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Greek Attempt To Storm Parliament Rebuffed, 3 People Dead At Greek Bank Fire - The Revolution will Be Webcast
For those without access to CNN or BBC, you can watch the attempted storming of the Greek parliament live at this webcast. After confrontations got heated earlier with tear gas hot potatoes being thrown between citizens and riot police, things have moderated somewhat now, although riot police has still completely encircled the parliament building. Full link here. In the meantime, we are seeing confirmed reports that 3 people have died after a firebomb went off at a Marfin bank branch.
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Portugal on downgrade review by Moody's.
The Contagion started with the US consumer no longer taking on debt in 2008 at the rate needed. Once the rate needed was not given, the system that appeared to be solvent were shown to be insolvent.
The system has been insolvent since day #1, the books never balance. The books only appear to balance as long as the equation is being supplied new fresh credit at an exponential rate.
Nice little protest, let me know when they are throwing people out windows.
"Nice little protest, let me know when they are throwing people out windows."
I'm sympathetic to normal Americans who watched the top bankers rob their country blind. That is not Greek problem. Greece is overrun with government employees - more than they can even count - who have guaranteed everything (jobs, pay, bonuses). Corruption is rampant; not just limited to a few elite.
Everyone robbed the till there.
In the words of Paul Vitti, after receiving an explanation of the Oedipus Complex, "Fuckin' Greeks."
This should be a reminder to Lloyd to have that Jetpack ready to go on the roof when this kind of anger turns toward banks here. American citizens know exactly who bankrupted us and exactly who has been and is profiting. And they have names to match.
Americans should look in the mirror just like the Greeks should be doing. You build a system on a lie(interest rate model) it will fail every time. Trying to find a scape goat seems kind of futile.
the problem is fiat money and fractional reserve banking -
not "the banks"
now that it is clear that the 300 year old pyramid scheme is collapsing - and also clear that government and financial leaders REFUSE TO UNDERSTAND what is happening - there's nothing left to do but prepare for Mad Max.
The fractional system is the banks. (I should say banking) they have the ability to create wealth by lending money they don't have.
Fiat has nothing to do with... systems have been collapsing for 1000s of years... lending and borrowing at a rate interest will do it every time.
The system ran out of gold and silver to support the system long ago.
"fractional reserve" has nothing to do with it, you can't lend out what is suppose to be in the vault.
I lend my gold or silver out at a rate of compounding interest, everyone else does the same thing, you get about 60-80 years down the road... collapse.
I'm not sure who is junking Mako and I don't agree with everything he says, but he correctly identifies the root cause of the problem/Ponzi:
That is all one needs to know to understand the pickle we are in.
No, this is not true. If EVERYONE lends out their gold and silver, then interest rates fall to zero, because no-one wants gold or silver (by definition, because everyone has lent it out, even those who got it on loan). The amount received in interest on the sum total of lent gold/silver is proportional to the amount of gold or silver spent on consumption. This is how the free market sets interest rates. When interest gets too high, more people will loan their money. When the interest rate is too low, there isn't any interest in making loans.
The problem that Mako sees is one that stems from the Federal Reserve artificially setting interest rates.
>I'm not sure who is junking Mako and I don't agree with everything he says, but he correctly identifies the root cause of the problem/Ponzi:
>>I lend my gold or silver out at a rate of compounding interest, everyone else does the same thing, you get about 60-80 years down the road... collapse.
Again... no clue. Interest is not a Ponzi scheme.
In lending, one charges interest in exchange for a known risk of default. The lender values the possible interest as outweighing the risk of default, while the borrower perceives the immediate access to money as outweighing the need to pay interest. It is a mutual exchange not based on fraud.
In a Ponzi scheme a con artist defrauds people by making them think it is safe to invest, when he knows it is manifestly unsound and logically guaranteed to collapse. This is a criminal act.
"I lend my gold or silver out at a rate of compounding interest, everyone else does the same thing, you get about 60-80 years down the road... collapse. "
You couldn't be more wrong.
Assume that the total quantity of gold is constant. (It really isn't, since it is slowly mined.) And there's a total of 100 tons. You have 50 tons and I have 50 tons. Assume further that we lend *all* of it out. (Possible, but unrealistic.) I lend mine out at interest on a ill-fated project and only get 40 tons back. Meanwhile, you lend yours out on a successful project and get 60 tons back. Because of my bad decision, the scope of my lending business is reduced. Conversely, your scope is increased. This is precisely how capitalism is supposed to work. How precisely is this a collapse? How can 100 tons of gold "collapse"? It is simply rearranged.
Now, if I created countless phony tokens (say, green pieces of toilet paper) that were purportedly back by gold, as part of a Ponzi scheme, there would be a collapse when the fraud is ultimately revealed. The problem in this case is obviously to be blamed on criminal acts, not on rates of interest voluntary agreed by two parties where the lender knowingly takes on a risk of default.
There is nothing per se wrong with fractional reserve banking and the system worked quite well for about 275 of the 300 years. It was the securitization trick that allowed the pyramid to be built. I strongly recommend this article to anyone who wants to understand how the banking pyramid game works and how securitization enabled the banks to lend in excess of 1000% against their reserves.
http://gregpytel.blogspot.com/2009/04/largest-heist-in-history.html
It's the attachment of interest, not fractional reserve that is the issue.
Usually you get about 60-80 years then it collapses due to humans unable to expand.
No, it's the attachment of interest for the benefit of private parties aka banksters. The attachment of interest working for the common good allows for a tax free society. Ben Franklin's ideas not mine, but I do agree.
All have benefited, but it comes at a price... a balloon payment from hell.
As soon as you and millions and billions continue to think you can lend and borrow at a rate of interest, you can expect collapse at the end of the line. This system is just like the system before, and the system before that, and the system before that, etc. Even before things called banks even existed.
I recommend the book by Huerta De Soto on the Mises site: Money, Banking, and the Business Cycle (or something very close to that). That might get y'all started on understanding these interesting concepts and their impact on society.
Some benefit massively more than others......all systems are born, grow, and die. A fiat or virtual currency system is like a pet dog, or a car. They're great, but you will probably out live them.
Nobody complains about other finite, with a shelf life, systems like autos, washing machines, dogs, and what not? (ok maybe some complain about marriage) Why money systems? My problem is not that they will inevitably fail, what doesn't, my problem is with whom the system is ultimately benefitting to a usurious degree.
This place, this samsara, this cause and effect, supply and demand, a sea of endless change. The only rule being the duality of this and that, positive and negative, up and down. Nothing will ever last in this place, it cannot. The infinite cannot be asked of this place. You ask too much. Our species is not evolved enough for infiite thought, at an economic level, if we were we would have been treating each other how we wanted to be treated long long ago.
I think where we can agree is that we do not like the fuckers just up the river bend that are controlling and polluting the water. I think we can agree that the water should be to our peoples' benefit; yours and mine not the super slim minority. I think we can decide whether a running river or a lake system are more to our purpose after we take care of the bankster/corpo/political complex siphoning, rationing, and shitting in our waters upstream. No?
The asset backed currency system is as dangerous as a virtual/fiat/pyramid currency system. I really don't care which one we get, both are prone to manipulation. I argue an asset backed currency, a world currency, backed by basket of commodities (not just gold or silver) would be the best if we go that direction. Something like a currency attached to a commodity index fund, but a currency. If we go fiat/virtual redux, they system should be nationalized, fully transparent, and monetary and fiscal policy should be by and for the people. It really matters not though, which one we get. Our system is being parasited to death, most likely on purpose. We are being robbed, endebted, and enslaved. Can we talk about currency philosophy later, before they finish demolition of the current system, and institute another system to their liking because we are to busy conjecturing?
There is a way, one way, we do this peacefully. We do nothing. A sit in at home. If enough people did this, it would bring full seizure. Pair this activity strike with a list of common sense demands, a decent sized minority of the population, and we will hold our government hostage to our bidding; as it should be.
Mako, do you believe a system without interest would be sustainable? I envision that as a disasterous idea...people borrow money and only have to repay the principle over time. The risk is 100% on the lender, with no ability for the lender to protect themselves from default risk. There would be no lending.
Interest isn't the problem. All our problems can be boiled down to: parties want all of the reward, none of the risk. Securitization, PMI, CDS, they all have the same problems.
For thousands of years people mostly did not lend. They invested. They didn't loan money to a trader who sailed the world. They invested directly in that business and got a dividend as a result. People forget that throughout most of history, even our own, most wealth was created on the back of the dividend, not on the back of interest rates.
Banks, in their modern form, arose in the late middle ages. Interest itself is totally unnecessary. If a business model is not attractive enough for you to invest in purely to receive the dividend as a result then maybe that business shouldn't get a shot at your savings, huh?
Further, economists, quants, and other people with their brains buried in financial mythology continue to believe in the fallacy of infinite growth, because that is precisely what a sustainable system based on interest must inevitably be. That's a flat out lie and anyone who believes it is not even remotely capable of having a rational conversation on the topic to begin with. It's like talking to someone who believes in fairies who put quarters under pillows. You can't even have a rational discussion with such a person. Neither is it possible to have a rational discussion with people who believe that interest is "sustainable". Those people are so deeply caught in the mental trap of their own world view that they are incapable of stepping back and evaluating facts.
This is part of why economics is not a real science. It's a fake science. Economics does not follow the scientific method at all. It produces no falsifiable thesis nor does it every reject a thesis that does fail. Instead, idiots like Krugman just spin their thesis a different way to account for totally contradictory data.
This isn't even odd, though it may sound that way to some here. In anthropology we routinely see groups of homo sapiens, from the tribal level to the large civilization level, place their faith in ideas that are later easily disproven. And this faith remains intact, even as things begin to fall apart, because they can externalize the failings and believe that somehow, some way, if they just get back to the faith of their forefathers everything will be ok.
The vast majority of cases of human civilizations end catastrophically precisely because of this unwillingness to assess data scientifically and consider radical changes to fit reality rather than preconceived notion. Only rarely have civilizations said, no, this is wrong and we have to change.
Failure to accept the above points means that you and I simply cannot have a rational conversation on this topic. That's ok, but downrating someone because they post an idea that "believers" find objectionable is the same sort of thinking that led to burning women at the stake for witchcraft in the middle ages. (NOTE: I am not accusing you of downrating, Tortfeasor. That is a general comment aimed at people who think interest based systems are ok and therefore downrate anyone who says otherwise.)
There are too many closed minds in the financial world and as long as they remain closed, no true science of resource management (because that is fundamentally what economics pretends to be) can ever arise to supplant the voodoo that we carried out of the caves.
+1 Finally someone talking sense. The rest of you should go think about what you are said that does not reflect physical reality and historical patterns.
There is a real world out there, and in the end your imagination will not carry the day.
"This is part of why economics is not a real science. It's a fake science. Economics does not follow the scientific method at all. It produces no falsifiable thesis nor does it every reject a thesis that does fail. Instead, idiots like Krugman just spin their thesis a different way to account for totally contradictory data."
Sounds like you've been fed Keynesian B.S. No wonder you're confused. Try picking up a good book on the Austrian School. For example, Human Action by von Mises http://mises.org/humanaction/pdf/humanaction.pdf. The Austrian School of economic science establishes theorems of apodictic certainty.
Apodictic certainty is a philosophical construct, not part of science, thus you've just demonstrated my point for me. You are "certain" of your Austrian school of economics, yet science is never "certain" of anything. Real scientists present theories, which are falsifiable, and then test those theories attempting to falsify them. Yes, real scientists try to disprove themselves. It's when they fail in that attempt that they believe they have a theory upon which further assertions can be built and tested in order to explain ever more complex phenomenon. But at any point where actual data refutes the theory, the theory has to be disassembled down to the level of the failure and a new theory put forth to account for the new actually observed facts.
No school of economics does this, not even the Austrian school. And that is why economics is not science. It's faith, the modern man's replacement for religious faith. It's still all faith though.
You, of course, are entitled to your faith. I am not, however, required to pretend that faith is the same thing as science, no matter how much you wish to insist otherwise.
Based on your narrow-minded view that only theories falsifiable in a laboratory are "scientific" and acceptable, and aprioristic theories are to be rejected, we'd have to reject logic, mathematics (the "Queen of the Sciences"), and economics. Any scientist employing mathematics must be regarded as a faith-based, pseudoscientific crank.
Unfortunately, one cannot bring numbers, logical propositions, or historical market participants into a laboratory and perform falsifiable experiments. If I bring a liter of water and a liter of wine into a laboratory, then I will see that they do not combine to form two liters. But this experiment deals with volumes of liquid, not with numbers per se. It cannot falsify 1+1=2.
By offering logical argumentation you are undermining yourself. You are demonstrating your own "faith" in non-"scientific", non-"certain" logic. By using arguing as a means to achieve a certain end (denegrating economics) you are demonstrating purposeful, human action, one of the foundations of economics. Your arguments are self-defeating.
Scientific induction can be used to help pick out one of several competing theories for practical purposes, but as you point out, it cannot establish truth with certainty. And neither can it be used to refute self-evident truths and deduced theorems.
Sorry.. duplicate post
>Usually you get about 60-80 years then it collapses due to humans unable to expand.
Don't lie, your mom has been expanding for at least that long.
Thanks Mitchman.
This time of human history is described by the word Koyaanisqatsi, which comes from the American Hopi Indian language. It translates as "life of moral corruption and turmoil" or "life out of balance." Another paradigm of command and control is emerging. Certain nations and people will have to accept their position in this structure. Some could even call these present days the early messianic era of humankind...
May I suggest a Martin Jetpack?
http://www.martinjetpack.com/
Neat!
For Lloyd, I recommend this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyD4qkVrAhc&feature=related
Very neat but it looks a bit uncomfortable for the family jewels. And I assume you won't hear much for a few days after each flight.
What?
I SAID.........never mind, forget it. :>)
Those are great when you are going someplace crowded and you have gas.
If you noticed, they are running "Dancing With The Stars" a few more times a week lately.
The Sheeple will stay put in front of the flat screen with a bucket of "The Colonel". Lloyd will be fine.
Anarchy Burger (hold the government)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGiEmBy5jD8
Burning down banks? Can we move that idea to the US?
Unfortunately, they seem to only be focusing on the branches and going after some poor terrified and undereducated branch manager where they should be focusing on the building with the trading desk.
To quite Rham, Americans would need to 'take their tampons out' first.
It appears that nearly 10% of the entire Greek population has turned out to protest.
Say what you want about lazy Greeks but they certainly understand the concept of civil protest. In America, civil protest is changing the potato chip brand you usually purchase in protest when it has too many burned chips in one bag.
Yep, looks to be all over bar the shouting for the EU. Won't take long for Asia/US to follow.
Those treasuries are starting to look mighty fine at 3.5% - 4.2% yield, so is the dollar. For now, for now. We all know that will, at some point, change.
Looks like commodities (except gold/silver) are going to get "their cascade on" soon too.
American protests these days seem to feature the politically uneducated ("UM, lessee, now, is he a Fascist or a Commie or both?") milling around in support of policies which will preserve the status quo of the wealthiest.
in america you need a "derogatory" political theory and a chant. "Drill Baby Drill"
They are finally activated when they have been told they are dying of cancer. Unfortunately their understanding of the issues makes them prey for "agents de provocatuer" who run the show in these types of deals. Let's storm the Bastille, Parliament, etc (seen that move eh? know the result [welcome our new Fearless Leader: Furious Olympus /pardon I am not good with fake humorous Greek names/]).
Have fun with the strings from above!
"In America, civil protest is changing the potato chip brand you usually purchase in protest when it has too many burned chips in one bag." I will be using this in my rants and ignorant family and friends. thanks cd!
Unless everyone wants to go back to an era of tribal pre-industrial primitivism a viable banking system is necessary to the healthy functioning of the world economy. Of course there have been obscene abuses of power and instances of corruption in the sector. However an objective audit is required combined with a viable reform plan. Regulation and oversight is required. The world needs more good bankers motivated by the idea of public service not personal gain. We should not throw the financial baby out with the bathwater.
The latter stages of Keynesian economics and all its "glory."
I think you should check your spelling... I think you meant "gory."
Zorba The Greek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeNsr_nQEfE
And the EUR broke below 1.29...
this reminds me of NYC back in June 2010....ooops. Pretend you didn't read that.
The difference with the Greek and the Americans is that the Greek are not afraid of their Government.
I second the motion.
But maybe the Greeks could be made to fear the American Government.
Goes for Europe as a whole actually. Give us our IPods, J-Crew, MacDonalds and Gap, and we're fine....until we're not.....
yep - they aint got tasers and aint got no gitmo. How ya gonna scare the sheeple?
I'm not afraid of the government. I am , however, afraid of taking myself out of the fight before it gets started. The problem with Americans is not that they are afraid of their gov't, it's that there is never enough of the un-afraid ones, in one spot at any given time who are armed to the teeth and ready to start the fight.
the problem with 'merikans is the VAST majority DO NOT CARE.
...or plates
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” - Aristotle
There is a vast difference between good government and bad government. Protesting that leads to the death of fellow countrymen is a terrible consequence of incorrectly displaced anger. Anger is an energy. How we direct it and how it affects our consciousness, mindset and worldview is the key. People must respect and fear good authority. The global command structure has pressure points. Greece is presently one of those. A massive shift in identity is sweeping the Aegean.
Lets try to report it.
A line of 20 pure-blooded Spartans courageously hold against the vile assault of degenerated Athenians assembled in a mob.
Nothing more. Face it, there is more passion (and more police force to exert crowd control) for a local football derby game.
Last week G-Pap was in a store in my neck of the woods, shopping for a bicycle.
Three dead.
Expect to see a lone cyclist making a break for it.
G-Pap making his escape.
Dammit, he's still here... talking in Parliament (17:20 Athens time) about the plight of those who see their pensions cut (!!)... survival of democracy, social cohesion etc etc.
Like a middle school essay.
It's called "talking for the history books."
Doesn't matter if what you say changes nothing, it will go down in the history books that he was a statesman to the end.
Historians love that kinda crap. The historians are why we never learn anything of value from history.
Papandreou must somehow try and unite the Greeks and appeal to their sense of common brotherhood. The Orthodox Church has a great role to play here. Appealing to and obeying a higher G-d and his righteous servants would help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhbrLjcAPw0
bring on project mayhem
Anarchy will get you nowhere. People find it hard to submit and obey. Sometimes they just have to pull their heads in however.
I went 'all in' on the S&P on Harry's advice for a bounce back from yesterday's low. :)
(I could choose to either by food for my kids or gamble at the casino. I chose to gamble.)
Ya all better hope for the afternoon run up then. Futures are in the tank.
LOL
You're such a degenerate gambler. :>)
Psst, what's the next support level?
Help us out Harry what's the support? A 'friend of mine' needs try to win his money back.
dey aint got no IRS , aint got no homeland security. How ya gonna keep dem riff-raff scared and sitting in front of their TVs with a can o beer and some cheese doodles?
More video
http://www.fundmymutualfund.com/2010/05/video-at-least-3-dead-in-greek.html
BBC News and Sky News are doing much better coverage than CNN... well after all its "only Europe" so it barely matters to CNN.
Funny how it looks just like Buenos Aires a few years back...
Ahh those plucky Greeks. Home of democracy. Home of Solon, he who freed ancient Athenians from debt.
And now home to plucky freedom fighters, fighting for their right to have their lifestyle subsidized by the Huns and the Yanks.
How do you own disorder?
Toxicity - System of a Down
Yet Gold is down. I thought civil unrest is good for Gold? LMFAO!!!!
So, someone explain to me why the police are bothering to stand up to this?
If I were those guys, I think I'd have to see if I could get a good price for the nice shiny car they issued me.
The policemen's union for got to tell them to strike.
Anyone heard from Wanker this morning. Perhaps he is busy buying @ the 1168 level.
Greeks have lived in a fantasy land. Now, they are moving to a reality.
The Greece situation could not go forever (similar to the present Obama and the FED money printing & spend economics).
As I can see it, let Greek people work out their "differences" with their government and their political system. The proposed bailout will just postpone the time for structurally changing the entire Western World fiat-currencies based economies desperately need.
Ya an entire nation of 25 year olds living off 800 euros a month who can't afford to move out of their parents house. It's a real fantasy land. I want to go to school till 3 pm then pay hundreds of euros a month for a tutor to study till 11 pm so I can "pay my tribute to the economic gods" and get a good job. They need to get out of this fantasy of an easy life and live with a real live sustainable model of slavery.
Wont squeeze as much real value as now...To get the best out of it, you have to put the limits, put the body on the line.
Sustainability does not squeeze as much as unsustainability.
Idle hands are the devils playground. God hates lazy people. They don't have anything to steal.
REVOLUTION! - The US needs one.
Most Americans live in a fatasy, ignorant to what it took to start the country.
If a leg is gangrene, you amputate.
America is completely redeemable. The truly great U.S.A. is a completely different kettle of fish than Greece. Comparing the two is like looking for the similarities between a classic 1967 Mustang Fastback and a Trabant.
I'm rooting for the people to shitcan their governments and start over. Default=revolution!
As mentioned, at least the Greeks are not afraid of their Government like us pussys here in the states.
It is madness, this is sparta:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvYZRskNV3w
actually i believe they have moved on to WTF BOOM
yea where is Harry, his fantasy support levels are always good for a giggle.
Actually black ops dis-info specialist Wanger was spot on for support levels TA speaking. They just weren't holding for long. One must always weave generous helpings of reality into the fantasy to make it more believable.
The real question is where do we go after the inevitable rebound from this (first) sell off? Can the bulls (read the Treasury/Fed minions) rally back to higher highs, which is the only thing that will convince people the bull is still alive, or will it roll over and dive to lower lows?
IMHO the market wants to sell off just like the market wanted higher highs since the Jan sell off. The question is who is the market this time around. The Treaserve has some paper to sell over the summer before the rocket is lit once again for the silly season elections in Nov.
Hey right for 12 milliseconds is still right.
ATHENS IN BAILOUT LAND:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/05/athens-in-euroland.html
LOL
"If you don't know where you are going......any road will get you there."
"Say hello to the bailout Queen."
Brilliant!
News from Greece:
A multi-leveled power game in Greece. Economical, political, etc.
Men with covered heads, the so called antiauthoritarians, threw a bucket of gasoline in Marfin Bank. 3 dead people. MarfinBank's owner had accused Gvnt officials for corruption.
Ansestors of political anomaly, the most corrupted of all, that led to coup d'etat of 67 try to hold power. Antiauthoritarians try to provocate workers that demonstrate against extreme poverty PEACEFULLY.
A pathetic PM promises prosperity with new austerity measures. Democracy is in trouble in Greece.
What are the gun laws on the islands?
Military alert in Greece!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"But they are behaving like buzzards — the Germans borrow money at 3 percent and then lend it to us for 5. Why?"
Wow. You're complaining over a 200 bps spread...wow.
Political liquidation in Greece.
Everything is possible. Even a Gvnt colapse.
"Let them eat Baklava"...
I wish Americans had the balls the Greeks do.
People demonstrated PEACEFULLY.There was no intention for violance.
Antiauthoritarian teroristic grours murdered 3 workers in a bank.
Gvnt propably can not pass the measures due to lack of majority in Parliament.
Media (private TV stations) care about if the murderers wore gloves or not. They try to sease every voice of the demonstrators. They say that the money of IMF and EU are GIFTED in Greece.
A major political eruption comes as Gvnt is on the edge of political legitimacy according to the Constitution.
Facist governments need to be called out worldwide. The people running the governments should be sent to jail for TREASON.
The USA is a true world leader. Greek hegemony on the world stage peaked many philosophers ago.
The MATURITY WALL - This is the hurdle of old debt rollover that is facing us collectively right now, where all of the world's present saving must be compelled into the interest payments alone on the old debt. Talk about the unproductive and inefficient use of savings! What I can tell you is it ain't gonna happen. The system cannot be saved at this point.
Wonder what percentage of rioters are Greeks? It's been the incubator of global anarchy. Most Greeks in NY are hard working restaranteurs.
These deaths are terrible.
Papendreou will have to unite the people somehow. Belt-tightening will be required. Tourism will continue to the islands. The Defence Budget should be reduced. (Distrust of Turkey is endemic however in all age groups. This attitude seems to be entrenched as is evidenced by the Cyprus imbroglio. You can lead a Greek horse to peaceful waters but you can't make him drink.) Corruption should be cracked down on. The Black Economy should be mopped up and the shadow money directed into the legitimate tax base. Corruption is rife. (Is it true that people have to pay "fakelakis" for upgraded hospital treatment ?)
Diaspora Greeks will not reach into their pockets to bail out their cousins. (Nana Mouskouri's effort is noble but insignificant as she is in a different situation than most. When push comes to shove people tend to worry about their own backyard.) They sympathise but would only respond financially or physically if Greece was attacked in a war situation. The Orthodox Church still holds a lot of sway in the country. If the Patriarch comes out and supports the government's moves and advises his underlings to do the same the religious base will respond. The students feel they are untouchable. The anarchists and groups like November 17 et al. are the real dangerous fire starters. The Unions and Public Service have become way too comfortable. There are many hard-working, decent, law-abiding, taxpaying private sector citizens. The police and judiciary must be respected. The military should sit things out and worry about national security. The EYP, Εθνικ? Υπηρεσ?α Πληροφορι?ν, have their hands full and are waking up to prevailing power structures. The CDS traders and foreign bankers are not the cause of the problems.