Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Greece And The Euro

Ellen Brown of truthout, referencing Paul Simon's clever song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," examines five of those "50 ways" by which Greece could remedy its dysfunctional relationship with the Euro and the ECB. In brief, the five courses of action Brown examines are these, taken from her subheadings:
  • The Open Marriage: Return to the Drachma Without Abandoning the Euro
  • Keep Separate Bank Accounts: Fire Up the Printing Presses at the Greek Central Bank
  • Divorce: Turn and Walk Away
  • Spousal Support: The Public Bank Option
  • The Dowry: Impose a Financial Transaction Tax
Brown concludes with a quote from Mike Whitney, and a delightful reference to the Simon song she started with:
The problems of Greece and the euro zone stem from an arbitrary set of rules that were entered into by agreement and can be changed by agreement. Where there is a will, there is a way. The problem is finding the will, particularly among the Eurocrat leaders holding the reins of power, who may not be looking for an amicable workout. In a June 3 article titled "Europe Moves Closer to Banktatorship," Mike Whitney maintained:
These people are not interested in fixing the EZ economy. They are engaged in a stealth campaign to radically restructure EU society, to unravel the welfare safety net, to roll back the progressive gains of the last century, and to reduce much of the continent to 3rd world poverty. A banking union will further solidify the power of big finance over the individual states, and that is the main objective.
... Greece is a vivacious woman chained to a tyrannical old man. She can dance again if she can be free.
I am far from qualified to evaluate the merits of the possibilities, but the article was thought-provoking, and it reminded me of the one course of action that is simply not an option: do nothing.

19 comments:

  1. ATHENS, Greece — Police have issued an arrest warrant for the spokesman of Greece's extremist far-right Golden Dawn party, who was elected to Parliament in the country's recent inconclusive polls, after he physically assaulted two left-wing deputies on live television during a morning political show.

    Ilias Kasidiaris bounded out of his seat and slapped Communist Party member Liana Kanelli three times on Thursday, after throwing a glass of water over radical left Syriza party member Rena Dourou. Dourou had made reference to a court case pending against Kasidiaris during a morning talk show on private Antenna television.

    Golden Dawn, which vehemently denies the neo-Nazi label, has been accused of being behind violent attacks against immigrants. The party won nearly 7 percent of the vote in May 6 elections.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120607/eu-greece-far-right/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most Aid to Athens Circles Back to Europe : Greece continues to receive billions of euros in emergency assistance from a so-called troika of lenders overseeing its bailout. But almost none of the money is going to the Greek government to pay for vital public services. Instead, it is flowing directly back into the troika’s pockets. (NYTimes)
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/business/global/athens-no-longer-sees-most-of-its-bailout-aid.html?_r=2

    ReplyDelete
  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDtFmHvuH-o&feature=player_embedded
    1":20

    ReplyDelete
  4. Eurozone divided as time runs out for Spain:
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eurozone-divided-as-time-runs-out-for-spain-7821229.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. STUNNING VIDEO: Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Candidate Slaps Communist Lady Multiple Times On Live TV In Greece
    And you thought US politics was ugly!
    This happened in Greece!
    A representative from the ultra-right, Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party threw water in the face of a SYRIZA (left wing) politican. Then when confronted by a communist party politician, he started repeatedly slapping her.
    This was in the middle of a TV debate that's taking place about 11 days before a crucial election.
    Remember, the Golden Dawn party stunned the world by crossing the vote threshold to enter parliament in the first round of the election.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/golden-dawn-candidate-attacks-syriza-candidate-on-live-tv-2012-6

    ReplyDelete
  6. Arrest warrant for Golden Dawn spokesman after attack during TV talk show.
    An arrest warrant has been issued for Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris after he attacked two female parliamentary candidates on a live talk show on ANT-1 TV.
    (more)
    http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_07/06/2012_445749

    ReplyDelete
  7. Enfant,

    * That sort of personal political violence is not as rare in America as I would like, but usually it happens in a session of one or another state's legislative body; fistfights in Congress are rare. With the onset of the Tea Party, who like to carry their guns to public rallies and aren't what I would call rational or motivated by the proper processes of democracy, I expect more violence as they find themselves thwarted at some future point. It's interesting to me that in Greece it's the right wing engaging in fisticuffs; that's what happens here, too... practitioners of nonviolence here are mostly lefties.

    * I read a few days ago that most aid "to Athens" actually went to the troika. It seems increasingly clear that at least Germany and possibly other economically powerful euro zone countries have a desire to punish Greece more than to assist it; we have individuals like that within Congress in America (think: Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell or the retired but still powerful Alan Simpson... he's totally nuts, and rude about it, too).

    * I'll watch your videos at daybreak when they won't awaken Stella. I assure you it won't be a golden dawn...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Steve,

    Speakers off, pictures talk by themselves!

    This is our "watch and weep" tome!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Enfant, the YouTube video had been removed for a TOS violation, but the BusinessInsider video was still up... my heart goes out to you and all of Greece; it should not be that way! That was worse than I expected. You have my heartfelt sympathies.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Enfant, we have one of our own, after that governor's race in Wisconsin: Holy Crap: Supporter Slaps Barrett After Loss. Things are getting out of hand!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thursday, June 7th, JPost Reporter Severely Beaten By Masked Men in Greece (VIDEO)
    Shefler went to Greece to do a story on Golden Dawn and says he went over to the area around the museum when he saw the homeless and refugees being beaten by a mob.
    -
    http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/06/07/jpost-reporter-severely-beaten-by-masked-men-in-greece-video/

    ReplyDelete
  12. L'Enfant de la Haute MerJune 7, 2012 at 12:30 PM

    Far-Right Politician in Greece Slaps Rival on TV(NYT):

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/world/europe/greeces-far-right-politician-attacks-female-rivals-on-tv.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

    ReplyDelete
  13. Let's play English-language anagrams with Kasidiaris's name:

      KASIDIARIS <=> I IS A SIK RAD

    Will that do?

    ReplyDelete
  14. L'Enfant de la Haute MerJune 7, 2012 at 1:42 PM

    Steve,

    his name means "scald", if I translate correctly.
    Thanks for accepting to play!!
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. L'Enfant de la Haute MerJune 7, 2012 at 1:47 PM

    .. or rather "dandruff"..

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ancient Greek solution for debt crisis(BBC):


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18255039

    ReplyDelete
  17. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  18. A note to Ira Morse: I removed your post not because of its opinion content, but because you included a link to a commercial firm. Spam is unwelcome on these threads.

    ReplyDelete

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