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The Lesson Of Greece: Only Collapse Makes Real Change Possible
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
When the illusion that the Status Quo can fulfill all its promises to everybody dies, the Status Quo starts the terminal slide to effective collapse.
Of the many lessons we can learn from Greece's difficult path to rejection of debt-serfdom, the most important is perhaps the most obvious: no real change is possible until the Status Quo can no longer fulfill its promises, i.e. it effectively collapses.
The collapse of the Status Quo has two distinct features: the process is highly variable, and the process affects the social classes in different ways.
The process of collapse is neither sudden nor smooth. Things do not necessarily cease to function overnight; rather, the decline to effective collapse operates much like energy states in physics: systems decay and then drop to a lower energy level, where they are stable until further decay causes the next drop to an even lower level.
Pension payments provide a ready example. The pension payment is reduced, and the recipient tightens his/her belt and gets by. The next reduction (either outright or via inflation) forces drastic changes in consumption, and subsequent reductions reduce the pension to a supplement that cannot possibly support a retiree, much less their family.
The pension is still issued, but the promise of a pension that could support a household at a modest level of consumption has collapsed. Though the system for issuing pensions still exists, it no longer fulfills the original purpose.
In this sense, the collapsed pension system becomes much like the phantom legions of the late Roman Empire: the paymasters and officers still received the legion's pay, but there were no real soldiers; the legion was a bookkeeping entry in a skimming operation, not a fighting unit.
The financial Aristocracy (i.e. the kleptocracy) in Greece avoided much of the pain of debt-serfdom. What's the point of running things if you can't distribute the pain to others? I addressed this is Greece at the Crossroads: the Oligarchs Blew It (January 27, 2015).
The powerless classes were stripmined first. Bamboozled into voting for the Kleptocracy in previous elections, the powerless lower classes felt the brunt of austerity for the simple reason the kleptocracy knew there would be no blowback, as long as a few shreds of swag were being distributed.
This highlights the critical role of complicity in maintaining a corrupt, venal and parasitic kleptocracy: the passivity and silence of recipients of social welfare are bought very cheaply, as these classes will fear the loss of the miserable coins tossed to them.
This fear is a potent form of financial terrorism: any resistance or protest might trigger the loss of the reduced social welfare benefits, and so the powerless choose to remain powerless rather than rise up and take the risk of bringing down the parasitic kleptocracy.
The statist bourgeoisie (a.k.a. state-funded upper middle class) were the last to lose faith in the kleptocracy, for the simple reason that their share of the swag was sufficient to maintain the facade of middle-class comfort. It was also enough to sustain the illusion that the kleptocracy's abject kow-towing to the Lords of the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would magically become a winning strategy for Greece, rather than a one-way ticket to permanent debt-serfdom.
When the kleptocracy lost a significant percentage of this top 20%, they sealed their fate. When the state apparatchiks, institutional functionaries, professionals, small business owners, etc. finally lose faith in the the Status Quo, the Status Quo is doomed, though it can stage a rear-guard action by brutally suppressing this class (see Venezuela for an example of this doomed defense of a failed Status Quo).
In the U.S., the top 10% are doing very well, the next 10% are getting enough to sustain the illusion that they may yet recover their former status and wealth, and the bottom 80% have been bought off with social welfare or the promise of social welfare. Some variation of these percentages are in play in Europe, China, Japan and the emerging economies that haven't already imploded.
When the illusion that the Status Quo can fulfill all its promises to everybody dies, the Status Quo starts the terminal slide to effective collapse.
Unfortunately, no real change in the social order or power structure can occur until the effective collapse of the Status Quo has taken down everyone but the kleptocrats, their high-ranking apparatchiks and the piteously delusional.
Of related interest: Greece Just Blew Up the Empire's Death Star of Debt February 2, 2015
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lessons for all
Pauperisation theory, bitches. Karl Marx had it soo right. Of course, he was German.
This article also explains the process of the fall of the Soviet Union. When the groups that made up the power structure lost critical mass, that was the end.
The US oligarchs understand this perfectly well, and it is the reason for the existence of the Fed.
Plutocrats and their puppets expose themselves in every level
Oh good, CHS heard from. Say rather that collapse makes real change necessary unless we're dumb enough to repeat it. Oh, never mind.
--
Hey where's the ZH thread on this pearl, Fed firing back at Rand Paul:
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/231822-fed-fires-back
“Who in their right mind would ask the Congress of the United States — who can’t cobble together a fiscal policy — to assume control of monetary policy?” Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said during an interview with The Hill.
I don't think anybody's going to listen to Fisher. I'd laugh my ass off though if Obummer vetoed an audit bill.
I find this story to be of far more importance.
http://thehill.com/regulation/231893-ag-companys-signature-herbicide-lin...
I'd guess it's the same with bees too. I watched a 300 acre field of native flowers next to my property get planted with soybeans two years ago. Last year, another neighbor with adjoining property lost all of their bees. While I'm not simplistic enough to put all of the blame on Monsanto (we had drought issues as well), I'd bet it was a contributing factor.
glyphosate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jthp2HNnriI
Fisher makes a good point, but why then does the Fed bend over backward to enable Congress's deficit spending?
I like it how people see Syriza as some sort of libertarian free market party, thinking that it is some sort of improvement over the previous situation. Get it through your heads, Syriza is a neo-Marxist party, they are more statist than any sort of statism you have experienced so far. If you know anything about Greece, then you should know that it was the huge, inefficient, thoroughly corrupt public sector and rampant bureaucracy that created the problem in the first place. Do you know who 90% of public sector employees voted for in the last election? Syriza.
Nah, the hype is about them putting a wrench in the EU gears. Their gov plan is riddled with big gov failure.
Why do you care so much? The Greeks obviously love failed socialist states - they've recommitted to one every time they've been given an opportunity to change. So look, if they want to live off dumb creditors' dimes, then more power to them. Anybody stupid enough to lend the Greek state money deserves to get burned. The Greek State is like one of those vulture capitalist firms that acquires and then destroys the assets they've purchased - the right to bilk investors is fundamental to the capitalist ethos.
I know but lately, there is this wind blowing here, everyone cheering for the new Greek government. I can't figure out if it is because of ignorance or some people here honestly think that these clowns are any sort of change in the right direction.
It's that damned old polarization. Not so much love of Syriza as it is hatred of banksterism (never mind they're the ones wielding Marxism as a tool of destruction).
Any monkey wrench thrown into the globalists' machinations is welcomed and warmly cheered
Even if it comes from a Marxist
It's not hard to see how people who have become accustomed to public-sector employment or pensions, are frightened about what will happen to them if public spending is curtailed. It's just human nature to cling to any hope, however farfetched.
Had to ding you for mischaracterizing capitalism.
Tell me again, why you shouldn't own the fruit of your own labor?
Look you can't keep a fool and his money together at gunpoint.
The investors don't get burned if the investor is big enough. They get their bad assets laundered by the central banks.
When even Ctrl-Alt-Del won't work, you gotta do a Hard Reboot.
Even my kid knows that.
p.s. When your PC is too old and too infected, you back up the key data and get a new PC (new everything). Figuratively speaking.
sometime you have to erase the whole drive and reformat, to get it working properly. just rebooting will just cause another crash when you have faulty sectors.
The flags in the Spanish austerity protests mainly had one message:
"Unconditional bailouts for bankers and austerity for people"
Moral hazard writ large.
What happens if they default?
Well, they all wake up the next morning, and guess what? Greece is still there. The houses, the infrastructure, the supply chains, the people, the food and water...all still THERE.
All that 'left' are the computer entries on the banks balance sheets. Which really weren't "there" to begin with. But everything they NEED is still there.
All they have to do is figure out a new way to distribute it. It's called "Creating an economy", and it's nothing new. It's been done before, many, many times. So, you institute a 'drachma', declare a value, and let your domestic market set the final value after it's been in circulation a while, and you have a sense of where your economy is heading.
HELLO! This isn't that hard, people! If they stopped making porcelain toilets today, would you be unable to take a dump tomorrow? Of course not...you'd just figure out another way, a way that didn't require porcelain toilets. And your life would go on. Eventually, you'll make your OWN damned porcelain toilets, if you want them.
The only question is, can they feed themselves in the interm? (as everything else is merely a matter of quality of life)
Yep, that's right. Just like, one day after the Cuban Revolution, all the material stuff was still there, unchanged. And most of it is still there today, unchanged except for rust and wear.
The great unwashed have been fooled into thinking that they can vote to change a government that they do not like.
The great unwashed have been fooled into thinking that oil companies are to blame when gasoline prices rise.
The great unwashed have been fooled into thinking that war can be conducted and won by only using drones.
The great unwashed have been fooled into thinking that it is someone else's fault that they cannot find a good job.
The great unwashed have been fooled into thinking that they have been paying into THEIR OWN Social Security accounts for when they retire.
The great unwashed have been fooled into thinking that they are 'entitled' to 'FREE everything'
It's not the "great unwashed". We can be more specific than that. You see, men understand instinctively, that you have to give more than you take. As a man, you get self-respect by being a provider. Women don't have that instinct at all. All of human society is built around providing women with resources to raise children, so women are used to getting more than they produce. A man won't value a thing that he didn't work to get, but women find validation in the things that they receive as gifts.
The whole point is that when you let women VOTE, they vote for MORE. And how to pay for it, is not their problem. That's why 99% of ZHers are guys, amazed that everyone can't understand things that are so obvious to them.
LMAO!!! Brightoned my day. Thank you. Milestones
Ok now you're just re-writing posts from The Archdruid Report...
Just kidding but here...
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2014/09/dark-age-america-senility...
Peaceful revolutions in a country are possible, of course. But that would require that its ruling elite start behaving more rationally and responsibly than they have in the past.
This seldom happens, because in most cases the ruling elite is too inbred, too psychotic and sociopathic to compromise or to leave quietly.
This has been the case for every monarchy in the world: The ones that last the longest are the ones that compromise and adapt to the times. Hardline governments, like hardline monarchies are eventually swept aside. Why? Because...
"There is nothing more irresistible than an idea, whose time has come".
I'm waiting for the Ultimate Revolution: The liquidation of all Banksters and their assets, since all wars are bankers' wars.
Would LOVE to see a war AGAINST the Banksters. To have them ALL dragged out and executed.
Banking Dictatorships do not end well...
No truer words have been spoken. And the "biggest" of the big like this and this will wish they had never been born when it all "crashes"!
Johnny???!!!!
Beware of unusually large anal probes with nails on the outside of them!... Cause they are definitely in your future!!!
Whooops, sorry. I posted a similar comment before I saw yours...
No worries.
Repetition is good... George W. Bush!
In 100 years from today....no one will care that a default occured......get on with it.....and let tomorrow come.
Yep
In 100 years from today....no one will care that a default occured......get on with it.....and let tomorrow come.
Let's hope that with cocksuckers in the Western establishment that are making this happen restrain themsevles further so that we might have "some" left "not to care" 100 years from today!
One word: ICELAND
A real change is only going to happen when we elimate the real elite, those who are responsible for all Wars and fake "revolutions".
We need to Destroy the Pharisees.
The collapse of an 'easy money' system cannot be remedied with greater printing of money. Ultimately all countries will be forced to sing for their supper. Imports will have to balance exports. Borrowing to support a welfare state won't work. The Greek people will have to adjust....so will the world's biggest borrower... the USA.
The paradise of limitless welfare is about to be revealed as the greatest Ponzi in history. The dream of 19th century German royalty will be exposed. Margaret Thatcher will be proven right. these things only work as long as you have someone else's money to spend.
Personal charity was always a better source to care for the truly unfortunate.
TPTB would rather a scorched earth policy than cede control.
The kleptocracy only imagines it has power - Obama didn't prosecute the banks for a reason - now he has insured the banks are staffed by criminals. He can threaten prosecution if they don't do his bidding.
The banking system is now a vassal of the socialist state.
"If that was true, Atlas, they'd be still threatening the bankers." Correct:
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/013014-688293-attorney-general-...
http://news.investors.com/special-report/649706-the-war-on-banks.aspx
This is the closest 'big middle finger' thing we've had in a long time by a country.
HELLAS AKBAR!
My neighbor wanted to borrow some friendly, interest free money the other day .... to buy some frivolous piece of shit or what not .... my answer .... I'm not loaning YOU money to buy stuff .... I deny to MYSELF !
"Only Collapse Makes Real Change Possible"
True, very true. Such is the stupidity of mankind.
(Edit: sorry, Son of Captain Nemo aleady posted something very similar)
This isn't anywhere near a collapse. Greece is a minor setback. In the end Syriza will be bought off or crushed. You'll know the real collapse when you see it. The system is global and the collapse will be global---and total. Once our masters figure out ways for robots and computers to do everything humans do and do it better, that will be it. All but a few thousand humans will have outlived their usefulness even as debt peons. The first order given to our replacements will be to exterminate us all, making all meaningful economic questions moot. Robots will make better socialists than we ever did. They have no "wants," just fuel and maintenance requirements. Not to mention they are easily replaced when they break.
It's not as if there's much room for our cousins in our world who never left the tropical jungles. Our creations will conquer the galaxy, not us.
(And that's the best case scenario. The other one is where our masters panic and start a nuclear war before the Singularity is in sight.)
Oh, we're all riding the tiger, folks. Don't count on getting off alive.
Bullish Robotics?
Yes, you could say that. Bullish humanity? Not so much.