Greek socialists reluctantly accept IMF 'meddling' in deal to save the country they ruined

It's the third bailout of Greece in five years. Heck, even Chrysler must be appalled at a performance like that. And while we're still waiting for the details, early reports indicate that Greece's socialist government had to accept much more stringent terms than the ones they told Greek voters to reject just last week. It's easy just telling everyone yes to whatever they want until you run out of stuff to give them. That's when your creditors own you, and you can talk all you want about resisting "austerity" or whatever, but when you're presented with one way and one way only to prevent the entire collapse of your country . . . there's no way out:

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The total commitment of money has not been disclosed. But a document by the eurozone leaders noted that experts had estimated that Greece might need from 82 billion to 86 billion euros more — $91 billion to $96 billion — to shore up its economy, rebuild its banks and meet its debt obligations over the next three years. The document said Greece and its creditors should seek to “reduce that financing envelope,” if possible. As part of Greece’s commitments, Ms. Merkel said, a fund will be created to use the proceeds from selling off assets owned by the Greek government to help pay down the country’s debt. That fund would be “to the tune of” €50 billion, she said. Greece will be required to also seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund and agree to let the organization continue to monitor the country’s adherence to its bailout commitments. The Greek government had resisted a continued role for the I.M.F., seeing the fund’s involvement as unwanted meddling.

The Times story notes - hilariously to most of us if not to them - that the socialist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras "struggled" during the negotiations with the terms of the reforms the Germans and other major creditors demanded. Tsipras owes his entire election, after all, to a campaign in which he angrily denounced the "austerity" measures Greece's creditors demanded, and vowed never to let them happen under his watch. It was one of the most classic examples ever seen of the socialist delusion being smacked in the face with reality, and it's astonishing that Tsipras couldn't see it coming. Of course, he still doesn't appear entirely clued in to reality, given his continued resistance to what he calls IMF "meddling." That's about one thing: The Germans and the rest of the Europeans don't trust Greece to actually do what the final deal (the details of which are apparently still under negotiation) will require of them, because they haven't lived up to the terms of the previous two bailouts. If I were negotiating this deal on behalf of the IMF and the EU, one term I would demand is the resignation of the socialist government. Then again, a lot of the European nations who are engineering the bailout are pretty socialist themselves, which probably goes a long way toward explaining why no one involved in this mess ever seems to get it right.