Should IMF-style austerity programmes result in anything like the collapse of the Latvian economy in Europe's periphery, it would render the continued servicing of the periphery's debt well nigh impossible.

Calling on Europe to help save the Latvian currency peg is all too reminiscent of similar calls in 2000 to save the Argentine Convertibility Plan.

Desmond Lachman's response to Daniel Gros's article, "Portugal is Delaying the Pain it Knows is Inevitable."

In our time, freedom's consciousness defeated fascism and destroyed a global empire oftyranny. In today's world, democratic government is the norm, and dictators are a dying breed.

Greece's economic situation is dire: it faces a severe recession if it remains in the Euro-zone and it cannot continue servicing its public debt without major sovereign debt restructuring.

Twenty-first century economists blithely talked of the "risk-free debt" of governments, and European bank regulators set a zero-capital requirement on the debt of their governments. The manifold proof of their error is that banks and other investors are now taking huge credit losses on their Greek government bonds. The only question is why anybody would be surprised by this.

Shareholders are rightly fearful that any sovereign debt rescheduling in the periphery right now will trigger contagion and a full blown banking crisis in Europe's core countries.

The IMF is being disingenuous in expecting us to believe that Greece can successfully restore internal and external balance to its economy through severe budget cutting without resort to a debt restructuring or a euro exit.