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Pictures From A Greek Soup Kitchen
While we mock and ridicule the corrupt and often times purposefully obtuse Greek politicians, we often ignore the human cost in the equation (and so does the rest of the world). Unfortunately this is becoming an ever greater issue for a country that is rapidly devolving to sub-3rd world status. Because while we have previously discussed the miserable conditions for a country where ever more people are sliding out of the middle class and into poverty status, in reality it is far worse. Spiegel has profiled the new Misery in Athens where "aid workers and soup kitchens in Athens are struggling to provide for the city's "new poor." Since the economic crisis has taken hold, poverty has taken hold among Greece's middle class. And suicide rates have nearly doubled." Just like in the US, those in misery are growing exponentially, but the last thing anyone needs is a reminder of their existence. Yet perhaps they should, because when the Bastille moment hits, the spark to overthrow tyranny, especially that masking under the guise of democracy, will come precisely from the slums of the impoverished and disenfranchised, from those who have nothing left to lose. In Greece, with 28% of the population living "at risk of poverty or social exclusion" this moment may arrive any second.
Spiegel's report from an Athens soup kitchen must be read by all who think things like these no longer exist in modern EU countries:
If this crisis has reached Piraeus, then it's done a good job of hiding itself. Even on this cold February night, the luxury cars are lined up outside the chic, waterfront fish restaurants in this port suburb of Athens. But Leonidas Koutikas knows where to look. Not even 50 meters off the main promenade, around two corners, misery is everywhere. Koutikas finds a family of five living behind a tangled tent that has been attached to the wall of an apartment building.
Koutikas and his colleagues from the aid organization Klimaka are expected. They hand out their care packages here every night. "Each day the list of those in need gets longer," Koutikas says. He speaks from experience. Until recently, the 48-year-old was sleeping on the streets himself.
Athens has always had a problem with homelessness, like any other major city. But the financial and debt crises have led poverty to slowly but surely grow out of control here. In 2011, there were 20 percent more registered homeless people than the year before. Depending on the season, that number can be as high as 25,000. The soup kitchens in Athens are complaining of record demand, with 15 percent more people in need of free meals.
As yet, there are no reliable estimates as to the numbers of the "new poor," because the appropriate studies are lacking. Families can also mitigate the severity of many financial crashes. Those who have lost their jobs or their homes find accommodations with relatives before they ever make it into official statistics. That is especially true of the youngest victims of the financial crisis. "But with the government's many new austerity measures, along with the tax burdens, it is questionable how long the families can continue doing that," says Stamatogiannopoulou.
What is clear is that in 2010, almost 28 percent of Greeks, or 3.03 million people, lived at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to numbers released last week by the EU statistical agency Eurostat. With the recession only having deepened since, it seems likely that the number of poor Greeks rose in 2011.
where personal tragedies...
Manos, who would prefer not to give his last name, is among the Greek poor. The man, in his mid-50's, is one of dozens of people to come to the Aghia Zoni church on a recent morning. "There are always more," says Father Immanuel, who has organized meals for the poor for 20 years. "Up until one or two years ago, we knew every face here. Today things are much different," he says.
The people in the church's courtyard are waiting for the cook Georgia to finally open the door. She has been at work in her kitchen in the church's basement for hours. When she opens the heavy steel door, there is a great rush to get in. Manos, too, gets noodle soup and bread. As he is eating, he tells a common story of losing his apartment and his job. He was born in lower-middle class Kypseli, an Athens neighborhood, and now he is sleeping in the cold on park benches. "I am a good salesman, honestly," he says. "I can sell anything." He then asks his German guest for his email address, and a few hours later he sends his resume with the request to pass it on. He hasn't given up.
And surging suicides...
The psychologist Eleni Bekiari knows what dark thoughts the crisis and its consequences have brought to Athenians. She staffs Klimaka's telephone number "1018." It is a 24-hour suicide hotline, and its statistics are clear. In 2010, there were about 2,500 calls made to the number. In 2011, there were twice as many. "Most of those who call us are women," she says. "On the other hand, it's usually the men who end up taking their lives."
Greece traditionally has one of the lowest suicide rates in Europe, but the increase has been dramatic. Since the beginning of the crisis, the suicide rate has almost doubled. In 2011, there were almost six suicides per 100,000 citizens. When the callers to the suicide hotline are asked for their reasons for suicidal thoughts, Bekiari says, they often answer with two words: the crisis.
...give the best grade for the 10 year failed experiment at a forced currency union and Keynesian lunacy taken to the nth degree.
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Ironic, isn’t it? While 80,000 over the weekend rioted in desperation in Athens alone and one of five American males aged 24 to 35 is forced economically to live with his parent(s), one of Obama’s "export advisers," according to neocon talk show host Rush Limbaugh yesterday, is exporting American jobs to India.
The investment bankers and international financiers took the currency; then, they took America; now, they’re taking the world. But it ain’t workin’. Bernanke et al. are having to use up extremely valuable capital to try to hold the euro zone together. They can’t tell the people the truth about their intentions for global control; so, the fabric of lies grows, with the ubiquitous bottom line: We’re in recovery.
Hence, American savers have to “sacrifice” to help the economy; American housing is no longer a “secure investment” after being banker-rifled, “lower living standards for many Americans” are necessary and Greece’s middle class must slide into ”poverty status” so Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (who some claim is a multi-trillionaire, i.e., the richest man in the world who, incidentally, just happened to be chairman of The Economist from1972–1989) can continue enjoying life as it was intended.
And so, once again, the Bolshevik financiers must drop a little into the political collection plate to “elect” another president of the people: this from the LRC Blog:
Major Interests Behind the U.S. Government
Posted by Michael S. Rozeff on February 13, 2012
I do not intend to name them all. For starters, one simple method is to look at the top contributors to the Romney campaign, since he's the Republican frontrunner and also the establishment Republican candidate. They are PACs, and so on for the following ("The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families."):
Goldman Sachs $499,430; JP Morgan Chase & Co $322,400; Morgan Stanley, $281,350; Credit Suisse Group $277,250; Citigroup Inc. $267,050; Bank of America $213,650; Barclays $207,400. The latter are all big banks. Then come Kirkland & Ellis $206,701 (commercial law firm); HIG Capital $188,500 (private investment firm); PriceWaterhouseCoopers (accounting firm); Blackstone Group $175,550 (financial services firm). I'll stop here. It's just more of the same after this.
This suggests that the U.S. government has a very strong Wall Street component. Let's compare Ron Paul's top contributing PACs and so on (see above). They are:
U.S. Army $63,378; U.S. Navy $55,553; U.S. Air Force $48, 531; Google Inc. $32,090; Microsoft Corp $23,346; IBM Corp $20,798; Corriente Advisors $20,000; U.S. Marine Corps $15,388; Intel Corp $14,891; Lockheed Martin $14,021, and I'll stop here. I think that some people in the armed forces like the idea of not having to make war to extend and hold the empire.
Obama's big contributors in 2008 (the PAC and other sources, that is) included major banks, major corporations, some major universities, law firms, and Time Warner (a media company).
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/105778.html
how can it be, they have not yet started to implement any of the austerity measures been put on them
wheres my good friend slaughtere...WHAT A DUMB ASS ....where is the epic short squeeze in eur.usd
The difference between the poor in Europe and the poor in the Fascist States of Amerikkka:
The poor in Europe actually give a shit about and look out for themselves and each other.
In Amerikkka, the poor are too easily distracted by meaningless things, and are more easily divided and conquered by "social" issues - aka the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness for people of my (i.e. the "gay") persuasion, and the woman's right to do with her body as she medically and economically sees fit.
I'd like to see mens' health issues be put to votes and the whim of the proletariat here in The States. You want a vasectomy? Not until I vote on it, buddy. You want viagra for your disfunctional penis? I need to cast a ballot on that proposition, pal.
There's a new old saying I've created for the FSofA:
The rich get richer, and the poor make sure it stays that way.
It could happen.
Since you're so fired up about abortion today let me put it to you another way:
Way 1: It is fundementally not a medical question at all, but a civil liberites issue where one must balance the civil rights of the unborn versus that of the mother. Abortion is tantamount to an execution of the former while undeniably, state intevention in the personal decisions of the former is overly restrictive.
Way 2: Vasectomies and dysfunctional penii are internal issues to the individual - that is, they are not contracted. Pregancy is, essentially, a "social disease" because it would never happen if it weren't for people being social. Because of its social nature and consiously contracted nature, society demands a broader say in it's "treatment." We already legislate and litigate against people who harm their own unborn children through drugs and alcohol so preganancy in and of itself is already on the table.
Sub 3rd world status? what a crock of shit. I could show you conditions like that in several trailer parks or ghettos within 50 miles of my very midwest location. Typically these conditions are lock step with sloth and poor personal choices.
Suicide rate going up? What a bunch of skids. At least take some dirtbag with you. My cancer list is a printout of all the local child molesters. 86'd.
This piece of hearstring tugging hack jounalism reminds me of that over the top crap pouring out of New Orleans during Katrina. Wait wait... is it like the astrodome, where they've "begun to feast on the flesh of the recently dead" yet?
I'd bet big money that you have no friends whatsoever.
You found me out Philip Marlow. I'm a 260 lb twenty eight year old pimply mcdonalds fry cook, living in in a fetid double wide at Worldsbung, Missouri. Blow me.
You want to show your piety and compassion? For us to understand your indignation at the wrongs "the ruling class" are imposing on those poor downtrodden? You don't have to fucking travel all the way to Greece to do it. Walk around where you live a bit. You'll meet all sorts of people who would work if given the chance. And you'll meet some that are candiates for the next "hoarders" episode.
the bitch kitty is that you can't save them all. In fact, you can't save any of them that won't save their damn selves first. When shit finally gets bad enough, then we'll burn the dross off the pot. Until then you might as well chill out and enjoy the ride.
Isn't posting here taking time away from your puppy stomping and child beating schedule?
You were raised by some straw haired, flat chested harpy in one of those "spank-free" enlightened homes, weren't you?
You should run for office. You are definately fucking stupid enough.
he definitely comes across like the kind of person who regularly submits letters volunteering to be the one who throws the switch at an execution.
you'd have to really search far and wide to find a clearer example of heartlessness than his post.
heartless? Or realism?
If you're filled with outrage, focus it where you can have some effect.
Not wide beam, on the Horn of Africa, then Ye Tradegy du Jour of Whitney for a couple of days, then back to the poor old woman eating mac and cheese with pidgeons in Athens. The fucking media plays you emotional driven metrosexuals like fucking fat ass Roy Clark did his banjo.
LFMayor, can you do better than this? Shit you're an amateur troll compared to Trav666.
smugly replied the guy with a cartoon turd for an avatar, subtly and powerfully snubbing his nose at the commercialization of Christmas.
Do you sigh and emit an audible "aaaaahhh" when shown pictures of puppies or kittens? You might be gay if you do.
I am Jewish. I would say your wife doesn't think I am gay but nobody would marry you.
On a lighter note I do like puppies and kittens.
on a lighter note I'm married. My second, even. With dogs/cats. and I don't beat any of them, unless they deserve it.
More important, what does your wife think ;)
This is the face of Globalism and Central Banking that they don't show on CNBC.
Add this to what it looks like inside a Chinese factory like Foxconn and you begin to see a clear picture of how all those fabulous corporate profits are being created.
dont feed the pigeons !
That was a FED dove, coming to the rescue ..
"Free Guns for All"
Nobody wants to take action until it's too late. We are not very different than the Greeks, or anybody else for that matter.
People rarely can comprehend how bad things can get because they don't know. They have no experience to base it on.
I remember when I went to Katrina with military. It was worse than my time in Afghanastan. It was HORRIBLE!
We try to warn people about the destruction that can happen economically and civilization wise. At least I know I do.
Look, I want what's best for the people (myself and those around me). I am not naive enough to think we all will exceed. Life will have some failures (a bit of them), but I want to see as many succeed as possible.
I remember when I went to Katrina with military. It was worse than my time in Afghanastan. It was HORRIBLE!
__________________________________________________
Maybe if the money received from going to New Orleans was as good as the money given by the US military, the surroundings would have appeared less squalid.
Maybe if your bigoted and maliciously anti-American rants made any sense, you would be less prone to blobbing-up.
Money helps to see the world in different colours.
The money the US of A army gives to US citizens who want to kick start their life living off blood money is good. One doubts that US citizen got only one tenth of the money he got for his trained killer job in Afghanistan when he travelled to New Orleans.
Give him the same money, the situation would certainly be less bad.
I wonder how much money was given to running dog imperialist Chinese citizenism troops to invade and conquer the formerly free and independent nation of Tibet --- or is given to Han Chinese citizens to colonize Tibet, dilute the native Tibetan population and destroy their culture in the process.
Invading and Blobbing up are the inevitable outcomes of rapacious Chinese citizenism.
I volunteered to go to both when I was in the military. I got active pay for both.
And I don't fault you sir/maam for your uneducated opinion. It is just that, and uneducated opinion.
The people in line at this soup kitchen (of that generation) are dressed better than people with jobs today
http://tinyurl.com/7se2hae
I think humanity peaked several decades ago, it's all down hill from here.
oh doucholina, stop acting like you care.
the nice guy front just isn't becoming for you.
*edit: all you care about is how it affects you.
It is so sad to see children have to grow up like this. I thank God everyday for all that have.
Thus with the year
Seasons return; but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom or summer’s rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me; from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
Presented with a universal blank
Of Nature’s works, to me expung’d and raz’d,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
That's not Athens. That's Detroit.
... or Milwaukee, New York, Houston...
DeMoines, Peoria, East St Louis, Birmingham, Atlanta, Kansas City, Gary.
Yes, there is a pattern in the Matrix, isn't there?
"3.03 million people, lived at risk of poverty or social exclusion.."
interesting wording, it does not say they live at or below the poverty level just that they "lived at risk".. is it a language translation/defination issue?
However compare this to the USA, "the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people" (15.1%)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html?pagewanted=all
edit (a little more web crawling found the defination)
"The at-risk-of-poverty rate is the share of people with an equivalised disposable income (after social transfer) below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60 % of the national median equivalised disposable income after social transfers.
This indicator does not measure wealth or poverty, but low income in comparison to other residents in that country, which does not necessarily imply a low standard of living."
that 3 million is nearly 30% of the Greek population.
Yeah it is, but if you apply that same definition in the US what would the US population percentage be (in comparison)?
Edit: Over 15% of the US population lives in poverty. Roughly 30% of the Greek population are "at-risk-of-poverty" this does NOT necessarly mean they live "at or below poverty"..... "This indicator does not measure wealth or poverty,"
So just how bad is it over in Greece because this indicator doesn't tell you shit!
LOL, don't go putting logic to it and ruin the whole empathy buzz, that's the only window to the soul that liberal types have. You'll get down checked just like I did.
While I don't believe the consequences of collective action are always justifiably imputed to individuals, there is some poetic justice in #10.
28% of the population living "at risk of ... social exclusion"...
At 28% they are a bonafide plurality and be considered a socially inclusive demographic.
On the other hand, the remaining 71.999% have been socially excluded from meaningful consideration themselves, they just haven't awakened to the realization yet.
yeah, but they still don't get to sit with the cool kids at lunch. Because they wear pony high tops, instead of Rebocks.
Reebocks and bling are as useful at determining intrinsic value as the face value stamped on US minted coinage.
I'd rather a stamped "50." au coin than "50" susan bs anyday. That's the problem nowadays, three scales in use, intrinsic, face and numismatic. Purposefully obfuscating and exquisitly effective in concealing truth.
Personally I'd rather go barefooted.
End the fed already!
Guess I don't have it too bad yet as I eat 2 half pound cheeseburgers reading this. Thing is it could get that way. I'm storing fat for later.
On a serious not us people better figure wtf we're going to do because relying on gov't is the wrong answer. Of course if the gov't hadn't looted everything here in the US it might not be such a pressing problem for sometime.
I'd like to say that since I live in the country with a small plot of land I should hurry and start getting self sufficient. I have doubts on that. All the starving people in town will know what we have out here. What? I'm gonna fend off 1000's 24/7? I hate being so pesimistic but just about everything I think shity happen does. For instance about the time I go self sufficient our overlords are gona get us in some big nasty ass war and my crops just won't perform well in a radiation cloud. I really do think we're screwed royal this time.
Alaska, bitchez
Ot:
but can some one explain why a ChinCom is getting a tour of the Pentagon?
Chinese Vice President Xi will arrive soon at the Pentagon to meet with #SecDef and other senior defense officials. PentagonPresSec tweeted:
"you can't fight in here, this is the war room"
"Fine bro, you paid for it. But i'm not done with it yet."
Having lived in Greece, while I feel bad for some of the people (we have our own problems here in the states), but Greece was long overdue. The corruption there, even for mundane items or tasks was ridiculous. Whether it was getting supplies to fixing a car, you had to bribe someone to get your shit done (I used cigarettes and music CD's/movie VHS).
The islands were absolutely beautiful, if you could get to them. The Port, Train or Bus Authorities would always go on strike about something, even electricity would go out for something stupid. I'm actually surprised it took this long for shit to go so wrong there.
Kind of like here, I think people underestimate how long a completely corrupt system can still go on, even with the appearance of functioning properly. In Greece's case, it took well over twenty years (since I lived there) to uncover the financial pile of shit and catch up with them. I think it will be a lot longer here, unfortunately.
Coming to America is right. It's not "if", it's "when"...and the poverty and accompanying violence here in America will make that in Greece look pretty benign.
I can't wait to see how some of these "hoity toity" types deal with real poverty :)
So bring it on!!...as I check my stock of gold, silver, food, ammo.
Every burned out building represents a reconstruction project paid for with insurance proceeds. Burning buildings will be a stimulus for their economy.
The pictures and above comments will never go unnoticed as a picture is worth a thousand words, however, having said that, I am surprised that we are concentrating on just Greece?
As a constant donator to various world crises, it behooves me to not see those same pictures of OUR elderly, OUR children, OUR homeless, OUR soup kitchens and OUR suicide rate here in North America.
Our own Governements are taking us to that place from which there will be no return! Yet, we puppets allow the 1% to dictate to the 99% without recourse or responsibility for their greed.
We Americans will "never" be able to "buck the system" which is controlled by Wall Street, the Politicians and the """Illuminati""" that we call "The Fed".......
Nuff said!!
>>>>OUR suicide rate here in North America.
I lost my only child (son) to suicide last April. He had been indoctrinated by the Hitler channel---History/Military. He was 5 weeks away from graduating top of his class valdictorian. I had opted him out thru the school admn & JAMRS in his freshman year from military recruitment. It was ignored. He had been accepted to West Point. He would have started college as a sophmore. I begged him to seek another path. He told me that he could find a war easier than a job.
I live in the most affluent school district in the state, only because I bought my modest home B4 more white flight & McMansions sprung up around me. The 1st 2 weeks of Jan. had 4 teen suicides in my suburb. 3 blew their heads off with shotguns. My state now ranks 8th in teen suicides.
It galls me how many blame joblessness on being lazy when corporations have decimated jobs while sucking on the gov't teat & pandering to wall street. Yes there's freeloaders, no denying that. Nothing is ever as black & white as many see. This country is in deep shit in every way, shape & form. Fuck TPTB! Add some grit while you're at it.
What the fuck is this? Swamp People made him do it?
No, actually WP rescinded & people like you.
he could find a war easier than a job...
A recent mention by Ravi Zacharias re: suicide paradoxically linked affluence rather than poverty to the act as an inability to find meaning to existance was fundamental to self destruction. Others it seems are more engaged in survival to take the time to realistically consider that on a long enough timelime, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
I extend my condolences to you at your loss, and for those in your community. Dispair is not a fleeting moment for many, but rather a continual battle, and many of our number are lost in the conflict.
The divine prayer was not for the outcome of the battle, that's been settled, but rather for the ones called out from the battle.
Here's to the restoration.
Thank you. I found this website from a post on the guardian.uk around the time of my loss. The wit & wisdom here, not to mention WB7's hysterical creativity has been a saving grace for me in many ways. The education is priceless & the humour has had me ROFL more times than I can count.
This Sucks!
Nothing good comes out of this forced austerity, but a raging rebellion - too fast to even adjust
Totally insane - unadulterated prodding of the populous towards anarchy
jmo
you have a choice of a) forced austerity or b) diluting money til its worthless
pick your poison
walkure - you are correct...But...where did all the "borrowed" money go? It is still in the system, indeed a lot more of it in the system since the bailouts.....
The money is going somewhere...where is it going..?
back to April 24, 2010. http://kushmonster.blogspot.com/2010/04/question-greek-public-majority-o...
QUESTION: The Greek public, the majority of the Greek public is demonizing the IMF and think things are going to be worse than better. What is your message to the Greek public?
MR. STRAUSS-KAHN: Unfortunately, the Greeks are not the only ones demonizing the IMF. But, I think that the Greeks, as others, should see the IMF as it is today. The IMF is a kind of cooperative organization, where all the countries of the world work together to try to help those being in trouble. Today, Greece is in trouble. Tomorrow, maybe another. And so what is the IMF doing? Trying to provide advice on behalf of the entire international community, trying to provide resources to help on behalf of the entire community. So, the Greek citizens shouldn't fear the IMF. We are there to try to help them.....
***** I suppose the hysterical debt burdened, cash strapped minions of the Greek Archipelago can be forgiven for their deeply felt trepidations concerning the generally unwelcome intrusion of the International Monetary Fund onto the scene of the desperate economic straits into which their otherwise idyllic socialist utopian society has descended. After all, with such agencies as the Eleftheros Typos broadcasting that "George Papandreou has unconditionally surrendered to the IMF" along with many other "left-wing extremist" organizations "demonizing" the humanitarian dispensations of the Fund, it would follow that the confused and hard pressed masses might misconstrue the benign and paternally philanthropic nature of this widely misunderstood international economic brotherhood. And what if so many Laocoons and Cassandras come forth to challenge and detract the Fund as the Greek journalist who posed this provocative question to "le grande seducteur" has suggested? Does this in any way diminish the responsibilities of the members of the international financial community who, possessed of such great fiscal and monetary resources, are in a position to extend much needed aid and a hand up to this economically devastated European nation? Why, that would be like questioning...well, Big Brother himself... The wide media circulation of Mr. Strauss-Kahn's disavowal of any "demonic" intentions on the part of the IMF is reflective, not only of the deeply held suspicions regarding its activities, but is also indicative of the radically new terrain upon which the IMF has embarked. Western European countries have reflexively understood that the peculiar economic ministrations of the Fund have been exclusively reserved for the developing and emerging nations, generally of the third world type, or at best for the laggard cousins of Eastern Europe, only recently emerging from the shadow of Soviet domination. That a bona fide member of the European Monetary Union, albeit one of Southeastern Europe (SEE), would find itself in the gunsights of such a widely acknowledged international economic predator brings the very viability and purpose of the EU experiment into question, especially given Mr Louse-Con's thinly veiled threat of "Tomorrow, maybe another". Perhaps even more disturbing to the "amour propre" of the EU members and especially the so- called PIIGS is that the IMF's impending "structural adjustments" are coming not only on the heels of the Greek government's own significant "austerity measures" but perhaps more importantly in the wake of the government and financial sector's serious fraudulent economic collusion with Goldman Sachs involving the now notorious CDS and IRS derivatives which are largely responsible for the country's massive external debt obligations and the ever deepening Greek economic malaise.The subsequent and ongoing attacks of institutional speculators and investors from hedge funds on Greece are only another prefigurement of what is in store for the other collapsing "sovereigns" in the EU as well as the bankrupt states in the U.S.
Ok, I will change my opinion and lobby for the immediate bailout and wire the 210 billion or so. Sure, that's enough? How about 250 billion. You can use the extra 40 billion, I'm sure. Come back for more.
US did a wonderful job of indebting and laying waste to South America for about a century; Germany is doing this to Europe in less time. China will do this to the whole world.
On a related note, I wonder how long we'll have to wait for the first $100 billion dollar man. What, Slim in Mex is like only $50 billion. The first $100 billion man will undoubtedly be from China or Brazil.
Look, South and Central America are fucked up because
1. they had no indigenous heavy draft animals.
2, when they finally got heavy draft animals, they also got a super sized helping of the sorry assed mercantile system the Spanish (and portugese) drug in with them, along with the sorry assed mores and culture they forced upon them. Siesta my ass. No property rights. no incentive to bust your ass, until it became all but genetic.
every goddamn evil in the world isn't the result of the USA. You put your fucking chips on the table and then you spin the wheel. I wonder if the world bitched about the Romans like this 2000 years ago.
no indigenous heavy draft animals...
Wisdom cries out in the streets...
You know what happens to people that have too much common sense don't you? You'll be ridiculed to scorn and forced to go barefooted. Then the green double zero shows up and they take your red / 23 chips.
You couldn't be more right with the property rights comment. That's spot on.
The first $100 billion man...
Sorry dude, he was a jew. His name was Solomon... Back in the "golden age"...
MUST WATCH VIDEO ON YOUTUBE "THE STORY OF YOUR ENSLAVMENT"http://youtu.be/Xbp6umQT58A
This is someone elses progress... Planet of the Technocratic Primates
Greek Backlash As Bankster Technocrats Force a €130 billion Bailout to avoid Default on €14.5 billion
What If Our Political Debate Is Actually A Controlled Narrative?
"Its disgusting, the discussions we're not having" - Hakim Bellamy, The Pedagogy of Poetry
Visit: Inflection Point
This is what happens why people stop growing food and even fuel in their local communities, and allow the financial cancer of Wall Street to take over.
With due respect it is rather difficult to grow food and fuel in cities. Worldwide more than 50% of the population live in cities. So are you advocating eliminating all cities so Wall Street can't take over?
PS I don't live in a city :O)
This is the New Loan Facility for Greece.. i ve read it ( may be i am one of the very few Greeks )
enjoy
http://www.scribd.com/doc/81625928/GREECE-E-daneia-Scans-A-LOAN-FACILITY...
PP
Plutarch: "The Spartans used to ask about the enemy, it was not important how many there are, but where the enemy was."
http://www.ancientgreekbattles.net/Pics/47931_walls.jpg
"And suicide rates have nearly doubled"
All the bankers and polititians involved in kicking this can for far too long should be charged with some sort of indirect manslaughter/murder charge and jailed/fined/sent to Russian/North Korean labor camps.
Don't forget US labor camps, they are the world leaders!
This is were the Loan Facility money will go to
1. Greek Government 19%
2. Greek Banks 23%
3. Foreign Banks 40%
4. ECB 18%
This is OFFICIAL DATA
PP
I pity #1, 2 and 4. Poor folks are going to be at risk of social exclusion.
Such a tradegy when Europeans have to live like Africans.
Exceedingly sad.
The last time I checked, while very difficult, it’s not impossible to own a gun in Greece. The only way things will change is an all-out revolution. The police want to bust some skulls, fine, get out your guns and shoot it out with them. Yes, this will lead to an escalation in violence but you need bloodshed to get your point across. There will always be WAY more citizens then cops/military personnel. After you take out their protection (cops/military), you'll find that politicians are MUCH more willing to negotiate. After you get to them, have some public executions. Or on the other hand, you could just go back to begging for food and letting your “elected” officials crap all over you I suppose.
I don't think you have a clue about public protest in Greece.
"Since you are continuing this destructive policy, we warn you that you cannot make us fight against our brothers. We refuse to stand against our parents, our brothers, our children or any citizen who protests and demands a change of policy," said the union, which represents more than two-thirds of Greek policemen.".
So you think shooting/murdering sympathetic unarmed policemen will do some good?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/10/greece-police-idUSL5E8DA3ED20120210
No doubt there are some great struggles going on in that Country and in Athens due to bad economic policies. But I suspect the people in these pics are actually Albanians living and working in Greece.
Question: How is life going to look like in Greece in 5 years?
Optimist: they will be bankrupt, run out of absolutely everything including food, and end up eating shit.
Pessimist: I am afraid there won't be enough for everybody.
So if the Greeks hadn't borrowed so much money to finance deficits that resulted from having a large and well-paid public sector labor force, whose purchasing power filtered through the private sector supporting millions of jobs there, none of this would be happening now and every Greek would have two chickens in his pot?