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Alexis Tsipras' Open Letter To The Germans: "Duty Rests On All Our Shoulders"
Submitted by Pater Tenebrarum via Acting-Man.com,
Tsipras on the Topic of Greek Pensions
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has published an interesting open letter in German newspaper “Der Tagesspiegel” on the question of Greek pensions, which we reproduce below. He evidently feels the need to specifically address the German public, because he believes the issue is misunderstood in Germany. In the letter, he explains why the Syriza-led government continues to refuse to make any concessions regarding the pension cuts demanded by creditors:

Cartoon by Arend
“During a negotiation, an exchange of arguments is legitimate so long as there is sincerity and good faith between the parties. Otherwise, when the dialogue is ongoing with no end in sight then the methods used are akin to those described by the great German philosopher Schopenhauer in “The Art of Always Being Right”!
For example, it is unfair to selectively use statistical indexes — even if they are endowed with the prestige of distinguished economists, such as Olivier Blanchard– to produce unsupported generalizations that obscure reality. As such, I’d like address a popular myth that the average German taxpayer has been led to believe. Namely, that he is paying for the wages and pensions of the Greek people. This is absolutely false.
I don’t deny that our social security system has problems. But it’s important to point out the root of the problem and how it can be resolved. There were many cutbacks in recent years that only served to further the recession and make the problem even worse.
It may sound somewhat suspect that 75% of the primary expenditure is used to pay for salaries and pensions. If it sounds unbelievable—that’s because it is: only 30% of the primary expenditure concerns pensions. Moreover, it’s important to note that wages and pensions are not the same thing, and assessing them together is a serious methodological error.
The comparison with Germany’s pensions is also rather misleading. According to the Aging Reports (2009, 2015), pension expenditure in Greece rose from 11.7% of GDP in 2007 (slightly higher than the 10.4% in Germany) and reached 16.2% in 2013 (while in Germany the numbers remained almost stable).
What caused this increase? Was it due to an increase in pensioners or an increase in pension amounts? The answer is: Neither. The number of pensioners has essentially remained unchanged and pensions have shrunk dramatically due to the implemented policies. Simple arithmetic is sufficient to reach the conclusion that the increase in pension expenditure as a percentage of GDP is entirely due to a decline in GDP (denominator), and not to an increase in expenditure (the numerator). In other words, GDP declined faster than the pensions.
Concerning retirement ages, could it be that in Greece employees retire much younger?The truth is that the retirement age in Greece is 67 years for men and women, i.e. two years more than in Germany. The average exit age from the labor market for men in Greece is 64.4 years, i.e. eight months earlier than the 65.1 years in Germany, while Greek women retire at 64.5 years, about 3.5 months later than German women who retire at 64.2 years.
I wanted to highlight the above –again, not to deny the ailments of our social security system- but to prove that the problem is not one of supposed generous pensions. The most significant disruption to the pension funds is due to dramatically lower revenues in recent years. These were caused by the loss of assets due to the PSI (haircut of Greek bonds held by the Pension Funds, totally approximately 25 billion euro) as well as – and most importantly – by the sharp drop in contributions that resulted from soaring unemployment, and the reduction in wages.
In particular, during the period 2010 – 2014, approximately 13 billion euro were removed from our social security system through a series of measures with a corresponding reduction in pensions and allowances at a rate of about 50%, a fact which has exhausted any margin for further reductions without undermining the operational core of the system. Moreover, we must understand that the system is being mainly pressed on the revenue side and less so on expenditures, as is often implied.
I would also like to call attention a matter that is unique to the Greek crisis. The social security system is the institutionalized mechanism of intergenerational solidarity, and its sustainability is a main concern for society as a whole. Traditionally, this solidarity has meant that young people, through their contributions, fund the pensions of their parents. But during the Greek crisis, we’ve witnessed this solidarity being reversed as the parents’ pensions fund the survival of their children. The pensions of the elderly are often the last refuge for entire families that have only one or no member working in a country with 25% unemployment in the general population, and 50% among young people.
Faced with such a situation we cannot adopt the logic of blind and horizontal cuts, as some have asked us to do, which would result in dramatic social consequences. On the other hand, we are not indifferent to the present condition of our social security system, and we are determined to ensure its sustainability.
The Greek government submitted specific proposals concerning the social security system’s reorganization. We agreed to the immediate abolition of the early retirement option that increases the average retirement age, and we are committed to moving forward immediately with the consolidation of the pension funds, thus reducing their operating expenses and restricting special arrangements.
As we analyzed in detail during our discussions with the institutions, these reforms function decisively in favor of the sustainability of the system. And like all reforms, their results will not be apparent from one day to another. Sustainability requires a long-term perspective and cannot be subject to narrow, short-term fiscal criteria (e.g. reducing expenditure by 1% of GDP in 2016).
Benjamin Disraeli used to say that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. Let us not allow an obsessive-compulsive use of indices to destroy the comprehensive agreement that we prepared over the previous period of intensive negotiations. The duty rests on all of our shoulders.”
Tsipras is undoubtedly correct about the fact that statistics have to be seen in proper context and are often prone to being abused to support narratives that are not exactly truthful. Indeed, aggregated statistics are certainly unable to properly convey the plight of many of Greece’s citizens.

Cartoon bySteve Bell
However, he himself omits statistics that would undermine his arguments, such as those we have recently discussed in these pages (see: “Greek Court Suspends Gravity” for details). Fair enough – he wants the focus to be on the here and now after all. Thus, he doesn’t mention that there have been a number of increases in Greek pensions well above the official consumer price inflation rate prior to the cuts of 2012, while German pensioners had to make do without pension increases on these occasions. For most pensioners the official inflation rate is of course totally bogus, since they aren’t buying a new PC or tablet computer every year.
He does however have a point about the catastrophic socioeconomic situation in which many Greek citizens find themselves in – as he points out, retirees these days often have to support those who would normally be expected to support them. Moreover, the failure of the EU/IMF style austerity policy to bring about a lasting economic turnaround in Greece seems damningly obvious by now. However, in this context he also never mentions the fact that Greece’s economic data were in the process of beginning to improve just before the election that swept his party to power, and that this improvement was cut short by the outcome of the election and what has happened since. On the other hand, Syriza has always had a point with respect to the incompetence and corruption of most of its predecessor governments. At the same time, it has yet to prove that it can do better. Talk, as they say, is cheap.

Alexis Tsipras after winning the election earlier this year.
Deficit Spending – An Exercise in Futility
We agree with Mr. Tsipras that a different tack is called for, but what should it consist of? The left generally believes that the best way to revive an economy is by indulging in Keynesian deficit spending and monetary pumping. The ECB is already pumping, but Greece is essentially untouched by that, as a result of massive deposit flight. The Greek portion of the euro area’s money supply is undoubtedly declining sharply. In a way, this could be seen as a blessing in disguise, as the only things that can be achieved by monetary pumping are asset bubbles and the associated reverse redistribution of wealth, as well as a general distortion of the price system, which may bring about a brief sugar high, but will invariably lead to capital consumption and even greater impoverishment (on the other hand, outright monetary deflation is harsh medicine when it happens in a hampered market economy in which prices and wages are not free to adjust quickly; but that is a problem of economic policy).
A massive inflation of the euro area’s money supply – but none of it is arriving in Greece – click to enlarge.
Deficit spending is likewise futile – in fact, similar to monetary pumping, it is worse than futile. Governments don’t possess a magic wand or any resources of their own. Here are a few pertinent quotes by Ludwig von Mises on the topic of deficit spending:
“What the government spends more, the public spends less. Public works are not accomplished by the miraculous power of a magic wand. They are paid for by funds taken away from the citizens.” (Human Action, p.655)
“No one should expect that any logical argument or any experience could ever shake the almost religious fervor of those who believe in salvation through spending and credit expansion.” (Planning for Freedom, p.63)
“What the doctrine of balancing budgets over a period of many years really means is this: As long as our own party is in office, we will enhance our popularity by reckless spending. We do not want to annoy our friends by cutting down expenditure. We want the voters to feel happy under the artificial short-lived prosperity which the easy money policy and rich supply of additional money generate. Later, when our adversaries will be in office, the inevitable consequence of our expansionist policy, viz., depression, will appear. Then we shall blame them for the disaster and assail them for their failure to balance the budget properly” (Planning for Freedom, p. 87)
Every cent the government spends has to be taken from someone else. Regardless of whether this is done by taxation, borrowing or inflation, what the government is spending is exactly equal to the amount that will no longer be available to the private sector. This is a truism, and yet, one must always stress it, as many people appear to be ignorant of this fact. On the face of it, the only difference is that in one case, government bureaucrats decide how the funds should be spent, while in the other case, those who actually earned the money would make the decision.
This in turn is the reason why deficit spending by governments is not merely a wash, but as we noted above, is actually worse that futile. As long as people are free to spend/invest/save their own money as they wish, the outcome will be an economic structure that is aligned with their wishes. How can planners and bureaucrats possibly improve on these voluntary decisions? It should be obvious that this is not possible.
Just as credit expansion and the associated manipulation of interest rates disturbs the inter-temporal arrangement of the production structure, so does government spending disturb it on an intra-temporal level. Its spending will primarily enrich a handful of favored cronies, and it definitely won’t be based on rational economic calculation. Investments will be undertaken that no-one would touch if not for government interference. Often such spending will almost immediately prove to have been a complete waste (example: Solyndra), but often this won’t be noticed right away, or may even not be noticed at all (this is to say, cause and effect may not be obvious once a certain time period has passed).

Greece: government spending represents nearly 60% of economic output. While the latter has declined sharply, this indicates that government spending has not declined all that much – certainly in no way that is commensurate with the actual size of the economy. Government spending continues to be infused by the bloat of the preceding boom.
What is to be Done?
We don’t have the time to fact-check all the assertions Tsipras makes, but we do know that probably not one of the pension systems in the Western world, such as they are now constituted, is even remotely “sustainable”. This is a pipe dream. Demographic factors alone pose an insurmountable problem to the “pay-as-you-go” systems that are in operation everywhere today. The promises of past governments won’t be kept, because they cannot be kept.
However, Tsipras is no doubt correct when he points to the problems the Greek system has specifically on the revenue side. With unemployment at depression type levels, and pension funds having lost a large part of their assets in the first Greek bankruptcy (the so-called “private sector initiative”, in which once again, the private sector had to bear the burden of decisions made by the political class), it is no wonder the system is tottering.
The problem is though that we have only the vaguest of indications of what the current Greek government intends to do in terms of economic reform to alter the situation – beyond the not unreasonable idea of a debt haircut to liquidate debt which everybody knows it unsound and can never be repaid. Given that Syriza houses an eclectic mixture of leftist groups, ranging from environmentalists to hard-core Marxists, we strongly doubt it plans to liberalize the economy. Greece’s economy continues to be severely hampered by a sclerotic, oversized and reportedly extremely corrupt bureaucracy. If you think this is an exaggeration, here is a reminder – the passage below is from an article in Der Spiegel, which refers to a 2011 OECD report:
“The need for deep structural reforms in Greece is well-known. But a new OECD report indicates that Athens may be incapable of such far-reaching changes. Ministries don’t communicate, officials don’t keep records and oversight is virtually nonexistent. The only thing that might help, it says, is a “big bang.”
[…]
Going by the rather bland title “Greece: Review of the Central Administration,” the 127-page report can be quickly summed up: The government apparatus in Athens is virtually unable to implement reform.
“It is not clear how existing and new entities of (the government) will work together in order to secure the leadership needed for reform, including the necessary strategic vision, accountability, strategic planning, policy coherence and collective commitment, and communication,” reads the damning report.”
[…]
“It found that communication among the country’s 14 ministries was appallingly paltry. Furthermore, the huge number of departments within ministries — many of them consisting solely of a department head and others with just one or two subordinates — results in widespread inefficiency and lack of oversight.
“Administrative work is fragmented and compartmentalized within ministries,” the report writes. “Ministries are not able to prioritize … and are handicapped by coordination problems. In cases where coordination does happen, it is ad hoc, based on personal initiative and knowledge, and not supported by structures.”
Were such coordination even to take place, the report indicates that administrators do not have access to the necessary data, nor does such data exist in many cases. “The administration does not have the habit of keeping records or the ability to extract information from data (where available), nor generally of managing organizational knowledge,” the report found.
The problems found in Greece’s central administration, says the OECD, are the result of decades of clientelism and the sheer volume of the laws and regulations that govern competencies within the ministries. The report found 17,000 such laws, decrees and edicts.”

The impenetrable jungle of the Greek bureaucratic apparatus
Has anyone in the meantime heard even word one that any of this has changed? We haven’t. We can only assume that some changes must have taken place as thousands of civil servants have lost their jobs in the course of the austerity program (the numbers are not as big as they appear, given how enormous the bureaucracy was to begin with). However, we are not quite sure that the “17,000 laws, decrees and edicts” have been altered in any way or abandoned, or that communication within the administrative apparatus has improved. In fact, we would expect that the decrees remain very much in force and that any improvements that may have occurred other areas are marginal at best (we would be happy to be corrected if anyone has countervailing information).
Readers may recall the Greek online business that received all its operational permits in the US within just 24 hours, but had to struggle with Greek bureaucrats for 10 months to receive the exact same permits (see our excerpt here, as the original article has disappeared into the internet memory hole. Scroll down to “The Nightmare of Opening an Online Business in Greece”). As Aristides Hatzis remarked in his op-ed in the FT:
“The Greek government is trying to avoid the bitter pill of pro-market structural reforms and the restructuring of its rickety retirement system. This is one of the most rigid and least open economies in the EU, yet some Greek ministers consider it a neoliberal paradise.”
And this is ultimately the crux of the matter. Mr. Tsipras insists that “German taxpayers won’t have to pay for Greek pensions”, but he doesn’t explain who will, or how he intends to go about improving the revenues of Greece’s stricken pension funds. Not that we want to take away anything from the reform efforts he does propose, namely:
“We agreed to the immediate abolition of the early retirement option that increases the average retirement age, and we are committed to moving forward immediately with the consolidation of the pension funds, thus reducing their operating expenses and restricting special arrangements.”
One really has to wonder though: why hasn’t this been done ages ago? What has kept the Tsipras government from implementing these reforms in, say, March or April? Why has the previous government not already done this? Being “committed” to something and actually doing it is obviously not the same thing. Why should such an essential and obvious reform of the system even be part of the Greek government’s negotiations with creditors?

Cartoon by Paresh
And we have to come back to the first question: how will the revenue side be improved? Obviously, this will require economic growth. We do agree with the Greek government that hiking taxes in the current situation so as to pretend-service an unpayable debtberg is utterly absurd. However, sparing the private sector further tax hikes is hardly enough. If powerful politicians within Syriza are mistaking Greece for a “neoliberal paradise”, what hope is there that market forces will ever be given free rein in the country?
Conclusion
As so often, Mr. Tsipras makes a number of fair points. However, it seems to us that everybody is skirting the main issues. Greece cannot become a “socialist Utopia”, unless its citizens are happy with being condemned to a hand-to-mouth existence for a long, long time indeed. Whether or not Greece defaults, the one thing the government will be unable to fund is the very socialism that is its basic ideology. It would be interesting if Greece were to be pushed out of the euro system of central banks, but keep the euro as its medium of exchange anyway. In that case, the Greek banking system would have to almost fully reserve demand deposits, and fund credit with savings, bond sales and its own capital. Credit expansion would be a thing of the past, and the same fate would await budget deficits. In such a situation, the ideology of the party in government may not matter: it would be forced to live within its means, no matter what. That would provide a strong incentive to implement pro-market reform. Alas, which leftist government is going to voluntarily eschew the possibilities offered by the printing press?

Shall it be bread and water, or something better? Greece’s politicians should look at the crisis as an opportunity to adopt a laissez faire economy. Unfortunately, we don’t believe they will.
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FUCK SOCIALISM !!!!!!!!!!!!
"intergenerational solidarity"
Marxist code speak for "Ponzi scheme"
That depiction of "The impenetrable jungle of the Greek bureaucratic apparatus" looked just like the inside of that CIA rent a truck that blew up in Oklahoma City.
Socialism is work fine until run on bank.
The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.
In socialism there is no such thing as other peoples' money. It does not exist.
In Spanish,
Su casha est mi casha.
In Spanish it is Mi casa es Su Casa. I have no idea how to say it in Russian Boris.
Boris is hablos in Español, but is only provide socialist translation, Su Casa es mi casa. Someday, when Tylor is provide script able to show Cyrillic, Boris is also provide Russia translation. In English, "To he who is need, from he who is produce."
A+. No more homework for the semester for you.
All the 'isms are dead, the only thing left is Financialism, which has restored the oppresion and slavery/serfdom of the old Aristocracies.
Oh yeah, the money. I almost forgot about that.
These ridiculous melodramas about sex, race, nationalities, political labels have a remarkable power to blind us to the simple facts.
Where the fuck is the money going? If the "recovery," false or not, had dropped the same amount of money into the pockets of the commoners, we would be looking at a very different financial situation today.
The rich and their various sychophants and useful idiots would be screeching against "socialism," but the entire fucking planet would be better off. In many ways.
Including Greece.
Write down the mother fucking unpayable debts, you blood-sucking bastards.
It needs to be updated for hedge fund blood-suckers, of course. And their prostitute politicians.
Our own fate will be the same. The debt is unpayable. If they couldn't MAKE me use their garbage it wouldn't work. In this country they jammed unconstitutional legal tender laws down our throats with a court packing scheme nobody has ever heard of. http://www.thetruthaboutthelaw.com/they-make-you-use-money-that-is-backe...
Tsipras stole his act from Mel Brooks,"Blazing Saddles".
Just like Cleavon Little holding a gun to his own head and threatening everyone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_JOGmXpe5I
And the sheriff is a nagger
And the sheriff is a nagger
So tired of hearing about Greece. Maybe it'll be the spark that blows the financial system up. Maybe it'll be as important as a fart in a hurricane. Wake me up when something actually happens.
Tsipras should have honestly stated that Greece can never pay off its debt of $65,000 per taxpayer especially since Greeks view avoiding taxes as a national sport.
Here is Tsipras' actual letter, if he were being honest:
Dear German taxpayer(closet Nazi who owes us money from WW II),
So let's cut the debt by 60% and then the problem of cutting Greek debt will only again happen in 10 years.
So at $20 billion a year, you can make the Greek problem and its danger to the $54 trillion derivative portfolio of Deutsche bank disappear.
Please visit Greece often and we promise not to spit more than once in your food.
Your holiday host,
Tsipras
PS We have lots of swimming pools in Greece - though not on tax forms
Greek Wealth Is Everywhere but Tax Forms
In the wealthy, northern suburbs of this city, where summer temperatures often hit the high 90s, just 324 residents checked the box on their tax returns admitting that they owned pools.
So tax investigators studied satellite photos of the area — a sprawling collection of expensive villas tucked behind tall gates — and came back with a decidedly different number: 16,974 pools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/world/europe/02evasion.html?pagewanted...
the rationell for taxing pools must be hilarious.
the whole Greek thing is about them not taxing to the EU central bankers specifications.
The Greek asset-stripping project is dependent upon Greece cooperatively reporting and collecting taxes
In most countries, the central bank asset stripping is dependent upon IRS reporting requirements which provide a road map to their citizens assets. Greece-and Italy-have never been very particular about compliance with their citizens' asset reporting requirments. One of the reasons they were brought into the EU was to bring the full weight of Brussels down upon them.
Once the data is collected, targeted taxation and regulation provide the mechanisms to complete the asset stripping project. Just before the government legislature is to vote, the immigration gates are opened to quell the native opposition to being raped.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat until you're about as stripped as the USA is today. They started the European project in 2000
The guys on the inside of each country making it happen are the ones that make out pretty well-besides the banking houses!
The crux of the matter is very simple:
Do I want the government crony to have a swimming pool or do I want to have one myself?
Paying taxes does not always lead to the noble achievement of paying for puppies, old ladies and firemen.
I like to keep my swimming pools for myself. FUCK THE GOVERNMENT.
People work or don't work and should be free to enjoy the fruits of their labor, or else: I will wait for thieves and burglars with my big AK-15 at the front door. I don't distinguish between men in black masks and the tax man with a briefcase or a Banker in a suit. To me, they are all and the same. Have a good day motherfuckers.
So where do Portugal, and Spain stand?
In a pile of deep shit.
Exact same place as Greece was 5 or 6 years ago.
I'm sure, given the right amount of arm twisting, they'll too promise to spit NO more than once...
Slightly in front of Italy in the race to pillage the Germans and Nordic countries.....
Will be interesting to see if they go for Palliative care (extend more money to all).... or let Greece go, and cleanup up Deutsche and the others...
Lots of calculations going on as to what would get them the longer can kick... The end is inevitable, its just the timing.
They stand in the position where private debt has been transferred to the taxpayer.
This is such a shitshow.
Time for a global monetary reset.
Buy silver.
Buy bitcoin.
Bitcoin is not money, but it is a currency. It relies on percieved value, fiat stamped approval. Gold and silver do not. They are the value of the supply of gold and silver above and below ground.
Yeah that is so true , even my dog knows how valuable gold truly is , because it has actual real genuine 'intrinsic value'.
There is a finite supply of it above ground, there is a finite supply of it in the ground - which must be dug up at cost - and it has many industrial uses, and it, like bitcoin, can act as a currency.
^^^ Intrinsic value
unlike bitcoin it cannot be used to make an international payment in seconds , and it can be short sold in a heatbeat making it a terrible currency wide open to manipulation. It certainly has it's place in the world , but there is no such thing as intrinsic value , that is a myth.
According to the Austrian school, the very best money has zero other uses. The example often given is sheafs of wheat ,,, which were use as money at one time. Problem is, accumulating wealth with that kind of money, suppresses it's other use - as food.
Until fairly recently (industrial revolution) Gold had no other uses - Jewelery was just a visually pleasing way to hold your money.
Bitcoin explicity, has no other use. It is just useful as currency, and if confidence in it continues, as money (currency with store of value ability)
I am with CT here.... there no such thing as instrinsic value. There are various intrinsic attributes or properties. People place varying values on those attributes.
Eg. The attribrute of being immune to counterfeiting is one area where Bitcoin is better than Gold. Widespread acceptance is an attribute where Gold is better than Bitcoin.
So individual people will value each currency tool differently. The nice thing is that Bitcoin, Gold and Silver all exist and can be used at your option, without any counter party risk.
Bitcoin is the best form of money humankind has ever seen.
It takes the best of the Tally Stick System (which worked perfectly for 700 years) , the Gold Standard (which worked near-perfect for 200 years) , and it also throws in for good measure: transparency , global and instant.
Whoever designed bitcoin was a genius.
Or you could adapt to this kind of "illegal" activity, with gold and bitcoin combined:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala
Doesn't matter what it is. If there is no confidence in it, it is useless.
At 246 dollars there must be some confidence in it...
Unless you bought it a year ago at $604.00. No you are HOPING there is confidence in it. If you're still long bitcoin.
What ever happened to Reggie's "Super Duper Extra Marvelous Extremely Better Ultracoin"? Did I miss that train too?
Ultracoin run's over the bitcoin network you dope , it uses bitcoin as it's medium of exchange and it's working just great.
@Soul Glow
Gold and Silver also rely on percieved value ... mind you, for Gold and Silver that perception is rather more widespread and has been for a very long time.
That picture of merkel on Drudge right now deepthroating eating whatever she is eating, is tough to look at.
It's a fish.
Opa.
People always talk about unpayable debt.
It's not working without making debt - the government houshold needs to make debt, it's mathematics. Please look up Steve Keens interpretation. The only problem is the amount of public and private debt that is being made.
That aside... that Greece stuff is going on my nerves, here in Germany media goes bananas for this shit... We don't hear anything about Spain or Italy anymore, even though the unemployment among youth is not getting down either...
I conclude that media is full of shit, and it's better to not look at it - that goes for Zerohedge too - apperently I share this shitty habit of looking at ZH all the time with many of you guys.
nobody has tried to help greece. all they have done is exploit greece. they saddle them with bailout loans, want them to buy mercedes, foist mortgages and other bubbles upon them but when it comes to economic development in the eu cooperation is noexistent. it's dog eat dog bitchez. outsiders corrupted greece, the squid and other bankers sent them to hell in a handbasket. now troika is slamming the gate so they never get out. investment bankers my ass, they are nothing but parasites. it's time for worldwide jubilee bitchez or else everyone will end up like greece.
Greece is like the hooker, that everybody is telling to leave the immoral Life behind and giving valuable Life lessons, but everybody wants to have a last fuck.
Her asshole is sore and dripping.
A very thoughtful analysis.
Sadly, one that will likely go to waste in the present. Somebody WILL print the money to continue this game because it is the present model of modern, 'developed' society.
AKA...'government'.
Which in truth are merely criminal organizations comprised of sociopaths who adore the disgusting practice of creating and then abusing 'slaves'.
In FACT...Plans to go nuclear with this obviously failed model are in hyperactive mode.
Truth WILL win...
But anyone reading this will be dead before that eventuality manifest.
Correct, the Neo-Malthusian Eugenics death Cult marches on.
It can be seen in Eric Pianka, John Holdren, and the Georgia Guidestones,
and their pseudo science of Eugenics.
A small tactical nuke on W48 scale was already used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5WxyaZI81k
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W48
Excellent article.
Thank you
It is not an article, but merely an opinion. A very simplistic one.
All of the European states are "socialist" if you ask an American. If you point at America, they'll simply state that it is no longer capitalist, as they stuff happening there is hardly possible if it was a "real" free market. Greece does not have "socialism"; it is owned by Europa. The previous government wasn't even elected but simply appointed. And no, socialism is NOT communism.
..and if it is a corporation (or multiple) that is effectively running government, we call it fascism.
To summarize:
Blah, blah, blah. It isn't my fault. Give me more money (that I won't ever pay back).
Anyone who is "lending" should accept that he/she is taking a risc.
As simple as that.
that's where you're wrong. the entire apparatus is designed to protect reckless creditors. there is no risk for them. nobody defaults, ever, and even if they do the taxpayer makes the creditors whole every damn time.
If the following is true:
In Greece, about 75% of public-sector pensioners also take early retirement.
Here are some numbers that Greek Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis reported in December 2014 …
In the public sector:
Meanwhile, when it comes to the country’s Social Security Fund (the IKA):
This trend has only accelerated as Greece’s financial woes have mounted and more cuts have been put on the bargaining table.
It is reported that there are currently 400,000 applications for new government-provided retirement benefits in the queue, and a large portion of them are early retirement requests.
Then the greeks have no one to blame but themselves for the failure of their socialist utopia. Hope they are prepared to live hand to mouth for another couple of generations.
Where is Woferln when you need him ?
yup
"Whether or not Greece defaults, the one thing the government will be unable to fund is the very socialism that is its basic ideology."
What????
You mean that socialism, by its very nature, demands more wealth than you have...no matter how much you have????
But.
But.
The only way that could be is if it advocates theft!!!
Tsipras to Germans: Give me more of your hard earned money cause I'm pathetic.
>>> Alas, which leftist government is going to voluntarily eschew the possibilities offered by the printing press?
Ecuador, to name but one.
americans are a funny lot. railing against socialism on the one hand while cashing the .gov check with the other. the fact is the "socialist" countries collect the same amount of tax from their people as the usa collects but the people get a pension and universal healthcare for it. americans get a bloated deranged .gov with a huge unneccessary security network designed to threaten the world and americans while americans pay a health "tax" on top of income tax which gives them only limited access to the most bloated, inefficient healthcare system in the world and are forced to pay into a mathematically bankrupt social security system.
i don't qualify for social security and the only .gov handout i get is a coupla tax deductions. how about you? are you ready to walk the walk?
Psst.
Know what?
The USA is socialist, and has been since 1933 if not 1913.
It is time to come out of the closet.
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges. (Tacitus). The problem for the government of Greece is, that it has limited influence on the deep state that has built througout the years. If you would approach a green field environment the prospects would be great for the greece population. But the reality is that there is a communist party as government that wants to change status quo and on the other side there is the deep state in Greece that hides behind exemptions from law. Greece is a failed state that can not be governed.
The problem with Greece is, they wanted a free lunch. Wanted the social benefits, but didn't want to pay the taxes. Wanted to eat the grain, but didn't want to replace it. Now the creditors want their pound of flesh. Yes, the Greek people never consented directly to overwhelming the state with loans, but they did indirectly consent to corruption in general society. It may seem harmless enough, but if everyones stealing towels from the hotel, then eventually it will collapse. Haircut anyone? Blame must be proportionate. If Greece can't acccept that they played a role in their downfall, then they will have learned nothing!
The problem with Greece is that they allowed the Armericans to show them how to cook the books to join the Eurozone while pocketing loot by everyone involved in the fraud.
Thus, they are overdue a revolution.
After the revolt, will they still want their free lunch? Deficits require funding. Issue bonds or tax increases. Greeks don't like paying taxes though. So, how to maintain the free lunches without paying tax?
Greece is part of the american empire. When empires decline it is always at the perifery. Today Greece, tomorrow Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc. all parts of the empire. Greece failure and the others to follow is the effect of the empire failure. That's it.
jaded helmet?
Mr. Tsipras would like to teach german public about "arithmetics", but he forgot that it is his country that somehow miscalculated.
http://www.georgetowner.com/articles/2012/jan/25/cocktail-week-icelands-...
cocktail of the week
Brennivínon on the rocks
"In Greece, the anise-favored Ouzo is considered a symbol of Greek culture. And in Scandinavian countries, the locals enjoy Aquavit"
Athens... the new Reykjavík
Voting for Archimedes on the new drachma note
The Greeks are screwed.
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