America is ready for socialism! Massive majorities back Bernie Sanders on the issues — and disdain Donald Trump - by Paul Rosenberg

Donald Trump is throwing the GOP primary into chaos by channeling the GOP’s id, spinning out wild fantasies of the Mexican government deliberately sending a flood of rapists and murderers across the border.

But Bernie Sanders is disrupting Hillary Clinton’s coronation on the Democratic side by channeling the party’s soul, with a specifically issue-based focus.

In a way, both men are vividly illustrating a basic asymmetry that runs through American politics—between left and right, liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican—which was first comprehensively described by public opinion researchers Lloyd Free and Hadley Cantril in their landmark 1967 book, “The Political Beliefs of Americans: A Study of Public Opinion,” and which political scientist Matt Grossman discussed in a recent Salon interview. Free and Cantril found that half the population was ideologically conservative, in the sense of preferring a smaller, more limited government, while about two-thirds was operationally liberal, in the sense of wanting to spend more on specifically identified government programs.

Subsequent research has intensified this division. Conservatives win by making broad, sweeping appeals, which can often have little relationship with the facts (Iraq’s WMDs, “voter fraud,” global warming denialism, etc.). Liberals win by focusing on how to fix specific problems. Thus “government spending” in general is seen as a negative, but spending on most specific programs is strongly supported. The pattern is clear: The more practical the question, the more liberal the answers. That’s just how U.S. politics works.

Trump takes the conservative side of this formula to an extreme, making broad, ludicrous false claims in his narcissistically self-confident manner. What’s grabbing headlines now are his false claims about illegal immigrant crime, but he remains completely detached from reality regarding Obama’s citizenship as well—an act of broad stigmatization that also typifies conservative thought. When NBC’s Katy Tur brought up his birtherism, Trump treated her with disdain: “Well, I don’t know. According to you it’s not true.” When she responded straightforwardly, “He released his birth certificate,” Trump doubled down on the disdain, “You know, if you believe that, that’s fine. I don’t care. It’s an old subject.”

Bernie Sanders is the exact opposite of Trump. As a proud self-described democratic socialist, he willingly makes himself a target for the kind of demonization that Trump hands out like candy, and he responds to attacks—actual and potential—by doubling down on policy specifics, where he correctly feels he’s on very firm ground. In a recent interview with John Nichols in the Nation, Sanders sketched out his response to such attacks, which are now routinely leveled indiscriminately.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, often criticizes President Obama, incorrectly, for trying to push “European-style socialism,” and McConnell says the American people don’t want it.

First of all, of course, Obama is not trying to push European-style socialism. Second of all, I happen to believe that, if the American people understood the significant accomplishments that have taken place under social-democratic governments, democratic-socialist governments, labor governments throughout Europe, they would be shocked to know about those accomplishments. One of the goals of this campaign is to advance that understanding….

How many Americans know that in virtually every European country, when you have a baby, you get guaranteed time off and, depending on the country, significant financial benefits as well. Do the American people know that? I doubt it.

Do the American people even know that we’re the only major Western industrialized country that doesn’t guarantee healthcare for all? Most people don’t know that. Do the American people know that in many countries throughout Europe, public colleges and universities are either tuition-free or very inexpensive?

Read more: America is ready for socialism! Massive majorities back Bernie Sanders on the issues — and disdain Donald Trump - Salon.com

Europe's Future Is Federal - by Jean Tirole

Numerous Europeans view Europe as a one-way street: they appreciate its advantages but are little inclined to accept common rules. An increasing number throughout the Union are handing their vote to populist parties – Front National, Syriza, Podemos – that surf on this Eurosceptic wave and rise up against “foreign”- imported constraints.

Embroiled with the Greek crisis, European policymakers will soon have to step back and reflect on the broader issue of the Eurozone’s future. Before envisaging an exit or, on the contrary, more sustained integration, it’s right to reflect upon the consequences of each option.

Oversimplifying, there are three strategies for the Eurozone: a minimalist approach that would see a return to national currencies, while keeping Europe perhaps as a free trade area and retaining a few institutions that have made a real difference such as common competition laws; the current approach based on the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 and its fiscal compact update in 2012; and, finally, the more ambitious version of federalism. My own clear preference is for the federalist version but I’m not at all convinced that Europeans are ready to make it work successfully.

Note EU-Digest:  Federalism is probably the only way to go if Europe does not want to become subservient to the presently ruling superpowers, China, the US, and even Russia. Populism and nationalism is not the way to go, as it has always turned sour in Europe's history. True federalism would certainly require finding another historic shining political star like Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who has the ability to get the EU reorganized, and all the EU member states moving in the same direction. Let's hope we get blessed soon in finding that "needle in the political haystack" to rescue the EU out of the iron grip of the Wall Steet dominated financial community.

Read more: Europe's Future Is Federal » Social Europe

Global Economy: Sluggish U.S. Economy Weakens Global Growth

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday trimmed its forecast for global economic growth for this year to take into account the impact of recent weakness in the United States.

But the global financial institution said growth prospects for next year remain undimmed, despite Greece's debt crisis and recent volatility in Chinese financial markets.

In an update to its World Economic Outlook report, the IMF said the global economy should expand 3.3 percent this year, 0.2 percentage point below what it predicted in April. Growth should speed up to 3.8 percent next year, it said, unchanged from earlier forecasts.

The IMF pinned much of the blame for the lower growth forecast on the United States. The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter, hurt by unusually heavy snowfalls, a resurgent dollar and disruptions at West Coast ports.

The IMF said it expected the U.S. economy to grow 2.5 percent this year - it lowered the U.S. growth forecast last month from 3.1 percent in April. The IMF also said U.S. economic sluggishness had spilled over to Canada and Mexico.

"(But) the unexpected weakness in North America ... is likely to prove a temporary setback," the IMF wrote in the report.

The IMF also maintained its forecasts for a pickup in growth in the euro zone, despite Greece moving ever closer to the edge of default and an exit from the currency bloc as it races to find a last-minute third bailout.

"Developments in Greece have, so far, not resulted in any significant contagion," the IMF said. "Timely policy action should help manage such risks if they were to materialize."

Read more: Sluggish U.S. Economy Weakens Global Growth | The Fiscal Times

Greece crisis: Tsipras under pressure to submit reform blueprint to creditors - total foreign debt: € 246 billion

Fforeign debt of €246b Greece and local debt € 32b 

Greece is under intense pressure to table a last-chance blueprint for radical economic reform, tax increases and spending cuts on Thursday in order to secure a future in the euro and stave off financial collapse.

The reform proposals are to be sent to Greece’s creditors with negotiations at the critical stage. The embattled Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, accused his eurozone creditors on Wednesday of exploiting his country as an “austerity laboratory” for the past five years while formally asking Europe for three more years of rescue funds.

Note EU-Digest: Athens has accumulated a debt mountain of 175% of GDP amounting to € 246 billion. If you spread that over the population of 11.3 million Greeks, every Greek Citizens presently would owe approximately € 21 million to cover the debt. Very difficult to figure out how Greece would ever be able to pay this off unless a lot of the debt would be "forgiven".

EU-Digest

TTIP: US House of Reps says: "Europe Can't Boycott Israel"

According to the PNN, Israel’s Ynetnews indicated that two versions of the law had been presented to the House of Representatives and the Senate, clarifying that both versions included the section obligating EU countries to refrain from the boycott of Israeli products.

This section states that any affiliation and cooperation with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on the part of EU countries is in violation of the “principle of non-discrimination’ statute in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

According to Ynetnews, the second law did not pass at this stage due to disputes with respect to compensation for businesses in Europe. There was also severe opposition from Obama’s own Democrats, but it is expected that an agreement will be reached between the House of Representatives and the Senate during the coming days.

From the moment that an agreement is reached, a unified document will be presented to the American President, Barack Obama, for a review of the trade agreement as soon as possible. He will then sign the document and it will be put to the vote in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Note EU-Digest: This is a "pipe dream" - US House of Representatives can't tell the EU what to do.

Read more: US House of Reps: Europe Can't Boycott Israel - International Middle East Media Center

Greece Exposes The Flaws Of A Wrong Europe - by Mehmet Ugur and Ozlem Onaran

The Greek people, their newly-elected government and many Europeans and non-Europeans with a sense of justice, history and solidarity, have been shouting loud: the “Greek problem” is a consequence of neo-liberal economic and financial policies that have become increasingly dysfunctional and dangerous. The problem has been made worse by the ascendance of sheer inter-governmentalism in Europe.

Both neo-liberalism and inter-governmentalism are the results of collusion between economic, financial and political elites in Europe, aided by economists, political scientists, lawyers, analysts and journalists with a conservative outlook. The symbiotic relationship between these two has been feeding on the spoils of increasingly unequal wealth accumulation. Their narrative about “Greeks living beyond their means” is nothing but an unashamed distortion of facts about both the present and the past.

The distortion of current facts takes the form of preaching to the Greek people on how they should show penance despite the facts on the ground. The origin of Greek debt, like subprime lending in the US and, given the general dysfunctionality of the financial system as laid bare by the Great Recession, is a result of reckless lending by private banks. Accommodating economic policies and perverse financial regulations have facilitated this – just as much as the symbiotic relations between the European arms industry and corrupt politicians in Greece, and tax evaders in Greece and tax havens in Luxembourg and elsewhere in Europe.

This distortion takes the form of misleading public opinion despite evidence that the ruling elite has secreted away. The conservative European elites and their henchmen have been pushing Greece towards destruction despite IMF documents showing that austerity is unlikely to make Greek debt either repayable or sustainable in the medium- to long-term.

The conservative rhetoric distorts the history of Europe too. Europe prospered and avoided repeated crises and wars only when it found collaborative solutions to collective problems. The leading proponent of austerity, Germany, was by far the biggest beneficiary of debt forgiveness. After World War I Keynes argued in the Economic Consequences of the Peace that the Versailles Treaty was a “Carthaginian peace” that would ruin Europe rather than set the conditions for economic recovery. This is very important not only because the demand for solidarity with the German people came from a scholar at the winning side, but also because the demand was made despite the fact reparations were meant to compensate for the human and material costs of more sinister German military actions in the form of war.

Note EU-Digest: Excellent report on the flaws of the European monetary and political structures which can be traced back to European Conservative Political forces copying and linking themselves to the "ruthless and corrupt" US financial system and the general dysfunctionality of that system, as laid bare by the 2007-2009 recession. This in addition to the reckless lending by private banks and accommodating economic policies and perverse financial regulations. When will Europe understand that the future of Europe must depend on our own needs and objectives and not be influenced by "surrogate" decisions on the other side of the Atlantic, as it unfortunately is today.

Read more: Greece Exposes The Flaws Of A Wrong Europe » Social Europe

Eurozone struggles to find joint response to Greek referendum - by Ian Traynor

Germany and France scrambled to avoid a major split over Greece on Monday evening as the eurozone delivered a damning verdict on Alexis Tsipras’s landslide referendum victory on Sunday and Angela Merkel demanded that the Greek prime minister put down new proposals to break the deadlock.

Read more: Eurozone struggles to find joint response to Greek referendum | Business | The Guardian