The crisis in Greece

i found this disturbing article which paints a grim picture of life in greece.


I am 26 years old and live in Greece. I am writing this letter in order to let you know about a new law in Greece announced yesterday.

The financial minister of Greece announced yesterday that from 1/1/2011 all financial transactions of sums above 1500 euros in cash, will be banned. For any transaction above 1500 euros, only credit cards and checks will be legal. The formal explanation for this law is it will combat those who do not pay taxes. But we all know this is not the case...

It seems the new world order wants to make Greece a testing ground for their new laws. For the past months, Greece have been attacked without mercy. We have been called liars, frauds, cheaters, thieves. They are threatening us constantly with banning from the euro zone and default. [These charges are] not true. ... The problem is, based on their accusations and (the virtual) bad situation of Greek finances, they will pass experimental laws.
The fairly new Government of the socialist party, elected 4 months ago, forgot all its promises, and is determined to pass laws giving citizenship to illegal immigrants after 5 years, without any trade-off. We are 10 million Greeks here, and almost 3 million mostly illegal immigrants, who will obtain Greek nationality and will gain the right to bring their families here too... In Pakistan there are even ads saying "for 5000 euros we get you to Greece, to study free, work, make families, and obtain EU passports"...

And now this... The previous government created a new ID card, to collect data from people since childbirth. This government will ban transactions in cash over 1500 euros, in order to make all of us have credit cards. The obvious first step is to ban all cash transactions, then merge this new ID card with the credit system, then, well.... insert this merged ID card into our bodies...

Our peoples' morale is low, society is disorganized because of immigration and propaganda, and we will not fight those laws. You people living in the Western World, be prepared because they are planning the same for you!

for the rest of the article: http://www.henrymakow.com/nwo_bitch_--_you...reek_conte.html

This is reality what some people didn't want to see it for years...

It's like maths 2+2=4,

If you don't produce anything if you just consume you can't catch welfare...

Factories moved from Grecee to Albania, Bulgaria, Fyrom Macedonia and Grecee couldnt stop it. they blocked Farmers, they blocked Industry e.t.c.
Anyway immigrants are not the primary problem.

This was a management problem and i beleive for cultural reginal and other social sides Europe could be union but for economically E.U dream finished, before it start.

Goldman Sachs tricky derivatives trades may have masked the Greek debt just long enough to hurt all of us again. Goldman Sachs made up an exchange rate that allowed the Greeks to look as though they were only engaging in a currency swap when, in effect, they were getting more than a billion more than they should have from the trades in credit. Its likely that Goldman made a killing on the commissions for the swaps, and then sold the swaps to a Greek bank for even higher profits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCe80hsx-ig report from RT

Greece Starts to Outlaw Cash

'From 1. Jan. 2011, every transaction above 1,500 euros between natural persons and businesses, or between businesses, will not be considered legal if it is done in cash. Transactions will have to be done through debit or credit cards.'

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE61824V20100209

A reply to German magazine 'Focus' (warning, some strong language!) :



I thought the 'new' cover was clever ...

Nationwide Strike Paralyzes Greece, Rioting Spreads to Spain

'Central Athens echoed with the angry chants of tens of thousands of protesters demonstrating against the Socialist government's austerity measures, as major unions staged a 24-hour nationwide general strike.

The Wednesday march was marred by violence when a group of about 20 youths broke away from the march and started throwing Molotov cocktails and heavy objects at police, damaging bus stops in Athens' Syntagma Square, where the Greek parliament is located.'

http://www.resistnet.com/forum/topics/nati...trike-paralyzes

'We give you cash, you give us Corfu!' German MPs suggest Greece sell its islands (and the Acropolis) to pay off its debt


Selling an island would help Greece pay off its huge national debt, say German MPs.

The suggestion by Marco Wanderwitz and Frank Schaeffler added fuel to the feuding between the countries over how Greece will tackle its deficit.
Any offers for the Greek islands?

'The Greek state must sell stakes in companies and also assets such as unpopulated islands,' said Mr Schaeffler, a finance policy expert in the Free Democrats, the junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition.

Mr Wanderwitz added that Athens should provide 'collateral for any money it receives from the European Union to help it out of its debt crisis - in this case, certain Greek islands also come into question'.

Their remarks led to a headline in the Bild national newspaper that read: 'We give you cash, you give us Corfu!'

Even if the headline was tongue in cheek, it has hardly helped to ease the anger of Greeks infuriated by what they see as a threatening line from a nation which ravaged their country during the Second World War.

Source: http://www.google.be/url?sa=t&source=web&c...tqrhkXZT6NaP61w

I live in North America so this doesn't affect me the same way but why not consider this. Similar things have been done in history.

USA purchase Alaska from Russia and they also purchased New Mexico either from the mexicans or from Spain (any history majors here??).
Austrailia got New Guinea in 1919 during the Paris conference for their participation in WW1.

So it can be due to Wars or due to financial or other turmoil. Nations can sell some of their assets if required.

My suggestion if there is any truth to this at all:
Sell a few islands (uninhabited) that are located near the turkish coast to the Chinese and then when the Turks fly over they will be violating both Greek and Chinese air space.
Caveat: China may lay a claim to any oil discovered in the area but perhaps the Greeks are better off in the long run making deals with the Chinese rather than the Turks.

Greece has 6000 islands and only 250 are inhabited. Greece may be in their worst financial crisis in over 100 years and perhaps thinking outside the box is required.
Chinese have boat loads of cash.....literally. This also could be a nice start of to a tourist influxtion from China where there are 1,300,000,000 people.
Just thinking out loud here of course but it does boogle the mind.

Overall, as an outsider to the situation, I think that Greece really needs to make hard decisions regarding the future.
Other European countries have to also make tough decisions so Greece is not the only one in this situation.

''Genius idea''

Isn't it like Drunk Husbant selling refrigerator of the home?
So what is the differance to sell island to Turkey instead of to China?

Perhaps the "funny" german mp can give some thought to persuading his government to pay Greece the billions it owes for the damages and deaths it caused during the second world war.
It cannot be overemphasised the difficulties this caused the Greek state trying to recover from the 1st world war and 1922.

It meant Greece was always paying catchup.

Nobody would suggest that the current problem is not caused by crap Greek governments but the smug countries with all the natural resources at their disposal should avoid acting all superior.

''Genius idea''

Isn't it like Drunk Husbant selling refrigerator of the home?
So what is the differance to sell island to Turkey instead of to China?

So what is the differance to sell island to Turkey instead of to China?
============================================
China has money to burn and Turkey doesn't so China will easily outbid anyone who would want to buy including the Germans.

China would love to have an island in the Meditteranean sea. If Greece were ever forced into such a situation then China would be a good group to sell to as it would improve ties between the two countries.
Just imagine all the Chinese tourists coming over to Greece.
(1.3 billion ....nice to get a piece of that market)

In the end a sale has less than a 1 percent chance of happening.
China will just have to wait.

I liked the Prime Minister's recent speech in the USA.
Just the suggestion that he will make his government transparent using technology for things like 1) live broadcast of all cabinet meetings, 2) all cheque and approval signatures to be made available on the internet for all government expeditures including the prime ministers signatures and there were a few other items listed but you get the idea.
I wish him luck in implementing this to a country whose ways are still influenced by the eastern mentality. Things will never be perfect but they can be made so much better if there is the will to do so.
Greece is a beautiful country. It really needs to be governed in a way so that it can reach its potential. The old ways won't cut it in my opinion but as I said in an earlier post.....I'm an outsider so what do I really know......tee-po-ta.

You are right Greece is beautiful country. And Greece is a country with backround. That's why Greece won't sell any island because this is something related with wroldwide prestige. How you can't sell one of your organ for money you can't give a piece of land for money too...

Germany, Japan or U.S aren't devoloped by selling lands, actually there is not any example...And they didn't devoloped by using IMF credits too. On the other hand even it is much more complicated story, please search how Modern Israel created at the last century... So there is not differance between to sell to Turkey or China.

Grecee is not a very crowded country, it's not very difficult get ride of this crise...

Also this is not only problem of Grecee. I give 25 years to Europe, It is obvious except countries like England ( high imperialist country ) and Germany ( high industrial-Engineering Country ) Europe will fall down. Technology is not a secret anymore, there are not huge margins at the markets... The century is Devoloping Countrie's Century.

people took to the streets of Athens last week in the country's second general strike this month protesting the austerity measures proposed by their socialist government. All of Greece came to a 24-hour standstill and the airport was closed as a result of the action.

The crisis broke last autumn after Prime Minister George Papandreous took office and discovered the country was bankrupt. The conservative government had cheated to get into the European Union euro zone in 2001, cooking the books. What on paper (creative accounting courtesy of Goldman Sachs) was a budget deficit of 3 per cent and public debt 60 per cent of GDP by 2009 had ballooned to 13 per cent and 125 per cent.

Initially the EU tried to smooth the issue declaring solidarity with Greece. But the financial sharks are sharpening their teeth, smelling blood. Their response to the Greek problem is naturally to rush to profit from it. Greece's credit rating has already been lowered meaning any new bonds will carry a much higher price tag for the government (the people). That of course makes it all the harder for Greece (the people) to actually pay the bankers. And when the country defaults, the EU will be forced to cough up in any case. Win win for the fat cats. What EU leaders meant by solidarity was not that they were going to pour public money into Greece as they have been pouring into their banks over the past year and a half but that they intended to squeeze the money owed the banks out of the Greek people relying on IMF oracles.

The European Parliament, the democratic facade for this, is really just the mouthpiece for the austerity seekers. Chairman of the EP Special Committee on the Economic and Financial Crisis Wolf Klinz has called for a commissar to be sent to make sure the Greeks deliver the required pound of flesh.

But who did the fiddling in the first place? The EU statistics agency Eurostat says that in 2001, Goldman Sachs secretly helped the right-wing Greek government meet EU membership criteria by masking the extent of public deficit and national debt. Once in Euroland, Greek consumers naively snapped up slick German goods and let their own industry atrophy. Now the debt trap is closing.

The traditional way out would be to devalue the drachma, in order to cut imports and stimulate exports, distributing the overall burden of adjustment to the nation as a whole rich and poor. But there is no drachma anymore. Bound to the euro, Greece can neither stimulate its domestic market nor export successfully. Poverty appears to be the only solution. Or as Josef Schlarmann suggested a senior member of the German Christian Democratic Party, sell off its islands and antiquities presumably to rich German bankers.

Whatever paper is used to cover the cracks, the outlook for Greece -- and the EU -- remains grim, because France and Germany are merely adding to their own liabilities while not reducing Greece's, and Greece will be quite unable to cut its deficit by the requisite 10 percentage points of GDP.

The very fabric of the European Union is being torn asunder as the rich members turn their backs on the poor. The iron law of capitalism -- the strong protect their own interests at the expense of the weak -- is once again being played out. Squeeze the workers

In an ideal Europe, workers in Germany would come to the aid of workers in Greece by demanding a radical revision of economic policy, making the banks sovereign and the bankers civil servants, building a real social democracy. The reality is quite different. The Greek financial crisis exposes the absence of any real community spirit in the EU. The solidarity declared by EU members is a solidarity of businessmen.

The EU now has an ideology of internationalism, rejecting the nation state as the source of all evil, cultivating "a pompous pride in Europe as the centre of human rights, giver of moral lessons to the world, which happens to fit in perfectly with its subservience to US imperial foreign policy in the Middle East and beyond," according to Diana Johnstone, author of Fools Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions. In this cosy Euro brotherhood, Greece is portrayed as a picturesque Third World country, living the Aesopian carefree life of the cricket to the Germans' ant. The likes of Portugal, Italy / Ireland, Greece and Spain are affectionately dubbed PIGS, a chilling throwback to Orwell's Animal Farm.

But the storm clouds now gathering are not just over Greece; the entire western world is still very much in fiscal crisis. The investment bank Societe Generale recently published a frightening estimate of the real liabilities of Western governments, including off balance sheet debts. In every case the numbers, including unfunded pension fund liabilities, dwarf the official debt position. Greece is by far the worst because of what Otmar Issing, the German former chief economist of the European Central Bank, described with German tact as "one of the most luxurious pension systems in the world". Its total net liabilities are 800 per cent of GDP ­ eight times the official position. For the US , it is 550, the UK 400, Germany 400, France 550, Italy 350 and Spain 250. In other words, the entire western world is insolvent and each country is facing its own day of reckoning ­ starting, appropriately enough, in Greece, the home of western civilisation.

Who cleans up the mess when bankers play casino capitalism and go broke? Ninety-three per cent of the people of Iceland rejected a proposal requiring them to cover the debt of their oldest and largest bank on 6 March. Covering the debt would have cost Iceland's 317,000 citizens around $17,000 each. Iceland's national referendum was the first (legal) expression of the people's will to decide who pays when the financial elite fail. Greece's (illegal) general strikes were the first truly democratic expression of the people's will. The sharks should take heed. When the oxygen is used up, the water turned into a cesspool, their days are numbered too.

As the working class begins to wake up, it takes a page from its master's book. It must be international. Last week saw a succession of strikes and protests throughout Europe: Lufthansa's pilots, French air traffic controllers and oil refinery workers, protest rallies in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia against the austerity measures of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party government. Trade unions in the Czech Republic announced that public transport would be halted this week. A one-day general strike of the public sector in Portugal protested measures to cut the deficit to 3 per cent of GDP by 2013. A truly pan-European movement is being born. The Independent's Sean O'Grady predicts such actions "promise to be just the start of the greatest demonstration of public unrest seen on the continent since the revolutionary fervour of 1968."

The other lesson the workers are learning is that they must throw off their deadwood leadership. The aim of the unions is to regulate social tensions and ensure that they do not pose a threat to big business and the state. British Airways cabin crews were set to strike until their union put strike action "on hold". The German pilots' union, Vereinigung Cockpit, called off the strike at Lufthansa on its first day, as did the General Confederation of Labour in the strike against the oil giant Total in France. In both cases, the unions capitulated without having won any of the workers' demands.

The most draconian cuts are being imposed by social democratic governments; in particular, the socialists in Greece, Spain and Portugal. In every instance, writes Christ Marsden, "they were elected with the support of the trade union bureaucracies, which have remained their allies as promised reforms have given way to austerity budgets." The general strike in Greece is a sign that the corporate union leadership is being swept into action against the pseudo-socialist government by incensed workers, a portent of what will no doubt come. More communist propaganda, but unfortunately true.

A sad footnote to this is the case of the weakest new members from the ex-socialist bloc. Latvia's 25.5 per cent plunge in GDP over the past two years is already the worst two-year drop on record ever, ahead of the Great Depression, with projections of even greater debt and the need for even great austerity measures, as the government madly continues to pursue the euro will-o'-the-wisp. Yes, the Latvias are indeed corrupt, their post-Soviet elites stole, stripped and sold the shop to Western interests, and then transferred their ill-gotten gains abroad.

But worse yet is the outright theft carried out in broad daylight by Western banks, whose academic friends were hired to write the Latvias' tax codes and who provided easy euro-denominated credit, so when the crunch came, they could move in and take whatever was left. Why invade such countries as Greece or Latvia with armies when you have bankers?

The real significance of the euro is now becoming clear: just as there are no national economies anymore, there is no national solution to the crisis facing workers in Greece, Spain, Portugal or anywhere else. They are forced into a common struggle against global capital. "Workers of the world unite!" never sounded so apt. And a mini-oracle to Goldman, Sachs, Klinz and Issing: Take your next winter holiday in sunny, profligate Greece at your peril.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17930.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjx40ObNf3U

Engdahl on bailout way out

Interesting (embedding is disabled so you will have to click "watch on youtube"):