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Entertainment


Bill Cosby Performs At The Treasure Island

Comedian/actor Bill Cosby performs at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino on September 26, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bill Cosby (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Newly unsealed testimony appears to corroborate claims made by several women who say Bill Cosby drugged and raped them during the comedian’s long career. In 2005, Cosby admitted to obtaining quaaludes — which are no longer distributed — with the intent of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with. He further admitted to giving the drug to several women in testimony for a sexual-abuse case filed by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.

In documents obtained by The Associated Press, who sought the contents of the deposition in court, Cosby said he obtained seven quaalude prescriptions in the 1970s during questioning by Constand’s lawyer, who also asked if he had kept the powerful sedatives through the 1990s, after they were banned.

“When you got the quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?” Troiani asked.

“Yes,” Cosby answered.

“Did you ever give any of these young women the quaaludes without their knowledge?” Troiani asked.

Cosby’s lawyer repeatedly objected, prompting Troiani to request a federal judge force Cosby to answer. The comedian’s lawyers argued that two of the accusers knew they were taking quaaludes from the comedian, according to the unsealed documents.

“This confirms the allegations of numerous victims who have said that he has used drugs in order to sexually assault them,” celebrity attorney Gloria Allred told FOX411. “This admission is one that Mr. Cosby has attempted to hide from the public for many years and we are very gratified that it is now being made public.”

Allred said she will move to have the evidence admitted in court on behalf of her clients.

Cosby, 77, has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct in episodes dating back more than four decades. Cosby has never been charged with a crime, and the statute of limitations on most of the accusations has expired.

On November 19, NBC became the second outlet following Netflix to cancel projects with Bill Cosby, which came only one day after famous model and well-known TV host Janice Dickinson told “Entertainment Tonight” that she was sexually assaulted by the comic in 1982.

A poll taken in the wake of the cancelations and rash of new allegations found that — even though nearly half of Americans said they think it’s likely the rape allegations against comedian Bill Cosby were true — networks shouldn’t have cancelled his shows until he was found guilty of an actual crime.

Meanwhile, Cosby’s lawyers objected to the release of the documents, arguing it would embarrass him. “It would be terribly embarrassing for this material to come out,” George M. Gowen III, a Cosby lawyer argued back in June.

But the judge wasn’t buying it and, ultimately, agreed with Gayle Sproul, the layer representing the AP, who in court last month called Cosby “an icon” who “held himself out as someone who would guide the public in ways of morality.” Still, the judge unsealed just a small portion of the deposition.

“The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct is a matter as to which the AP — and by extension the public — has a significant interest,” U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno wrote. Cosby, with his outspoken views on childrearing, family life, education and crime “has voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he is entitled to claim,” Judge Robreno wrote.

“Why would he be embarrassed by his own version of the facts?” the judge said.

Judge Robreno, however, did not respond to the argument that the material would “prejudice him in eyes of the jury pool in Massachusetts,” where Cosby is fighting defamation lawsuits brought by women who say his representatives smeared them by accusing them of lying.

Cosby settled Constand’s lawsuit under confidential terms in 2006.

“This evidence shows a pattern in which defendant ‘mentored’ naive young women and introduced drugs into the relationship, with and without the woman’s knowledge, in order for him to achieve sexual satisfaction,” Constand’s lawyer, Dolores M. Troiani, argued in court papers.

Cosby resigned in December from the board of trustees at Temple University, where he was the popular face of the Philadelphia school in advertisements, fundraising campaigns and commencement speeches.

Cosby “has evidenced a predilection for sexual contact with women who are unconscious or drugged. His victims are young, ‘star struck’ and totally trusting of his public persona,” Troiani argued.

Newly unsealed testimony appears to corroborate claims

Opinion


Civil-War-Reenactment-Confederate-Flag

Civil War re-enactors carry Confederate flags in Forth Worth, Tex. (Photo by Steven Martin, Flickr)

Discussions of racial problems almost invariably bring out the cliche of “a legacy of slavery.” But anyone who is being serious, as distinguished from being political, would surely want to know if whatever he is talking about — whether fatherless children, crime or whatever — is in fact a legacy of slavery or of some of the many other things that have been done in the century and a half since slavery ended.

Another cliche that has come into vogue is that slavery is “America’s original sin.” The great Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a good catch phrase could stop thinking for fifty years. Catch phrases about slavery have stopped people from thinking, even longer than that.

Today the moral horror of slavery is so widely condemned that it is hard to realize that there were thousands of years when slavery was practiced around the world by people of virtually every race. Even the leading moral and religious thinkers in different societies accepted slavery as just a fact of life.

No one wanted to be a slave. But their rejection of slavery as a fate for themselves in no way meant that they were unwilling to enslave others. It was just not an issue — until the 18th century, and then it became an issue only in Western civilization.

Neither Africans, Asians, Polynesians nor the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere saw anything wrong with slavery, even after small segments of British and American societies began to condemn slavery as morally wrong in the 18th century.

What was special about America was not that it had slavery, which existed all over the world, but that Americans were among the very few peoples who began to question the morality of holding human beings in bondage. That was not yet a majority view among Americans in the 18th century, but it was not even a serious minority view in non-Western societies at that time.

Then how did slavery end? We know how it ended in the United States — at a cost of one life lost in the Civil War for every six slaves freed. But that is not how it ended elsewhere.

What happened in the rest of the world was that all of Western civilization eventually turned against slavery in the 19th century. This meant the end of slavery in European empires around the world, usually over the bitter opposition of non-Western peoples. But the West happened to be militarily dominant at the time.

Turning back to the “legacy of slavery” as an explanation of social problems in black American communities today, anyone who was serious about the truth — as distinguished from talking points — would want to check out the facts.

Were children raised with only one parent as common at any time during the first 100 years after slavery as in the first 30 years after the great expansion of the welfare state in the 1960s?

As of 1960, 22 percent of black children were raised with only one parent, usually the mother. Thirty years later, two-thirds of black children were being raised without a father present.

What about ghetto riots, crimes in general and murder in particular? What about low levels of labor force participation and high levels of welfare dependency? None of those things was as bad in the first 100 years after slavery as they became in the wake of the policies and notions of the 1960s.

To many on the left, the 1960s were the glory days of their movements, and for some the days of their youth as well. They have a heavy emotional investment and ego investment in the ideas, aspirations and policies of the 1960s.

It might never occur to many of them to check their beliefs against some hard facts about what actually happened after their ideas and policies were put into effect. It certainly would not be pleasant to admit, even to yourself, that after promising progress toward “social justice,” what you actually delivered was a retrogression toward barbarism.

The principal victims of these retrogressions are the decent, law-abiding members of black communities across the country who are prey to hoodlums and criminals.

Back in the 19th century Frederick Douglass saw the dangers from well-meaning whites. He said: “Everybody has asked the question, ‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us.” Amen.

Are African Americans' problems a legacy of

Opinion

 

American-Flag-July-Fourth

Lately I’ve shared my lament that in America today we are witnessing a surreal transformation of the greatest nation in history. Last week, a spate of headlines made this point better than I could make it on my own.

I was minding my business, mind you, surfing the Internet to check out the news and political sites and forums I customarily visit, and these news and column headlines, most from last week, some from a bit earlier and a few from this week, bombarded me.

I wasn’t looking for trouble. Nor was the satirical website The Onion one of the sites I visited. The world is upside down, inside out, sideways, crazy, nutso. Bad is good; up is down. Left is right; right is wrong. Evil is good; insanity is sanity. Abnormal is normal. Circles are squares. Hot is cold. Luke warm is red hot — among Republicans, anyway. Common sense is uncommon.

The world is otherworldly. Dissent is “hate.” Diversity means conformity. The good guys are the bad guys; virtue is vice; sophistry is intellectualism; jerks are celebrated; debauchery is glorified; the holy is debauched. Let me share some of these headlines, which speak for themselves — loudly and depressingly.

–Shakespeare’s Works — Too Hard, Too White.
–Obama Red-Faced: Iran Nuclear Stockpiles Grew 20 Percent in 18 months.
–Obamacare Dangerous to Our Health.
–Eye-Popping Premium Increases.
–Obama, Clinton Want To Enforce ‘Correct’ Thinking in America.
–High School Denies Pro-Life Club!
–Pentagon Officials Call Out Obama’s ‘Pathetic’ ISIS Strategy.
–Shabazz Calls on Nation of Islam, New Black Panther ‘Army’ to Defend Black Communities Against Police Brutality.
–Obama: Climate Change Deniers Endangering National Security.
–Team Clinton Swarms Sunday Interview Shows, Minus Hillary.
–Antonin Scalia Is Unfit To Serve: A Justice Who Rejects Science and the Law for Religion Is of Unsound Mind.
–In L.A., Obama addresses Washington’s Dysfunction: “I Did Not Say I Would Fix It.”
–Authorities: Gay Slur Carved Into Utah Man’s Arm Was Staged.
–Justice Department: Transgender Students Can Use Bathrooms that Match Their Gender Identity.
–Political Correctness 101: Praising America, Virtues of Hard Work Dubbed ‘Micro-Aggression’ On Campuses.
–Video Shows U.S. Citizens Willing To Ban American Flag.
–Are Americans of Faith in Danger?
–Obama Administration Says Redskins Nickname Could Block Potential Stadium Deal.
–TV Land Drops “Dukes of Hazzard” Amid Confederate Flag Controversy.
–Gay Teacher Files Federal Discrimination Lawsuit Against Catholic School.
–Terrific: Attorney in Charge of Releasing Lois Lerner ‘Lost’ Emails Now in Charge of HRC’s Emails.
–For Obama, Rainbow White House Was ‘A Moment Worth Savoring.’
–Montana Polygamist Family Applies for Marriage License.
–74 Children Executed by ISIS for ‘Crimes’ That Include Refusal To Fast, Report Says.
–New Undercover Footage Shows VA Officials Admitting of ‘Unaccountability at Every Level.’
–Black Teacher Hits Handicapped White Child, Tells Him Black People Fought To Not ‘Serve White People Like You.’
–Girl Scouts Raise $250K for Transgender Cause.
–Teen Leads Mob in Ransacking of Georgia Walmart.
–U.S. Debt Headed Toward Greek Levels.
–Obama Administration Invokes Executive Privilege on Benghazi Probe?
–United Church of Christ Anti-Israel Extremism.
–U.S. Troops in Afghanistan ‘Feel Abandoned.’
–More than 42 Million Muslims ‘Support ISIS.’
–17 Shot Since Monday Morning in Baltimore.
–Baltimore Mayor Wants Park Named for Robert E. Lee Changed, Other Monuments May Come Down.
–Christian Preachers Brutally Beaten at Gay Pride Festival.
–Seattle 6th Graders Can’t Get a Coke at School, but Can Get an IUD.
–Local Minister Urges the Flying of Black Liberation Flag This Weekend.
–Christian Bakers Face $135K Fine and Gag Order Over Wedding Cake for Same-Sex Couple.
–Center for American Progress Helped Craft EPA Talking Points, Emails Show.
–White House Blames GOP for Kathryn Steimle’s Slaying, Rise in Gun Violence.
–10 Killed, 55 Wounded in Fourth of July Gun Violence in Chicago.
–Shock: Arizona Paper Decries Border Fence As Too High For Mexicans To Safely Jump.
–California Family Supports 4-Year-Old’s Decision To Transition from Male to Female.
–Illegal Alien Who Murdered Woman Went to San Francisco Because It Was a ‘Sanctuary City.’
–Chris Matthews: Hillary Clinton is ‘More of a Conservative … Traditional Politician.’
–Netanyahu Says Nuke Deal Getting Worse by the Day.
–Chicago Convulsed By Another Violent Weekend; Top Cop Blames Justice System.

Last week, a spate of headlines to

Polls


isis vs us

For the first time in over four years, a majority of voters believe that the U.S. is a more dangerous place than it was before September 11, 2001. A new survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports found only 32 percent of likely voters think America is safer today, while 52 percent disagree and 16 percent are unsure.

That trend shows a level of confidence that has been consistently tanking since last fall — when the Obama administration was caught off-guard by the Islamic State (ISIS) — and is now at its lowest level in over four years.

The number of likely voters in the current majority is up from a 48-percent plurality measured in a March survey, and confidence that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror — which was positive until the second year of Obama’s first term — remains at a near low.

President Obama traveled to the Pentagon to discuss what most military experts say is an inadequate policy to confront ISIS, but half of voters say the government is not doing enough to combat the threat from domestic terrorism. Fifteen percent think the government focuses too much on the threat from Islamic terrorism, but 28 percent think its in the Goldilock Zone.

Further, since the failed attempt to shoot up a Mohammed drawing contest in Texas back in May, most Americans also agree that Islamic terrorism is now a greater threat inside the United States.

Unsurprisingly, the poll found an observable difference in response based on the party affiliation of the respondent.

Republicans (58 percent) and a plurality (47 percent) of voters not affiliated with either major party say the U.S. is losing the War on Terror, while just 19 percent of Democrats agree. Digging deeper into the Democrats’ numbers, a sizable 41 percent still think the United States and its allies are winning.

There is, of course, significant overlap between those who say the U.S. is losing the War on Terror with those who say the nation is not as safe as it was pre-9/11. Sixty percent (60%) of those who say the United States and its allies are winning believe America is a safer place today, while 75 percent of voters who think the terrorists are winning also say America is not safer now than before 9/11.

Even at the low point in President George W. Bush’s tenure, Americans still felt safer. For instance, five years after the 9/11 attacks, in late 2006, 40 percent thought the United States and its allies were winning, while 32 percent said the terrorists had the upper hand.

Worth noting, a quarter (25 percent) of likely voters now think neither side is winning.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 2 and 5, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

WHO IS WINNING THE WAR ON TERROR?
DATES US/ALLIES TERRORISTS
Jul 2 & 5 27% 41%
Jun 10-11 27% 44%
May 13-14 25% 37%
Apr 15-16 29% 39%
Mar 18-19 33% 33%
Feb 20-21 19% 37%
Jan 23-24, 2015 23% 33%
Oct 27-28 25% 36%
Jul 27-28 27% 36%
Apr 17-18 35% 27%
Jan 19-20, 2014 39% 30%
Oct 16-17 36% 26%
Jul 16-17 40% 22%
Apr 23-24 37% 24%
Jan 29-30, 2013 42% 22%
Dec 22 45% 18%
Nov 20 44% 22%
Oct 31- Nov 1 49% 25%
Sep 23-24 45% 21%
Aug 20-21 50% 20%
Jul 9-10 47% 15%
May 30-31 51% 16%
Apr 30-May 1 51% 11%
Mar 21-22 50% 17%
Feb 20-21 51% 15%
Jan 20-21, 2012 48% 17%
Dec 12-13 50% 18%
Nov 7-8 46% 14%
Oct 8-9 46% 13%
Sep 8-9 49% 13%
Aug 9-10 44% 15%
July 10-11 52% 13%
June 6-8 50% 15%
May 3-4 55% 11%
Apr 7-8 32% 24%
Mar 6-7 40% 24%
Jan 31-Feb 1 39% 19%
Jan 3-4, 2011 38% 30%
Dec 3-4 37% 32%
Nov 9-10 45% 22%
Oct 10-11 42% 28%
Sep 8-9 46% 24%
Aug 4 39% 26%
Jul 5 39% 23%
May 20-21 39% 28%
Apr 22-23 42% 25%
Mar 21-22 42% 23%
Feb 21-22 50% 21%
Jan 26-27, 2010 38% 31%

For the first time in more than

Economy


service-sector-employee

Service sector survey data released Monday offered investors a mixed bag, with two closely-watched indexes missing economists’ expectations.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its gauge of U.S. service sector growth grew in June for the 65th consecutive month, but missed expectations. The ISM’s Non-Manufacturing ISM Report On Business, which is based on data compiled from purchasing and supply executives nationwide, edged up to 56.0 in June from 55.7 in May.

Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected last month’s PMI to rise to 56.3, and higher-paying industries that support middle class workers without an education continue to show relative weakness.

The three industries reporting contraction in June were Mining, which once again shed employment in the latest BLS jobs report, Other Services and Construction.

The 15 non-manufacturing industries reporting growth in June — listed in order — are: Arts, Entertainment & Recreation; Real Estate, Rental & Leasing; Accommodation & Food Services; Transportation & Warehousing; Management of Companies & Support Services; Health Care & Social Assistance; Public Administration; Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting; Finance & Insurance; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Educational Services; Wholesale Trade; Retail Trade; Utilities; and Information.

Data provider Markit said its service sector composite fell to 54.8 in June from 56.2 in May. Markit said output and employment growth each slowed in June. As with the ISM, Markit readings above 50 indicate activity is expanding.

“Although still signaling moderate growth in June, the manufacturing and service sector surveys indicate that the rate of economic expansion has slowed markedly since the start of the quarter, when business was boosted by a rebound from weather related weakness,” Markit Chief Economist Chris Williamson said in a statement. “The loss of growth momentum seen in the surveys means GDP growth could slacken off again in the third quarter and hiring could likewise ease off.”

Though the ISM employment index fell to 52.7 from the 55.3 in May, Anthony Nieves, who oversees the survey for the ISM, offered a different take than Williamson.

“Hiring typically slows in the summer” for many nonmanufacturing companies, Nieves said.

The ISM prices index fell to 53.0 from 55.9, , but Mr. Nieves said respondents were citing the avian flu as the problem in the poultry industry.

Service sector data released Monday by ISM

Policy


Puerto-Rico-flag

When I make speeches about fiscal policy, I oftentimes share a table showing the many nations that have made big progress by enforcing spending restraint over multi-year periods.

I then ask audiences a rhetorical question about a possible list of nations that have prospered by going in the opposite direction. Are there any success stories based on tax hikes or bigger government?

Mitchell-Challenge

The answer is no, which is why I’ve never received a satisfactory answer to my two-part challenge, even if I limit the focus to fiscal policy.

And nobody will be surprised to learn that the fiscal crisis in Puerto Rico reinforces these lessons.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Hanson explains that the American territory in the Caribbean is on the verge of default.

As Puerto Rico struggles under the weight of more than $70 billion in debt, it has become popular to draw parallels with Greece.

The one theme that is common with the two jurisdictions is that their fiscal crises are the result of too much government spending.

How bad is the problem in Puerto Rico?

It’s hard to answer that question because government budgeting isn’t very transparent and the quality and clarity of the numbers that do exist leaves a lot to be desired.

But I’ve done some digging (along with my colleagues at Cato) and here’s some data that will at least illustrate the scope of the problem.

First, we have numbers from the World Bank showing inflation-adjusted (2005$) government consumption expenditures over the past few decades. As you can see, overall spending in this category increased by 100 percent between 1980 and 2013 (at a time when the population increased only 12 percent).

In other words, Puerto Rico is in trouble because it violated the Golden Rule and let government grow faster than the private sector over a sustained period (just like Greece, just like Alberta, just like the United States, etc, etc).

Puerto-Rico-Chart

Here’s another chart and this one purports to show total outlays.

The numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation, so the increase looks more dramatic. But even if you consider the impact of a rising price level (average annual increase of about 4 percent since the mid-1980s), it’s obvious that government spending has climbed far too fast.

government-expenditure-Puerto-Rico

To be more specific, Puerto Rico has allowed the burden of government to rise much faster than population plus inflation.

A government can get away with that kind of reckless policy for a few years. But when bad policy is maintained for a long period of time, the end result is never positive.

Now that we’ve established that Puerto Rico got in trouble by violating my Golden Rule, what’s the right way of fixing the mess? Is the government responding to its fiscal crisis in a responsible manner?

golden-rule

Not exactly. Like Greece, it’s too beholden to interest groups, and that’s making (the right kind of) austerity difficult.

Indeed, Mr. Hanson says there haven’t been any cuts in the past few years.

In the past four years, when the fiscal crisis has been most severe, four successively larger budgets have been enacted. The budget proposed for the coming year is $235 million larger than last year’s and $713 million, or 8%, higher than four years ago. Austerity this is not.

What special interest groups standing in the way of reform?

The government workforce would be high on the list. One of the big problems in Puerto Rico is that there are far too many bureaucrats and they get paid far too much (gee, this sounds familiar).

Here are some details from Mr. Hanson’s column.

…more than two-thirds of the territory’s budget is payroll. The proposed budget…contains no plans for head-count reductions. …Median household income in Puerto Rico hovers around $20,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but government workers fare much better. Public agencies pay salaries on average more than twice that amount, a 2014 report from Banco Popular shows. Salaries in the central government in San Juan are more than 90% higher than in the private sector. Even across comparable skill sets, the wage disparity persists.

In other words, life is pretty good for the people riding in the wagon, but Puerto Rico doesn’t have enough productive people to pull the wagon.

So we’re back to where we started. It’s the Greece of the Caribbean.

P.S. This column has focused on fiscal policy, but it’s important to recognize that there are many other bad policies hindering prosperity in Puerto Rico. And some of them are the result of Washington politicians rather than their counterparts in San Juan. Nicole Kaeding and Nick Zaiac have explained that the Jones Act and the minimum wage are particularly destructive to the territory’s economy.

P.P.S. At least Puerto Rico is still a good tax haven for American citizens.

Puerto Rico is in fiscal trouble because

Politics


Donald-Trump-announcement-highlights

Donald Trump announces he is running for president at Trump Tower on Tuesday June 16, 2015. (Photo: AP)

Billionaire real estate mogul and 2016 Republican candidate Donald Trump took to Twitter to rip former Govs. Rick Perry and Jeb Bush, who took issue with comments Trump made about illegal immigrants from Mexico during his announcement speech.

Perry, who launched a failed 2012 White House bid, took the media bait in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, unlike his fellow-Texan and presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz. During an interview with NBC, Cruz said he was not going to let the media get him “to engage in Republican-on-Republican violence.”

Not Perry.

“I’ve said very clearly that Donald Trump does not represent the Republican Party. I was offended by his remarks,” Perry said in an interview with “This Week” Sunday. “And to paint with that broad a brush, that Donald Trump did — I mean he’s going to have to defend those remarks. I never will. And I will stand up and say that those are offensive, which they were.”

While most pundits and analysts focus on the former Texas governor’s debate hiccup — by hiccup, we mean forgetting the fourth government agency he would cut — his slide actually began with debate comments on immigration. Perry suggested that Republicans who do not support in-state tuition assistance for illegal aliens “don’t have a heart.”

Bush, too, chose to address Trump’s comments during a campaign stop in New Hampshire over the weekend, stating he was “personally offended” by The Donald.

Trump, who was characterized as not serious by self-described conservative commentators George Will and Charles Krauthammer, has been surging in the polls. According to the PPD average, Mr. Trump is now in second place in Iowa and New Hampshire, and about to move into second in nationwide nomination polls.

Donald Trump took to Twitter to rip

Economy


Greek-voters-protest

“No” supporters wave Greek flags by the parliament in Athens, Greece July 5, 2015. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

While Greek voters say they overwhelming oppose a so-called Grexit, analysts say Sunday’s “no” vote increased the likelihood of departure from the euro zone. That is to say, economists and analysts at top U.S. banks and consulting firms now see only a narrow path for solidarity.

In a research briefing released on July 3, Oxford Economics pegged the odds of Greece leaving the euro zone at 85 percent in the event there was a no vote. In an updated analysis Monday morning following the vote, they stood by those odds, which were upwardly revised from 67 percent.

“There is a narrow trajectory from here that sees an emboldened Greek parliament accepting the need for reform in return for a debt write-down,” Oxford said. “The next 48 hours will therefore be crucial.”

However, on Sunday afternoon, top banks including JPMorgan Chase and Barclays said a Greek exit from the euro zone is now their expectation, and have revised their baseline to reflect the Grexit scenario.

“Although the situation is fluid, at this point Greek exit from the euro appears more likely than not,” Malcolm Barr, an economist at JPMorgan in London, said in a report to clients on Sunday, adding it could come “under chaotic circumstances.”

With 61 percent of voters rejecting the European program, analysts now expect Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who had indicated in a letter to “the troika” last week he was willing to accept several keys components of the EU deal, will now become emboldened by the voting results. Tsipras, a far-left socialist, believes the Greek government can tax and spend their way out of debt and into prosperity, a plan no serious economist has endorsed.

According to data from the OECD, raising taxes would do little to increase revenue and almost certainly further hinder economic growth, which has become non-existent in the birth-place of democracy-turned-socialist country. Uncollected tax receipts, as a percentage of total receipts in 2010, was at a staggering 89.5 in Greece. In Germany, by contrast, the rate was just 2.3 percent. In other words, Tspiras is proposing to increase revenue that his country has proven unable to even collect.

According to Barr, Tsipras and his government — minus former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who announced his resignation shortly after the vote — will have just a “handful of weeks” to negotiate a new aid deal.

While Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have held off on making the revision, they are quickly becoming the minority on Wall Street, and beyond.

“Exit now is the most likely scenario,” Barclays analysts said in an internal report. “Agreeing on a program with the current Greek government will be extremely difficult for euro-area leaders, given the Greek rejection of the last deal offered, and will be a difficult sell at home.”

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said they have revised their Grexit odds to 75 percent, up from 60 percent from just last week and matching odds at the London-based consulting company, Teneo Intelligence. BNP Paribas SA pegged the likelihood at 70 percent, up from 20 percent, while Societe Generale SA pegs it at 65 percent. Evercore ISI, a Washington-based group, said their odds of Greece exiting are at about 67 percent in the next six months to a year.

While Greek voters say they overwhelming oppose

World


Greek-Finance-Minister-Yanis-Varoufakis

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis (Photo: AP)

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis announced his resignation shortly after voters Sunday overwhelmingly rejected the EU bailout deal, People’s Pundit Daily confirmed. The decision to reject Europe’s bailout proposal puts the country’s economic and Eurozone future in jeopardy.

Varoufakis issued an announcement saying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had decided that Varoufakis’ resignation “might help achieve a deal.”

“Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants,” he said. “For my ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the prime minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement.”

“For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today,” Varoufakis wrote in a blog post.

Varoufakis went on to applaud the “bravery” of the Greek voters for rejecting the proposal, which in essence, was a vote not to pay their debts.

“Like all struggles for democratic rights, so too this historic rejection of the Eurogroup’s 25th June ultimatum comes with a large price tag attached,” the post read. “It is, therefore, essential that the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid NO vote be invested immediately into a YES to a proper resolution – to an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms.”

Government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said in a statement that a replacement would be announced later in the day after a meeting of political party leaders.

Asian and european markets opened and remained sharply in the red. U.S. markets will also open down, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average set to shed some 100 points at the opening bell.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis announced his

People's Pundit Daily
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