Big Fat Greeks, and Weddings ... Mark Steyn

Steyn Online ^ | 30 June 2015 | Mark Steyn

[Rummyfan]

The same people who told us 30 years ago that "marriage is just a stupid piece of paper" now insist that it's a "human right."

The same people who told us that "a flag is just a meaningless piece of material" now want certain flags banned and others raised

[Rummyfan]

[Rummyfan]

"How can something like this happen without prior warning?" asked Angeliki Psarianou, a 67-year-old retired public servant, who stood in the drizzle after arriving too late at one empty ATM in the Greek capital.

Don't you just hate it when the Germans refuse to re-fill your ATM?

[Rummyfan]

One more excerpt:

To prop up unsustainable welfare states, most of the western world isn't "printing money" but instead printing credit cards and pre-approving our unborn grandchildren. That would be a dodgy proposition at the best of times. But in the Mediterranean those grandchildren are never going to be born. That's the difference: In America, the improvident, insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany, and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids. In Europe, there are no kids or grandkids to screw over. In the end the entitlement state disincentivizes everything from wealth creation to self-reliance to the survival instinct, as represented by the fertility rate. If the problem with socialism, as Mrs Thatcher famously said, is that eventually you run out of other people's money, the problem with Greece and much of Europe is that they've advanced to the next stage: They've run out of other people, period.

[Rummyfan]

Greek public servants have their nose to the grindstone 24/7: They work 24 hours a week for seven months of the year. It's not just that every year you receive 14 monthly payments, but that you only do about 30 weeks' work for it. For many public-sector "workers", the work day ends at 2.30pm. Gosh, when you retire on your 14 monthly pension payments, you scarce notice the difference, except for a few freed-up mornings...

[miss marmelstein]

Who can forget the ‘80s craze (led by Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell) that marriage was a stupid piece of paper? I must say I thought of it at the same time Mark Steyn did!

[silverleaf]

ooohhh

[Lurker]

For later.

[spodefly]

BTTT

[I am Richard Brandon]

I wish to coin a phrase

“At this point, what difference does it make?”

[zeugma]

It would be absolutely hilarious, if the subject weren't so absolutely depressing. This is us down the road.

BLOAT!

[VRW Conspirator]

The phrase, “it’s all Greek to me”, just took on a new meaning.

[Verginius Rufus]

The Iranians owe them reparations too, for the damage Xerxes did in 480 B.C.

Maybe it's time to change the name of the country to Nephelokokkygia (Cloudcuckooland).

[editor-surveyor]

.
>> “At this point, what difference does it make?” <<

.
None!

The NY stock exchange generates more value in one day of trading than the entire Geek economy does in a year.

This is all being blown out of proportion.
.

[Oatka]

If the problem with socialism, as Mrs Thatcher famously said, is that eventually you run out of other people's money, the problem with Greece and much of Europe is that they've advanced to the next stage: They've run out of other people, period.

I thought that was an interesting point - one I hadn't seen brought up before. Perhaps that's why our bunch of Open Border lunatics want to flood the country with illegals, forgetting that if they are on the Dole as well, more people won't help them. Reminds me of the old retail joke of losing money on each transaction, but making up for it in volume.

[kearnyirish2]

“But in the Mediterranean those grandchildren are never going to be born. That’s the difference: In America, the improvident, insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany, and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids. In Europe, there are no kids or grandkids to screw over.”

In the US there aren’t many American grandchildren who will be screwed; they aren’t being born either. That is why we are trafficking anyone (rapists, terrorists, etc.) to fill the neighborhoods vacated by the dwindling American population. Anyone who has passed a schoolyard or playground can tell that a very small number of the young children today are “American”...