Greece is resisting austerity

#1
utgibbs

utgibbs

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#1
With the Greek colonels still fresh in living memory ("The best damn government since Pericles.") - the Greeks are not taking the dictats from their Euro masters lying down. It's nearing civil war on the streets of Athens.

Nick Clegg and the threat of mass industrial action on the scale of the 1970s has saved the NHS in Britain from the stupidity (and venality) of the radical reactionary Cameron government.

Anyone feel the proletariat vs bourgeoisie cage match coming?
 
#2
#2
no, I see Greek socialism failing miserably. The rest of Europe's experiment with Marxist idylls is doomed to failure as well.
 
#5
#5
It wasn't socialism; it was Capitalism.

You can ask Ireland about it as well.
 
#9
#9
nbakerld said:
The government was mismanaged to bankruptcy because of capitalism?
Click to expand...

He doesnt understand that Government Social programs do nothing but put a strain on the economy. They do nothing but take and give nothing back.

You can only dip your hand in the bucket so long before there is more money coming out of the bucket than whats going in.

Some Liberals live in a world where money grows on trees.
 
#13
#13
I complain about our corrupt government all the time, but if you put it in perspective we can't even touch a lot of Europe. I think the soviet influence over eastern Europe has fostered a cultural tendency towards corruption in general. My Dad is a professor of economics and taught in Prague for a bit and he says you wouldn't believe the rampant cheating. His professor friend went to Russia and said the same thing. It's a different world over there. What say ye? Did a culture of cheating bring about communism, or did communism turn them into cheaters?
 
#14
#14
utgibbs said:
With the Greek colonels still fresh in living memory ("The best damn government since Pericles.") - the Greeks are not taking the dictats from their Euro masters lying down. It's nearing civil war on the streets of Athens.

Nick Clegg and the threat of mass industrial action on the scale of the 1970s has saved the NHS in Britain from the stupidity (and venality) of the radical reactionary Cameron government.

Anyone feel the proletariat vs bourgeoisie cage match coming?
Click to expand...

This is an example of the inevitable outcome of the ideals you consistently espouse. Once you convince someone that they are "entitled" to the wealth of someone else.... the only end to that corrupt mindset is bloodshed and bondage.
 
#15
#15
utgibbs said:
It wasn't socialism; it was Capitalism.

You can ask Ireland about it as well.
Click to expand...

It was capitalism that gave them "free" health care? It was capitalism that put 40%+ of their workforce on gov't payrolls? It was capitalism that imposed ridiculously low retirement ages and ridiculously high benefits?

No. It was your ideal that an economy can only be "just" if it is centrally controlled.
 
#16
#16
CountVolcula said:
He doesnt understand that Government Social programs do nothing but put a strain on the economy. They do nothing but take and give nothing back.

You can only dip your hand in the bucket so long before there is more money coming out of the bucket than whats going in.

Some Liberals live in a world where money grows on trees.
Click to expand...

Apparently on a very fundamental level, gibbs has no understanding of where national wealth comes from. He is not only willing to kill the Golden Goose... He blames the Golden Goose when it cannot produce enough eggs to let people sit idle and draw a living wage.

Economic liberalism is for people who can't do math.
 
#18
#18
nbakerld said:
I complain about our corrupt government all the time, but if you put it in perspective we can't even touch a lot of Europe. I think the soviet influence over eastern Europe has fostered a cultural tendency towards corruption in general. My Dad is a professor of economics and taught in Prague for a bit and he says you wouldn't believe the rampant cheating. His professor friend went to Russia and said the same thing. It's a different world over there. What say ye? Did a culture of cheating bring about communism, or did communism turn them into cheaters?
Click to expand...

This is why an objectively based, moral backbone is prerequisite to a peaceful, free, and prosperous society. I know it raises the ire of many here but ours was provided by the Judeo-Christian value set. We have been the most successful at prosperity, opportunity, and "domestic tranquillity" of any society in recorded history.

You cannot have a sound economy without ethics and generally accepted mores. The deterioration of those ethics both on Wall Street and the entitlement culture on the bottom of the economic scale is destroying our economy. Obama has taken the wrong side on both ends... he bails out big business while trying to shift wealth from the broad middle to both the top and bottom.
 
#19
#19
nbakerld said:
Sometimes Gibbs makes me think he's a capitalist mole posing as a socialist.
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I have questioned him often about being a fraud. He's never given a straight answer. I tend to think he's playing the devil's advocate... I am not sure how anyone could be that consistently wrong. I answer him as if he's serious though since some lurker might fall for it.
 
#20
#20
CountVolcula said:
He doesnt understand that Government Social programs do nothing but put a strain on the economy. They do nothing but take and give nothing back.
Click to expand...

Kind of like the mafia, but on a grand public scale. Remoras on society, consuming much while producing nothing.
 
#21
#21
sjt18 said:
This is why an objectively based, moral backbone is prerequisite to a peaceful, free, and prosperous society. I know it raises the ire of many here but ours was provided by the Judeo-Christian value set. We have been the most successful at prosperity, opportunity, and "domestic tranquillity" of any society in recorded history.

You cannot have a sound economy without ethics and generally accepted mores. The deterioration of those ethics both on Wall Street and the entitlement culture on the bottom of the economic scale is destroying our economy. Obama has taken the wrong side on both ends... he bails out big business while trying to shift wealth from the broad middle to both the top and bottom.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Free enterprise ensures an incentive for general ethics because reputation takes you far in a free society. In socialism or croney capitalism, you can get away with bad behavior if you know the right people.
 
#23
#23
nbakerld said:
The government was mismanaged to bankruptcy because of capitalism?
Click to expand...

Of course! Part of the problem was bailing out the Capitalist (sic) institutions in the first instance.

But the real problem is systemic to capitalism. The easy solution by far would be to restructure the Greek, Irish, and Portuguese loans. This would cause some short term pain for the Euro, but nothing disastrous.

But, of course, the Capitalist (sic) banks in Germany where this money flows will have none of it. Nor will Madame Lagrande. Protecting the Euro for French and German bankers is the be all and end all in Europe these days, and squeezing the money out of the Greek, Irish, and Portuguese proletariat is how they want to do it.

However, they may be signalling the death knell for their precious currency. The boldest (and maybe best move in the long run) would be for the three countries to leave the Euro.
 
#24
#24
utgibbs said:
Of course! Part of the problem was bailing out the Capitalist (sic) institutions in the first instance.

But the real problem is systemic to capitalism. The easy solution by far would be to restructure the Greek, Irish, and Portuguese loans. This would cause some short term pain for the Euro, but nothing disastrous.

But, of course, the Capitalist (sic) banks in Germany where this money flows will have none of it. Nor will Madame Lagrande. Protecting the Euro for French and German bankers is the be all and end all in Europe these days, and squeezing the money out of the Greek, Irish, and Portuguese proletariat is how they want to do it.

However, they may be signalling the death knell for their precious currency. The boldest (and maybe best move in the long run) would be for the three countries to leave the Euro.
Click to expand...

But failure of an inefficient business is an important mechanism in capitalism. It's not capitalism if companies are not allowed to fail.

Uncle Milty can explain it better than I can. "It's a profit and loss system. And the loss part is even more important than the profit, because it's what gets rid of badly managed and poorly operated companies."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9CTo8aqYRE&feature=feedrec_grec_index
 
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#25
#25
CountVolcula said:
He doesnt understand that Government Social programs do nothing but put a strain on the economy. They do nothing but take and give nothing back.

You can only dip your hand in the bucket so long before there is more money coming out of the bucket than whats going in.

Some Liberals live in a world where money grows on trees.
Click to expand...

Irony?

Have you been asleep during our own historic time? This is might be the funniest thing ever said on this board in historical context.

Social programs are the backbone of civilization. I don't really think you realize how important they are to a properly functioning complex society.
 
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