Today’s a big day in European politics. French voters are going to the polls to decide the fate of Nicolas Sarkozy, the socialist incumbent. I’ve endorsed Francois Hollande, the Socialist challenger, so I’m curious to see what will happen.
The more important contest, though, is in Greece. Voters are electing a new Parliament, and it will be interesting to see whether the two establishment parties (both of which are statist, of course) hold on to power.
The looters and moochers that comprise the Greek electorate are in a pissy mood and may opt for various protest parties.
That’s not too surprising, but the press coverage of the election is a bit surreal.
An article in the EU Observer is entitled “Greek elections to usher in anti-bail-out parties,” and the opening paragraph echoes this title, implying that Greek voters don’t like bailouts.
Greece’s two main parties are set for heavy losses in Sunday’s (6 May) elections, with anti-bail-out groups on the extreme left and right to enter parliament for the first time, raising again the prospect of an exit from the eurozone.
There’s just one tiny problem with the both the title of the first paragraph. Contrary to what’s written, the new political parties are pro-bailout. They are quite happy to mooch off German taxpayers, American taxpayers, and anyone else who is stupid enough to send money (after all, somebody has to finance critical functions of government, such as collecting stool samples from people who want to set up online companies and subsidizing pedophiles).
What gets them upset is the notion that they should do anything in exchange for these handouts. Perish the thought!
If the media had any brains (I don’t think this is a case of ideological bias), they would change the title from “Greek elections to usher in anti-bail-out parties” to “Greek elections to usher in anti-conditionality parties.” Or something like that.
I actually hope these anti-conditionality parties prevail. Because if they get power and say that they won’t do anything to fix Greece’s budget, maybe the fiscal pyromaniacs at the International Monetary Fund and elsewhere will finally stop the bailouts.
Which is what I said was the right approach way back when the crisis began. So maybe after every other option is exhausted, the right thing will finally happen. Hope springs eternal.
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Of course most Greeks don’t want bailouts. They want grants, not loans. And why shouldn’t they? In a continent where every country preaches solidarity as a societal mandate, cross-country solidarity is the only logical moral imperative, now that Europe wants to unify, apparently.
So one senses that the end is near in Europe, as the slope of decline keeps increasing. Germans, Swedes, Finns and Dutch, already under mandatory solidarity marginal tax rates of 50-60% and already riding a seriously sub-par 1-2% annual growth trendline, will now be obligated to pay an “even fairer share” to support the south who wants to maintain 3x worldwide prosperity on 1-2x worldwide productivity. How long will those still producing in Europe last? The writing is on the wall, the end is near for Europe. The only question is whether it will be an orderly fading away or a more turbulent series of crises separated by relative calm.
So the title should have been: “Greece to oust bailout parties for grant parties.”
To paraphrase someone more famous:
“Greeks have run out of money by which to pay their fair share.”
Heh. “Fiscal pyromaniacs”. Mitchell’s term-of-endearment of the day. Kudos.
Bread and circuses–the people of the West have been accepting them for years. Then again, so have the people of the East and the middle. It takes courage and intelligence to realize what Gerald Ford said, that a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take from you everything you have.
it is sad to see how soft (softheaded) the people of the West have become. They are willing to sell their souls for a bowl of pottage. They give up personal freedom for the false security of slavery by putting themselves under the bondage of a government who gives them meager housing and sustenance. They have believed a lie and have chosen the slavery of socialism over the freedom of capitalism