This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
"The Barricades Are Down" Syriza Is Already Rolling Back Austerity "Reforms"
It didn't take long for Syriza to start making changes in Greece. While these may be minor at the margin compared to the debt "issues", as KeepTalkingGreece reports, Alexis Tsipras and his junior coalition partner Panos Kammenos pushed the Fast Forward button to restore a series of so-called “reforms”, that is austerity measures imposed by the country’s lenders, the Troika - among the left-wing reforms are: scrapping planned privatizations, scrapping fees in public hospitals and prescriptions, restore “the 13th pension” for low-pensioners and other actions that SYRIZA had promised before the elections. And the iron barricades in front of Parliament have been removed.
Iron Barricades
The first revolutionary move was conducted by alternate Minister responsible for Citizens’ Protection and Public Order. Yiannis Panousis removed the iron barricades in front of the Greek Parliament. The barricades were installed to protect the lawmakers from angry demonstrators after the huge anti-austerity protests from 2010 onwards.
Before
After
Panousis, who is Professor for Constitutional Law, made the announcement Wednesday morning. Right after the first meeting of the new cabinet concluded, the barricades were removed.
Health sector
Alternate minister Andreas Xanthos announced the “targeted enhancement of the health sector”, scrapping the 5-euro fee at public hospitals and the 1-euro fee per prescription as well as reductions in the patients’ economic participation on drugs.
The unprecedented financial burden imposed on patients had quite some people stop taking their medication or seek charity organizations for life-saving drugs. KTG has reported many times about the plight in the Greek health sector.
Pensions
Alternate Minister for Social Funds, Dimitris Stratoulis announced a stop in pension cuts and to restore the “13th pension” for pensioners receiving below €700 per month. He also said that “uninsured farmers will receive again the €360 per month.
Minimum Wage
Minister for Labor and Social Solidarity, Panos Skourletis, announced that the minimum wage will be raised to €751 gross, while the collective bargains will be restored.
Under Troika pressure in the name of so-called “competitiveness”, the minimum wage plunged down to €580 gross and €490 gross for those below 25 years old in 2012 with the effect that households could not even cover their monthly basic needs.
Rehiring in Public sector
Alternate Minister for Administrative Reform Giorgos Katrougalos announced the re-hiring of those who were laid-off from the public sector in the scheme of “mobility”. According to Katrougalos, the lay-offs were against the Constitution.
School guards, cleaners and teachers were laid-off in masses, after the Greek government decided to fire over night some 10,000 people in order to meet Troika’s demands for a lean public administration. The lay-offs were not according to meritocracy criteria, the measure affected whole groups of employees.
Greek nationality to migrants’ children
Alternate Minister for Migration policy Tasia Christodoulopoulou announced that migrants’ children born and raised in Greece will be granted Greek nationality, probably also children that came here in very young age.
Taking into consideration the SYRIZA program as announced by Alexis Tsipras on January 2oth in Thessaloniki, more anti-austerity changes are on the note book of the new government. So far all ministers made their announcements in television programs. The official announcements are expected next week in the Greek Parliament when the coalition will seek vote of confidence.
So far we heard no ministerial announcement on TV regarding the painful issue of over-taxation.
* * *
»
- 34249 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Whew...the good news is that they have found a way to pay for all of this! Debtor nations always die, sometimes painfully slowly. We'll soon have our time over here on the other side of pond.
http://youtu.be/ZiJa9diJOMk
Merkel is probably crapping her granny-panties right now. Leftisis (or any "ists") are hilarious in the fact that the truth never gets acknowledged - .gov in every form is the problem, not the solutuion. Let free market reign and return moral hazard to every facet of our existence.
The down votes are telling -- ZH is now populated with anti-free market government-loving lefitst fools.
It maybe the end of time effect: ZH going full socialist leftist retard. Their fight against the bankster thrown them in economic Statist gubernment mode.
Even Russia who was harshly attacked have not done statist capital controls and still bet on private sector.
The Bankster system will fail but the socialist one will fail miserably for sure.
I see it as a sort of knee-jerk "enemy of my enemy is my friend" reaction, combined with a helping of Schadenfreude, and perhaps a bit of envy on top (to say nothing of the complete whack jobs).
Your upvotes are telling. Zero Hedge is populated with a bunch of righty-tighty Austrian School corporate-loving blowhards.
Go occupy your backyard if you have one.
Greek ministers have been busy dialing 1-900-Odumbass to see just how exactly to wreck the economy even further......
Hollande part deux.
Breaking from 5 minutes ago at Reuters:
Greek minister says Athens against sanctions on Russia
Then that Greek minister will have no problem if Turkey moves on claims on Greek territory.
What a dumbass.
I think I would pressure wash the front of the building, columns, and parking lot also. That would make everyone feel better. Paint goes a long way too.
Take advantage of the respite. The crowds will be back.
...and in other news.... NKs Glorious Leader Kim Jong Un(ski) is headed to Mother Ruska for his first ever foreign leader meeting ( guess China doesnt count).
So interesting alliance forming... Russia, China, NK, Greece, probably India ( esp if they and China can work out some issues). Who is next?
Gonna be fun to watch this. The nwe PM says they are not going to default on the loans. At the same time they are going back to the "good old days" of spending money. Now that works until summer when they run out of the balance of the past loans. Then what? Really, what possible outcomes are there? If they don't default, they will have to negotiate a pay-back plan for the next 300 years in order to keep their spending spree going. Of course, that 300 year pay back negotiation will have to include more loans and aid. Who will provide that?
These leftists cannot possibly meet their campaign pledges with everything else being the same. How can they take default off the table? or leaving the Euro for that matter?
The rotation will be difficult/painful. Syriza needs to burn bidges and poison well so there is only one way forward.
I think we tend to over-look that some of europe is experiencing drepression. Hunger will get the peoples attention - hard for bls virtual reality goggles to hide hunger pains.
Unfortunately for Greece they are now in a global economy. They must compete with China and India. They will ultimately be paid $4/hour. They will have to suck it up and either produce more and better or live with less. Even more unfortunately true is that this same fate awaits the USA. When the dollar is finally seen for what it actually is, an over printed medium of exchange, then we will face the same problems here.
buy gold bullion now....
Someone who gets the bigger picture. +1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVTtdyrqn9c
These kinds of things tend to pick up momentum in a "kick them while they are down" kind of way. Anyone who is a member of troika operations, or who worked with them, should exit while they can.
Several of the northern eurozone countries wanted security for the earlier bailout money. Now those countries will cry "I told you so." Buying more Greek debt by any of the various "liquidity or Stabilization" funds will be impossible to get approved.
Drinking a couple of extra bottles of the wine won't make these problems go away.
The music has stopped for these clowns.
Where do we meet if we can't "go to the barricades" anymore? When the revolution comes, we'll all just be circling.
This is pretty fucking awesome, a true front row seat on what an epic collapse commy socialist gubbermint will be.
Indeed. People rail about the socialist scandinavian countries, but at least some of them have a strong capitalist backbone to pay for this shit. Greece is just "this shit", it'll be hilarious.
A lot of the Scandinavian system is financed by North Sea oil income.
But not at $45/bbl.
I think the love for Abdullah and his family may run thin soon.
So how do Sweden and Denmark and Finland use their non-existent oil revenues ?
Actually they are eating up their sovereign fund, after that the feat will stop.
It wouldn't be right to cut spending would it? Oh no! That would hurt the most vulnerable among us wouldn't it? But if we print more money or borrow we can get re-elected. Solution arrived at.
Burn, baby, burn.
So the 1 Euro prescription co-pay was too much for them? Let's see -- minimum wage hike, check; pension payments increased, check; government bureaucrat hiring hiked, check; free health care, check. Method to pay for these blessings, er, we'll deal with that later. I sense a socialist paradise around the corner. They willl end up screwing themselves more than the bankers you people think they are screwing -- the bankers will survive, quite nicely. Anyway, the new PM claims they won't default.
Pardon my cynicism, but this is all low hanging fruit.
I am withholding judgtement on Tsirpas as the real deal if he votes no on renewing Russian sanctions this March
Populist.
Momentary taste of democracy.
They will feel consequnces.
Wish them luck.
They should just abolish prices and scarcity. So simple.
Sounds like as good 5 year plan, comrade.
Forward!
Adopt a version of the Ferguson Shopping Plan.
Claim it lowers distribution costs.
Bullish.
Tsirpas better starting mentioning to the Eurotards that they better get started on connecting to Turkstream. After 2019, new gas contracts, Europe will have to suck up to the Greeks or freeze. That pipeline ain't gonna build itself
For "educated economists" worried about public debt, dollar collapse etc, .. Well, money is issued out of NOTHING (thin air say some). Only 5% of it is cash, 95% -never even printed-, "exists" only in mainframes. Just because you admire currency flaw controllers desn't make them honest, respectable, hard working men. They are today's Money Changers. In "partnership" with governments they issue money to keep populations enslaved. So, if Greece shows the way to sticking it up bankster's ... I'll say good for them. Learn and take initiatives.
That may be true for internal bank debt but those banks are the same ones that hold the majority of soverign bonds too, so any default anywhere blows up the banks, and depositors money disappears to foreign holders of those bonds.
Greek banks and the money in them go *poof*.
This is problematic for an economy when the money on which it operates is gone. Everything stops.
Greeks can't even pin themselves on a "left VS right" scale when it comes to finance. They can't even concieve there is another way you can run things.
There's your problem.
Barricade now to go around the entire country! Good luck in 'tricking' anyone else in lending you $$$!
until there is violence in greece, like in ukraine, you will know the EU is still bribing , with money, the stability of greece.
greece must have civil war to settle these disputes. people must die.
Black markets FTW! (until free markets can be restored)
My only wish was that they'd scrap the minimum wage. Well, maybe when they switch over to the drachma from the euro they can do that.
Tax rates:
Poor: 5%
Middle: 10%
Upper: 15%
Solves (almost) all problems.
Greece opposes Russia sanctions
http://mobile.reuters.com/do/urlRedirect?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.co...
Oblama aint gonna be very happy!
Is there anything 'pushier' than a deadbeat Marxist?
Feminists in flannel and Timberlands?
Who cares if they have money to pay for it? They can say they kept their election promises and blame Germany when they run out of money. LMAO.
I wish it could be Christmas every day.
RESTORED?
The article states austerity plans have been RESTORED.
Is that correct? ? ? ?
"Alexis Tsipras and his junior coalition partner Panos Kammenos pushed the Fast Forward button to restore a series of so-called “reforms”, that is austerity measures imposed by the country’s lenders, the Troika ..."
Tommy no, You got it all wrong.
And, while they're at it, get rid of government sponsored pensions (like SS in the US).
Let people spend or save as they see fit. No harm in that. Personally, I'm 61, and didn't start saving until a few weeks ago. I had drinking and gambling flings throughout my life. I''m OK, now, not poor (well, maybe), and certainly not rich, but, I've constantly rejected the idea of retirement, so I plan on working until I can't anymore, then, like a dog, they can just do me in.
I don't fucking care, really.
OT question: If the banks routinely used bogus signatures on mortgages, allonges and such (they did), and I'm getting a settlement on one of their bad mortgages, should I expect the settlement agreement to also carry a bogus signature, which later will prove to be null and void, and thus, I'll have to give them back their money?
OTOH: Don't answer that.
Delusional citizenry about to drop into a new level of poverty!
Visionary politicians picking very big fights they can't win! Not good!
All of Greece, private and public sectors alike, should, like a bar with a bad habit of not paying its bills, be put on an all cash basis.
Cancel all debt. No more debt issuance. Cash only.
Go back to farming, dancing and fucking.
If anybody around here doesn't grasp the concept that the majority of bad debt in the world is both created by and owed by governments, then you really don't see what the core of the problem really is.
Downsize fucking governments and almost all financial problems disappear.
Bingo! Give the man a cupie doll!
"Go back to farming, dancing and fucking." Heh Heh....that's why I'm in Maine.
its funny...like the heart bypass patient demanding to eat foix gras from hospital bed....what a bunch of idiots...but then he's a commie in a world where even the commies are capitalists (russia & china)...says somethng about this joker's intelligence. Even castro's cuba dont want to be communist anymore....jeeze
Communism is dead. Capitalism is dead. Fascism is dead. Socialism is dead. All that's left is the oligarchies fighting for every penny and now and then they do things that seem like those isms. But it's really just us versus them.
I am beginning to think that Greece forced Draghi's hand with QE Euro. My thought is that the ECB knew they were going to lose control in Greece and decided that the easiest solution was QE. The original leak said 50B of euros per month but the press release has it at 60B. I am wondering if the ECB is funneling 10B per month into Greece or the banks that hold Greek debt???
FSA here we come !!! I wonder who will pay for all that "free" stuff.
Hint: not the Bankster (they will get ECB bail-outed) and not the wealthy (they are already gone.)
How much time before paper toilet shortage ?
Maybe the German will pay for the FSA ? lulz.
Wait is this like a PURPLE REVOLUTION? hmm how come we dont hear this blarring from CNBC & CNN?
If the socialist don't want to play ball they have 2 tought choices left:
1. Not having Euros to buy anything
or
2. Having Drachmas with nothing to buy
You win the internets.
From the comments here this morning I see a lot of kneww jerk reactions regarding where the funding for what Syriza is doing will be coming from. The reactions areintense because f what I think may be that:
1) While there was a possibility thatSyriza would be elcted, most here expected Syriza to fold like cheap hanky. I would say most here did not expect Tsipras to actually follow through with his plans.
2) The entire world is so used to see every transactions that occur as being owed by an all powerful entity that the current moves by Syriza are perceived as abhorent behaviour.
3) Back to point 1. Tsipras following through with his plans has sudenly brought the realizatio by a lot of people that Syriza will indeed follow through with their plans. The people with a vestedinterest in the status quo are starting to panick (not unlike a bunch of rats o a sinking ship).
4) Most people on here with the "they have to pay heir shit", and "they are running out of other people's money" don't understand a very basic principle: The money never existed in the first place.
5)Many people are having negative reactionary reaction here to what is taking place because they are not actually ready for real change. Real change will hurt everyone. ( I'm Canadian, I am well aware that what is happenng in Greece will eventually have an impact on my percieved cumulated wealth.)
6) For many of us here, we are still stuck in the old Right versus Left argumnt that has persiste for hundreds of years that only serves to distract the population while the real people responsible for our problems meet every year at fenced in resorts drinking champagne, and eating caviar.
There is nothing limiting the democratic right to free speech on this site, but by all the Gods! Maybe it's time to focus our energy and attention to the guys that are actually responsible for the problms in our society.
Here is an interesting questin for everyone. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself this: Am I responsible for all the money that a potentially corrupt poitician has borrowed in my name? Did I sign a contract saying I would repay so much money that is impossible to accumulate i my lifetime? If you find yourself saying now to this question, then Why the fuck are you being apologists for sociopaths that are trying to using financial weapos to kill you?!?
Think on this people.
And of course the logical answer to your long tirade is socialism ?
What change are you speaking of ? Living of other people's money ? Going Venezuela ? Full planned economy despite the overwhelming evidence that is don't work ?
Who will pay for that, especially if Europe doesn't buy the new emitted debt anymore ?
Geez.
When the revolution happened in 1776, did the continental Americans worry where they would get the funding for their war? No they created a currency that was debt free. All you need to get an economy going is a currency that people trust, and actual circulation of that currency. Bankers don't shit skittles in case you haven't no
"what change are you speaking of"
I am speaking of a revolution. Not a bloody violent revolution (not yet anyways), but a revolution of ideas. When you show people that they don't have to live like prostitutes because some guy 1500 kms away just decided he needed to be a prostitute, they people's ideas begin to change. Once that change takes a hold of the entire European continent (and it will) you will see the real demarcation line between the people that have been lieing, steeling, cheating for along time, and the people that have actually been struggling to survive.
To make it plain so you understand GoldSilverBitcoinBug, we are now at a point in history where people are looking at each other and thinking "if you starve me to death, I'm fucking going to cut you up and fucking throw you in my stew pot." Believe me, if you are standing right in front of me, and i'm starving. It won't cost me a damn thing to eat you.
Is that fucking clear enough for you?
Yes, but it won't cost me anything to turn you into Sponge Bob with my AK47 first.
You wouldn't travel 2 miles in Canada with an AK 47, and I'm not planning on visiting the Corrupted States of America anytime soon. I am not particularily impressed with threats. I'm done with you.
Wow, your plans sure changed fast. You were just "standing right in front of" GSBB threatening to eat him, he pulled out an AK-47, and suddenly you're in another country swearing you'll never set foot in his!
Gotta get me one of those AK-47s...
See, this is why I don't post when I'm hungry.
I guess you never heard the phrase "Not worth a Continental"?
Gold specie came to the rescue. Borrowed, of course, and Alexander Hamilton made sure all creditors were paid in full so the new United States would survive as a start up venture.
A fact much overlooked by those who scorn Hamilton. Without him the US would have been bankrupt and stillborn. Only through his Hurculean efforts with his negotiation skills and his tireless patriotic zeal, convinced wealthy colonials to risk their hard money for an investment in a very dubious, at best, enterprise.
It was one thing to wave a new flag but an entirely different one to put your life's savings behind it.
Mr. Hamilton was every bit as valuable to the establishment of the US as Gen. Washington, Tom Jefferson, Adams and all the rest of the Patriots.
It's a damn shame we let some cheap hoods steal such a grand enterprise that we were entrusted to hold.
Shovelhead, I have heard that expression before.
I agree hamilton was instrumental in the stabilization of the republic. The point I originally made still stand though. The colonials revolted, this revolt brought about a change. Change took a long time, but it eventually led to the creation of the Republic and (at the time) an ironclad constitution. We could be looking at the same even in Europe (again). When you take everything away from people, they fight back. They have no choice.
No matter how much we think Greeks are lazy, (and I am sure there are many), there has to be change. There is a large segment of the population there that is beyond desperate. Desperate starving people will do anything to survive. I don't see keeping this status quo as serving anyone's interest here, unless you are part of the ruling elite. In that case, well that makes sense. (not speaking of you shovehead, but others that keep complaining about lazy Greeks).
One more thing, from a logic perspective. If I walk up to a guy and tell that guy he owes me 200 billion untill i'm blue in the face doesn't mean he's going to give it to me.
Cheers!
Nicely stated.
I for one am glad that Tsipras and Syriza are following through on their campaign promises. Good to see them sticking it to TPTB in Europe. I dont understand all of the hate being spewed here on zerohedge towards Syriza when those same people state those exact views towards the Fed and Central Banks in general!
They are ready to string up Greenspan, Beranke and Yellen, but let another country or democratically elected party try and do the same thing and there is no end to the hatred spewed out. Why dont they see the lack of logic in their argument?
Sheez.
The EU only has two choices left. Fuck You, or Fuck Us.
I think they'll elect to try the latter and end up with the former after that effort proves futile.
Question; what is stopping the Bank of Greece from printing euros to pay for all this?
The Greek economy has been weak and sloppy since the modern era of finance began, and nobody cared. The fascist regime really screwed things up, as fascists always do. But the real problems didn't begin until the Greek Power Elites decided they wanted into the Euro. Their sloppy economy couldn't pass the Euro entry requirements, so they did what all clever Elites do in this modern age of Finance. They cheated. They brought in GS and the usual hacks to set up an insane web of derivatives, swaps and related scams so they could make it look like they met the requirements. Anybody who was fooled should have professional round-the-clock care to handle basic personal needs.
Basically, they got the Jefferson County, Alabama treatment. And just like Jefferson County, Alabama, as long as everything went up in an artificial bubble, the scam looked like it was working. Just as Bernie Madoff's clients were getting fabulously rich, according to the monthly statements.
There was no talk of a Greek crisis until the financial flim-flammery went tits-up.
So what do the Greek people do? Continue to pretend they're going to be able to square up the books when anyone with any sense knows that's not possible, or say "Fuck it," kick over the table, and storm out? It's not a matter of the "Free Shit Army," or "Other People's Money." The money the Eurocrats and the global bankers say they owe never existed in the first place. The ability of the Greek people to buy food or medicine very much does exist. To continue to sacrifice what is real to cover imaginary debts is insane.
No, you are wrong. The reason they don't "kick over the table, and storm out?" is that they want more free stuff. Get it?
People over bankers.
Greece should scrap fiat and have their own cryptocurrency called MallakaCoin!
"When you want to send your very best... MALAKA!"
Greece should get Euros from North Korea there forgeries are top quality
They elect a communist who has never worked a day in his life with the slogan 'Hope is coming!' I swear you can't make this stuff up.
Let's break it down:
.
Eliminate all remaining fees for medical service = encourage over-consumption and raise costs
Increase state pensions = higher tax burden on productive members of society
Increase the minimum wage = increase unemployment
Increase the number of state employees = fewer people to do productive work
Extend welfare benefits to immigrants = higher burden on productive members of society
...yea, as the effect of these "reforms" becomes evident to the population over the next year or so, watch those barricades go right back up. Then Syriza will become "the oligarchs" and some new party will come along promising a new solution, which will consist of socializing the economy even further, and on and on until - taken to its logical conclusion - kulaks are being dumped in mass graves.
Basically France on the Aegean without the output to make it look possible to sustain itself indefinitely.
I might as well include all modern welfare States that spend more than they earn.
Sounds great for everybody. Just one question: Where's the money to pay for it going to come?
Where did the money the banks lent them come from?
GREECE-you are on the right path-default and bring those cocksucking Bankers and Wallstreeters to their knees!
In 2012 I didn't really expect Greece facing the axe.
This time is different: The mood in Germany has changed, the majority of economy experts and medias recommend the expulsión, finance markets and stocks already wrote down Greece and Mr. Schäuble is looking very determined. And Schäuble feels the pressure and readiness of his voters to kick off Greece - "whatever it takes".
So many people hope that Tsipras continues his fast version of "Russian Roulette", because this way is the fastest way to get rid of a country which seems to believe that money is for free - growing on trees. In terms of usages, sanctity of contracts, predictability and mentality Greece is Banana-Republik. An eternal black whole which only gets bigger when you feed it.
The Greeks are hoping those unicorns will feed them and shit electricity.
If they wanted to set an example they should hang a few politicians in the public square.
Got any gold left in the treasury?
The bitching by the bovine Frau Merckel and her bankster-run Kraut Fourth Reich masquerading as the EU is astonishing. This is especially the case given that Germany was forgiven of its astronomical war debts in 1953 after destroying much of Europe, including Greece.
I would throughly enjoy seeing the Greeks send 300 swarthy Spartans to Brussels and Berlin to kick some Eurwoeenie bureaucrat metrosexaul azzz. After they are done in Euroweenie land, the Spartans then need to be airlifted to all of the Central Bank and Goldman-Sucks offices around the world to finish the job.
What? this party Syriza sucks, Where are the free phones?
So Greece is doing everything that caused Detroit to go bankrupt? Bring it on!
1) The banking mafia loaned Greece more money than could ever be repaid (with the collusion of a corrupt political class) so they could loot the country when the bill came due.
2) The banking mafia are the main component of the FSA. Not only is it literally true as they have a license to invent pretend money and then charge interest on it they are the biggest beneficiaries of a welfare state based on borrowing.
- A welfare state based on taxation is socialism.
- A welfare state based on borrowing is banksterism.
3) Pro capitalist people need to get it into their heads that the banking system that has been created over the last 30 years has no connection to capitalism.
Banking
- is a utility for productive industry
- encourages savings
- invests those savings in production
Banksterism
- is a parasite on productive industry
- pushes debt like heroin
- gambles the profits on commodity and currency speculation
What we have now isn't capitalism it's a tapeworm with a country attached.
Too bad I can't upvote posts that start with quotes, italics, etc.
So, plus 1000 for that clearly stated and factual summation that even a country bumpkin like me can understand.
Too bad also that we can't get this read every night on the national news. It would only take about a week for shit to start happening.
Thank God for "fortress balance sheet" 'merika.
I wonder how you say "EBT card" in Greek?
What is the bottom line?
-----
#1: Will anyone like this new government say (and mean, and execute), "we're done with debt"? Will anyone like them say what needs to be said? Which is the following. When a government borrows to provide so-called "services", those loans are paid back decades later. Which means, they are paid back by SOMEONE ELSE... someone who DID NOT receive the [almost totally worthless] services, and someone who DID NOT agree to those loans and DID NOT agree to become a slave for people born before him.
#2: Will anyone like this new government say (and mean, and execute), "we're done with fiat"? Because as long as some people... no matter who they are... can create unlimited fake money at zero cost and then loan to people and keep the interest earned, they will create VASTLY more debt that can possibly be serviced. PERIOD.
#3: And most critically, will regular folks agree to STOP ENSLAVING THEIR KIDS? Because every "regular folk" who is willing to permit government to borrow IS absolutely responsible for making their kids and grandkids, and everyone else's kids and grandkids... UNWILLING SLAVES FOREVER.
-----
Until someone people will listen to stands up and clearly explains these utterly simple and utterly unavoidable facts (that everyone already knows at least in the back of their minds), NO SOLUTIONS ARE POSSIBLE.
Which means, perhaps, the question comes down to this. Have human beings been so utterly brainwashed that they are not willing to accept "what they earn" rather than "what they want"?
Sometime in the last 100 years most people were. But they've had 100+ years of brainwashing, and more important, 30+ years of intensive brainwashing to convince them they cannot survive without debt.
In a way, they're right... but only by ignoring half the facts! If they were to roast the human predators over an open fire who have been stealing them blind, and enslaving them for decades and centuries, and not have to double the wealth of the 100 richest human beings on earth every couple years through their work...
Most working people would be SATISFIED IF NOT HAPPY WITH THEIR LIFESTYLE unsupported by debt and enslavement of their own generation as well as endless future generations.
But they MUST get rid of the predators who feed upon them.
Otherwise, GAME OVER for human beings.
Are humans willing to act?
If not, they're toast.
-----
PS: This is not fantasy. The earnings of one parent used to be sufficient to support a family without debt (even with ripoff taxation). The productivity of human beings has risen due to computerization and other advanced technologies, so on the basis of work performed, humans today could live a very comfortable life on one income WITH ZERO DEBT... ever.
ALL the wealth that is the difference between what humans could earn, and what humans do earn --- has been STOLEN by the predators-that-be. The human predators who call themselves banksters. The human predators who call themselves "government".
ALL that needs to be done to achieve a relative (but not literal) utopia (compared to today), is to slow roast those predators over open fires, and work for a living. And stop expecting others to make life work for you. And surprise, if people today got rid of the predators, most of them would probably be absolutely stunned to realize how good a life they can earn for themselves.
So people. The oligarchs haven't made life work for you... we ALL agree on that. Are you ready to try something different, something astonishing? Like throw off your chains and take care of yourself? Yes or no? Because that is the only choice that matters.
The oligarchs have LITERALLY gotten you to demand the oligarchs ENSLAVE AND EAT YOUR CHILDREN. That's a fact (explained above). Are you willing to say "no more"? No? Then you deserve whatever misery you get. Yes? Then "just say no" to debt and government, get to work, take care of yourself, and don't give one penny of what you earn to any human predator.
Like Iceland, they will tell the ECB to fuck itself.
I hope so. The next question is, will they say "no more debt", or will they start borrowing again. If they start borrowing again, they might as well just nuke themselves, because that would be more merciful than repeating the insanity over and over again, and making the oligarchs and other human predators eternally richer and more powerful.
Is the minimum wage 751 Euros a week? Cause you could live on that.
What happens if Greece refuses to pay the ECB?
Their debt moves to junk status, like Russia?
So, Greece turns to Russia, or the ECB renegotiates terms.
Greece wins either way.
Bring on the downgrades.
Simple really. NATO boots on the ground within a week.
The difference with Russia is that the Russians has nuclear weapons and an army that could re-take Berlin in a month---and aren't afraid to use either one if they have to.
One thing you can say about the Greeks, they look out for one another, they never leave their buddy's behind
What is the bottom line?
This from By Michael Nevradakis
'Syriza's Victory: Hold the Champagne'
"...Perhaps the most significant, yet least talked-about, result of the elections was the high abstention rate, as 36.13 percent of registered voters (representing 3.5 million people, over 1 million more than those who voted for Syriza) didn't participate. The low turnout indicates that a large segment of the population was not swayed by Syriza's rhetoric of "hope and change," nor by the previous government's absurd talk of an economic "success story." And even if one accounts for the many Greeks who have migrated and live abroad, 3.5 million abstentions represents an excessive number that should be disconcerting for all those involved in Greece's political landscape.
What should be equally disconcerting, however, is Syriza's marked move away from the left. Tsipras, in his victory speech on the evening of January 25, made numerous references to the future of Europe, but far fewer references to the future of Greece. He also said Syriza would follow EU directives, which do not permit member states to maintain a deficit that surpasses 3 percent of GDP. With a shrunken economy that has lost over 25 percent of GDP during the crisis, limiting spending invariably can only mean one thing: further austerity. This calls into question all of Syriza's promises to roll back the austerity measures and cuts of the past few years, including restoration of the monthly minimum wage to 751 euros, an amount which was considered paltry at the time and led to the creation of the so-called "G700," or "700 euro generation" of overeducated, underemployed youth. Syriza's new cabinet, which was announced on January 27, features ministers who were previously members of Pasok, as well as economist Yanis Varoufakis as finance minister, who recently stated that the possibility of a "Grexit" (or Greek exit from the eurozone, perhaps Greece's strongest negotiating weapon) will not even be raised as a negotiating tactic, and whose recent book was presented in Athens by a right-wing television personality who once suggested that New Democracy should not discount the possibility of co-governing with a "serious" Golden Dawn.
Syriza's flip-flopping has not stopped there: Manolis Glezos, a member of the European Parliament with Syriza, stated prior to the elections that if Syriza was elected on the basis of the 50-seat bonus, the party would call new elections. After the fact, Giannis Dragasakis, who was named vice president of the new government, distanced Syriza from such statements. Economist Costas Lapavitsas, who until recently had been a strong proponent of a "Grexit" and who had recently presented his "radical economic proposal" for Greece, was elected to parliament with Syriza and stated recently that the party would follow a "moderate Keynesian" economic strategy. Constitutional lawyer Giorgos Katrougalos, who participated in the Greek "Indignants" movement in 2011 and who, at the time, spoke of the formation of a committee to audit Greece's debt, recently distanced himself from such a possibility, as has Syriza. Notably, according to one economist's analysis, Greece's debt, if it was calculated by accepted International Public Sector Accounting Standards used by many other countries, would amount to 18 percent of GDP, instead of its current figure of 175 percent. This issue could be examined as part of an audit of Greece's debt, but Syriza now rejects the possibility of conducting such an audit.
Perhaps most egregiously, Syriza, which is now tasked with nominating a candidate for the ceremonial post of president of the Hellenic Republic, is said to be considering "compromise" candidates from the conservative right, including former Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and former Defense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos. This despite the fact that, according to the Greek Constitution, Syriza needs only 151 votes in the second round of voting, or a simply majority of those present in a third and final parliamentary vote, and therefore has no reason to compromise.
Meanwhile, there has been little or no talk of reversing privatizations; reforming the judicial system; restoring specific labor rights that have been stripped away; lobbying the EU to reform the failed Dublin II migration policy, which has heavily burdened Greece, including Germany's unpaid war debts and reparations to Greece in a revised national budget (a former Syriza promise); reforming Greece's electoral system and keeping its promise to eliminate the 50-seat bonus and restore a system of proportional representation; reforming Greece's suffering educational system; and no clear position on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) or on the approval of GMO crops; no talk of bank nationalizations, and certainly no talk of a Greek exit from the eurozone. Moreover, Syriza and many of its supporters have now adopted the fearmongering rhetoric of the outgoing government, regarding the "dire" consequences that would follow if Greece enforced a unilateral stoppage of payments or departed from the eurozone.
What is clear is that Syriza's government is not on strong footing. Many of its votes were earned from voters who simply were sick of the status quo and who sought to punish the two political parties that had ruled Greece for the past 40 years, but who are not necessarily optimistic that Syriza will keep its promises. Failure to elect a president would lead to the collapse of the government, as might also be the case if Syriza succumbs to troika pressure or reneges on many of its promises. Already, leading European figures, including the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz (who recently stated that "we have to stick to agreements made to stabilize Greece and the EU"), Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem (who stated that "there is very little support for a write-off"), and the head of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker (who said recently that Greece should not expect a debt reduction), are expected in Athens this week. The pressure from the troika will be intense. But public pressure is also likely to be intense. After all, Barack Obama and Francois Hollande also promised "hope and change" and their electoral victories also led to widespread celebrations, as did Andreas Papandreou's in 1981. In all three cases, their "radical" rhetoric was quickly forgotten. Will Syriza follow along the same path?"
http://bit.ly/15T30VD
Everything you say may be right but you fail to address the key problem - that desperate measures call for desperate means. More austerity cannot rescue Greece. Simply continuing to borrow to pay debt cannot work, not under any circumstances. This is basic economics 101, applicable to countries and individuals alike. Will Syriza be the cure? It's way to early to tell and simply referring to what someone said or didn't say prior to obtaining power is an exercise in futility. Things couldn't get much worse in Greece, so let them have their go, maybe they will achieve something, maybe not. At least it'll get the banksters thinking. Me, I'm hopeful of a Grexit, not only because that will cause pain to the profligate practices of the banksters, who deserve to be punished for loading the system with gambling derivatives, but because there is then a possibility, and I put it no higher than that at this stage, that some hope can be restored to the generation(s) that had nothing to do with the present crisis.
Just so you know, Tsipras will get Greece another EU bailout in exchange for a few empty promises of fiscal rectitude. Without a deal, Greece would go broke and its democratic social-welfare state (DSWS) would cease to exist.
That might be bad for Greece, but it would be a catastrophe for the EU, which is a cabal of twenty-eight DSWSs. Just as opening the Berlin Wall instantly doomed every Communist state to illegitimacy and irrelevance, the death of one DSWS is the death of all.
The masses might still vote for the DSWS, but once it's exposed as a scam, no one will pay taxes to it, loan money to it, or sell anything to it without advance payment in gold coin.