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Jon Stewart Explains The Greek Crisis To The Great Unwashed

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Tired of highly technical and sophisticated gobbledygook from doomers and other realists, talking about the Greek implosion in terms of CDS, liquidity freeze, Main Refinancing Operations (that is coming in the next post just after this one), FX swaps, contagion, etc? Then here is Jon Stewart to explain the Greek situation to everyone in a few short mintues. The fun starts 2 minutes into the clip.

Part 1

Part 2

And Part 3

 

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Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:49 | 1395363 JR
JR's picture

STURDYBLOG deals with the media Greek Mythology:

Greeks are lazy:  OECD data among its members show that in 2008, Greeks worked on average 2120 hours a year – 690 hours more than the average German, 467 more than the average Brit and 366 more than the OECD average. Paid leave in Greece is on average 23 days, lower than most EU countries…

Greeks retire early: "The figure of 53 years old as an average...actually originates from a lazy comment on the NY Times websidte. It was then repeated by Fox News and printed on other publications... The figure 53 is a misinformed conflation of the number of people who choose to do this (retire at 17.5 years on half benefits) and those who stay in public service until their full entitlement...the average age of exit from the labour force in Greece was 61.7; higher than Germany, France or Italy and higher than the EU27 average. Since then Greece has had to raise the minimun age of retirement twice under bail-out conditions..."

Greece is a weak economy that should never have been a part of the EU:  Greece became the first associate member of the EEC outside the bloc of six founding members (Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux countries) in 1962. It has been a member of the EU for 30 years and is classified by the World Bank as a “high income economy”;  in 2005 it boasted the 22nd highest “human development and quality of life index.” According to the University of Pennsylvania’s Centre for International Comparisons, Greece’s productivity in terms of real GDP per person per hour worked, is higher than that of France, Germany or the US and more than 20% higher than the UK’s.

The first bail-out was designed to help Greek people, but unfortunately failed: “It was not, the first bail-out was designed to stabilize and buy time for the Eurozone,” to avoid another Lehman “at a time when financial institutions were too weak to withstand it,”  i.e., buying time for the Eurozone, “but it just hasn’t been working out so well for Greece…

The second bail-out is designed to help Greek people and will definitely succeed:  “most commentators agree that this second package is designed to do exactly what the first one did: buy more time for the banks, at considerable expense to the Greek people.  There is no chance of Greece ever being able to repay its debt.  It is simply servicing interest and will continue to do so in perpetuity.”

REFERENCE: "Democracy vs Mythology: The Battle in Syntagma Square"

http://sturdyblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/democracy-vs-mythology-the-battle-in-syntagma-square/

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:05 | 1395450 jowenchrist
jowenchrist's picture

Fuck the banksters - default now Greece - again I say Fuck the Bankers and their bond holders. You win some and you lose some. You lost this one cocksucker.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:20 | 1395509 Au_Ag_CuPbCu
Au_Ag_CuPbCu's picture

Agreed!  Those tools took interest payments to compensate for risk...it went bad, so sad.  Default Greece!

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:11 | 1395465 Gully Foyle
Gully Foyle's picture

JR

Greek Mythology

The Greek Husband A young virgin marries a Greek man and before the wedding her father tells her that, being Greek, her husband may ask her to turn the other way in bed one day, but the she doesn’t have to do it if she doesn’t want to.

Sure enough, after a couple of months, her husband asks her to turn over and she says

“No, my father said I don’t have to do this.”

Her husband says ‘OK, that’s fine by me, but I thought you wanted children."

...

“On a beautiful deserted island in the middle of nowhere, the following people are stranded:

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman
2 French men and 1 French woman
2 German men and 1 German woman
2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman
2 English men and 1 English woman
2 Polish men and 1 Polish woman
2 Japanese men and 1 Japanese woman
2 American men and 1 American woman
2 Australian men and 1 Australian woman
2 New Zealand men and 1 New Zealand woman
2 Irish men and 1 Irish woman

One month later, the following things have occurred:

  • One Italian man killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.
  • The two French men and the French woman are living happily together having loads of sex.
  • The two German men have a strict weekly schedule of when they alternate with the German woman.
  • The two Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman is cleaning and cooking for them.
  • The two English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the English woman.
  • The Polish men took a long look at the endless ocean and one look at the Polish woman and they started swimming.
  • The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide, while the American woman keeps on bitching about her body being her own, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything that they can do, about the necessity of fulfillment, the equal division of household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her much nicer and how her relationship with her mother is improving. But at least the taxes are low and it is not raining.
  • The two Japanese men have faxed Tokyo and are waiting for further instructions.
  • The two Australian men beat each other senseless for the Australian woman, who is checking out all the other men after calling them both ’bloody wankers".
  • Both New Zealand men are searching the island for sheep.
  • The Irish began by dividing the island into North and South and by setting up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is in the picture because it gets sort of foggy after the first few litres of coconut whiskey, but they are satisfied in that at least the English are not getting any.

...

What’s the highest position in the Greek Navy?
Rear Admiral!

...

What do you call a Greek with 500 girlfriends?
A shepherd.

 

 

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:30 | 1395542 Hexus
Hexus's picture

What the difference between America and a yoghurt?

 

If you leave a yoghurt for long enough it will develop a culture.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:37 | 1395803 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

Gully Foyle, I am much obliged to you for those jokes!

I have sent them on (with attribution to you) to my Joke List.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:55 | 1395641 Kayman
Kayman's picture

Thanks JR

I see  2 pair of half-wits junked ya.  Guess they don't know when 2 half wits get together, it is the product of, not the sum of.

P.S. You've made Leo's day.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:50 | 1395373 vote_libertaria...
vote_libertarian_party's picture

I'll say the panic is happening when I don't see this spread:

 

Greece 2yr yield: 30.0%

US 2 yr yield: 0.3%

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:52 | 1395400 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Please don't use the words "spread" and "Greek" in the same post. You might give the TSA some ideas.

Whoops, just did. My bad.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:13 | 1395474 Gully Foyle
Gully Foyle's picture

Cognitive Dissonance

"Please don't use the words "spread" and "Greek" in the same post."

Why didn't the Greek man emigrate to America?

He couldn't leave his Brothers behind.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:38 | 1395811 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

Next time I'm at TSA outbound, I'll know who to blame!

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:46 | 1395831 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

"Not I" said papa CD.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:52 | 1395867 krispkritter
krispkritter's picture

He didn't, he used the terms "spread" and "grease", er, sorry, "Greece"...damn, I did it again...

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:50 | 1395390 Agent 440
Agent 440's picture

Capitalism failed! Except for Jon Stewart...

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:51 | 1395394 Ray1968
Ray1968's picture

fucking commercials

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:51 | 1395397 mt paul
mt paul's picture

stewart

is a ponzi clown

he has been

bought and sold...

 

 

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:56 | 1395399 CitizenPete
CitizenPete's picture

All part of the plan. 

 

Breathe the pressure
Come play my game, Ill test ya
Psychosomatic addict insane


Breathe the pressure
Come play my game, Ill test ya
Psycho-somatic addict insane

Come play my game
Inhale, inhale, youre the victim


Come play my game
Exhale, exhale, exhale

Breathe with me

Breathe the pressure
Come play my game, Ill test ya
Psychosomatic addict insane


Breathe the pressure
Come play my game, Ill test ya
Psycho-somatic addict insane

Come play my game
Inhale, inhale, youre the victim


Come play my game
Exhale, exhale, exhale

Come breathe with me
Breathe with me 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_PAHbqq-o4

 


Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:53 | 1395401 bernorange
bernorange's picture

Stewart's dept per capita figure assumes the debt is evenly carried by every living person in the USA.  If it were figured per existing or expected taxpayer base, it would be much higher.  Only half of adults are paying taxes as it is right now, right?

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:57 | 1395422 Agent 440
Agent 440's picture

Yes. Yes that's right. : )

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:45 | 1395583 Rynak
Rynak's picture

Oh, but the USA has now switched to a much fairer kind of tax.... which not just taxes every american, but actually is so egalitarian, that it will tax..... actually, everyone on the planet, more or less directly.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:05 | 1395451 Larry Darrell
Larry Darrell's picture

Debt per TAXPAYER in the grand USSA = $129,435 and climbing

 

If you have a strong stomach, check the numbers at

usdebtclock.org

 

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:57 | 1395410 g
g's picture

.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:59 | 1395416 PaperBear
PaperBear's picture

Ron Paul does not want to be corralled into these fake boxes created by the establishment.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:56 | 1395419 narnia
narnia's picture

It's remarkable that the idiots who purchased these swaps, the cronies who were given the right to create unlimited fiat out of thin air & the socialists who purchase these mistakes at 100% par avoid criticism.  Anyone focused on the lack of "regulating" this gambling/theft by the same well compensated above the law central planners who set up & perpetuate this casino has his or her head in the sand.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:45 | 1395582 Mark_BC
Mark_BC's picture

"the cronies who were given the right to create unlimited fiat out of thin air & the socialists who purchase these mistakes at 100% par avoid criticism"

You are confusing socialism with fascism. What we have is gross, snowballing wealth concentration. This is the opposite of socialism. What we are witnessing is the ultimate and inevitable end result of free market capitalism. The end first started around 1980 with Reagan's trickle down theories to reduce taxes for the wealthy. Since then wealth concentration has increased ever since. Arguably, the final end of our economic system was cast in stone long before that, when it was first conceived and designed to operate around a mondel of infinite growth in a world of finite resorces (ie, hundreds of years ago)

Socialism is the only kind of social and economic organization that has ever come remotely close to working.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:50 | 1395621 Rynak
Rynak's picture

Actually, socialism technically is nothing else than financing A via B - where A usually cannot finance itself, while B has surplus. That it morally is supposed to be done for the sake of altruism (helping the unfortunate), is ONE purpose what this "method" can be used for. But it can just as well be used for other things... like i.e., bailing out banks.

As for socialism being the only method that has become close to working: This is logically impossible. The whole point of socialism is to patch something that does NOT work on its own! Socialism comes into play, when something is not selfsustainable, but still is wanted.

What IMO is true, is that no economy can work efficiently, without in some areas making use of socialism, simply because no matter how great your model and budget is planned, never will it be in total perfect balance... that is, there will always appear at least small inconsistencies. And when you cannot totally prevent "leaks", then the only thing left to do, is to patch them, by financing A from B. This however should not be an excuse to not design things as selfsustainable as possible: Just because you can deal with failure, doesn't mean that it doesn't matter how much you fail.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:10 | 1395672 Mark_BC
Mark_BC's picture

 

I think a lot of the disagreements stem from differences in defining terms. “Socialism” can mean different things to different people. Unfortunatley the term has been demonized by the US MSM. I define it as heavily taxing the wealthy (say, 80-90% with no loopholes), and reducing taxes to the poor and middle class to virtually nothing, and also strategically imposing taxes into appropriate places to internalize the external costs associated with inefficient free markets that do not incorporate the total costs into the price, because they have been externalized onto someone else at some other time or some other place (for example, pollution from a factory that gives someone else cancer).

To me, socialism does not mean “big government”. It means that the government is elected by, and acts in the best interest of, the majority of the people who elect it. That government, not banks, would issue its own currency, debt free and interest free.

This is nothing like what we have now. We have big government that arguably wasn’t legitimately elected (a two party dictatorship does not constitute “democracy”), and the whole raison d’etre for our current governments is to siphon wealth from 99% of the population (and ultimately, from the planet that must support those people by providing natural resources) into the hands of the super wealthy, via the banking system (who issues the money) and energy industries (who control the energy needed to support economic activity). Somehow the MSM has convinced so many, and most of the participants on this forum, that this is “socialism”, when it is nothing of the sort.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:16 | 1395681 Rynak
Rynak's picture

Why do you even need to tax the wealthy so much? Why is the wealth distribution so polarized? Even with your definition of socialism, you're using it in a way to patch/compensate a discrepancy, instead of ensuring that the discrepancy doesn't exist to begin with:

In the current system, the upper class gets too much, and the lower class too little - and then the "too much" of the upper class, is transfered to the lower class, via taxes... why even give them too much to begin with then? Well, there is one thing that is achieved this way: Artificial class warfare.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 15:02 | 1395927 Mark_BC
Mark_BC's picture

But the upper class is paying some of the lowest tax rates in 100 years, so no there is no transfer of wealth from the wealthy to the poor via taxes as you are suggesting.

The wealthy need to be taxed so much because in a world of finite resources, wealth is not created, it is "taken" ... from the planet. And if the economy is no longer growing due to exhaustion of natural resources (economic growth provides wealth to the working class because extracting and processing all those resources to make things provides jobs), then any runaway wealth concentration due to low taxes for the wealthy directly implies that wealth is being taken from the low and middle classes. Taken by those who least deserve the wealth, from those who most deserve it.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 16:24 | 1396383 narnia
narnia's picture

socialism & fascism are not mutually exclusive terms.  in both, the central planners (elected or not) own the means of production.  the socialist fails miserably trying to allocate the fruits of that economy to the masses & the fasicst  fails miserably by trying to allocate the fruits of the economy to a few. both are direct opposites of free market capitalism.

the US economy has not been a free market capitalist system for a very long time (almost as if it has never been at all).  we live in a warfare / welfare majority tyranny.

if you feel like some de-programming, you may want to consider:

Socialism: An Economic & Social Analysis | Mises (http://mises.org/books/socialism/contents.aspx)

The Future of Austian Economics | Rothbard  (http://youtu.be/KWdUIuID8ag)

 

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 12:57 | 1395424 IMA5U
IMA5U's picture

it's ironic that the liberals who luv jon stewart are all greeks at heart.

pay for nothing.  but want everything.  with a pabst and iphone.

 

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:04 | 1395432 g
g's picture

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greece-tensions-escalate-labor-unions-c...

 

Good point, just what I was discussing on this other thread.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:04 | 1395434 PaperBear
PaperBear's picture

"lefty" ?

The political left was an invention of the ultra-wealthy. If you research who funded the communists in Russia you will find it was Rockefeller/Rothschild who have hundreds of trillions of dollars in wealth today.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:02 | 1395441 g
g's picture

If you research the orgins of the world 'liberal' and 'liberalism' in US history, you will find that it means that exact opposite today of its intended/original meaning. Ron Paul exemplifies the true 'liberal'

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 18:01 | 1396728 IMA5U
IMA5U's picture

there are only 2 reasons to go lefty

1) you are very rich so u can control ...

2) the very poor.   they get hooked on government

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:43 | 1395587 OldTrooper
OldTrooper's picture

The political left was an invention of the ultra-wealthy.

Actually, I blame the French for this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_left

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:05 | 1395439 IMA5U
IMA5U's picture

watching jon stewart whine about the debt per person in greece make me sick.

its the same philosophy his beloved dems follow

 

jon stewart is an a55

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:08 | 1395470 g
g's picture

He is an ass, however he is entertaining to watch. So sad that anyone thinks he is credible.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:25 | 1395518 g
g's picture

Woo whoo, JUNKS baby, must have some die hard John Stewart groupies here at ZH.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 18:25 | 1396799 The Laughing Man
The Laughing Man's picture

Agreed.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:05 | 1395440 Ricky Bobby
Ricky Bobby's picture

Can't stomach his schtick.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:07 | 1395445 Greeny
Greeny's picture

Buy, rats, we going up! *LOL*

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:07 | 1395452 No Bid
No Bid's picture

edit

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:13 | 1395472 cswjr
cswjr's picture

Red Alert, Red Alert!  Sir, some red has been spotted on the 3m /TFU0 chart!  And our regression channel R^2 since 1230 ET has dropped to 0.93.

Captain (aghast):  Scotty, give me more power!

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:16 | 1395484 Monedas
Monedas's picture

The current inhabitants of Greece have no more to do with the Acroplis and Democracy than those camel humpers along the Nile have to do with the pyramids at Gizeh ! They are flotsam and jetsam deposited after the receding Ice Age ! The descendants of the geniuses who built the pyramids are just wrapping up work on the Space Shuttle.....an even bigger make work project ! Monedas 2011 Revisiting Revisionist Remembrance

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:20 | 1395499 JR
JR's picture

What Laird Wilcox, author of The Watchdogs: A Close Look at Anti-Racist "Watchdog" Groups, applied to the Southern Poverty Law Center I ascribe to Jon Stewart:

 When you get right down to it, all the SPLC does is call people names. It’s specialized in a highly developed and ritualized form of defamation . . .

What they do is a kind of bullying and stalking . . . .

These are desperate times.  I fear as Greece goes, so goes America. To quote again from Sturdyblog who is “desperate to explain” that “the protests in Greece concern all of you directly”:

“What is going on in Athens at the moment is resistance against an invasion; an invasion as brutal as that against Poland in 1939. The invading army wears suits instead of uniforms and holds laptops instead of guns, but make no mistake – the attack on our sovereignty is as violent and thorough.  Private wealth interests are dictating policy to a sovereign nation, which is expressly and directly against its national interest.  Ignore it at your peril. Say to yourselves, if you wish, that perhaps it will stop there.  That perhaps the bailiffs will not go after Portugal and Ireland next.  And then Spain and the UK.  But it is already beginning to happen.  This is why you cannot afford to ignore these events.

“The powers that be have suggested that there is plenty to sell. Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Angela Merkel’s party, recently made the helpful suggestion that we should sell some of our islands to private buyers in order to pay the interest on these loans, which have been forced on us to stabilize financial institutions and a failed currency experiment. (Of course, it is not a coincidence that recent studies have shown immense reserves of natural gas under the Aegean sea)."

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:39 | 1395562 Mark_BC
Mark_BC's picture

I remember a couple decades ago when Canada's debt was getting out of control. It became front and center in the media for quite a while, you couldn't escape the issue. As a result, the debt problems got fixed (via the magical wonders of "economic growth", which is even less sustainable, ironically, but that is another story....) The debt issue became front page news because there was something that could be done about it. Now you don't hear so much about the debt crisis in the MSM. Because there is nothing that can be done about it.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:17 | 1395720 PenGun
PenGun's picture

 It got fixed by Jean Cretian and Paul Martin. We went through a decade of soft austerity to be where we are now.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:40 | 1395568 KickIce
KickIce's picture

Difference between US and Greece is Ben's printing press.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:52 | 1395624 Conax
Conax's picture

Jon Stewart is connected.

Larry Leibowitz is his brother, the chief of the NYSE.

 

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:10 | 1395686 JR
JR's picture

What I want to know is why Stewart is a regular feature on HuffPost? I know Sarah Palin’s picture is there every day so that she can be criticized. He’s there every day, I guess, so we can hear what his show did last night.

Could the reason be that HuffPost is owned by AOL, i.e., the entertainment industry/politically connected?

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:17 | 1395704 jomama
jomama's picture

disgusting how we watch the court jester, seeing how he seems to the only one telling anything close to the truth.

but sadly, even this is satire.  

you are correct, he's on board with the whole charade as well.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:29 | 1395771 dootyfree
dootyfree's picture

Greece > Currency USER

United States > Currency ISSUER

COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!!!

just luv it when people preach about what they do not even understand

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:36 | 1395798 The Laughing Man
The Laughing Man's picture

Stewart is just another fucking mouthpiece for the very people helping perpetrate the inevitable scamming of Greece. The guy has no credibility whatsoever and he's not even funny. There are plenty of other comedians with the exact same ideology as him and THEY can at least get a few genuine laughs on the same topics without flipping on the Laugh Sign for their audience.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:39 | 1395817 TrustMeImADoctor
TrustMeImADoctor's picture

Anyone here understands how an FX SWAP was used to hide shit? Any informed links appreciated.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 15:18 | 1395826 Monedas
Monedas's picture

The least emphasized but most common propagation of  HIV is infected semen deposited in thirsty rectums that pass it to the blood stream ! A lethal suppository ? Monedas 2011 Political Correctness Protects Greek Perversion ! There's your foreign invasion ! If someone is giving a "Barney" to someone....they are saved by their saliva and stomach acids ! The vagina is constantly flushing itself ! Hot dissolved Heroin is not a friendly environment for a virus !

If  "Big Pharma" covered up a problem the way the Left protected the gay community's role in the propagation of AIDS.....they would be sued out of existence ! How about a class action on behalf of AIDS victims against the US Department of Health and Human Services and all the other crimminally responsible parties.....including the Democrat party ?

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 17:30 | 1396624 pcrs
pcrs's picture

'due to inability to regulate, no one has a fucking idea who holds the risk of the CDS'

Ofcourse they do, no one just takes on enormous amount of risk. It's like the housing market:the tax payer holds the risk. That is why it was taken on.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 20:58 | 1397164 Buck Johnson
Buck Johnson's picture

He did a good job, very good.  Wanna bet that those swaps where sold to the banks and then the banks sold it to MMF (money market funds).  This ponzie must die and die quickly.

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 23:56 | 1397496 Element
Element's picture

Public indebtedness:

Greece = 42,566 per capita
USA = 46,129 per capita

But what's $3,563 Bernake bucks of difference really mean?

Fri, 06/24/2011 - 02:44 | 1397733 eazyas
eazyas's picture

by Turkey
on Thu, 06/23/2011 - 13:59
#1395645

+1,000. So I want to hear some nominations for "Best Truth Teller on the TV". Saying there are none is a cop out.

Max Keiser RT

Fri, 06/24/2011 - 02:52 | 1397742 Peter K
Peter K's picture

Sterward is so last year;)

Greg Gutfeld is where it's at, and besides he's much funnier;)

Fri, 06/24/2011 - 03:03 | 1397754 deadcow
deadcow's picture

The stupidity is strong in this thread. I keep picturing militia folk hidden in their basements with a couple of bean cans and some ammo waiting for the collapse of the capitalist system . And while they are absolutely right they are still monetarist red necks (which is a financial red neck so to speak).

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