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Greek Protests Turn Violent (Update - Not Just Yet)
Update: it appears that the Guardian clip is from June when tempratures were a little warmer. That said, today's developments will likely not end in a very different fashion. For today's "riot" developments, follow kathimerini.
In a sad but entirely unsurprising turn of events, the people of Greece are indeed beginning to realize the dead end of their situation and what the politicians are about to do to them (sadly they also are not frontrunning the latest bevy of BS rumors out of Greece which have lifted the EURUSD by 110 pips on the same rumor rerun we have seen over and over and over and over and over and over and... so on ad inf). As the entire country strikes, the UK's Guardian notes that protesters in Athens are once again clashing with police as violence erupts outside the Greek parliament. After 30 years of Keynesian imbalance, is it any surprise that social unrest would once again erupt as austerity impositions are force-fed to a nation who recognizes the almost entire lack of benefits accruing to them from another Troika bailout.
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How do you say, "hell no we won't go" in Greek?
"Woof, Woof" - but then that's just Sausage.
as in "hell no we won't live within our means, won't work 40 hour weeks, won't retire at 65.." i don't know how to say this in Greek but I know how to say it in German
"Fick dich selber Europa!"
I do not get why they have not been up in arms every day, and clashing with the police. The parliament building should of been up in flames months ago.
t - 3 to 6 months
because once you have your basic physical needs met, political activism tends to fall off a cliff.
More like, when many of the protesting elements simulatenously want revolution and continued government handouts, the cognitive dissonance is so mentally disrupting that they can't manage to concentrate hard enough to light a molotov.
Poetic justice. Government will now need use force, and once again, change the rules to take created the very benefits that these people enjoy, and which government guns provided in the first place.
weren't all these smears pretty much debunked?
Why does everyone repeat the lies of the Governments?
Think about it - you are massively more productive than your forefathers.
....and yet you now are supposed to work longer than they did?
Anyone with half a brain can see the Government is lying.
The REAL REASON YOU HAVE TO WORK LONGER IS TO SUPPORT THE LAZT RULING CLASS WHO HAVE MORE FOR DOING LESS.
Really, it's time you worked this out rather than just accepting that bullshit that "we all have to work longer because we're living longer"
Total crap - life longevity ADDS to productive capacity - not takes it away as production is also improved with the handing down of skills.
i.e. old man teaching the young apprentice.
...but you want to keep pumping that Government / free market bullshit then carry on.
The Greeks are right, we should all be retiring @ 50 now - but the ever decreasing wages and inequality of wealth mean we're being asked to work longer just to keep up with inflation.
Greece today reminds me of that inversion of Torsten Veblen's title, to read "The Liesure of the Theory Class," wherein the theories can be minor theories of social welfare policy or anything else with a government-service ring to it. As to the productivity bit: Sure the productivity of some workers went up, but the available supply of global labor went up much much faster. The whole dream of 'Europe' for the southern populations was a dream that Europe was special and prosperous compared to their particular nation-state (Greece, Spain, et al). Ah, to be part of a Europe INSTEAD. So people in Andalucia, Spain, often say "I'm an Andalucian and a European. And in Barcelona it is similar. I note that Spain made much better use of their Equalization Funds and EIB loans than Greece, building many fabulous highways and railroads. There is a down side, though: All those roads and railroads will require major maintenance, rebuilding, long before the the improvements themselves have been paid for....and probably before the local banks have been stabilized. As for the 'apprentice' bit: Turn-key factories don't need any 'hand down the skills' phase, really. Hand-crafts do, but then you're up against China. Hospitality and leisure should be a major win, but the rewards will have to be spread differently than in the past regarding workers vis a vis owners of hotels, restaurants, and bars.
He has a valid point. To see it from a better perspective as an American, consider the 1950's. A single man's blue collar salary would support an entire large family without his spouse having to work. Today however? Well, you know the answer. I'm sure the situation has been similar in Greece, Egypt, etc.
I hear that about a single salary, but not sure it was true. I talked to an engineer frien who lived through that time, and he said he had two or more jobs to make ends meet.
There are a ton of variables of course, but my example is a decent one. My father had seven children, and he worked on an assembly line. We did not live high on the hog, but we had food, shelter, and clothes, etc.
Could I do that today? LOL Even the question is laughable. Of course I could never do it. Hell, I'd be filthy rich if I had a nickel for every person out there who is not having any or more children because of financial issues. It's depopulation by other means.
Depopulation yes .. but only for the White Race, all the Schwarze and Mexicans are living of social security and Affirmative Action anyway
There you go again - supporting the Government with your devisive hatred.
That's exactly what they want you to do - and you're going for it like a sucker.
The Mexicans didn't steal your wealth you retard - the RULING CLASS DID.
I laugh at the American dream - your founding fathers did their best to prevent inheriting the shitty class system of the British - but you ended up with one anyway!
The only difference being your ruling class is not designed by royal appointment - it's defined by "large exploitative families" - like the Morgans, the Rothschilds, the Kennedy's etc.
If you put a 'royal' in front of each - then hey presto you have the same system as the British.
Easy up there Mary..And stay away from the coffee, I think you have had enough...
... and, of course, a spouse having to work means a 100% increase in tax payers.
One of the more clandestine reasons for women liberation.
Well said!
We now have 2% of the population working at growing food (compared to 25% just a few decades ago), but unfortunately the system is geared towards making sure we do not EVER accumulate wealth (and independence).
For example, manufacturers conspire/plan to build only goods with short half-lives (eg: 100 hour light bulbs, jeans that last a few months before fraying, etc.), so no matter what, YOU NEVER GET AHEAD, YOU NEVER STOP BUYING / SPENDING / NEEDING TO WORK.
The competitive system we live in is truly evil: we don't compete to improve things - instead, we are made to compete to pull each other down. Life on earth is satanically evil, when in fact it could be really nice...
It is the nature of the cleverest monkeys to scorn paradise.
I don't know what the 'real' situation is regarding the Greeks and their pensions. I'm not over there and don't know the details.- - - But, it is obvious what has happend in the U.S., however. Our money has been devalued by 97-98% by the private banking cartel the 'Federal Reserve'. We have to pay at progressive rates on this inflated fiat fake 'money'. Politicians robbed the Social Security 'trust fund, and our income taxes go to pay the interest to the banksters on the 'national debt'.
A criminal enterprise is robbing people around the world. They put people into a kind of debtors serfdom. - -Many people are fooled into fighting among themselves, their attention diverted from the real culprits.
How much would you have for your own life, health, retirement, and children if it hadn't been stolen for all these decades ?How much better off would the people of the world be, if these resources had been used to advance humanity rather than dominate & exploit us?
Don't forget "We won't give up the 13th and 14th month of salary" for our "can't be fired" jobs.
Can we be done with these deadbeat losers already?
Default and go back to the Drachma!
Is that what you have to tell yourself to justify your inhuman attitude?
Tell me - what's it like to hold the title of "hardest working slave"
Do you feel proud that you have bestowed yourself with such a title?
Until you've picked fruit with the Mexicans - your idea of 'hard work' is a holiday to most people.
Building a bit of a false dichotomy are we? How did we get from Greek govt. paper pushers, to Mexicans?
One group retires at what, 60? The other gets brominated while picking berries till their fingers fall off.
"How did we get from Greek govt. paper pushers"
MOST of Greece is private sector employed (well it used to be until the private sector collapsed)
Anyone would think Greece is ONLY populated by public sector workers - the Greeks have their 'mexicans' too - they pick olives and they are GREEK.
At the moment the public sector is the only thing stopping Greece falling into the abyss - the Government can't afford it, but they are basically giving handouts through the public sector - SO THE PEOPLE DO NOT STARVE.
If the Government wasn't doing that - then THEY WOULD NEED TO CALL IN ACTION AID, RED CROSS ETC. as there is a HUMANITARIAN DISASTER UNFOLDING - y'know the sort of thing you see in Africa.
Meanwhile rich Greeks (from the private sector) have jumped ship, took the wealth and are currently buying up cheap European properties with their Euros (before they get kicked)
So the people you lambast are merely the poor sods left after the private sector wealth extractors left the scene of the crime.
I always find it's best to visit a country before you start taking the media's word for it - so I did.
Like in many hot countries - not working in the middle of the day is seen as 'lazy' - but I don't know ANY Northern Europeans (or Americans) who work until 8pm at night (as they often do in Greeece)
You are falling for the biggest and oldest trick in the book - they don;t want you seeing the REAL cause of the problem, so they distract you with stereotypes and xenophobic crap like "those Greeks are lazy"
Sad thing is - you take this as some sort of badge of honour.
I say being the 'hardest working slave and ultimately commiting your future generations to the same" - is nothing to be proud of.
Americans are very good at thinking "they are different" - but we're all different shades of the same problem.
It's a CLASS problem, not a national one.
Don't forget, it wasn't very long ago that a man used this very same trick to deceive his people - they called that man Hitler - and he persuaded his people the Jews were the 'Greeks' of today - and at fault for the crisis.
The truth was the true cause were the ruling class across Europe.
Don't make the same mistakes again - only fools do that.
The denial of "too many Greek bureaucrats" comes from the fact that there are so many that they do not share very big benefits. So individually, yes, they do not look like a problem.
I've read/heard somewhere that tax rates for Greeks average 70%. Unfortunately, I don't recall where I heard that. There was no explanation of how they arrived at that number and what taxes they were talking about (income, VAT, etc) When I did a web search, all sorts of conflicting info came up.
I only mention this (true or not) because if people were, in fact, taxed at extremely high levels - it might alter our outlook as to the 'unreasonable' resistance they might offer if they found out they were later shafted in terms of what they had been promised. We simply can't accept any so-called news reports at face value.
There always seems to be lots of 'austerity' for the people - - but none for the parasitic banksters, politicians, or high level bureacrats who caused the mess for their own benefit.
I wonder if some Americans will be so smug when their taxes are raised, theyre forced into a hell hole of a 'health care' system, they have to rent a foreclosed house from the government, and they empty your personal retirement account to fill it with worthless treasuries instead. - - You may be working three jobs to keep your head above water, but someone else in the world will probably call you "lazy freeloader Americans".
Serfs are much more compliant when broke and dependent on their 'master'.
I agree with just about 99% of what you said, but don't think its useful to think in terms of 'class', (though I understand your point.) These acts are criminal. The conflict is between criminals and the vast majority of people who they prey upon. Thinking in terms of 'class' and 'class conflict' has lead down all sorts of dead ends. Criminals have used propaganda about 'class conflict' to victimize millions of people throughout history. (The majority lived in socialized mass poverty, while the insiders lived extremely well off their backs.) 'Class' has also been used as a smokescreen and excuse for robbery, such in the 'divine right of kings." The criminals have also twisted ideas of 'democracy' and 'freedom' for their own purposes. - - Criminal con men can use any concept to get over on people. The battle is between the criminals and all they prey upon - - meaning most of us.
those dead beat losers you refer to still work at thier jobs but are not getting paid !!! companies in greece arent paying workers but they cant fire them because they'd have to pay the government. Greece is an economic disaster and their leaders are selling the greeks as slaves. they need to leave the euro and go back to the drachma, but all the european banks dont wanna take the losses because thats unheard of. banks dont take losses ever citizens will for their gambling debts.
100% correct.
it's the BANKS who are being saved at the expense of the Greek people (all of them)
...and yet the simpletons still perpetuate the same myth of "lazy greeks caused this"
I don't remember when things changed, but you got an interest rate for the RISK you take on DEFAULT.
So with default ruled out - what the fuck are people paying interest for???
The banks and the Govt. changed the rules - and then found a scapegoat.
"what the fuck are people paying interest for???"
As a disincentive for the state to borrow too much, but apparently, it's not working. Lower or zero interest rates won't help either.
as in "hell no we won't live within our means, won't work 40 hour weeks, won't retire at 65.." or, they could learn to share more equitably the riches, instead of just a few being filthy / greedy rich while the majority barely scrape by . there's enough for everyone ....... unfortunately, some do not want to share & have prosperity for all .
Efiin' Commie
How can you even say that when you're living in a centrally planned economy and trying to gain favour by pissing on the poorest?
You are the 'commie' you fuckwit - you're just too stupid to see it.
You're just another T-party retard who wants to be 'tax-free' whilst ignoring all the subsidy you gleefully accept without question.
Effin hypocrite.
Let me guess you are a Greek government employee ? or an independently rich bum living in mom's basement
So how did, say, Steve Jobs making billions harm anyone? Why should he or his family be punished for such?
"So how did, say, Steve Jobs making billions harm anyone? Why should he or his family be punished for such?"
Check out where Apple has it's corporate base, where it pays taxes, how much it's earnings v taxes paid is, then calculate how much tax Apple has gotten away with paying, then calculate how much good that money would have done. As this is all inveresed, that's how much harm Steve jobs/Apple have done.
Nothing will change without gunfire.
this.
"?????? ??? ??? ?? ????". Just a wild-ass guess....
I can say it in Canadian..."i just worked 900 hours...lay me off so i can get a 6 month paid vacation, free health care, free massages and chiropractic, free glasses, head down to grab some free methodone, free needles, free bus rides, Employment insurance paid free education, free food stamps"
...and when this is all taken away, with one law enforcement officer for every 150 square kilometers... Canada will burn"
And that will be a tragedy. Here in the US they will mow down rioters if they feel they are losing their grip. No doubt about it. We have an ugly gulag that has been abusing the people in an ever escalating maner. They will use "private contractors" to punish and terrorize individuals and groups that come to their attention.
Early start.
Keynes is only part of this because like Rome, the collapse begins at the periphery of empire.
V for Victory!
God Be with the Greeks!
Fuck Gov!
God is dead.
maybe just busy or disinterested... you know, putting his son's image on toast and burying dinosaur bones and all... it's a busy schedule.
said Nietzsche
Why rocks? Do they have guns? They can't seriously think throwing rocks will matter? What a joke. Losers.
That's what I was thinking. I don't take any of this seriously until a Kalashnikov makes an appearance. Then we got a protest!
Aside from the fact that Greece (and Europe in general) has severely stricter firearms laws than we do in the US, being a member of NATO, it's highly unlikely that any of the protestors will be using Kalashnikov designs. NATO countries preferred the FN FAL.
Which also doesn't deal with the problem of how a country with no experience in firearms gets their hands on some 7.62. Whereas the former Soviet states export milsurp 7.62x39 by the cargo-ship-load, getting your hands on mil-spec 7.62x51 NATO is significantly more difficult and there are very few handloaders in Greece that could do the job.
Mosin-Nagants, they're everywhere--and so is the ammo 7.62x54r.
"Sir, we can't go in there....it's infested with Mosin-Nagents..."
Plus, when you run out of ammo, you can always use it for firewood.
first, hi everyone. looooooong time lurker (since the blog days).
'stricter firearm laws' aside, i can assure you that greeks have ready access to firearms...
you can look here for a quick comparison http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/greece and i can tell you, from firsthand experience, that greeks own and LOOOOOOOVE guns (especially in the more 'rural' areas (which would be the vast majority of the country).
there's a reason the cops stay out of certain areas of crete and the pelops...
just sayin ;-)
Welcome and thanks for the appropriate link! After reading through that data however, keeping in mind that it is based from UN reports, it has 2.5 million civilian guns owned. Then it reports that you have to be licensed in Greece to have a firearm. Finally, the report shows only around 3,000 licenced owners. How in the hell do those numbers work? Those must be awfully large personal collections! It seems to me most people are not licensed, and therefore most people would not have guns. Am I missing something within the data?
well, if it's anything like Canada, a NATO country, those cargo ships full of russian, czec and norinco rounds has changed the landscape of civillian ammunition possession... years of cheap sks's and 7.62x39 rounds have i'm sure overtaken 7.62x51 rounds and .308 firearms in civillian hands.
Good point. Let that be a lesson to those in the US. You can protest, throw rocks and scream all you want. As long as the politicians are still alive they'll do whatever they want to do, not what you want.
Spoekn like a true 'armchair revolutionary'.
You wouldn't be calling for guns if you had actually been in a violent revolution before.
Americans - all talk.
You sit under your fascist Government and talk of revolution like you have any idea what lies ahead.
I could argue with you but instead ill just say have a good day penis membrane and have a good time when it comes because you aren't safe either. No one is.
You couldn't argue for 5 minutes - because you know I'm right.
I wasn't suggesting I was safe - I don't know where you made that shit up from.
What I am saying is it's all well and good preaching about 'revolutionary advice' from your armchair - while in America you sit beneath the closest thing to fascism in the world and yet all you do is talk, talk, talk.
There was a resistance - and nobody supported it - I could understand people being wary of it (OWS) - but then where is the alternative?
If oyu had seen what's going on in Syria - then you would not be so quick to 'call to arms'.
Escalation results in many innocent deaths - but I'm guessing you think you will be like Bruce Willis in Die Hard and walk out the hero with your Mac 10 - or whatever.
The founding fathers would already be in tents and at occupations - you're still sat at home welping on about 'liberty'.
Says it all really
Somewhere the point gets reached when people are hungry and cannot shelter and feed their families. We are not anywhere near that right now. There are lots of people who are upset about .gov taking their liberties, but they have not yet woken up from the false political paradigm. OWS became a facet of the false paradigm as did the tea party. No real movement gets started here without being co-opted by the PTB and the MSM.
Needless to say, there will be no real resistance in the US until enough people are destitute enough to initiate and sustain it. A guy is not going to go protest if he has to feed his family. He might show up and run his mouth for a while, but that is about it. A guy will wage war in the streets until he drops if he cannot feed his family and no method to get food is in sight.
Is that coming to the US? Your guess is as good as mine. Will we let .gov keep taking our freedoms? Yes we will. We deserve the gov't we have and we deserve the gov't we will elect. If you care about your country, and you know what is going on-then you need to be at a heightened state of awareness and preparation.
If you want to break the cycle, it's time to get third and fourth political parties involved. Not just "independents" who caucus with the republicrat criminals either. The time for open war is not here-but the time to elect a different government is here now and has been here for a very long time.
There won't be any real change in America until people can no longer afford cable TV. Then the idiot boxes will shut off and people might start to actually Think for themselves. For most, it will be a completely new experience.
It is true, actually, that guns are unlikely to play the central role filled by molotov cocktails, grenades, and low-grade explosives...in modern revolutions. As for the critique of the US: Why should people rebel while China is still delivering $1 worth of goods for, well, a dollar? Things aren't so dire in the US. Our tech, higher-ed, natural gas and oil production, food production, all argue for a decent future. Now if we could just get US low-skilled workers to do the jobs immigrants take, we'd cut two financial burdens with one reform of attitudes.
this from the guy with someone's fist stuck up his ass
Please don't think that all Americans are nitwits - - we aren't. Many vets know that the things suggested by some 'armchair warriors' aren't as depicted in some Hollywood movie.
I would think it would be more productive to call a complete general strike. Have cars & trucks 'break down' and bring everything to a screeching halt. Come together to barter among themselves for the necessities of life, outside the currency system. ( Fiat money is not wealth, just a claim on real wealth.) - - Take the moral high ground.
Etiene de la Boetie wrote of the 'Politics of Obedience' centuries ago. You don't need to use violence, just choose not to go along with their system any longer.
There ya go!!! There are many creative ways to cause hardship to a corrupt government that do not involve violence.
asteroids your laws do not concern me. I want those gats.
Ich bin schockiert, schockiert!
At 0:23
RIOT DOG !!!!!!!
Good eye! What ever happened to riot dog?
As Leo taught us last year, Greek protests are choreographed, planned, and symbolic. It's just one damn big floating party.
Holy Mackerel, dare Andy. Whose ass just got shot?
If you were a destined-for-hell banker/master of the universe and you could make a few hundred million in forex by floating a rerun rumor to squeeze the shorts followed by a rerun video clip wouldn't you do it?
when is the stag night of the groom of this big fat greek wedding aka banker marries a country with a big fat prenup to his advantage?
I got the solution. Print euros give to Greek companies to build plate factories. Employ millions making plates. Break plates during protests. Repeat. That was easy
Any other problems you want solved?
On another note nice to see Brent / WTI back above $20 and Brent above $115. Weakening euro crude strengthening that is a good recipe for growth. By the way in case you didn't no this fact. natural gas is priced off of crude, so while we see near record lows and warm weather, Europe is freezing. dang.
bwahaha they don't pay their taxes and don't want to work these miserable lazies ! go back to work punks !!!
Really they don't want to work.
http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS
we don't need no education.... we don't need no Greek control....
What an impotent bunch. Should have won thr revolution months ago.
I'm frankly surprised there hasn't been a lot more violence since the government commits violence on the citizens daily. Maybe some bankers hanging from lamp posts would be a nice touch
When your pay is cut to the level that you starve whether working or not, you've got nothing left to lose
Or when a deliberate plan to deflate your dollars results in massive real inflation such that you end up in the same place. . .
I grow tired of the constant Kabuki dance. Can we get on with this so I can make notes and we can get a real time object lesson on what is going to happen here when the curtain goes up. ...Apologies for the disjointed and halting nature of this mornings writing. I will run up for another coffee.
no way the measures pass....so we will draft another document to describe what can happen then maybe we can rally the euro to 1.4
Here is the ekathimerini version of the article. The Google translation at ZH sounds more desperate than what Kathmerini is willing to release to the world in English.
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t...
even if it does pass they will reneg...greek govt will tell them what they want to hear then not implement the measures watch and see
Looks like the global "consumer" education in government sponsored schools is not going as planned.
The banksters in europe need to hire Karl Rove or someone of his caliber to ram austerity down the greeks throats. Except then of course it wouldnt be called austerity. It would be called the 'new prosperity prospect project' (PPP), or something very rosy and 'positive'.
Stupid fuckers, no wonder they can't get it right. Look to the west and learn already.
When I think of inalienable (or natural) rights, debt slavery is not the first thing that comes to mind.
It's a common mistake and I made it myself before knowing, but natural rights are unalienable, not inalienable. The government of course looks at rights as inalienable, so the difference is well worth noting.
So if this type of thing spreads to the US, and it might under the wrong circumstances: who will be the target of the mob's displeasure ... and who will the less balanced and better armed people target? Will it be politicians, bankers, Israel firsters, the propagandist media? Or will the mob be indiscriminate and just take out their vengence on the innocent because they are easier targets.
And what will be the response of those who have manipulated the world into such a position? Will they order the mass slaughter of human beings? They have shown no reason for us to believe that they are not willing and capable of creating the problem and arranging the final solution.
There has to be a better solution and mechanism for ridding the world of the plague.
"There has to be a better solution and mechanism for ridding the world of the plague."
1. Drop all elitist devised systems of differentiation between the peasants, be it race, religion, colour etc. and immediately switch to tribal system based on common beliefs. I'm from the other side of Earth, but I believe in liberty, freedom and private property. I don't see why my tribe couldn't have members that have a different complexion. We think the same. Does that not count for anything?
2. Mass international strikes. Bring the system to a halt. 90% catastrophic failure should do the trick. One or two disparate events can be controlled and their framework is designed to deal with that. (these can only realistically happen if (1) happens -- (1) can only realistically happen if we choose to make it happen).
3. Stop recognizing everything TPTB have devised, be it passports, citizenship nonsense, birth certificates, tax-farm borders etc. Bring the power back to the community and get Government out of our hind ends. I do not have to prove my identity to anyone (except if I choose to do so myself). Just who do they think they are? The Queen of England travels with no passport, so does the King Of Jordan, the Queen of Holland and the King of Sweden. They are "exempt" from all the paperwork we have to go through, even though many of you here are a lot more important to me than these parasites will ever be. What's so special about them?
I am sick and tired of the nonsense we have to put up with to maintain this unbelievably retarded ponzi scheme. To the Greeks, hit them where it hurts the most! Let the chips fall where they may.
The time is now, the place is here. The ball is now in our court.
Your turn.
PS. Trolls, government "agents" etc. Yes, you are obsolete and I am calling for your source of income to be rooted and thrown into the dustbin of history. I'm curious to see how these maggots will squirm and wiggle to maintain their way of life. Anyone who puts food on their table by causing misery to others should really start reflecting on their self-worth. Trash.
I'm not saying any country would want a Greek revolution, but any country who doesn't like the current Greek government can supply guns to the Greek unions. Or place snipers to shoot the protesters. It would be so easy to topple the banker propped Greek government because all the citizens would support them. I wonder if Turkey would make a move.
I'm just really glad we don't have any of these problems here in 'Merika.
The messiah has created over 2 million jobs, saved the auto industry, saved banks, and fought the monsters on Wall Street in order to save Main Street. We are so lucky to have him so we don't have to have debilitating debt, high unemployment, and no hope and change. He saved us, and will save us even more, so we won't be like the Greeks.
Keynsian War: Operation Iranian Liberation
USA USA USA USA
Slaves getting restless, eh.
No riot weather in Athens:
Temp: 42° F
Wind: W at 14 mph
Light rain
Solon c. 638 BC – 558 BC
His reforms failed in the short term, yet he is often credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy.
...
The visible symbol of this perversion of the natural and social order was a boundary marker called a horos, a wooden or stone pillar indicating that a farmer was in debt or under contractual obligation to someone else, either a noble patron or a creditor.
Solon's reform of these injustices was later known and celebrated among Athenians as the Seisachtheia (shaking off of burdens).
The reforms included:
link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon