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Varoufakis Walks Out Of CNBC Interview When Asked If He Is Now A "Liability"
Having been given a few minutes to explain how it's so different now in Greece: Troika is now 'The Brussels Group', austerity cuts are now 'reforms', and bailouts are now 'bridge loans'; Greek FinMin Varoufakis asked for peace and quiet from the press so that they could work on "solutions" for the Greek people...
And then CNBC's Julia Chatterly asked about the Paris Match photo-shoot (which is has created fierce storm of controversy in Greece) and specifically whether he "was a liability for his party?"
Varoufakis response was (serial killer) calm as he looked her in the eyes, demanded he be allowed to 'no comment' - "You will allow me not to comment on particular stories in the press," - then commented, six-year-old-child-in-a-schoolyard-like "are you a liability for your channel?"
The brief clip below...
Varoufakis criticized the press for "concocting stories" and added that the Greek government now needed "peace and quiet" in order to get "down to work to put Greece on the path of recovery."
... or just following more orders from the European "uber alles"
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Well that answers that.
This guy is either a fucking genius of a complete fucking idiot there is no middle road. Unless things are so desperate that everyone over there has said fuck it.
Negotiating from a position of weakness is a bitz.
Reminds me of the old expression: 'When you're in trouble, not everyone who shows up is there to help you.'
In ads for prostitution in the states, the code words "speaking Greek" means that for a fee the prostitute would be the recipient of anal sex for an additional fee.
This seems fitting now as they all speak Greek in Greece.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=greek
Challenge CNBC to ask such questions of Senators and Congress men in the US. Never happens.
Presstitutes...
< Liability.
< Ability to lie.
Kabuki theater for the proles that believe he's fighting for them
WTF, ZH gripes about politicians who care nothing about anyone but themselves. Here we have someone who is NOT a politician and because he cannot dance the Lieing press lies, he is somehow bad?
WTF? This guy is handling the media better then 99% of us; it just goes to show he is actually human. Now, I disagree with the man's politics but hammering him because he us a normal human, and not a polished media control freak like Hillary or Obama, or Bush, is wierd.
So I've been wondering ...... is their a class these called "How to ask a loaded question 101" as part of Journalism degree these days ?
Be kind enough to justify your existence..
"You must all know half a dozen people at least who are no use in this world, who are more trouble than they are worth. Just put them there and say Sir, or Madam, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence? If you can’t justify your existence, if you’re not pulling your weight in the social boat, if you’re not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then, clearly, we cannot use the organizations of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us and it can’t be of very much use to yourself."
-George Bernard Shaw
Julia Chatterley.... do you think she swallows?
She looked like hell after a couple of days at Davos, my guess she was pulling a train with the elites.
No doubt she did about ten of them at a time.
"if you're not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more"
Weren't smart enough to apply that to those in government, eh georgie boy?
"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss." - Roger Daltrey
ZH hates everyone but Putin.
If he were really fighting for his people, he would act in a dignified manner and take every opportunity, every second of air time on even the MSM whore-net to explain and educate and organize.
The guy is clearly a liability to the Greek people. They must seek better.
Socialist like Varoufakis (and by their own admission The Coalition of the Radical Left or Syriza) now having seen first hand the impossible task of giving possesion of the baby to both mothers without cutting it in half may like many socialist before them resort to nationalizing private assets. These are dangerous times when unscrupulous men have risen to the halls of power armed with only a hammer and sickle in their case and a pen and a phone in the case of the west.
There are good productive Socialists and there are evil, parasitic socialists. Which one are you?
Margaret Thatcher
haha, I like how the quotes against socialism are from Thatcher. Thats like quoting Hitler to support an idea. Nice.
Yea, cuz, like, Thatcher == Hitler. Or something.
Go back to HuffPo you idiot.
Margaret Thatcher LOL. The neoliberal pedophile supporter
And like all leaders, most of the money SHE spent belonged to other people.
Thatcher only objected when 'other people' spent the money instead of her folks.
"Productive socialist" seems like an oxymoron to me.
mhmm, he talked a good game right up to and shortly after the election then he proceeded to fold like a cheap suit.
I wonder exactly what TPTB said to him behind closed doors...
What an inappropriate question for CNBC to ask, totally loaded with no sensible anwer. The interviewer deserves to be sacked for it.
Arrested and put behind bars. Or worse.
@Oh regional India you are so right: "Varoufakis criticized the press for "concocting stories" and added that the Greek government now needed "peace and quiet" in order to get "down to work to put Greece on the path of recovery."
... or just following more orders from the European "uber alles"
It's not "either/or" - it's a very serious situation where face saving all around must take place and it would seem that Varoufakis is the only person able to accomplish it.
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Excellent No Debt.
We will have to face it eventually.
We must prevail.
Ola Gjeilo's "Dark Night of the Soul"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SBuLU5sdys
'weakness' ?
Maybe and maybe not.
The question is, - How dependent are the Greek people to the EU for their physical survival ? What would be the actual physical impact if they just defaulted ? Does trying to pay a debt that never can be repaid only divert physical resources that you need to survive ?
At what does it mean to recognize you're bankrupt when most governments around the world, including those in the EU, are also bankrupt ?
If anyone has analyzed these questions, I would appreciate the links.
Have you seen what happened in Ukraine, Syria, or Libya?
I lived in Greece, though it was a long time ago, and their population was ~8 million and now it is ~11 million. When I was there, fully half were dependant on 'outside-of-Greece' for their living; Tourists, out of country shipping, etc. I am sure now it is even worse so the answer to your question is no, just like you and most of us, they cannot survive on their own. The young will be able to leave for this place or that but the old will die without meds and enough food. Quite the shame but a look to the future no matter Grexit or Troika.
I have come to be convinced that a large part of zerohedge crowd are either outright morons who do not understand anything from economics, or teenagers in love with conspiracy theories. (There was an idiot writing under every Varoufakis post that he is bought by the bankers, I cannot be bothered to find it now but you should have seen it)
Let me remind these morons a few facts:
1) Syriza is a coalition of left wing movements.
2) Inside Syriza, there are many different groups from Euro-communists to Maoists, from moderate socialists to Trotskyists
3) A large group inside Syriza wants to leave the Euro and go back to Drachma (with a default on debt). Economic advisor to the government, Kostas Lapavitsas is the main guy in this camp. He has recently written a very harsh piece n his blog about this.
4) It is not easy to leave the euro and go back to drachma, especially without managing to set up an industrial base in Greece. The trade deficit is structural as the already small greek industry has been destroyed since 2000. If Greece leaves the Eurozone, it will either have to find surpluses of other exporters, or stop importing and suffer massively. So in his "modest proposal to solve the euro crisis" a few years ago, Varoufakis had suggested that EU funds from European Investment Bank could be used to industralize the South. This is a type of payback from the Eurozone for the de-industrialization of Greece under the Euro in the last 15 years. And he is right to insist oin that. Leaving without getting anything first is not the best option.
5) Varoufakis and many others have insisted that within a monetary union, no country (read Germany and Austria) should adopt "beggar thy neighbour" policies. Rather, the EU should spare funds to industrialize the South, and achieve a balanced growth within the Eurozone and elimination of such huge productivity differences.
6) Polls show that 75% of the greek population wants to stay in the Euro. No government can easily take a decision against such a majority, especially in their first few months. Add to that the fact that Syriza has still not managed to tax the oligrachs in Greece and increase tax revenues, so at the moment, leaving the Euro means a total mess.
7) If Greece will ever leave the Eurozone, then political and social conditions for this must be ripe. For that, the vast majority of Greek people should be convinced that leaving is the better option, and the hard pill must be swallowed.
8) And finally, if Greece will leave, it will be in summer when the government has a constant source of revenues and could have backup funds for the tough times after leaving. Similarly, they might pass the laws they want to to tax the oligarchs until then, and increase the revenues. So a 4-month kick the can down the road policy might be optimal at the moment.
What would you do geniuses recommend to fix Greece's problems? Default, leave and then what?
I can see some of you do not miss any opportunity to spit your ideological hatred towards socialists by the way. I know it infuriates you that noone gives a fuck about your pathetic/sociopathic Austrian views but socialists are rising once again in Europe.
Well the majority of the folks here, realize that the system is beyond broken, and must undergo a reboot. Socialisms rise in the US, spain, france, portugal and italy, is only being enabled by never before seen low interest rates, which as an expert in economics like yourself should understand is unsustainable.
The reboot will begin somewhere, whether is is Chicago, California, Spain, Greece. How those leaders handle it, and the path they take will garner alot of attention and could very well shape the future of humanity....
Most Hedgers get that. Its going to be very very very painfull when it comes. People starving kind of painfull. Greece needs to leave the Euro, devalue their currency, and go back to being a tourist economy, and selling Ouzo....
I voted you up because I completely agree with what you say on the system being broken and needing a reboot.
I also agree that Greece should leave the Euro together with the South.
I think if we are seeking for a solution within capitalism, we need a debt cancellation, an entire restructuring of the financial system which will require jailing bankers, nationalizing the financial system in the beginning, shutting down the global casino and restart with kind of a cooperative agreement between capital and labour, capping the share of output expropriated by the rentiers.
All I am saying is that there is real politics and economic conditions that impose many constraints on this. Expecting a small country in shambles like Greece to start the global restructuring is slightly over ambitious, and too demanding on them. That is why I explained all those steps one by one. What if syriza attempts to do all we said, the Greek economy collapses to an extent that there is public unrest against them and they lose power?
Is it not slightly too naive to expect the Greek population to shoulder all the humanitarian costs of a restructuring on their own, knowing that it may not even lead to success? If they have Spain and Portugal and few other countries ready to stand against it together. then there is a chance...
- If you take me out of the hole, I will spare your life...
It's clar to me. He's a genius.
He is more like a clown.
And our clowns are better?
For all the brain washed morons out there who parrot "those lazy Greeks should pay 'their debts' " -
Pay close attention to what this woman is saying -
http://usawatchdog.com/when-artificial-debt-buying-stops-things-will-apa...
Should go to court to prove first deal to get them in the EU was a fraud, Everything since is null and void.
"Should go to court to prove first deal to get them in the EU was a fraud, Everything since is null and void."
Great idea, but that would entail honesty from Goldman Sachs, and we all know what that means:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5qzJ5Bvcfk
To paraphrase Lloyd Blankfein: It all worked out a lot better for us than we thought it would. We could never have guessed that we would have been bailed out by the the US gov't. Holy Fuck, the fact that the European assholes who bought our worthless crap haven't been bailed out - well all I can say is that they were all sophisticated investors...
USA USA USA USA USA
No doubt the financials that hold Greek debt yielding over 10% will be bailed out no matter what hapens. After all, +10% is such a low yield it must be one of the worlds safer investments.
I wonder how much Greek debt Goldmand Sachs holds?
I don't think that a genius finance minister would have posed for that magazine spread in the middle of a financial crisis.
agent default - you seem to still have the opinion that he is working for the benefit of the Greek people.
It is better to view his actions and see that he is working for the benefit of the EU/Bankers with the intent to facilitate the pillaging of Greece's remaining assets and pools of money.
He has been brilliant in his service to the Bankers/EU but may appear an idiot because his actions are so transparently the opposite of what he promised the people of his country. But the bankers needed things done now, and to get the ball rolling their way quickly, so blunt transparent betrayal was the only way.
Now he is upset that he has been exposed so soon when there is much more looting and taking of Greece to still be done. He thought his great PR would extend the honeymoon and no one would attack him before more was accomplished for the bankers. So, now he asks the press and his critics to be silent, to believe what he has done is actually what he promised and to stay out of the way while he finishes his assignment for the bankers.
I think his whole party has turned into a liability. A fraud perpetrated on people who thought they might be getting the real goods. Not...
Paris Match and CNBC, a real celebrity. What next, the Oprah show?
Spread in Hustler w/ Merkel.
If the party was going to deliver the real goods, they would not have been allowed to win the election.
Golden Dawn is the real deal.
They still have to default coming June...
The Greek people want to see the end of the brutal austerity regime the Troika has imposed on them, yet the overwhelming majority of Greeks also wishes to stay within the Euro. This places Syriza in an impossible position - the Greek electorate demands things that are mutually exclusive.
EML...Just like Americans want free education, free medical and a host of other social programs
but don't want a tax increase.
Don't forget Obamaphone and Obamamortgage...
Why don't you parasites give the money printing press back to us then?
"Just like Americans want free education, free medical and a host of other social programs"
You forgot that we also want free wars.
You are a little mixed up: It's the Americans who have to pay for the free education, free medical and a host of other social programs who don't want a tax increase.
The recipiants of the freebies want to double taxes. After all two times zero still equals zero.
"Free, free this and that" no, it's not free, we all know it's not free but what the fuck do we pay taxes for?
Not exactly. The Euro has a social value attached to it, a confirmation for Greeks that they belong in Europe. Sad, but its the crutch they carry for the centuries of isolation as Ottoman subjects.
I thought that before too. But Syriza is one among many forces that continue to try to persuade people that leaving the euro would be a mistake. Varoufakis recently said that leaving the euro would bring Greece back to Neolithic times. Does that sound like a party whose hands are tied because they are following the will of the electorate?
He's not wrong though, at least if we're talking short term. Even the staunchest supporters of the Drachma, like fellow Syriza MP Lapavitsas, admit there will be widespread basic goods shortages, coupons for commodities like food/gas etc.
What you never see on Zerohedge and elsewhere is what Varoufakis is actually proposing for the EU as a whole. For example... instead of QE via buying national bonds and praying that this somehow transfers over to the real economy, ECB should buy EIB bonds, and EIB should commence on big investment projects across Europe, thus directly helping the economy out of its rut.
But yeah why talk about useful stuff when one can comment on dress code / photoshoots / made-up journalist stories getting widespread attention. Boggles the mind (or not, it is extremely damn obvious who benefits from misdirection in this case, although one would expect Zerohedge to not fall prey to this sort of attack).
Elvy,
I think you make a very good comment. Many articles on ZH are about the trees but not about the wood. But to me ZH is a forum of free spirits with independent thinking and to me it is indispensable.
What you do with this information is up to you I will never blame ZH fo my shorts or positions. But you are right disinformation is a problem that is why i vote you up.
Getting back to Greece. Better leave now because now there is still money left in the EU before the EU itself gets back to neolitic age. It is like a corporate restructuring. In the start the people that go first get the best packages, once the money is gone the last have nothing.
"and EIB should commence on big investment projects across Europe, thus directly helping the economy out of its rut."
Just like a poop head liberal!
The "usual suspects":
1. Education, preferably Marxist studies, the effects of feminism on the male penis, why not a minimum wage of $100 per hour, shrimp consumption during Roman times ...
2. Infra structure: High speed trains between Cheyenne Wyoming and Cuba, molasses tunnel between Louisiana and Idaho ...
3. Immigration: bring down the Eskimo wall Mr. Republicans ...
4. More BS ...
"Neolithic"? Really?
@EML,
Imagine that!
"...electorate demands things that are mutually exclusive..."
Yadda, yadda, yadda, the poor Greeks. And who "put them" up to it? Why progs on the right, and the progs on the left of course, that's who: progs. Statists and government promoters of every flavor. And for decades, the Greek people were only too willing to follow, just like the rest: those that buy into the scheisse that the State is equipped to manage and solve the problems created by our aggregate interactions. This is complete delusion, but one that's very persistent in the minds of its believers, who by the way, are often well-educated and otherwise quite confident of their incredulity.
The prog golden rule, The Free Lunch, is logically incoherent but that never stops them from using it to instigate and lead trouble and further, to always keep the honest off-balance and the same perhaps hoping for that happy ending that simple reason knows will never come. And so here we all are, again!, on the horns of the prog unicorn. No, in future, government action, and especially those that agitate for it, must come with warning labels. Those mutally exclusive demands were sold as achievable. Friggin nonsense.
And who "put them" up to it? Why progs on the right, and the progs on the left of course, that's who: progs. Statists and government promoters of every flavor. And for decades, the Greek people were only too willing to follow, just like the rest
You're way too kind. The "progs" didn't impose these thing upon the poor Greek people. The people themselves demand the short term fix and the poor Greek people wanted everything they could not afford. While I loathe politicians of every stripe and flavor, they are, in the end, just two-bit bagmen and proxies for the ignorant majority.
No imposition implied, not at all, just oily persuasion. The ignorant, rich, and poor, all, are permanent. It's always a scalawag however, that spots the mark to get the con going.
banzai i've been reading your commentary on syriza for a while now.
the germans are using their power position in europe to determine what the game is going forward.
if the germans want to push greece out of the euro (the ECC) , granted that greece was intentionally overleveraged with the help of goldman and others.
then the question is how the political , near civili war, reaction will go down in greece.
while there are undeniably powerful famileis and groups behidn the scenes, bankers and industrialists. it's clear that syriza and her currently represented electorate are the powerless and in so far as what you see is in fact genuine struggle of leadership of this group ---(and not some concocted conspiracy) than this is simply history plainly playing out the left in front of your eyes.
you are not forward thinking enough to see the far right golden----maidawn being the same sort of folks used by the nato alliance THE US----in ukraine , to achieve their power goals?
i think your comments reflect a misunderstanding about what can possibly happen in a circumstance where a country has been intentionally brought by to its knees by investment banks and insider famileis that made billiosn from contracts and gov. spending.
the possibilities now leave only so many options for being 'critical'. i'm not saying i love syriza. i'm just sayng i feel like you've been unnecessarily critical in a situation where everything is FUBAR and no good outcomes can be salvaged from what's coming.
if you ask me, my prediction is that syriza knows the end is coming and the redrachmazation of greece will result in civil strife and polarlization of golden maidawn. i think tsipras is probalby using much of his current time to politically prepare for the arrival of the nazi funded maidawn as a power player in greek politics. the maidawn obviously outrightly advocate killing and force in an open manner to achieve their ends, and so this current last gasp of political air in greece is in anticipation of the end of 'democracy' in the traditional sense and the kind of sham decmoracy and major spike in political violence you would expect in a post maidawn era.
I think Syriza is just like any other political "party". Promise the impossible to get elected and then do whatever is necessary to stay in power to line their own pockets at the people's expense. I for one have had enough of the lies that have been told by political parties.
Politicians are SCUM! They are all pathological liars who should hang from lamp posts for treason. The sooner this shitshow comes to an end, the better.
Unquestionably Greece is in a difficult situation.
However, following the initial noises from these clowns which sounded good, they have been playing into the Troika good cop bad cop narrative and selling a bunch of bullshit to the folks at home who were lead into false expectations. Rule No 1, manage expectations.
I said in the very beginning I would give them the benefit of the doubt because they were talking the talk. However, I don't see them walking the walk. And more importantly, I don't think their supporters see it either. And they did a piss poor job of managing expectations.
Yes, the nutjobs of the far right are ready to exploit this. Which makes it all the worse. And yes, the Germans are playing them like violins.
And all the photo ops and interviews and fashionable pictures of brand new Barbour jackets and French blue shirts andtalk about game theory are now seen as a farce by the rest of the Europeans, some of whom thought they saw a glimmer of hope. Paris Match, really?
And we in America know all about the stale taste when a mandate from the people gets turned into a schtupfest.
How aren't they walking the walk, so far at least? They've not implemented a single austerity measure so far even though the program required several for the final disbursement of funds. All they've committed to is structural changes that were needed in any case, inside the EZ or not.
You are right so far they have been flinging bullshit like tourist tax auditors to the Troika. And that is being ridiculed in Brussels.
However, raiding pension reserves to pay LaGarde is not a bad start.
how can you judge a govt that's been in power for 2 fucking months?? Obama and his cronies I can judge, Syriza not yet.
In the first month of his Presidency Obama did something sufficient to judge his entire Presidency: the appointments of Geithner and Summers and shortly thereafter the reappointment of Bernanke.
Speaking of violins, Here is Lindsey Stirling's outstanding piece, 'Heist'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twxuvpvCUQ4
@teslaberry: yes, but forget about the Nazi shit.
100% agree Banzai.
Not impressed with Varoufakis' message, which reading between the lines is silence the press and free speech when it's not to those in power's liking.
I think he just wanted to get out of Austin before SXSW. All the streets blocked off downtown, and drunk millenials stumbling around everywhere...
YEah . . . sort of reminds me of "Change We Can Believe IN"
Banzai, I hear your impatience and bitterness. A lot of us were breathless with expectations that a government that was willing to speak the truth would change everything overnight, but life doesn't unfold that way.
Here from 2010 and 2011 is a look at Varoufakis, as he spoke and thought then. It is the same man we have now, bold, clear about which side he is on yet humble in the face of the enormous challenge of pulling Europe back from the brink of disaster.
First as History, Then as Farce: The Euro Crisis Revisited, by Yanis Varoufakis, 2010
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/varoufakis171010.html
Varoufakis appears here as a clear-eyed observer of the crisis and of not just the European but the global and historical context.
Also, four you-tube clips:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/varoufakis171011.htmlThe first clip frames Varoufakis' thinking - showing a man fully aware of the enormity of the financial disaster that is unfolding - while in the last he shows a clear-eyed understanding of the process by which what we in the US would call the liberal oposition sells out to the banksters, and his determination to separate from that. Throughout, he emphasizes the need to work to build an alliance of and work with all honest parties across all classes for a European solution to the crisis. One concept I've never heard put so well: he refers to the failure of the corporations to recycle their surplus into new investment an "investor strike", and at the core of his proposals for Europe is a plan to recycle Europe's idle capital into great development projects. Well worth a listen. In these and many other interviews and essays, Varoufakis makes plain even in 2010-11 that he understands Sariza would take the reins with very little power to make changes by itself, that it would likely end up agreeing to more cutbacks, and that its one strength would be that it would tell the truth. While he occurs as a clear-eyed strategic thinker and hard-core enemy of the Empire, I'm sure he could sell out anyway. He wouldn't be the first - or the last. But that would require some years of being responsible for the conduct of government under intense pressure and temptations. The man we see in 2010-11 would not sell out in a few weeks or months.
Either his price was low and/or his character weak.
The guy is a fraud, hes there to steal from the Greek people just like the rest of them, he should be hanged.
Yep agree. This guy is a fraud. Possibly a concealed child from Lagarde.
The likeness is eerie.
That gave me a chuckle, I'll admit.
+1000 for the lulz
What some ZH posters (Dre4dwolf and Drummond) fail to understand, or accepted, it is that, the world is in the end cycle of financialization.
Once that end, the world will be facing a Great Depression that will make 1930’s Great Depression a walk in the park.
Back in the 30’s, US population was about 1/3 of the current size. US had plenty of coal and oil. Still, unemployment back then got over 25%.
Let me give you an example:
By Arthur Berman:
If you look at third quarter earnings…. on shore (shale oil) companies—and I follow about 50 of them—what you find is that their third quarter results say that they got negative free cash flow of about $5 billion. You know, the price of oil in third quarter was $93 a barrel, so you can just imagine what fourth quarter is going to look like. It is going to be a total train wreck if they were losing money back then.
http://www.peakprosperity.com/podcast/91722/arthur-berman-why-todays-shale-era-retirement-party-oil-production
“Brace yourself! The American Empire is over. The descent is going to be horrifying!” — Chris Hedges
I'm rather partial to horrifying. Bring it.
I have thought this way for awhile, but not realize they will have to shift to an authoritarian state to preserve financialization at this point because the collapse would be too nasty.
Oh wait....
THE SIGNS ARE WE ARE FOLLOWING THE TRAJECTORIES OF ALL THE EMPIRES THEY EXPAND BEYOND THEIR CAPACITY TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES. WE HAVE RUN UP THE LARGEST DEFICITS IN HUMAN HISTORY IS THE BOTTOM LINE WE CAN'T REPAY IT.
WE HAVE DONE SO AT THE COST OF OUR INFRASTRUCTURE, OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION, OUR WORKING CLASS. WE'RE HOLLOWING THE COUNTRY OUT FROM THE INSIDE AND THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IS ALL AROUND US. PLUNGING ROUGHLY ONE-THIRD OF AMERICANS INTO POVERTY OR NEAR POVERTY ACCORDING TO THE LATEST STATISTICS, OUR BRIDGES, OUR ROADS ARE COLLAPSING. LIBRARIES ARE BEING CLOSED. FIRE STATIONS ARE BEING CLOSED. THESE ARE THE SIGNS OF A NATION OR LET'S CALL IT AN EMPIRE THAT IS REACHING A KIND OF -- A TERMINAL POINT. AND IF WE DON'T RADICALLY RECHART OUR COURSE, THEN THE COLLAPSE IS GOING TO BE VERY FRIGHTENING AND VERY CHAOTIC. >>
http://www.c-span.org/video/?303072-1/depth-chris-hedges
''The system is the master; all must serve it. Credit must grow or else SHTF. -- if you do not borrow, they will borrow on your behalf.''
trav7777
Let's call it what is: DEBT must grow or else TSHTF.
"Let's call it what is: DEBT must grow or else TSHTF. "
I disagree.
The neo-global credit/debt based monetary system does not create the funds to pay interest on loans when the principal is created. This is a fundamental mathmatically unavoidable feature of the system. The only alternative to infinitely rolling loans that cannot be repaid due to the absense of funds to pay both the principal and the interest on loans is for debt to be restructured or defaulted and written off.
That is precisely what should be done: restructurings, defaults, and write offs. That is what the system is designed for.
The predicament is that almost universally the rich and politically powerful own the rentier streams derived from these loans and do not wish to see their credit/leverage wealth diminished to balance the system that has so far benefitted them so handsomely.
The only answer is defaults as the system is constructed. Call it jubilee or call it bankruptcy; but, this is what the system is actually designed to do.
ALL the attempts to subvert and pervert and put off the natural order of the credit/debt based global monetray regime from returning to balance and growth are the problem at this juncture. QE is just another form of looting those populaces that are not owners of debt-based rentier streams of what little they possess rather than writing off what cannot be paid.
It is a very simple and very very ugly form of repression.
The laws governing the entire global monetary regime are being broken to rob whole populaces and whole nations instead of purging and rebooting the system and building new credit/productivity streams of economic activity.
The governments, banks and related institutions are supposed to be vehicles for human endeavor and creativity.
Subversion of these systems as tools of repression and expropriation are criminal acts; in effect a repudiation of the social and economic contracts between the managers of these governments and institutions and the general populace.
The sad reprehensible reason why violence and bloodshed are becoming a necessity is that the mathmatically fundamental necessity for defaults, upon which the economic system has been built, has been suspended for the singular purpose of protecting a certain measure of excessive accrued rentier wealth owned by a minority interest that has already reaped the vast majority of the rewards from the growth phase of the previous credit/debt fueled productivity cycle.
The "CON" in NeoCON Economist comes from their claim that they can avoid resets. No they can't, no more so than they can avoid death. As a matter of fact, the existence of the long wave is tied to the coming and going of generations.
Comparing the Dow components of today versus 1929 versus 1985 shows the folly of pumping asset prices, something no one before the NeoCONs was ever stupid enough to attempt...
Dow Components January 28, 1929:
Allied Chemical
General Railway Signal
Radio Corporation of America
American C
Goodrich Corporation
Sears Roebuck
American Smelting & Refinin
International Harvester
Standard Oil
American Sugar
International Nickel
The Texas Company
American Tobacco Company
Mack Trucks
Texas Gulf Sulphur
Atlantic Refining
Nash Motors
Union Carbide
Bethlehem Steel
National Cash Register
United States Steel
Chrysler Corporation
North AmericanWestinghouse Electric
General Electric
Paramount Publix Woolworth
General Motors
Postum Wright Aeronautical
Dow Components October 30, 1985:
Allied-Signal
General Electric
Owens-Illinois
Aluminum Company of America
General Motors
Philip Morris
American Can Company
Goodyear
Procter & Gamble
American Express
Inco Limited
Sears Roebuck
American Telephone and Telegraph
International Business Machines
Texaco
Bethlehem Steel
International Harvester
Union Carbide Corporation
Chevron
International Paper
United States Steel
Du Pont
McDonald's Corporation
United Technologies
Eastman Kodak
Merck
Westinghouse Electric
Exxon
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing
Woolworth
Dow Components March 19, 2015
3M
General Electric
Nike
American Express
Goldman Sachs
Pfizer
Apple
Home Depot
Procter & Gamble
Boeing
Intel
Travelers
Caterpill
International Business Machines
UnitedHealth Group
Chevron Corporation
Johnson & Johnson
United Technologies
Cisco
JPMorgan Chase
Verizon
Coca-Cola
McDonald's
Visa
Du Pont
Merck
Wal-Mart
Exxon Mobil
Microsoft
Disney
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_components_of_the_Dow_Jones_Ind...
The pie is what it is, it's just a question of how it is cut up. If a Jubilee happened tomorrow, Russia, Venezuala etc. rich in resources and low in debt would come out winners. The US MIC get's dismantled, huge loss of jobs and status, but the US still probably has the resources to live well within it's own means. Syria, Libya, Ukraine are being looted, or are pawns in the game. The Greeks would probably be happy to pay taxes if they knew it wasn't part of the looting process.
And you haven't even mentioned the ongoing well-planned dispossession of white Americans courtesy of our Zionist masters and their goyische lackeys. But otherwise you are spot on.
America may lose in this scenario, but so will everyone else. The only winners will be the cockroaches.
That's why he's a genius
Yes and yes. That was easy, do I get to go to the bonus round now?
Yes, on "Beat the Reaper".
Greece's Obama. If you like your HOPE and CHANGE....
Except that he's probably actually a native Greek.
Looks like a Turk actually, if you ask me.
"Please excuse me while I get back to my 7-course lobster dinner, fine wine and champagne, while I devise more austerity measures for the little people."
It's a tough competition between banker thieves and politicans to see who can steal the most.
When you sell out your soul (and people) to the bankers...does it matter if you're a native? Banker shills have no nationality.
he's more American than Obama
Shitty comeback Varouf.
Campaigning as outsiders is fun. Going up against the troika from a point of weakness is hard
He should have resisted the temptation to take the bait. Things are not going as planned for Syriza. His juvenile retort elicited the preferred response fthe CNBC presstitute was going for
Syriza is not capable to the task they took on.
Next...
The question should have been "Are you a traitor to the people who voted you in?"
This settles that:
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/01/29/a-soros-trojan-horse-in...
that is a very good question. The thing is, when you're desperate, you'll vote for anyone and anything. Why do Americans keep voting Republican and Democrat when these two have consistently failed in practically every aspect? At least the Greeks said no to their traditional, entreched, mainstream parties.
"Why do Americans keep voting Republican and Democrat ..."
Because that's all that's offered (or allowed to be offered--see ballot access laws in variuos states and who controls them). Coke? or Pepsi? Red? or blue? Choose, it's your civic duty after all.
Perhaps a more pointed question is, why do Americans keep voting (period)?
60% or more don't---so how do the winners feel?? Like they have a MANDATE--fubar--
All the CNBC anchors should go with the big red noses, floppy shoes and Ronald McDonald hairdo.
They might be taken more seriously as actual clowns.
Dude, think of the actual working clowns before you suggest things like this.
Clowns are furious to be thought of with those jokers
CNBC Cuntz Not Behaving Correctly
CNBC Crap News Before Crash
Collateralized News-Based Comedy
Concocted No-Brains Cheerleaders
Notice how no one misses Maria Bartiromo
nah he's understandably upset by the fact that the press are trying to make a story out of the guy having a harmless glass of wine with his wife. Seriously who cares, he's a normal guy and has done nothing wrong. Actually he's above normal and an achiever and intelletual who's done better for himself because he made the effort in life. Good for him! So now he's trying to solve the great fiscal problems that can't be solved so he's just doing what everyone else does (kicking the can) until the proverbial black swan takes a shit on the world. I say give the guy a break, he is one of the good guys and my guess is he has a longer game plan than any of us know about.
Hoho that's rich! New to the game of politics are you? You are aware of how one rises to the top in the political arena right?
Wasn't there a provocative little article posted here some time ago announcing the large amount of "political capital" that had been invested in Europe?
Nice to see that investment paying off.
These soap opera's are so tiresome and repetitive. I had a brief conversation yesterday with someone who is inside the system attempting to enact accountability against a prominent political figure. Two years into the process and they are losing ground. I feel people truly underestimate how powerful modern bureaucracy has become. Expecting any meaniful change to occur at the hands of any career politician is exercise in futility. Except further enslavement, they will deliver on that front I'm sure.
I can not afford a politician, therefor I have no use for them ~ Me
Career politician? Who's that?
Except his party promised to end austerity in order to be elected. Now they are putting in even more austerity and are raiding the pension funds.
how about his latest achievment ? greek pensions :)
With this photoshoot he walked into a trap. They appealed to his vanity (that everybody has) and now they are exploiting that. Because everybody is expecting that he lives like a pauper and when he has a nice lunch with a beautiful woman and appear to be having fun, well, then that image is broken. Why doesn't the press go after those oligarchs in Greece that stole money to buy big houses and big yaughts while children go hungry to school?
everybody is expecting that he lives like a pauper and when he has a nice lunch with a beautiful woman and appear to be having fun
That only tells me something about everybody but nothing mention-worthy about he
I saw the photos but didn't see a beautiful woman.
I am withholding judgement until their feature in The National Enquirer
and there lies the sad state of affairs as it is today
Well, maybe because these oligarchs you speak of didn't get elected to office running on a platform of screw the banksters, we are one of you little people? He posed as a man of the people though he turns out to be one of the oligarchs - perhaps that is why?
Typical gay hairdresser attitude.
Images coming out of Greece should be of jailed bankers.
Images of a new constitution.
Instead, the image of a gay hairdresser with bad teeth?
Poor Greece.
"gay hairdresser with bad teeth"
Most accurate description of the EU this week, hands down.
Some time the political acumen of of the zh commenters barely rises to the level of a partially submerged turd.
Just sayin'
t's a good thing you still can talk to yourself in the mirror.
Many of us can't.
Many of you are so hideous, you can't bear to look in a mirror.
I know you are, but what am i?
Way to take it old school...like pre-grade-school old.
RIPS
I find unintended irony the most entertaining.
For me, it's the pasquinade of intelligence wearing sequins and pheasant tails. :o)
I learnt a new word today: pasquinade!
But that's why you come to zh. To learn new words.
You'll completely forget it after another beer.
Thanks for squeezing that thought out.
Think nothing of it
(which apparently is your strategy for a carefree life.)
It's been several really good decades of humoring fools like yourself, but I'll stick with it.
I'm sure you will as the decades turn into cenuries and you thrive as a legend in your own mind