Posted on 11/03/2011 6:26:25 AM PDT by John W
The Greek government teetered on the brink of collapse on Thursday over plans for a referendum on a euro zone bailout with turmoil in the ruling party casting grave doubt on whether Prime Minister George Papandreou can survive a confidence vote.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Great point!
I don’t know what the heck their PM thinks he’s doing, but if the Greeks allow the EU to shove a puppet gov’t down their throats, they can kiss what’s left of their freedom goodbye.
They won’t send their military. They have the specter of a little Austrian corporal hanging over them, and the world won’t let them forget it. After WW2, the world said (about Germany, at least), “Never again.”
“We all have to put in some effort. This is important, we cannot have the same currency, yet some have an abundance of holiday leave and others have very little, reasoned the German Chancellor.”
I don’t know how the leave breaks out in Ireland vs. Germany, but we lost large numbers of jobs to them over the last couple of years (different cities). Yes, they speak English, but their culture is completely different and their priority is not work. We in the US are no longer allowed to have a “work-life balance” or lose our jobs. They’re always on vacation or putting in just the minimum hours. So, I know how the German Chancellor feels.
Love that Aristophanes. He is the great grandaddy of all political satirists. Wonder what he’d make of the present mess in Athens.
I was in Greece as a student in the 1970s during the coup. Turkey wasted no time going into Cypress to secure the remaining areas they wanted. The same will happen now, they will obtain the neighboring island etc at any hint of a military overthrow in Greece.
The whole country is on the take. You would think it would be a land of enormous wealth with all the tourism there.
I think too, the Olympics pushed them further into debt.
Thank God, Chicago didn’t get the Summer Olympics....
lol. good one
“Ah, the Luftwaffe ... the Washington Generals of the History Channel.”
If you listen to Alex Jones' radio show he says that one of the reasons the big banks helped to drive Greece into the toilet was to allow them to buy their hotels, resorts, other assets, etc for pennies on the dollar when they collapse. The banks get bailed out for their losses by the EU and also get billions in prime Greek real estate and other goodies for next to nothing.
It's the "never let a crisis go to waste" theory. Of course, he sees a conspiracy in absolutely everything so who knows.
Just because one doesn’t see conspiracy everywhere doesn’t mean that you’re not still getting taken.
No kidding. I’m an olive oil junkie.
I also hope my local Greek restaurant will keep making their tasty, feta-loaded gyro salad. I’d hate for that to fall victim to the global meltdown.
Indeed. I believe the Greek term for those is "tourists".
The EU cannot last, it will self-destruct, or there will be a few small wars and a larger one that will spell it’s demise.
Exactly. Once the EU reved up to the silly “EURO”, all bets were off. A small country like Greece with a tourist based Socialist economy could have much more influence than it’s total worth. The EU was a big stupid mistake.
Sounds like somethign in the vein of Otto Von Bismark: The whole of the Balkans is not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier
Sometiems it seems many of the Germans, including their govt, never truly got over their nationalism and tendency to see themselves as superior to all of Europe (and the US), esp the Orthodox nations, and never really will.
So what is the unemployment in Greece, currently ? Is it over twice that of the US ? Higher ? Seems like shades of the 30s. As bad as things have been here-and it does seem like they are finally getting somewhat better, and could really look up *when* we get Obama out-the situation is orders of magnitude more dire in Europe, and worst of all in East/Southeastern Europe. And unlike in the US, it isnt looking better even a little bit.
Simple. Most people can't cope with the concept of their worst fears realized. They would just shut down. The only course of action is to believe that what they see coming isn't actually happening.
I'm preparing for an economic disaster. Food, ammo, emergency preparations. Yet, I also get up every day and (at the same time) carry on as if nothing is going to change. Life will carry on 5 years from now as it did 10 years ago. Somehow we must prepare for the best and the worst at the same time.
Only relatively speaking. Germany has much of the same problems and a debt load that is getting a lot less attention than it warrants. And demographic problems that are very serious.
“If you listen to Alex Jones’ radio show he says that one of the reasons the big banks helped to drive Greece into the toilet was to allow them to buy their hotels, resorts, other assets, etc for pennies on the dollar when they collapse. The banks get bailed out for their losses by the EU and also get billions in prime Greek real estate and other goodies for next to nothing.”
That sounds exactly like the USA. Banksters with the help of DC pols drive the economy into the toilet; taxpayers are forced to bail them out; and then they come back in and buy up OUR public assets at yard sale prices using our money. It’s happening all over the USA, just not being reported in a consolidated manner by our media. The Russian oligarchs did the same in Russia.
The Icelanders were the smart ones but they had a right of referendum that we Americans don’t and they were not in the EURO. They told the bankrupt bankers to take their debts and stick them where the sun doesn’t shine. They made it the banks problem not Icelanders. The UK and others (Fed?) ended up covering losses for the banker thieves. Now they are attempting to suck them into the Euro-zone and steal their sovereignty.
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