Friday nonsense. Greekfun.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Local televisions in Greece report that last evening Chuck Norris managed to squeeze 70 euros out of a cash-vending machine in Athens. He's been the only one to beat the 60-euro cash withdrawal daily limit.

He extracted the money in coins. He gripped the ATM by the throat and squeezed. Just like that Nazi, Merkel, is doing with poor oppressed Greece.

- - -

A Greek, an Irishman and a Portuguese go into a bar and order a drink. Who picks up the bill? A German.

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Oh dear. The eurozone's Facebook page has changed its currency status from ‘single’ to ‘it's complicated’.

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What are the first three letters of the Greek alphabet?

I.O.U.

Comments

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Did you know you could adopt a Greek for 400 euros? He'll do everything in your stead: he'll sleep till noon, he'll be drinking his coffee, he'll be having lunch for two hours, and then he'll have a nice afternoon nap - he'll do all these duties for you, so you could go to work to earn those 400 euros.

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

You say that almost like there's some intrinsic value to work.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

I'm almost willing to pay the 400 just to never hear about the Greek crisis anymore.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid it doesn't work that way.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

In ["austerity measures"] theory, debtor countries that embrace this set of prescriptions return promptly to prosperity. In practice—and it's been tried on well over two dozen countries over the last three decades or so, so there's an ample body of experience—debtor countries that embrace this set of prescriptions are stripped to the bare walls by their creditors and remain in an economic coma until populist politicians seize power, tell the IMF where it can put its economic ideology, and default on their unpayable debts. …[It's] the only way for a country drowning in debt to return to prosperity.

(John Michael Greer, Decline and Fall: The End of Empire and the Future of Democracy in the 21st Century America, New Society Publishers, 2014, p. 129.)

Oh, I'm sorry. Mocking poor Greece and their "Time to wake up the Gimp" moment in the basement by Zed Germany is supposed to be "fun" and "nonsense."

My bad.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

It's actually a pretty sad story. A country has been allowed to defraud an entire system, and buy prosperity on credit for decades. And when they've realized that someone's got to pay the bills, they're all like "No, we ain't playing this game any more". All the while, much poorer countries like mine being required to tighten the belts and keep the utmost financial discipline, lest they be punished. And Greece is getting a bail-out after another, despite calling their bail-outers(sic?) "Nazi".

You're right. This isn't funny any more. It's actually enraging. It's frustrating, and it has taught us the lesson that we're ultimately second-class citizens of this union. Because, evidently, the rules apply to some, while others are able to completely shit on them and get away with it. Because, believe me, Greece *will* get away with it in the end.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

A country has been allowed to defraud an entire system. . . .

Germany, got it.

Oh, wait, you meant Greece. Wow.

I do agree it's enraging, but not because Greece will "get away with it," but rather because Germany probably will, not to mention the Goldman Sachs machinations that led to the impoverishment of a nation for private profit.

As to accusations of "second-class" citizenship, Bulgaria is not alone at all. I highly doubt you personally approved the actions of the political leaders that bought the austerity and all the bullshit associated with it. As my quote above notes, while others have "got away with it," many, many others have not.

Let's also remember that Greece was occupied by Nazi forces (no scary quotations needed) during the war. A potential family member of mine spent time in Germany's military doing said occupation.

I am curious how those that support Greece's impoverishment trisect that angle with the fact that they cannot match their currency provisions with their taxation, making them the de facto slaves to whatever currency schema to which past politicians have bound them. That doesn't seem . . . sovereign.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

So Germany will get away with getting Greece into a crisis?

I think this warrants a whole new segment of caricatures!

A skillfully invoked Nazi reference, by the way.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

So Germany will get away with getting Greece into a crisis?

GS did the "getting into;" Germany (as far as I can tell) appears to be holding the line on demanded repayment for what only could be described as imperial ambitions. As Greer defines it:

An empire is an arrangement among nations, backed and usually imposed by military force, which extracts wealth from a periphery of subject nations and concentrates it in the imperial core.

(John Michael Greer, Decline and Fall: The End of Empire and the Future of Democracy in the 21st Century America, New Society Publishers, 2014, p. 5.)

Germany lacks the military aspect of their current "wealth pump", but the fact that value is being extracted from the periphery and concentrated in their central bank—which is "European" in name only—matches exactly. They have worked hard to wrangle other states into the Euro, which common sense dictates can only be prolonged in an economic expansion.

Once the contraction came, so too came the crises. A common currency that prevents member nations from linking their currencies to their taxation and monetary policies benefits only those that control the currency. Germany can take over the wealth from every Euro nation without a shot being fired, given time.

I'm not gloating; far from it. The same GS frauds and manipulations have taken place over on this side of the Atlantic as well. How do you think the currency was allowed to balloon to bubble levels before the inevitable crash? Our monetary policies have been taken over by the banks the regulators are supposed to be regulating, just as they have in Europe.

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

Well, Goldman Sachs, while they are certainly capable of being complete slime balls, worked with the Greek government to hide about one billion Euros of Greece's debt, less than 1%. I understand that I'm supposed to stop any critical thinking once Goldman Sachs or the CIA are invoked, but why would GS, who was involved in less than 1% of the problem, be the ones who got the Greeks into this mess instead of the Greek government, who, were involved in, well, 100%?

There certainly is a bit of truth that Germany is in some ways responsible for the instability in the Euro. In fact, some of the best criticisms against austerity I've read don't call for more spending by countries like Greece and Portugal but rather by countries by Germany and Netherlands. That would create a more stable Eurozone... well, until they ended up being up to their lederhosen in debt to the Chinese, like everyone else.

Also, John Michael Greer? Really? I don't want to sound mean, but the guy is no Steve Keene.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Goldman Sach's involvement went toward the questionable when they simultaneously helped Greece create the bookkeeping and quietly shorted Greek bonds. They knew what was going to happen.

If I go to a medical professional and ask for a dodgy procedure, and rather than warn me about possible complications the doctor performs the procedure and takes out a life insurance policy on me? That's a better comparison.

No, Greer is no economist, but he does have an almost unmatched breadth of reading on such a wide range of topics that he often is able to see where too many don't even care to look. He is also more than articulate, which is rare and appreciated.

Keen? That man is mired in his own speciality so deeply he has trouble even explaining it. And that's coming from me, a guy who likes Keen.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

OK.

By the way, there's a whole new thread (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1993205.html) for discussing the Greek issue, I thought you might find it more suitable for a broader debate. Here's a thread for mocking Poor Oppressed Greece.