Saturday, July 4, 2015

Greeks should bite-the-bullet and leave the Eurozone

I am a big fan of Peter Morici and read with interest his editorial "The Greeks should vote 'no'" in today's Sun-sentinel. I agree the Greeks should vote 'no' tomorrow not because as the author states it will enable Greece to extract a better deal, but because a no-vote should lead them closer to a "grexit" and re-instating the drachma. It is clear that joining the Eurozone and adopting the common euro currency contributed greatly to Greece's economic downfall, so it seems reasonable that abandoning those institutions should help ultimately restore Greece's prosperity. Mr. Morici says the only solution for Greece is to significantly forgive some of the debt, and extend those remaining maturities with lower interest rates. He says austerity has only made the problem worse so it isn't the answer, but omits the fact that recent significant creditor "haircuts" and huge bailout disbursements have only made matters worse too. So, why throw good money after bad? Wouldn't a better use of additional taxpayer bailout funds be to help the citizens of Greece ease a transition out of the Eurozone?