This is a social engineering project.

The biggest names behind it need to be exposed.

Et sic Pendens

If the Greeks had even one little hair on their asses, they would toss this dictatorial document into the fire where it belongs-
Will the landlords and mortgage holders also be forced to go a month without payment? will the grocery stores and the public utilities also waive any payments for the time the workers are forced to go without pay?
Default?……. Hell Yes.
Or, Greece could do what the US would do, and start bombing a nearby country, call themselves wealthy and great and LIE to their own people every day about everything that matters.

The most misused/abused word in the English language?

“Reform”

These days it virtually never means “Change for the better”, although it’s use implies that – at least to me. Of course, any horrible change of any kind is technically “reform” – but not in the sense I use the term and, I believe, not in the sense that most people understand it.

I have watched with astonishment as one left wing European government after another was elected, then subverted into right wing governance by the German banks. Look at Obama’s cabinet – the same thing already happened here.

What we are watching is the fascist reconquest of Europe by Germany and the simultaneous conquest of America. Elections no longer matter – and unless and until we take it to the streets, they never will.

Look at the backers of Angela Merkel — the German bankers and bondholders.

They are the ones with their feet on Europe’s neck.

Deposit Flows Show S. Europe Money Leaks to Germany

“Money is leaking out of banks in southern Europe as customers scoop deposits out of Greece, Spain and Italy to move cash to less indebted nations such as Germany.”

LINK.

Guess Germany has finally figured out a way to conquer Europe. It may be as ugly as the last time they tried it and far more destructive in the long run.

It turns out that black helicopters are real,
but instead of being from the UN they’re from the ECB.

European crisis hit fourth-quarter growth in developed economies LINK.

Time to go French .

It would be interesting to see if there are any “family links” to a former German party which sought “run away” power.

This certainly reminds me of the mortgage crisis – the luring of the smaller countries into the Eurozone, and how eager they had to be to join – just like people without real credit being promised a home of their own. And then once they are in the rug is pulled out and they lose their countries or their homes. And hey, it is all their fault for wanting a home or a country in the first place!

No, it is not their fault. It is the fault of the ‘lenders’ – the big greedy plutocrats which knew very well what they were doing when they set this all up in the first place, as is obvious from the planned, the orchestrated, the ongoing rape of Greece.

Thank you, David.

Many Greeks speak German and believe me, they haven’t forgotten why. This must be very difficult for them to accept.

It has less to due with national borders and more to do with the 0.1% vs everyone else. The Greek elites go along with these policies because they want to be in that 0.1% not because its the Germans calling the shots. Same as here. Money hasn’t cared about nationalism in a very very long time.

Astonishing to watch this.

All of this is evidence of a Global problem; the global financial sector’s unquenchable thirst for real wealth with which to lubricate its leverage machine.

The system resembles nothing so much as a giant Black-Hole devouring a neighboring star.

The real-world, meaning the collective wealth of global main-street economies are the ‘star’, while the out-of-control global financial sector is the insatiable Black-Hole.

The main problem as I see it is that the star is being devoured for no good reason, it serves no purpose to starve the planet back to the stone-age by demands for increasingly deeper austerity measures.

Cavemen make very poor consumers.

correction for you david;

“This is a colonization document. The Eurozone will take over almost every aspect of Greek society. And this will be a blueprint for any other poor Eurozone member that gets itself in trouble. they put into trouble with their austerity scheme, a scheme to steal the wealth of nations”

they did this to greece, they set the stage for failure with austerity, it’s going to happen to the us too, this is a bank take over of sovereign nations in an attempt at a bloodless coup

let’s hope other peoples learn the lesson and do not allow the over throw of their respective governemnt

debt slaves and work for free will be the new normal. We are al greece

Exactly.

And none of the 1% have any real need for more money, but they will not tolerate resistance under any circumstances.

I understand Deutsch Bank will have the naming rights to the Parthenon.

The only hope for the people of the world, the 99%, is the total destruction of this rigged capitalist system.

http://therealnews.com/t2/component/hwdvideoshare/?task=viewvideo&video_id=73076

Someone should start making blindfolds to corner the market.

The gangsters want total control. I agree with klynn @ #1. Out all the names – early and often.

All of this is evidence of a Global problem; the global financial sector’s unquenchable thirst for real wealth with which to lubricate its leverage machine.

there are very few things that represent real wealth, labor is one of those things, in fact money is caveat labor

food is another form of wealth, shelter as well, most other things we envision as “wealth” are nothing but illusion, for instance money is nothing but an allusion

I believe the name is “the new world order”

*shudder*

Where’s the Red Army Faction when you need them?

Off topic but then everything is related, it looks like the Afghani people are going to be kicking out the occupying troops ahead of the Empires time line.

that’s bad, that means obama will have to go into iran sooner then expected

Hmm I will take a stab

The vatican
the royal families of europe but esp the brits and the dutch
Rockerfeller
Rothschild

I think there are more but I think these ones are at the top of the pile

capitalism isn’t the problem corporatism is, any system would get would get rigged so long as you allow corporatism, socialism with corporatism became fascism

capitalism is the innocent host of the cancer, the malignancy is corportaism

From the CNBC article, the objective of the bailout is to “avoid a sovereign default that the government feared would throw Greek society into turmoil”

NEWS FLASH: Greek society is already in turmoil! Default already!

Capitalism can hardly be called “innocent”. Capitalism whether it’s called corporate capitalism, crony capitalism or state sponsored capitalism is the disease.

money is nothing but an allusion

It’s a promise. Financial capitalism sells fraudulent promises.

Compradors can’t admit this until the damage is undeniable … but then doing anything about it is vastly more difficult than if they had not been infatuated to start off with.

The bondholders, including the banks, WILL be paid. They have already had to take a haircut, and they’re not happy. Even if Greece defaults, which will cause them even larger problems than they have now, someone will pay. The European Central Bank can not “bail out” Greece, i.e., guarantee their debts; they will make money available to European banks, which will then lend the money to Greece, putting Greece in further debt.

What is capitalism without corporatism, comrade?

from the time we stood to walk on four legs and before, since the time we were a heard of more then one person, there has been capitalism, since we traded drawings for shelter and food for the care of our young there has been capitalism, it is in fact natural law, even a pride of lions has capitalism whence food for strength is traded simply to care for the young and prosperity

but corporatism, whence an entity not responsible for it’s own actions rules the day, is not natural at all, and that is the problem, there will always be and always has been capitalism, corporatism on the other hand is an invention

Lloyd Blankfein?

The fact that the Eurozone members actually believe they can dictate these changes to the sovereign government of a member nation is wrong on so many different levels it just boggles the mind. I would not count the Greek people out just yet, though. They may indeed have the last laugh.

I disagree. It’s both the fault of the borrowers and lenders, in Greece, as well as here.

The real question is, why are the lenders allowed to get away with their share of the blame? (Which I tend to view as more criminal than dishonesty by borrowers, and thus more worthy of punishment, if anything.) I spoke to my Greek cousin yesterday, and asked after his extremely bright brother, who is back in Greece after not being able to get a job here in the US. I asked why, if the austerity measures were so unpopular, do not the Greeks throw out the politicians during their next election? (Michael Hudson has claimed that the large Greek protests are partly to tell their government, and the Eurozone, that they will not respect whatever is being agreed upon.). My cuz told me that the British are demanding that Greece POSTPONE their elections !

He also told me something that I suspected was true, but hadn’t checked out. Viz., that the banker installed PM of Greece played a part in obtaining the crooked financial instruments that fraudulently allowed Greece to look like it was living up to it’s Eurozone responsibilities. It’s like installing Timothy Geithner as President of the US! @#%@#% crazy!!

Sorry if this is old news to FDL readers. I have ties to Greece, can’t bear to look too closely at what others are doing to Greece, and what Greece did to itself.

////////////////////////////////////

I’d also like to say that characterizing everything as “colonization” is overstating the case. Greece in many ways is a backwards country. Accurate real estate ownership records is a good thing. Reminds me a bit of how they needed the Germans to finally give them a decent phone system. I was last in Greece in 1989, and you needed to make about 30 phone calls for one to get through! How the hell can you run businesses like that?

Reform, def. c. 2000: buggery, butt-fucking, corporatism, Fascism, oligarchy, oppression, exploitation.

well, the host for malaria is not innocent, I agree, however if not one host there would be another

you can bring an end to capitalism if you want to try but that will not solve the problem, the malignancy called corporatism would simply find another host and we would then beg for capitalism instead of whatever system the malignancy corrupted

the problem is corporatism, capitalism is the victim

Absolutely, positively.

One definition of capitalism:

“There is general agreement that elements of capitalism include private ownership of the means of production, creation of goods or services for profit or income, the accumulation of capital, competitive markets, voluntary exchange and wage labor.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism

Doesn’t look like a pride of lions exactly fits!

That, sir, was very nicely said.

Sounds like a religion, comrade. “You are indebted to Gawd and all his pro[phe/fi]ts”. See David Graeber on Authors@Google.

For one, the “corporatism” you decry was not long ago exactly identified as capitalism.
For two, capitalism without limited liability would not have produced the goods you see around you.
For three, all hierarchical systems have a locus of anarchy where the responsibility gets stuffed.
For four, I’m not sure what natural law you’ve identified as capitalism.
For five, can I have some of your food?

The Greeks need to tell the bankers and Europe to piss off. But they, like us, are a subject people and have no say in the matter. If our own Fascist government decides to impose these same “austerity” measures we will be equally helpless.

You need to sit in on SD’s morning Marxist primer with Professor Richard Wolf. Capitalism is incapable of ever delivering the promise of the French Revolution, liberty, equality and fraternity.

You might want to take a look at this.
http://my.firedoglake.com/southerndragon/2012/02/21/marx-in-the-morning/

why are the lenders allowed to get away with their share of the blame?

Um, who are the judges, comrade?

Maybe. But then again, maybe not. Our history tends to disagree.

The Rove Strategy goes international – I just love how so frequently the masses are told to do X so that Y won’t happen, but it is X that will cause Y in the first place. Europe said that Greece would be in turmoil unless it took the bailout, yet it is the bailout causing the turmoil. This happens over and over again where attacks are made against opponents based on their own weaknesses.

the banker installed PM of Greece played a part in obtaining the crooked financial instruments

Competency must be rewarded.

I’d also like to say that characterizing everything as “colonization” is overstating the case.

Don’t you rather mean that colonization can be a good thing?

While the to-do list will in the end make Greece more efficient and might even make the application of the law fair, although I doubt that, and might get some taxes out of the rich who avoid most taxes now, although I also doubt that, the economic cuts are too deep, the austerity too much.

They need a tax system, they need reform. They do not need austerity that is this deep.

Default in six months looks more logical – and indeed appears to be what the Germans want.

A reform lead by fraudsters?

Sounds like the third time in a hundred years. This time— no bullets.

This is a real estate and resort and tourist coup. 8000 islands and all those retiring burghers and banks wanting that blue Aegean home? motel? spa? That’s why they want the land clearly plotted and maps drawn up. There’s enough wealthy Russians and Saudis to pick up what’s left of the place after our banks and their investors turn the Greeks into butlers, hotel maids and scuba-diving instructors.

If the Greek people do not remove their “competent” politicians, then their incompetence, as citizens, will be punished, even moreso than it is, already.

Similarly, our “incompetence” as US citizens is being punished. It’s been many years since Glass-Steagall was done away with. Whose fault is it that US citizens did not organize themselves sufficiently to dump sold-out Democrats and sold-out Republicans, and force them to reinstate GS?

I don’t suggest capitalism will deliver on anything, I suggest it’s always been here and always will be here, it is the natural happenstance of any group more then one is what I am saying

I am also saying that you can try to eliminate capitalism as your policy, it won’t happen though and even if you could do that you would not eliminate your problem, the problem is corporatism not capitalism, capitalism is simply the host

This is not nuts…

Here is how it went down.
After WWII the remains of Hitler’s boys took the bagsheesh, high tailed it by sub (ballard found one off the coast) to south america. They did not give up their goal of Dr Evil ing the world. They realized that after atomic weapons, it would be counter productive to dominate rubble.Better, and safer, (after losing two world wars within less than half a century), to find another way to Dominate the world.
They came up with “The New World Order”. They use press, media, corporations and ta da…..The World Bank, us federal reserve, International monetary fund etc…better return than using Stukas and Blitzkreig.

The “fault” and “incompetence” framework requires adjudication, otherwise we have domestic realpolitik. The system we have is not capable of adequate adjudication, it was not designed to be so capable in the present situation, and the benefactors of that system have little intent to correct that flaw.

In order to adjudicate, a new system is required; if that does not happen it is suspect to attribute that failure to “incompetence”.

It’s an abuse of power, comrade.

People are too busy walking around attached to their iPods, SmartPhones, XBoxes, Playstations, watching ‘Survivor’, trolling on Facebook, or out getting laid/drunk/stoned. Most people don’t know or care about what’s going on as long as they have their gadgets, eat at TGI Fridays, and drive around town.

Are they immortal as well?

So, do we use a medical framework – addiction – or an authoritarian framework – incompetence?

I think you need to study more about capitalism. You are correct in thinking that there have been “systems of exchange” for a long time and they are even observable in nature. However capitalism is not natural. It is not designed for the mutual benefit of all the parties involved in the exchange. The ultimate goal in capitalism is to create a profit for the capitalist. The need for profit is what drives down the cost of production which would have humans working as slaves if necessary. Capitalism is closer to a “positive feedback loop” than an exchange system. The more narcissistic the capitalist can be the more he/she will profit.

Certainly by year’s end the Greek people will have had enough. The Greek government today may be agreeing to these things but it won’t ever be enough & the creditors seemed determined to find out what it takes to start a revolution.

Capitalism is a means of stealing person-hours.

No International Brigades this time?

seems to me your comment is short sighted. that you did not think about the points at all..maybe you do not know those monetary big boys are all privately owned….hmm who would that be?

“those monetary big boys are all privately owned” by former NAZIes? Sorry comrade, you don’t have to be a NAZI to be a capitalist.

You would have to make your case about not being capable. It sounds like an extremely shabby excuse, to me. Even fundamental, “even a child could figure it out” things are not done by American progressives. E.g., where have progressives organized to throw a single Democrat under the bus, during a general election? Not 5, not 10, not 5%, not 10%, but a single, measly one? Bueno de Mesquita’s success was written about in the NY Times, a foremost paper in the US, but what group of progressives have sought to hire a political game theorist to get their take on how to use their votes to force the Democrats to reform? You could probably get at least an overview analysis for $15,000. Let’s see: if there’s 50 million progressive in the US, that’s 15K/50Mil = $.03/person.

And I’m supposed to take your claim seriously, seeing as progressives, overall, do very little that would seriously threaten the status quo? Or even pony up a paltry sum so that they might have a clear vision on how to seriously threaten the status quo?

I know little details about what the Greek situation is, but I clearly recall my uncle, many years ago, saying of a financial scandal (I think it was Papandreou who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but I really can’t recall) “Well, what has he done to me? If he steals money from me, then I’ll fight him.” This uncle is the father of my very smart cousin who couldn’t get a job in the US, and now is in an even worse environment, in Greece.

Clearly, my uncle was irresponsible, and his own son is now paying part of the price of that irresponsibility. Do you think that, even if “adjudication” capability was present, in Greece, 30 years ago, that people like my uncle would have made use of it?

No way.

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves if we are underlings.

First of all, are you now finding culpable progressives alone? And what of all the work being done? And where is that political game theorist who so despairs of this situation that he will donate his services? Do you have any nominees?

Now, myself, I don’t defame progressives, though I think the capitalist ones live in La-La land, I blame the comprador mentality. I don’t want war of-all-against-all. Fuck that.

Do you think that, even if “adjudication” capability was present, in Greece, 30 years ago, that people like my uncle would have made use of it?

Better ask your cousin: “Would you prefer the wisdom for adjudication or your father’s battle of interests?”

Brutus would rather be on top.

I don’t think capitalism is ever mutually beneficial no matter what species or system is in practice.

there will those who exchange more labor for their own labor investment then others

capitalism is natural, whenever you see someone carve a unique characteristic that they believe represents a difference, that’s simply convenience, there will always be capitalism, I maintain, corporatism is the malignancy and capitalism is the host

without corporatism those that benefit to the exclusion of beneficient exchange would be held to account, socially, politically, economically or whatever

corporations are neither personally responsible nor personally liable and there is the rub

corporations are neither personally responsible nor personally liable and there is the rub

I hate that sentiment. Corporations are made of person. People can choose to do the moral thing. Easy Peasey.

Pitiful, comrade.

I don’t think capitalism is ever mutually beneficial

But this is exactly the opposite of the capitalist and marketeer claim. So you naturalize barbarism and voila, TINA?

Then you’re back to “beneficent exchange”. I presume that’s in contrast to mutually beneficial exchange, eh?

corporations are neither personally responsible nor personally liable

Now we see where this anti-corporatism rhetoric leads to. Privately held businesses can avoid “responsibility” as well. Those fiefdoms, without the benefit of callous shareholder capital, can abuse, extort, manipulate, bribe, and steal too.

Who are you working for, comrade?

People can choose to do the moral thing.

Yes, but hierarchy gives them a reason not to.

Corporations are vehicles within the capitalistic system. If you “believe” capitalism is natural and forever thus, then you will forever be subservient to the masters of that system and change of any kind is impossible. “Corporatism” as you put it, is a byproduct of the capitalistic system. However more accurately what I think you are railing against is fascism, where the resources of the state are used for the benefit of corporate interest and not the citizens.

Capitalismo -> Corporatismo -> Fascismo.

Please, let him rail against corporatism.

Argentina, but without an escape hatch?

I’m sympathetic to the concerns of the Greek people, but I have to say that its government really sucks if this list is to be believed. I mean, really, they don’t have a decent land registry? Why look at the US. I’m sure between MERS and the liars at the banks and RMBS trusts and the county recorders, we have a great example for Greece to follow.

And our judicial procedures? What’s not to like about the cost and politicization and delay and fundamental unfairness of our court system? The Greeks could copy it.

etc

The captain must go down with the ship.

This certainly reminds me of the mortgage crisis – the luring of the smaller countries into the Eurozone, and how eager they had to be to join – just like people without real credit being promised a home of their own. And then once they are in the rug is pulled out and they lose their countries or their homes.

Outstanding analogy. Breathtaking in its accuracy! Well done.

What is capitalism without corporatism, comrade?

The drug trade, on any urban street corner.

I’m disappointed. I thought you were more intelligent than that. To state that “capitalism” has always been here and will always be here is truly ignorant of history.

And opium-dealers to China were good Christians. Family values, indeed.

Thanks, metamars, but I stand by my post. I was thinking that it had to be low income folk, black people in particular, who have been really victimized in the mortgage debacle and stripped of what little they had. I took my inspiration from an essay by Mike Whitney at yesterday’s counterpunch.org entitled “The Humiliation of Greece.” Here’s the pertinent quote:

” It doesn’t matter if Greece is the biggest deadbeat in history; that’s completely irrelevant. It’s the lender’s responsibility to do due diligence to make sure that the borrower is creditworthy. The borrower has no responsibility in that regard. None. It’s not his job to sniff around to see if so-and-so is employed, or if he pays his bills, or if he has a good credit history or whatever. That’s the banks job; and they’re pretty good at it, too, (when they’re not scamming the system with toxic mortgages.) That’s because they have very strict criteria for lending, and if an applicant doesn’t meet that criteria, then –BOOM–out the door they go. So, if EU banks lose a ton of money because they didn’t do their homework and they were too stupid to figure out that lending to Greece was riskier than lending to Germany, then who are you going to blame? Greece? No way.”

Case in point, myself. I was unable to qualify for a mortgage before this mess began. Took a sabbatical in my home country, came back, and presto changeo, I qualified. Didn’t have the least idea why, and I had to work myself nearly crazy, neglect my kids, forget health care or dental – but I got that d— thing paid for and fortunately had had the sense to take a fixed rate – but I hadn’t a clue why now I ‘qualified’ when before I had not – not a clue.

You get offered a chance to own a home; you take that chance.

It is said that capitalism will always survive as the best system as long as it has socialism to bail it out. This is proven by history, no?

I like your distinction, perris. I’m afraid human nature will run amok in any system; it’s the nature of the beast. But I tend to think capitalism can have a more flexible response, and perhaps will in future – now that we have been jarred out of our complacency. It’s a bit like democracy – as Plato said, it isn’t the most perfect of all governmental ideologies, but it is probably the most practical if we keep our wits about us.

Have you never heard of “liar’s loans”?

In the case of the screw job of Greece by Goldman Sachs (that the Greek government colluded in), you can’t blame the public, that easily, since the Greek government didn’t trumpet what it did. However, as per the story of my uncle, the Greek people failed to obtain what accountability that they did know was needed, going back decades. (AFAIK)

In the case of the US, I am far more certain. Dems and Repubs did away with Glass Steagall – but which Dem or Repub lost their job? Who is calling for even an apology (even an insincere apology) by the Dems or Repubs for their part in this? What possible excuse can progressives offer (aside from the obvious one of them being lame failures) for not doing even a minimal job at holding Democrats accountable?

I cannot, and will not, absolve the “little people” of their share of the blame, either in Greece, or here in the US. Just blaming the people at the top provides a ‘wonderful’ excuse for not actually fixing anything. The crooks and grifters at the top are not going to lead reform efforts. The Veal Pen is not going to lead any effective reform movement.

Those efforts have to be pushed, from below, and from new organizations that are birthed from below.

Here at FDL, most people seem aware enough, and honest enough, to know that just blaming Republicans for everything is foolish. Unfortunately, I don’t get the impression that even the FDL community goes much beyond well-deserved blame directed at powerful Democrats (and, of course, Republicans). There are some strong advocates for third parties, the NPA was birthed, here, there’s been some media activism, some electoral efforts, and strong support for OWS.

I suppose its fair to say that there’s some elements of reform forces that might, someday, rise to a level where even a small number of Democratic incumbents feared getting targeted by us. Right now, though, I don’t think there’s even a single Democratic incumbent that has much to fear from any organized, progressive group, at all.

I know there has to be a HUGE privatization (asset-looting) stipulation in there as well.

The Greeks should probably just have a revolution at this point. Sounds as if the sitting government is now selling its citizens as slave labor. Disgusting!

Georgios A. Papandreou, the fellow that recently gave up the PM of Greece to our current Technocrat, is the son of Andreas G. Papandreou, who did not invent overspending and undertaxing your friends, but allowed it to bloom during his many years in power as he actually did a lot of good for folks. I suspect he is a major part of the Greek folks in gov that you note colluded in developing this mess, not withstanding his a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and being chair of UC Berkeley Department of Economics. He invented PASOK and was its first PM when it took power in 81 as the first Greek Socialist government and indeed he decreased inequality via wealth transfers from the rich to the middle class, including the first national health plan, real welfare, reasonable minimum wage offset by the ability granted to employers to fire folks, index-linking pensions, and funding social establishments for the elderly.

But along the way the power was kept by living off foreign aid as the tax system went to pieces, and groups got goodies to keep them quiet.

Yep, the Greek people who were screwed by the conservative governments our CIA put into power in Greece from the 50′s to 1974 took whatever they could get once the Socialists were in power. But the Olympics – push by/with loans from Germany who wanted the contracts to build what was needed – was too big a debt for Greece to handle. So here we are today.

Somehow it is a lot like the financial crisis where one keeps coming back to one person as the fellow that could have stopped the problem but chose not to – Greenspan, in that one country’s determination to kill domestic demand growth through austerity while having GDP growth of 1.7% per year on average via exports it finance to countries that could not afford them – Germany – seems the source of all the problems.

One must not allow the Greek voters to get away without blame – but the prime mover in this game is Germany.