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Not Exactly The Greek Orthodox
From Mark Grant, author of Out Of The Box
Not Exactly The Greek Orthodox
God asked Adam, "What's wrong?" Adam replied, "I'm lonely." So God said: "Adam, I will make you a partner. She will wash and cook and clean for you, she will listen to what you have to say and never interrupt you. She won't nag you about your actions and she will even bear your children. She will stay loyal to you and never be influenced by other men." So Adam asked, "Well, what's his gonna cost me?"
“An arm and a leg,” said God. Then Adam asked, "Well what can I get for a rib?" And the rest is history. It is always the history that matters; if you pay attention.
It has been almost three years since I said that Greece would go bankrupt. I first made that pronouncement on January 13, 2010 and advised exiting the credit. The yield on the Greek ten year was 4.38%. Lots of water underneath the bridge since then. Greece has made a second run at it, Portugal plunged into the rapids, Ireland grabbed its banks and headed over the falls and now Greece is about to take a third try at obliteration. I have stated and long held the view that Greece would keep on with it until the very last Euro that could be soaked from Europe was handed out and then the game would stop. The idiocy of those on the Continent hiding behind a united Eurozone that was locked and everlasting and inscribed in the Last Rite books in Heaven has played out far longer than common sense would dictate but it is politics here and fanciful dreams and the normal judgment utilized for bankruptcies has been cast aside again and again as the debts grew and as the uncounted liabilities became real liabilities and as the word “contingent” became meaningless while the nations of Europe turned a blind eye and ignored it all the best they could.
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
-Aldous Huxley
Given the length of time that has passed the markets are mostly immune now, deadened by some kind of economic Novocain where there is little feeling left and where the ECB’s “Save the World” rhetoric overshadows all issues and problems and so the prevailing attitude is “Yes, there is Greece; but it doesn’t matter.” I am afraid that this will not be the case in the coming weeks and that Greece will matter once again as the severity of the situation rises anew and like the Gorgon and their quite ugly heads will be revealed once again. You may recall the tale of the three sisters where Stheno and Euryale were immortal but their sister Medusa was not and she was slain by the mythical demigod Perseus. I fear that the immortals are about to be slain next and it could come in a number of ways.
“One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries.”
-Winnie the Pooh
The IMF has suggested that Europe take the pain and Europe is refusing and so the IMF may decide not to fund and leave the nations on the Continent to their own designs. Any extensions in terms will require another $40 billion give or take and some countries might actually refuse to participate as a matter of national politics. Greece, itself, may not be able to take the pressure of the austerity measures demanded as the coalition government topples and during the call for new elections defaults and throws the financial system of the world into havoc. It will be systemic, have no fear, if Greece defaults, it will not be an isolated incident because the size of their total debt now exceeds $1.5 trillion which is the number you get if you count what should be counted and not some far lesser number provided by the EU when they pick and choose what they count and with great care and with obvious deficiency.
“If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening; be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
-A.A. Milne, the author of Mr. Pooh & friends
If there are ten tanks lined up against you on the battlefield and you radio back to headquarters that the enemy only has six tanks that is your decision but then don’t be surprised when the other four tanks start firing shells into your position. “Watch out for all of the tanks shells,” would be my warning!
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You didn't build this, Krugman did.
I read a Greek blog the other day...the guy was saying that Greece has not "cut" anything yet....what they have cut is future projects and off site expenses...but salaries, pensions, selling public entities..none of that has happened..its still a Socialist paradise and I bet they are paying themselves all of their vacations and even pensions up front now...
Their oil supplies have been cut off. "and then it's gone" comes next.
Release the Kracken...
I'm still noodling the question, "at what point are you done being led as a group of any people? How bad do your leaders have to screw you before you're willing ready and able to say, yeah, let's not do that again?"
The Greek blog you read is simply giving false information.
yeah ,well try a more accurate blog mate.
Now that's what I'm talking about, obscure comparisons.
Beats the shit out of storm ones.
medusa wasn't slain by anyone. perseus just knocked her into the next millenium or two as evidenced by hillary clinton.
the face yes, guardian, protectus - not so much
Aaaaaand there we have it. Another economy boosting (not)48hr strike by Greek workers announced for next week. That should please the Troika no end.
Those boys sure do love strikin' over there.
I feel so sorry for the Greek people - billions and billions of Euros being printed and ordinary people don't see a penny of it. Shameful. I mean how insolvent can the banks really be FFS??!!
Bring on Nov 12th - although I dare say it'll be yet more rhetoric, postponing and continuation of this insane slow motion car crash.
Where'd you find that college picture of Steve Jobs?
Added to this is the way we keep being lied too about what will happen. This was exposed brilliantly earlier by the article below which took us back to what the Greek govenment forecast only 16 months ago. Economic growth in 2012?!
"June 2011
If we take Kylie Minogue’s advice and “Step Back in Time” to June 2011 we can see a clear example of what I mean. Here is the Medium Term Financial Strategy of the Greek government.
If you look back I questioned the numbers for the first quarter of 2011 at the time and pointed out that they were likely to be misleading. However the MTFS made no such allowance and projected a rose-tinted forecast off them.
Meanwhile in the real world
From the Greek statistics office
So the Greek economy shrank at double the rate expected."
http://notayesmanseconomics.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/are-greeces-new-economic-forecasts-as-rose-tinted-as-the-previous-ones/
Salaries and pensions have fallen substantially in the past 2 yeras in Greece.
..the problem is that extreme austerity is choking the economy.
Nothing stirs here,...the market is totally dead.
Grexit is the only solution
Grant is right about the total cost of a Greek default, which is exactly why Europe is not about to allow this event to occur. Even a politician knows that $40bn is less than $1.5tr. Eventually, Greece will go boom but not today.
http://dareconomics.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/greek-coalition-may-fall-af...
When do people waiting for the Banksters to get screwed by Greece officially join the ranks of Chicago Cub and Cleveland Brown fans?
Ancient Greece gave us western civilization, modern Greece - take it back bitchez
The Ancinet Greeks learned their math and science from the Egyptian mystery schools.
As The Person who first put a Greek collapse on the map in the public domain (Seeking Alpha, three years ago and before this site was created) I can say with absolute certainty "its collapse does not matter" (as I have also stated here and elsewhere over the past many months) as it is a strictly euro event. "Europe" will simply default on all euro denominated assets...."and that will be that." Hold WORKING dollar denominated assets (US equities are top of the list...gold futures, oil futures, nat gas plays...of course) and I really fail to see how you fail "ala New York City and Wall Sreet."
The sooner Greece leaves the Euro the sooner the Greek government can start issuing its own currency and the sooner we will all see that the entire Euro crisis was created by the Rothschild zionists as an asset stripping attack directed against the people of Europe....and then with a bit of luck justice will start to be delivered...
"I fear that the immortals are about to be slain next and it could come in a number of ways."
Mark, immortals may give up their immortality and die (Chiron), but they are never slain.
A sweet tasting poison meme.
The phrase "Come on." People say it all the time. (Join the herd.)
An, an arm and a leg, eh? So this is a British sexist joke as I suspect that quite a few Yanks have never heard the expression (it means 'a lot') and those that don't know what it means will take it literally, oh yes, even in this 'comical' setting which then spoils what humour there was in the joke (not much) in the first place.
What if Adam had said:'Hmmm, so what do I get for a little toe?', or even: 'What do I get for my toe-nail clippings?' The latter is what I imagine he would have said. The rest, presumably, would have been non-history, I suppose. Also, if Adam is the lazy slob as portrayed here, why on earth would he want children? All good jokes have their own internal logic, so by this test, the joke fails miserably…
I as say, it is sexist plus it is blatantly anti-women, and so it fails on that score, too.
An arm and a leg. It is in absolutely no way at all a sexist phrase and appears to be of American origin:
"It is in fact an American phrase, coined sometime after WWII. The earliest citation I can find is from The Long Beach Independent, December 1949:"
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/arm-and-a-leg.html
To get the full effect, read the whole thing without stopping. From Gold Turkey: National Lampoon Radio Hour/Greatest Hits:
A man walks into a nightclub with a beautiful girl on his arm
The show begins and the comedian comes out for his first show of the evening
The comedian says "A man walks into a nightclub with a beautiful girl on his arm
The show begins and the comedian comes out for his second show of the evening.
The show begins and the comedian says "A man walks into a nightclub with a beautiful girl on his arm"
Just then a man in the front row stands up and says "I think I've heard this before"
The comedian says "Well maybe you caught my first show of the evening"
The man says "No, I just walked in here"
The comedian says "Well it was a guy looked just like you walked in with a beautiful girl on his arm could have been your twin brother"
The man says "My twin brother's dead"
The comedian says "What is this, a wake?"
The man says "I don't have to stand for this"
And he stands up and he walks outside
And the comedian says "Are you out there? I can hear you breathing."
The man says "I'm holding my breath"
The comedian says "Well I'm holding you wife"
Just then the man says "That's not my wife"
And he walks back into the nightclub with another beautiful girl on his arm
"Who's that lady I'm seeing you with" the comedian says
The man says "This is my wife. That other lady is my dead twin brother's wife
You can take her if you want her"
And the comedian says "Not unless you say please"
Just then, a man walks into a nightclub with a tatoo of a beautiful girl on his arm eating elbow macaroni.
The comedian says "Is that girl from Italy?"
The man says "No just hungry"
Just then a man walks into the nightclub, he comes riding into the nightclub, on a pony, with a feather stuck into his hat
"What do you call that?" the comedian asks
"An entrance" the man says "But forget that"
Just give me a beer and give my pony a jockey"
The bartender says "I think that pony's had enough already"
"Well make it a short jockey" the man says
"And while you're at it give that lady's lawyer some briefs"
The lady stands up and says "I can defend myself, your Honor"
And the lawyer says "But I'll defend her honor, your Honor"
The judge says "Well on her or off her, make up your mind"
The comic says "Definitely on her, that's the best offer I've had all day"
"Well take it or leave it" says the Judge
"Couldn't we just drop it?" says the comedian
He says "You better drop leaflets before you bomb"
And the comedian says "I'm already bombing"
He says "Maybe it's your material"
He says "You don't think it fits?"
He says "Well it could be let out a little"
The comedian says "How much do you think it will cost me?"
He says "It'll cost you an arm and a leg."
The comic says "Well listen, could you put it on the cuff?"
The tailor says "I'll tell you what I'll do. We'll forget the leg and I'll just charge you an arm"
And a beautiful arm it is
"OK" says the comedian and the tailor cuts off the comedian's arm and gives him the suit
The tailor calls his girlfriend and asks her to go out on the town with him in order to celebrate
He calls on his girlfriend and gives her the beautiful arm as a gift
She wears it around her neck just like a stole and they go out on the town
The man walks into a nightclub with a beautiful arm on his girl
The show begins and the one-armed comedian comes out for his last show of the evening.
He does his act, and the audience stands up and gives him a hand.
From:
http://www.tommcmahon.net/2006/06/brian_doylemurr.html
No one has ever explained to me what Europe thought it was going to achieve by getting Greece to devalue internally by savaging wages so savagely. After all, if you savage wages you also kill real estate and that in turn savages bank balance sheets given that proprties end up being worth less than their loans.
Real estate in Athens is down by over 50% and no amount of bank bailouts will plug that hole.
The Troika has failed Greece and the Greek government has failed its people.
Well, the liquidationist policy devised in Versailles in 1919 worked wonders in Germany, didn't it?
Oh wait, never mind ...