Um, it's just research on starving hookers

Oh where did all my research funding go?

It is always tempting for a researcher to dabble
in his research matter. It is all the easier when
your subject matter is starving hookers.

The Hooker Market in Athens has gone
subterranean. It's not the underground
"offices," but where the profit margins have
gone. Into the red, so to speak.

One of the things that can really hit your
libido is the lack of money. Even though
regular sex is healthy, no country provides
guys with hooker money from Social
Services.

So, even hooking is off the hook.

This just required some research, for
verification purposes. One brave man
did this research and yet didn't
mix with his sample, i think.

checkit: zerohedge

Meanwhile In Greece, The Price Of A Prostitute Drops To €4 Per Hour 
Submitted by Tyler Durden
11/28/2015 10:00 -0400
By Keep Talking Greece
Six years of crippling financial crisis have sent Greek students to the streets. However, not for anti-austerity protests but for sex. They allegedly “sell it very cheap,” for the price of “a cheese pie or a sandwich,” thus “offering the lowest prices of the industry across the Continent.” “Some women just do it for a cheese pie or a sandwich they need to eat because they are hungry,” Gregory Lazos, professor of sociology at Panteion University in Athens told The Times and spoke about the results of a study he conducted. Lazos conducted the study among 400 women working on the streets. The study has lasted 3 years. Many of these women were students. They sell sex for a piece of bread – so to say – “in order to eat or cover basic needs and extra expenses as they have no money,” The Times and Lazos on The Times claim. “80% of prostitutes in Greece are Greek women aged 17 to 20”. The price for sex has dramatically decreased from €50 euro for 60 minutes down to “€2 for half an hour.“ “From the 18,500 prostitutes who work mainly in the streets throughout the country, since most brothels operated without a license, the majority now are desperate Greeks.” As KTG has only partial access to The Times due to the pay wall and picked up some additional information from Greek media that translated the article, it is not very clear when exactly the study has been conducted, its methodology and other scientific tools indicating “age”, “region” and other data. Neither did KTG manage to find out the percentage of students among the 400 case of women street workers. A percentage expected to be high enough to justify the article’s title. Gregory Lazos claimed further that before the economic crisis “there was not prostitution tendency among Greek women.” He stressed that “the phenomenon seems to grow at a steady and consistent pace.” Before the crisis the majority of prostitutes were women from Eastern Europe. So, The Times and Gregory Lazos lived happily ever after, and the Greek women that used to be little Saints but now sell it and do it on the streets have finally something to eat. Not even a souvlaki, though. It costs €2.00 – €2.20 and has 23% Value Added Tax for having salt and spices on it. A small cheese pie can be bought for €1 – €1.20. So there is one euro left to cover basic needs and extra expenses… Now some Greeks wonder, why all the Greek films of the 50’s the 60? and the early 70’s were featuring Greek women as prostitutes with the most famous one being Ilia (Melina Merkouri) in Never on Sunday. And some Greeks of the usual mean Greek category reckon all the fine young ladies in the noble bars and restaurants of certain high-class suburbs of Athens before the crisis… Ops! They were “escorts”. – And because they were so many, the brothels emptied and did not renew their licenses – Just kidding! PS At least in the sex sector Greece seems have developed into a super competitive country I wonder, how IMF’s Lagarde would comment on this and if she would support the sector’s booming withe both her thumbs up.

In a state of suspended Gamification

There can be no other words for these past 5 years, in Greece.
Not even the brief Syriza spring of 2015 (Jan to July),has
changed the fact that Greece is a neo-liberal Lab of Goebbels.

Greeks are the Gerbils and the Troika are the Goebbels.

It has been said that the once Fin Min Varoufakis was an
expert in Game Theory. Actually, he rejected Game Theory
as being limited, but nevertheless he had to be an expert
in order to see that it's trash. Nevertheless, he was accused
of trying to Game the Troika.

Other opinions, mostly in Greece, see his "defense of the realm"
as little more than theatre, with the benefit to Varoufakis of
world fame. Perhaps it's true.

However, the fact remains, if you translate/calque the words
Game Theory and Gamification (noun for using Game Theory)
you get , in Greek
Fuck Theory and Fuckification.

If you see the pic above, you have the Greek in his armchair
(or suspended above it) being forced to watch the downfall
of his little country (which he viewed as the centre of the universe
now that it was in the EU),  one bankruptcy
at a time. The media, now happy that Syriza is playing the
 Gamification, are fully trying to use any euphemism in order
to keep Greeks from realising what is going on, on a daily
basis, to their country, so that they'll still buy shit from the
advertisers.

 Gamification

e.g. 1
Last week, thanks to a new Syriza law, foreign vulture funds
were able to pay (the Troika) whatever they wanted for the
4 big Greek banks, which were il-liquid anyway. Now,
coupled with the Bilder-born EU-enforced bank law,
foreign banks can now legally rip off whatever Greek
savings they want to without so much as an excuse.

Gamification 

e.g. 2

Thanks to a recorded session between Varoufakis and 

interlocutors about the future of Greece (held in May/June 

of 2015?) we found out that the keys to the Greek 

Treasury were held by the Troika. So, any tax money

(read: idiot tax) were taken directly by the Troika. So 

Varoufakis (even though he never told the public) was a 

Fin Min with no Fin. Not even a fin (i.e. 5 bucks).

 Gamification

e.g. more to come 

a referendum that defined the Eurozone

With the previous Syriza government, that included
Yanis Varoufakis, we had what appeared to be a
serious (or playful) attempt to break the status quo.

I am certain that Varoufakis managed to present
the Eurogroup and Germany as the despots that
they are. He continues to do so, as a free agent.

Of course, that did not end Greeks' pain, but it
did provide a trip off the beaten track that has
changed the EU forever.

News-watching people with functioning brains,
i.e. on twitter, can never again look at JC
Juncker as a serious politician. We would
have discovered that he's a drunk- always
tipsy. We would have known that his country
has been a sink-hole for tax evasion. But we
now know that he has the brinksmanship skills
of a drunken insider. It's just that we're not
invited to the party, so we have to assume
what he's doing is for a reason, and figure out why.
Prolly, he's an employee of the Germans.

It's very late doing this, and I don't have the
telling news reports handy, but it's worth it
looking back in anger and amazement at
what happened.

Anyway, the referendum did so many things
to make me believe that Syriza were different
and that they were cunning fighters in the
kind of battle that the EU forces us to do
with our "colleagues" (ftoooo, wretch).

Firstly, Syriza took the proposal that the troika
thrust on the table, saying "sign it." It included
corrections of the Greek positions in red ink and
track changes, like a prof to a PG student. The
Trickies also provided Greece with the same
slavery deal

i.e. we agree to enslave you, you agree to wear chains, etc

that was essentially the agreement that ND party

would not dare enforce, from summer 2014 onward.

There may have been some changes to account

for the troika being pissed off at Samaras, who

despite not stooping enough, was a man that

Juncker "could negotiate with." We know what

that means:

JCJ: Here. take this paper and fuck yourselves 

Samaras: thank you , sir, can I have some more

    Here's the ceremony in Brussels:



here's a copy of the front page of the doc. You can get it
easily I imagine, but remember to thank Yanis Varoufakis
and his Intern for thinking "this is amazing. We're gonna
tour the country with this! And they will praise God":

So, Greece revealed the skulduggery, or more precisely

skull-fucking

 that goes on in a Eurogroup that has no standing in
law. Do you know what that means? It's the political
equivalent of :
Troika: oh. you're pissed at me and my 17 friends?
           well, step into this dark room and we'll solve
            our differences.

Are you nuts? It's a mind-fuck exercise and we have
already said, the Eurogroup (or Troika, interchangeable, really)
were negotiating in the way that a tyrant lets a pleb
tire himself out ranting, and then (checking his fingernails)
orders his guards to behead the man and impale the rest of
his lifeless body on an appropriate stick for all to see.

Varoufakis and company, at the very least, made this lynching
a public affair. You and I felt that we were in that darkened
room in Brussels. A room where nobody took notes, because
the tyrants had already decided to let Greece exhaust itself
with portraying all their reasonable ideas about how to
pay and yet improve the Greek economy. It was fingernail
time for the tyrants. They gave Greece its final offer

i.e. same as the last one

and Syriza said let's put it to a referendum. The timing of

the referendum firstly, was amazing. It was for after the 

ending of the last slavery contract (June 30th, I think),

meaning that there would be no money for Greece

while the people were deciding their fate. And so it

happened. In the middle of the referendum campaign,

the troika closed the banks. If some Greeks (or anybody)

had any doubt who these troika fuckers were, that was

an eye-opener. The ECB, the backstop of the Eurozone

economy, closed banks, as a threat, in cooperation with

the rest of the Troika/Eurogroup.

Satan unmasked!

Brilliant move. Obviously I am not belittling the 

fact that Greeks were paying the price for this 

absurdist theatre, and were starting to starve. 

Nevertheless, their answer was to vote 61% against 

the troika offer. 

The only fly in that ointment was the fact that 

it SEEMS that Greeks want to reject an offer from

the troika and yet stay in the Eurozone, but actually,

that was the troika blackmail. 

"Do this slavery thing, or you're gone."

I'll take on the grexit issue in another blog.

So, the next step was to take the results to Brussels and

get a better deal. Well, I think it was dawning on Syriza

that the troika was gonna screw Greece one way or another.

Kinda like the Kama Sutra for love slaves.

"oh. you don't like pages 33-45?

Well, let's try page 55. ha-ha!"

 Tsipras knew that he had the savings and house value

of every Greek and/or their business in his hands. He knew

that the troika would not loosen the noose, so he had to 

bow his head. For me, he was then beheaded. He is no 

longer a person, let alone PM. His lifeless body just
won the re-election campaign. I'm indifferent.

Varoufakis still has his impudent head and he's making

quite a scene in France and other places, seeking discussions

of justice and fairness and democracy. They love that.

So, let's just assume that Greece was screwed to begin with

and then you can see the wisdom of the Syriza plan.

1 it shook faith in the Euro and EU to the ground

2 the Euro is at lows not seen since it was the EMU

      1.40 Euros for one British pound.

3 it has cast the Euro/EU oligarchs in very bad light

4 it has made countries like Poland, Czechs and Romania

    run screaming from the Euro table, even though they

   are required to switch.

5 it has sped up the disintegration of the Eurozone, because

   of the lack of faith in Germany

6 Shown how the Euro genesis was a twisted affair with
  two protagonists.
  It was created by the French because

  they thought their elite would run the EU this way, and

  the Germans because they knew that the French were

  lightweights and that they (Germany) would end up

  dictating life and death in the whole EU.

7 It was shown, to those who were really good at 

   reading between the lines that the troika was not

   interested in solutions, but in providing a workable

  plan such that German taxpayers could bail out

  Deutschebank, without it looking like that. It looks

  like a Greek bailout, so in return, the Greeks must

  be screwed. Tangled web, anyone?

 

  Now, there were a number of economists who got
involved in the referendum case, at least in theory.
They offered opinions that were either economic,
political, or both, and it says a lot about who they are.

Let's go through the list. The first 4 

would have voted "no" and the last

two, though Grecophone, would have

voted "yes".

Let's examine them:

Stiglitz and Sachs, among others, were being 

regularly consulted by Varoufakis,

and they knew the case well.

Krugman is just a statist nut, but sometimes

he gasps for oxygen and does the right thing.

Piketty, though Varoufakis is not a fan of his,

also sided with the Greeks.

On the Dark side we have Pissaridis, a 

Cypriot economist who is big in LSE 

circles. He won an Economics 

(pseudo) nobel for his thesis that the

way to make sure that wage inflation

does not happen is by cutting unemployment

money. Ya. thanks Pisser. He was later

found on BBC talking about how he was

worried for his nest egg in a Cypriot 

bank when the banking oligarchs came 

to rob Cyprus. I had no sympathy for him.

The last is Katey Price, the Greek ex-wife of 

Chris Huhne (Labour minister  & social 

climber). They had divorced and both

spent time in posh jail because she 

was proved to have said "yes" to her

husband (the Transport Minister) when

he asked her to take his speeding points

on her licence. Once again, we have caught

her saying "yes" to the big dick in the room.

Again, no sympathy. She happens to be

an economist, but of what quality, I don't

know.I think she may have had the right
to vote.

Bartering is good, if your country's been bombed back 2000 years

I seem to remember the open threat by Dick Cheney,
the Nobel Prize loser, to bomb Iraq back into the
stone age.
Well, he's been outdone by the Troika and the EU
Commission, who've bombed Greece, not with tanks,
but banks, into the stone age.

Bartering systems and alt currencies are flourishing,
while nothing in the real economy is. With tourism
being its key sector, the EU has fucked Greece's
economic skull with a 23% VAT.

If the EU has control of your bank account, the money
in that account, in Euros, is worth less that Euros in
Germany which is running the show. Capital controls
mean Greeks can only withdraw 60 Euro a day.
International transfers may also be affected. The
once-large middle class in Greece used to rely on
cornering markets for imported goods. But now, with
no free flow of money, they cannot pay importers.
This may, however, bring back Greek industry after
10 years of languishing because of cheap imports.

Anyway, the resourceful Greeks are trying to use
barter to cover for the Euros that they don't have.
Silly Greeks don't realise that the government
will not accept barter, except maybe offers of sex,
in payment of taxes. So, they're still gonna lose
their houses.

checkit: EKathimerini


Bartering platform offers a way to sidestep capital controls 
LINA GIANNAROU TAGS: Innovation Stella makes photo albums for weddings and baptisms, which she trades for ground beef. Dellman services PCs and laptops in exchange for olive oil, Panayiota has a BMW she’d gladly trade for a small studio apartment in Athens, and Dimitris needs a small refrigerator which he’s willing to trade for nearly new children’s clothes. “Only your imagination can set limits,” says Yiannis Deliyiannis, who, with a group of friends, set up tradenow.gr in early 2013, the first automated platform for swapping services and goods in Greece. “Is there anything that can’t be swapped?” asks Deliyiannis. “Someone might not have any cash in his wallet but a watch or cell phone he doesn’t need. That’s like having 500 euros, with which he can get anything he wants.” The site was launched as Greece entered the depths of the crisis and is even more popular today since the imposition of capital controls in the summer restricted Greeks’ purchasing power even further. “We attracted a huge number of people after the capital controls were put in place,” says Deliyiannis. Registered members swelled to above 25,000 in the summer from 20,000 at the start of the year and more keep coming as an increasing number of people look for ways to acquire the things they need without having to spend cash. The initial idea came about during a spontaneous exchange. “A friend of mine wanted an energy-efficient fireplace in his house but couldn’t afford it. The technician offered to take his old fireplace in exchange for the materials for the new one and also offered him a discount on the installation,” explains Deliyiannis. “I was interested so we started looking at whether anything like that was happening elsewhere in the world. We found a number of similar initiatives, especially in the United States, where major trade networks have been developed between businesses looking to cut costs. So that’s how we came up with the idea of creating a community that would include all tiers of the economy, from individuals with goods and services to offer to businesses that could trade with other businesses while at the same time getting some publicity and selling their goods or services at a discount.” Putting the idea into action led to all sorts of complications. “The platform is interactive. When someone logs on asking for a bicycle and offering a watch, the site will automatically link them to everyone who wants a watch or is offering a bike. Then the different parties can haggle among themselves; it’s like each member is running a e-shop of their own.” To make exchanges easier, the company has introduced a form of “currency,” a Trade Point, which reflects the value of the items or services on offer. So if someone wants to buy something that is of greater value than what they’re offering, they can make up the different with points (1 point equals 1 euro). Membership to the site is free of charge for individuals and costs from 50 euros upward for companies, with a small commission fee when directed sales are made. “It was hard at first to convince companies [mostly small and medium-sized] to join and build a profile. There were quite a few cases where we not only had to explain how bartering works but also had to actually explain the Internet,” says Deliyiannis. “Everything changes with the capital controls. People were obliged to do business without cash and so they soon saw the benefits.” Companies usually swap promotional material like leaflets or banners, as well as office materials or services like security system installations. Among individuals, most of the exchanges involve cell phones and other IT gadgets, but also food. “We have a butcher who got new tires for his car by offering meat, another guy who got his car serviced by offering a shower stall, and others who swapped cars for boats. Everything is possible,” says Deliyiannis.

Britain protects towns from marauding bankers

It's quite illuminating when one studies the financial
crisis, to see that it is also a colonisation of poorer,
weaker countries. The exporting of financial tricks
has become the calling card of US and UK banks
as they tricked the gullible Continentals to buy their
fake paper.

If a country has a law that protects its towns from those
rapacious bankers, then that country is aware that its
bankers are immoral pirates.
In this case, the towns of England have a

get out of jail free card 

in the form of a law that protects them from London

banks and their tricks.
Unfortunately, lesser countries cannot be saved by this

law, so the London banks are free to trick and enslave

any country they want/

Checkit:

Syriza, Greece and Government debt cancellation. 

Could it happen here in the UK?

Posted on February 8, 2015 by joelbenjamin5    — 4 Comments ↓    

As the newly elected Syriza Government make overtures to the so-called Troika of the ECB, EC and IMF on debt restructuring, one thing is increasingly clear.

Elites in the UK and across Europe appear deeply uncomfortable the neoliberal logic of the “free market” is being questioned by a democratically elected Government, freely expressing the will of the long-suffering Greek people.

For those who sat through the car-crash Emily Maitlis interview for BBC Newsnight – accusing the Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis of “sabre rattling” for daring to renegotiate Greek debt, the hostile tone that greets BBC guests bold enough to question the ‘neoliberal consensus’ is quickly apparent.

London remains, the most important financial centre on the planet. The City of London effectively writes its own policy and regulation. Through The City UK, the British Bankers Association and HSBC’s Rona Fairhead, it pulls the strings of the BBC.

For the most part, the three major UK political parties simply nod along with this charade, collecting their cheques.

For people watching events unfold from the UK, the notion a tiny sovereign nation like Greece, tied to the fiscal straight-jacket of the EU, could take on the ECB, The City of London, Deutsche Bank and Angela Merkel, oppose the ‘fiscal water-boarding’ of austerity and win seems absurd.

As a nation governed in the interests of the City of London, do the UK media ever stop to question the legality and legitimacy of Greek bank debts? 90% of the Greek “bailout” loans have gone straight to French and German banks!

Greek Debt Bondage

For a creditor nation such as the UK, the morality of “paying ones debts” runs strong. Yet look carefully at our own financial history and you will find precedents where the UK has defaulted on its debts – much like Greece seeks to renegotiate now.

One of the more outlandish, yet poorly known examples of UK default is a landmark 1989 legal battle between Hammersmith and Fulham Council vs the American banking behemoth Goldman Sachs.

137 Councils including Hammersmith had been encouraged to enter into multiple “interest rate swaps” – where the council exchanged floating interest rates with a bank, for the “security” of a fixed rate. Or so they thought.

In the fish hooks of the contracts, the bank would pay Hammersmith if interest rates increased, while Hammersmith would pay the bank when rates fell.

Hammersmith, the largest player in the interest rate swaps market had signed hundreds of swaps contracts placing UK taxpayers on the hook for $9.5billion in potential losses as interests rates moved against the council in favour of Goldman Sachs.

Terrified council executives were quickly phoning the Audit Commission, Big Four Accountants and City law firms for expert advice as to their options to extricate themselves from a growing budgetary black hole.

This sordid tale of local government incompetence, predatory bank lending and UK Government legal chicanery, is craftily retold by Duncan Campbell Smith in “Closing the Swaps Shop.”

UK Government as the “lender of last resort” to councils via the Treasury Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) took a keen interest in the case, as the debts mounted and council defaults and Government bailouts to pay the banks became a realistic proposition.

The case was further complicated because some councils had “guessed right” with their interest rate bets, and were profiting handsomely from the trades, whilst others, such as Hammersmith taxpayers faced a potential bill of some 6.2 billion!

Ultimately, the matter was decided in the UK High Courts, were QC’s scouring over the fine print of the 1972 Local Government Act ruled that councils entering into stand-alone swaps and derivatives contracts was “ultra-vires” or outside of the councils legal powers. Whether the British courts would have reached the same conclusions were it Greek and not British taxpayers on the hook remains a moot point.

In the Hammersmith case, UK High Courts ruled it was not council’s role to be speculating upon interest rates, and taxpayers should not be held liable, much to the anger of bankers in Wall Street and the City of London.

However take a look at the “devils derivatives” deal handed down by Goldman Sachs to bring Greece into the Eurozone and this is precisely what has happened there. Far from having the offending contracts “invalidated” by the EU courts, Greek taxpayers were left on the hook for the full amount of debt – largely owed to German and French banks.

The same story has played out in Italy, Spain, Germany and France where London based banks have systematically mis-sold swaps and derivatives contracts to bumbling and inept Government officials, too lazy or corrupt to ask proper questions.

In the Hammersmith and Fulham case, the interest rate swaps contracts were invalidated, the British taxpayer and Government spared. Currently however, UK taxpayers are on the hook for £300 billion+ in PFI contracts and LOBO loans at councils like Newham, which feature interest rate derivatives similar in nature to those featured in the infamous Hammersmith deal.

Before passing judgement on the “lazy Greeks” as characterised in the right-wing British press, UK citizens would be well advised to survey our own back yard for odious bank debt, and to revisit the Hammersmith test case and reflect upon the likely implications had the full terms of billions of pounds in swaps contracts been enforced by UK courts, with UK taxpayers ultimately liable.

Yianis has done his homework

Now that Varoufakis is the FinMin of Greece
an embattled, enslaved nation, he has to
choose his words carefully. He hasn't been
doing that as well as he could, but I like
a good bun fight anyway.

However, before he became a politician,
he was an awesome Economist-about-Town
talking to the Alt-media about how
the Euro was a mistake and that it's on
a monorail ride off a cliff. Now, he also
discovered that because of this
instability in the Euro causing banking
"issues", the tendency of the Bankocracy
is to squash any and all countries that
do not follow IMF dogma. Indeed, the
banker/politicians are misanthropic
fascists. no surprise there.
But most people need "proof".

All that is needed is for them to let a few
words slip in public and we will be sure
about what we've been assuming all along.
They want to subjugate any and all poeples
to the will of the banks. Varoufakis found this:

checkit: Protagon Varoufakis
Συντρίψτε τους Έλληνες! Το Μνημόνιο υπό το φώς των αποκαλύψεων 
Geithner Ο τ. υπουργός οικονομικών των ΗΠΑ Timothy Geithner το επιβεβαίωσε σε μια μαγνητοφωνημένη συζήτηση που είδε πρόσφατα το φως της δημοσιότητας(*): Τον Φεβρουάριο του 2010, οι βορειοευρωπαίοι ηγέτες, αγνοώντας την λαίλαπα που θα συμπαρέσυρε ολόκληρη την ευρωζώνη, παραδόθηκαν στην οργή εναντίον της «άσωτης» Ελλάδας και ήταν αποφασισμένοι να «συνθλίψουν τους Έλληνες», καθώς η Ελλάδα κατάφερε να χρεοκοπήσει εντός μιας νομισματικής ένωσης η αρχιτεκτονική της οποίας δεν προέβλεπε (και για αυτό δεν μπορούσε να αντιμετωπίσει) μια τέτοια χρεοκοπία. Σε συνάντηση των G7 στον Καναδά, ο Geithner άκουγε εμβρόντητος τους βορειοευρωπαίους συναδέλφους του να λένε: «Θα τους μάθουμε ένα μάθημα. Είναι απαίσιοι. Μας είπαν ψέμματα. Είναι καθήκια, άσωτοι και εκμεταλλεύτηκαν τους θεσμούς. Θα τους συνθλίψουμε. Αυτή ήταν, βασικά, η στάση τους. Όλων τους.» Η αντίδραση του Geithner ακούγοντας αυτές τις έξαλλες κουβέντες δεν ήταν να ανησυχήσει για το μέλλον των ελλήνων. Όχι, ο αμερικανός ανησύχησε ότι, στην πρεμούρα τους να «σκοτώσουν» τους έλληνες, οι βοριεοευρωπαίοι θα πυροβολούσαν, άθελά τους, τον ίδιο τους τον εαυτό. Όπως έγραφα εδώ στο protagon τον Μάιο του 2010, παρομοιάζοντας το Μνημόνιο με την Συνθήκη των Βερσαλλιών: παρασυρμένοι από την ισχύ τους, οι ισχυροί μπορεί κάλλιστα να επιβάλουν στους ανίσχυρους συνθήκες και όρους που αποδυναμώνουν όλους. Αυτός ακριβώς είναι ο φόβος μου για την συμφωνία που επέβαλε η τρόικα ΔΝΤ-ΕΕ-ΕΚΤ στην ηττημένη χώρα μας…. Αυτά έχουν οι Συνθήκες τύπου Βερσαλλιών: Σπαταλούν την ισχύ των ισχυρών με αποτέλεσμα (τόσο το 1919 όσο και το 2010) την ένδεια όλων μας - ισχυρών και αδύναμων. Ο Geithner πρέπει να ήταν ο μόνος σε εκείνη την συνάντηση που καταλάβαινε πως οι Ευρωπαίοι, στην προσπάθειά τους να τιμωρήσουν τους έλληνες, θα έθεταν την Ευρώπη ολόκληρη σε μια σκοτοδίνη δεκαετίας και άνω. Τα υπόλοιπα έχουν περάσει στην ιστορία. Η Ελλάς συνεθλίβη. Και συνεθλίβη όχι επειδή αφέθηκε να χρεοκοπήσει επισήμως αλλά επειδή δεν της επετράπη να αγκαλιάσει την αναπόφευκτη χρεοκοπία της. Συνεθλίβη επειδή επιβλήθηκε το μεγαλύτερο δάνειο στην ανθρώπινη ιστορία στην πιο πτωχευμένη χώρα υπό τον όρο της συρρίκνωσης των (σε ευρώ) εισοδημάτων της κατά 30%, την ώρα που καλείται να αποπληρώσει όλα τα παλιά δάνεια (που την γονάτισαν) συν τα καινούργια. Με αυτή την κίνηση των βορειοευρωπαΐων, την οποία η εγχώρια κλεπτοκρατία αγκάλιασε με ενθουσιασμό, όχι μόνο συνεθλίβη η Ελλάδα αλλά έγινε και κάτι άλλο: Η υπόλοιπη ευρωπαϊκή περιφέρεια (όπου εξήχθη το μοντέλο «Συντρίψτε την Ελλάδα», σε λίγο πιο ήπια μορφή) πέρασε σε κατάσταση μόνιμης ασφυξίας με αποτέλεσμα ολόκληρη η Ευρωζώνη να βρίσκεται, σήμερα, σε κατάσταση μόνιμης ύφεσης αποπληθωρισμού και γοργής απώλειας της πολιτικής της νομιμοποίησης στα μάτια της πλειοψηφίας των ευρωπαίων. Μετά τις τελευταίες αποκαλύψεις Geithner, εκείνοι που το 2010 υποστήριζαν πως το μνημονιακό δάνειο ήταν μονόδρομος (μαζί με εκείνους που διαφωνούσαν αλλά που, κάποια στιμγή, άλλαξαν γνώμη για να αναρριχηθούν στην εξουσία) σήμερα μου λένε με αυταρέσκεια: «Είδες ποια ήταν η ατμόσφαιρα στην Ευρώπη τότε; Αν κάναμε αυτά που έλεγες, θα μας είχαν συνθλίψει!» Απαντώ: Μα, μας συνέθλιψαν! Η μέγγενη με την οποία το κατάφεραν ήταν ακριβώς αυτό το μνημονιακό δάνειο που οι κυβερνήσεις μας υπέγραψαν το 2010 και το 2012 και προσποιούνται ότι τηρούν από τότε έως σήμερα. Ακριβώς όπως η Γερμανία συνεθλίβη το 1919 υπογράφοντας την Συνθήκη των Βερσαλλιών, έτσι κι η Ελλάς συνεθλίβη υπογράφοντας τις μνημονιακές, δανειακές συμφωνίες – την πρώτη ώστε να διασωθούν οι βορειοευρωπαϊκές τράπεζες, την δεύτερη για να διασωθούν οι έλληνες τραπεζίτες, ο πολιτικός τους περίγυρος και τα ΜΜΕ που ταΐζονται από τα δάνεια αυτά (δηλαδή την κλεπτοκρατία που ποτέ δεν συνθλίβη βεβαίως βεβαίως!). Η επιλογή της Ελλάδας στις αρχές του 2010, τότε που ο κ. Geithner είχε τις εν λόγω επαφές, ήταν απλή: Αποδοχή της χρεοκοπίας της ή επέκτασή της στο διηνεκές. Η δεύτερη εναλλακτική, μέσω μνημονιακών δανείων, ήταν εκείνη που σύναδε τα μέγιστα με την συντριβή της χώρας, όπως την ήθελαν οι βορειοευρωπαίοι. Και σαν να μην έφτανε αυτό, σαν να μην αρκούσε η επέκταση της χρεοκοπίας της χώρας στο διηνεκές (κάτι που αποτελεί την μέγιστη, την πιο απάνθρωπη, ταπεινωτική συντριβή ενός λαού), η καθεστηκυία μας τάξη δεν παύει να μας ζητά να την δοξάσουμε που μας έσωσε από την συντριβή, που μας έβγαλε από την χρεοκοπία. Τότε, το 2010, σε εκείνο το άρθρο όπου (όπως ο Geithner σήμερα) αναφερόμουν στην άφρονα μανία της Γερμανίας να υποβάλει ολόκληρο τον ελληνικό λαό σε συλλογική τιμωρία (όπως είχαν κάνει οι σύμμαχοι στην Γερμανία το 1919), με σίγουρο αποτέλεσμα την επέκταση της κρίσης σε ολόκληρη την Ευρώπη, δανείστηκα μια φράση από τον Keynes με την οποία ο άγγλος οικονομολόγος, σχολιάζοντας την Συνθήκη των Βερσαλλιών, έγραφε: "... η ανειλικρινής αποδοχή... όρων που ήταν αδύνατον να τηρηθούν..., και τους οποίους δεν είχε σκοπό να τηρήσει, καθιστά την Ελλάδα(**) το ίδιο ένοχη με την τρόικα(***) οι οποίοι επέβαλαν όρους που δεν είχαν το δικαίωμα να επιβάλουν." Τέσσερα τώρα χρόνια η πιο πάνω φράση εξακολουθεί να συνοψίζει την ελληνική πραγματικότητα. Η Ελλάς, όντως, συνθλίβη. Μαζί της, δυστυχώς, συνθλίβη και η ιδέα μιας ενωμένης, προοδευτικής Ευρώπης. (*) Βλ. τις απομαγνητοφωνημένες δηλώσεις του κ. Geithner που έδωσε στην δημοσιότητα ο δημοσιογράφος των Financial Times Peter Spiegel. (**) Εδώ αντικατέστησα την «Γερμανία» με την «Ελλάδα» κι εδώ (***) αντικατέστησα «τους Συμμάχους» με «την τρόικα»

The Potami of Effluent

As shown by the behaviour of the Potamites in the
EU parliament and their commentary on Syriza,
we were lucky as a nation to avoid this
bullshit, backdoor statist bastards.

More later

Greek Minister of Awesome

One the level of reality, it seems that Yianis Varoufakis
is the man who will bring the Euro to an end. I've
followed his interviews on alt-media and paid-for MSM-BS
for 5 years now. I believe that he has the knowledge,
and the brains to carry this off. What he has done with
his new place on the world stage is simply tell the truth
about the Euro, who is running it, and how it spells
enslavement for most of us.

If he does this successfully, he will bring this confidence
game to an end. It is really just relying on fake money
political lies and very real enslavement that the slaves
seem to welcome, except not in Greece. not any more

So, Varoufakis has quite a public image as a virile
mudderf^&ker, and he's therefore getting a wild
reaction from the Continental artsy crowd.
Notice the following video. For a full cultural
analysis, go to my Posture blog. Schnell.