Posted on 02/12/2012 5:18:42 PM PST by bruinbirdman
“Greece has less strategic relevance, and must comply with tougher terms.”
And Greece is not now, as Germany was in 1953, trying to rebuild from the ravages of a major war.
The Greeks, in a time of relative prosperity, are not recovering from war, they are trying to “recover” from a massive, national lack of thrift and fiscal responsibility (much like Obama is continuing to indebt us for).
Greece has always been a sideshow. Sarkozy may fancy himself as Merkel’s partner but the economic reality is that France is in almost as bad shape as Italy and Spain. The EU does appear doomed. Even if the Germans were inclined and Obama were persuaded to help, Italy ,Spain, and France face bankruptcy and must in any case accept the same austerity as Greece. Their citizens are not likely to gently accept their fate. A lower standard of living and political unrest will accompany the austerity. Eventually it make more sense for Germany to forgo the EU and once again pivot its economy toward the boundless resources and potential of a neo capitalist Russia. Sadly the US is also looking at some painful readjustments. Truly a new world order is evolving.
It would be nice if a conservative condidate put it in those terms or even started using EU as an example. Then draw the parallel to U.S.A.
yitbos
Scipio?
Old Cato was the one that ended speeches about animal control and distribution of bread with his famous line. Pretty OCD, if you ask me.
In Latin class, it became something of a running joke. If we were talking Cowboys' chances at the Superbowl (yeah, it was a long time ago) and the headmaster walked by, one of us would invariably stand up, sweep an arm toward the 'senate' and say "... and furthermore ...&ct."
/johnny
They already tried that once.
Robertus Porculus Birdus.
Half the time, after he made a floor speech (especially in the last years) I DID expect him to blurt that out.
And I do believe he was classically trained. So he could have.
/johnny
lets see....we have people retiring and collecting after 20 yrs with full medical....we have people retiring with half or more at 20 or more years of work....
we have people retiring and actually getting more than when they worked....
its here in America folks...its coming...
we have got to start looking at ourselves in the mirror....
and the US is different just how?
govt employees from the military to teachers to cops to secretaries to TSA make better wages/benefits/pensions than their comparative private sector workers...
Germany is asking Greece to act like adults and live, when they rather spend themselves to death. The folks at the Telegraph are using terms with no understanding of them.
Well, no it isn't.
The majority of Greeks simply did what we are doing now: maximizing their own benefit based on the distorted information available to them. That's why we're borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend.
Who is responsible for this really?
Lying Greek politicians, the EU officials who assisted them in their mendacity, and the lying, lazy Greek press.
Sound familiar?
The people. The people voted for these politicians. It was obvious Greece was spending themselves into massive debt and the people continued to vote for representatives who support such policies.
The majority of Greeks simply did what we are doing now: maximizing their own benefit based on the distorted information available to them. That's why we're borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend.
Yes, we as a nation are responsible for it too. Americans are responsible for the government we have. Period. American's know our spending is out of control, and rather than elect representatives that will end the practice we continue voting for more of the same. That is the fault of the people, not lying politicians, not government officials, not the banks, not the press, etc. Yes, all of these things contributed to the problem but, in the end, it is the people's fault and they/we deserve what we get.
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