because although the greeks have asked for it, the europeans still have to decide whether they are going to ground it. we want to bring in john, an international relation specialist. john, good morning to you. you remember just a couple of days ago, the prime minister there lobbied hard for a no vote on this bailout and meant to vote against the tax hikes and spending cuts and the pensions and the like that are now likely part of this austerity plan that he was pushing and that the parliament voted for. i wonder if a waste of energy and time in going through that vote if the greek people are getting what they voted against? essentially, the greek government had bluffed on the last five months and on july 7th, the european creditors called the bluff. two days later, we see that the greeks have put together a reform package and a proposal for the european creditors, as you mentioned correctly, is more
cnn s isa soares is in athens. isa, this sounds like something the greeks were against a week ago. reporter: it does look like austerity plan. it is an austerity plan. it is the same plan that the greek prime minister tsipras put to his people. 61% of the people say no. you were quite right. more austerity measures here. a lot of greeks see it this morning will be spitting feathers if i can be honest with you. there are more spending cuts. 13 billion euro of spending cuts. tax increases right across the board from electricity to really restaurants and also food and hotels raising tax there. changes to pensions was a major red line. they said we will not give in on that. that is now being accepted. you are starting to see why people are angry about this.
george osborne was the master of that austerity plan. he is the chancellor of the exchequer. he joined me here in new york. thank you, george osborne, for joining us. let me ask you to begin with you ve been touting britain s growth. you ve written an op-ed in the wall street journal. of course there are a lot of people who say britain s recovery has been very weak. the weakest in g-7 other than italy and there is a specific charge made, which is that it was your austerity program, especially the spending cuts, that is responsible for this weak recovery. let me read to you something larry summers said on british television. he said britain s economic policies, meaning yours, are powerful test of the efficacy of determined resolute austerity. and the results so far certainly have not been encouraging to advocates of that strategy. what is your response?
let me edebt and deficit. you want your health care taken care of by the government, right? but then you have another problem. we have $90 trillion in unfunded liabilities. i it s unsustainable. you all studieded math, went to good colleges. you ve got to balance this. help me out between paying the money back and get ing the government you say you believe in. i want to say one thing about how our country has been run in the last five years. first of all, we were hit by the great recession. when you are hit by a great recession, the worst thing to do is have an austerity plan. cut budget is the worst thing to do. according to who? 101 keynesian economics. you need to invest in the economy. what about the stimulus? did that create jobs? more than 3.5 million jobs. that s nonpartisan congressional budget analysis. without the stimulus it wouldn t
let me edebt and deficit. you want your health care taken care of by the government, right? but then you have another problem. we have $90 trillion in unfunded liabilities. i it s unsustainable. you all studieded math, went to good colleges. you ve got to balance this. help me out between paying the money back and get ing the government you say you believe in. i want to say one thing about how our country has been run in the last five years. first of all, we were hit by the great recession. when you are hit by a great recession, the worst thing to do is have an austerity plan. cut budget is the worst thing to do. according to who? 101 keynesian economics. you need to invest in the economy. what about the stimulus? did that create jobs? more than 3.5 million jobs. that s nonpartisan congressional budget analysis.