protest (I don't count 13 January 2009 as that serious, quite frankly).