As Greece falls apart due to its nanny government society some are asking….can it happen here?
Greece’s fiscal crisis took a new turn to violence Wednesday when three people died in a firebomb attack amid a paralyzing national strike, while governments from Spain to the U.S. took steps to prevent the widening financial damage from hitting their own economies.
~~~Greece’s 24-hour nationwide general strike brought much of the country to a standstill, closing government offices and halting flights, trains and ferries.
At the same time, tens of thousands of protesters marched through Athens in the largest and most violent protests since the country’s budget crisis began last fall. Angry youths rampaged through the center of Athens, torching several businesses and vehicles and smashing shop windows. Protesters and police clashed in front of parliament and fought running street battles around the city.
Witnesses said hooded protesters smashed the front window of Marfin Bank in central Athens and hurled a Molotov cocktail inside. The three victims died from asphyxiation from smoke inhalation, the Athens coroner’s office said. Four others were seriously injured there, fire department officials said.
You heard Stephen Hayes right….the irony is inescapable:
ATHENS — Racing to secure financial aid and avoid a debt default, the Greek government has agreed to austerity measures totaling 24 billion euros (about $32 billion) that will include cutting some workers’ pay and some public sector jobs as well as opening up parts of the economy, Greek officials said Friday.
~~~Another reform high on the list is removing the state from the marketplace in crucial sectors like health care, transportation and energy and allowing private investment. Economists say that the liberalization of trucking routes – where a trucking license can cost up to $90,000 – and the health care industry would help bring down prices in these areas, which are among the highest in Europe.
To save itself Greece must privatize many segments of their society….just as the United States seeks to bring more Socialism into ours.
Greece is our future unless we stop it right here, right now.
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The US has no history of Communist influence like Greece. The KKE, Communist Party, have fought and killed Greeks by the thousands in the 1940’s. They did not fight the NAZIS as much as the Greek people because the Germans were communists anyway. Wiston Churchill saved Greece, otherwise, the Greece that you know today would have been just like Yugoslavia or Albania. The KKE was ruled by thugs and it still is and I hope someone in Greece will bring their leaders to court for the murder of 4 innocent hard working individuals. I say four because a woman who was killed was 4 month pregnant.
The people that you see in the street are agitators who are being paid by the KKE to distabilize the country, guys like Soros love this kind of stuff, and the sad things is that there are enough stupit Greeks to do it and continue to kill other Greeks. Very sad situation.
At least in the 1940’s, the U.S won the war against these thugs, but now with Obama in power, the thugs will win this war and Turkey will occupied Greece again.
Weren’t we told how efficient the European socialist model was?
What happened?
Margret Thatcher’s inescapable truth was right, they ran out of other people’s money to give away.
Precisely. And indeed, that’s the goal! Panic, rioting in the streets, high unemployment…all lead to “please help me Big Brother” syndrome and the eager swapping of our liberty for a monthly check.
They can riot, but I’m shocked the police there have shown such restraint. Some were rocked, others were actually caught on fire by Molotov cocktails. I would think setting a fellow officer on fire would be a shooting offense, but the police held back. Set me on fire and I’m shooting back. You’ll stop that foolishness in a hurry.
Which is why they never let me do riot duty.
For a second I thought that photo was from one of the recent astroturf immigration protests.
It’s already happening here. But let’s hope we can do something about it before the situation in the U.S. becomes a total meltdown like Greece.
If the rumors are true and Obama/Congress confiscate existing 401k and IRA plans we could see something very similar if not worse…
DC would be stormed by millions if Obama made that decision re:401k’s. I think that rioting could be a possibility in high density low income areas if welfare checks were reduced or terminated.
We have so many stupid people in this country that they will not see the irony in the Greece riots & their pathetic efforts to boycott Arizona because illegal aliens are bankrupting the state plus the other border states – do these idiots really believe the crap they spew? Of course not, they’re just like the other socialist elites – as long as they got theirs, the hell with the rest of us…typical dem crap – do as we say, not as we do – can’t believe I fell for that crap for over 40 years……………
that said, repubs are gonna have to show me that they’re different – waiting, waiting, waiting….
1. De-moralization
2. Destabilization
3. “Normalization”
It is as Antonio Gramsci prescribed. The butterflies-and-rainbows crowd think we’re just going to ‘vote the rascals out’ come November. Think again.
It happened last year in Argentina, “La Kichner” got her way and took $600Billion worth of Argentinian pension funds and nationalized it. No riots and no complains!
If anone thinks that a November election is going to kick these thugs out of power, they are dreaming! See what the Marxists thugs are doing in Greece, this is a message to us, the conservatives in the U.S.! They will do the same thing….
Another day or 2 like yesterday, continued 10% unemployment, or higher, high taxes, lack of trust, all that together, and it could happen sooner rather than later…
Better start stockpiling food, and precious metal. (Brass & Lead)
Unfortunately I doubt the Hussein-led confiscation of 401k/IRA accounts will inspire the sort of action necessary to reclaim our nation. Far too many Americans are spineless and even more are patient and forgiving to the point of sheer stupidity. Only the overturning of the 2nd amendment will create the armed march on DC which will overthrow the criminal thuggery now in place.
The problem isn’t so much liberal or conservative, it’s chronically spending far more than you’ve got coming in while pretending that the skyrocketing debt doesn’t matter. That’s gone on for decades now at state and federal levels. Blaming the other guy is a time honored tradition, but the fact of the matter is that republican and democratic administrations have been equally guilty. The only difference is what they prefer to do with their deficit spending dollars.
If a politician isn’t telling the voters up front exactly what spending they’re planning to cut and to what degree, you can safely assume that any campaign pitch about balancing the budget is total bullshit.
This isn’t really their fault. Any candidate who does tell the voters the particulars probably won’t be elected. The voters only like solutions that don’t negatively impact them personally or run contrary to their own philosophical views. Since the problem is obviously somebody else’s fault, the proper solution must be at somebody else’s expense.
@Greg:
Errr….not so much.
AYE CHIUHAHA:hi, you’r always there just in time when the bashing start;what would we do without you. 🙄 bye
Ah, charts.
It looks to me as if we were really getting our budgetary act together during the Clinton years. Then the new republican majority became totally focused on an attempted character assassination, setting their sights on the White House. That absurdly pointless and dangerously distracting “morals” crusade was followed by the election of a republican president, who promptly launched a totally unnecessary invasion against a country that hadn’t attacked us using borrowed money, reversed our budget surplus, and went on to double the total national debt in 8 years, adding more to the total debt than all past U.S. presidents combined. By the time George exited the stage the U.S. economy and financial systems were teetering on the brink of catastrophic and possibly irreversible collapse, leaving his successor to deal with the fiscal and human consequences of the worst downturn since the Great Depression armed with an empty piggy bank and a tapped out credit card.
That’s the True Story, according to the other side’s political mythology. Everybody’s got a story.
GREG:why do you bring that up?it does’nt help this government,it make them look even worse at doing what they are elected to do ;so it’s a usless blame on president bush who had to show courage enouph to stand in front of agression,that took thousands of lifes of law abiding citizen that left wounded family that will never recover to this day;he sure did’nt know that this would happen on his time,but he face this extreme challenge like a PRESIDENT of the SUPERPOWER of the world should have,with courageand love of AMERICA. 🙄 bye
I was just making the point that blame is two-sided coin, bees. Blame it all on Bush/Blame it all on Obama. That’s how we do politics. We do that instead of working on common problems. The growing deficit problem has been there like a ticking timebomb, through both democratic and republican majorities and administrations. Everybody talks about it, but only for long enough to gain some traction in an election. Actually dealing with it has no political upside. That’s why we’re probably going to blow ourselves up at some point.
URI:hi, they wont do it here,not in AMERICA, there is people that beleive in the CONSTITUTION;they wont allow it .
GREG:it does’nt seem to be a big problem for this administration;they have been spending even more like there is no tomorrow. 🙄 bye
GREG: and dont forget they have a majority,what are they doing with that?yes,silencing the other party who gave their vision on the subject,and what did they got? yes I WON.so dont blame the past,it’s gone,but what is it about the present situation? yes,that’s what the AMERICANS want to know. 🙄 bye
@Greg:
Clinton purjured himself before the House Judiciary Committee(Abuse of Power), during the Paula Jones Civil case and before the Grand jury. He also obstructed justice in the Jones case. He lost his license to practice law and paid a whopping fine and it wasn’t because he was immoral.
He had a whole lot of help launching that “unecessary invasion.” You might recall that for years the democrats speechified about taking Saddam out and btw, you might recall how the AUMF vote played out and how quickly the Senate Majority leader, Tom Daschle-D, moved it through the Senate. So many jumped on the bandwagon until they needed to politicize the war.
If my memory serves, I’m recalling that our military wasn’t quite up to snuff in 2001, and it won’t be when the next Republican president enters the OO. Democrats seem to want to take a hatchet to Defense and intel budgets, our military vote isn’t as important to them as voters supported by social programs. Our troops are lucky to get their votes counted while some organizations find ways for some to vote early and vote often.
This has got to be the most humorous sentence I’ve seen you post. To the archives young man, most in here are tired of repeating what caused the “Great Depression” and who was responsible for triggering it. Also, Attorney Obama, Senator Obama and President Obama does not have clean hands concerning the “possibly irreversible collapse” and his present, very expensive policy is not helping.
Note my use of the word ‘mythology’ and my observation that everybody’s got one.
@Greg:
Yes, I’ve noted your use of the word ‘mythology’ which is why I won’t take this portion seriously at all:
Surely you’re smart enough to not believe that meme right?
Right?
@Greg:
I did take that into consideration, just couldn’t bring myself to believe that you considered what you wrote…. mythology.
In my book I give one of the Congressman’s motive to go along with the takeover as being afraid of the day when the checks quit coming. As TS points out it would cause mass rioting…or not. Depending on how it was sold. Argentina seized it “For the good of the people.” There was an actual concept submitted that the government should seize all the 401K’s and exchange them for a government pension guaranteed to grow at 3%. You would be surprised how many people would do that.
Truth is that government leaders understand that money is power, and controlling YOUR money will give them power for generations. They will try it as their ability to pay the bills go south because the economy is not doing well. They are trying to take over the healthcare industry for the same reasons.
It has been and will always be about the money.
Personally, nothing would tickle me more than seeing Barney Frank hoofing it out the back door with a bunch of you in hot pursuit with a barrel of tar and a bag of feathers. I least I could say I lived long enough to see it. Just like I said when Ted Kennedy did the face down dirt nap, “At least I outlive that murdering bas**rd!!”
Nice try Greg. Total BS. Total.
Unfortunately, we are experiencing exactly what the ‘cons’ predicted with the Obama administration.
I believe we are one successful terrorist attack away from anarchy like we have not experienced in our lifetime. Mr. Obama, as he loves to say, will be dodging pitchforks when that happens.
And oh, btw, enough with sappy Kumbaya let’s blame both partys crap. No one is buying it.
GREG:surely,you are very smart,but many readers of your comment would disregard the last word “mythology”because it apply to GREEK history only;and like me they would take the context and react to it ,like me.so, dont we have to be more ositive if we want things to change?. 🙄 bye
In New York on Monday at 11 am there will be CSEA/PEF union demonstrations in a dozen cities protesting the “furlough” of state workers. One day each week for 8 weeks until the budget is passed. One half of our union dues goes directly to SEIU. Will be curious to see what happens in these cities: Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, NYC, to name a few….
Greg, you are correct in stating that both sides are to blame for the current economic mess the U.S. is in now. The issue at hand is whether people are willing to undergo the short-term pains for the long-term gains. This I am afraid very few are willing to do. They want to eat their cake and have it too. The surplus so many refer to during the Clinton years was not truly a surplus because the country still had mass debt. Some of the current home loan crisis began with Clinton and the lowering of standards in loaning. Bush cut taxes but increased spending. Obama has spent more money in the first year in office than Bush spent the entire eight years he was in office. If a republican wins, the next election there will be again its own fiscal irresponsibility to come. Unless people educate themselves on economics and constitutional government we will continue the same patterns and continue to suffer the same consequences. There is an entitlement mentality that pervades many Americans minds that it is the government’s job to provide them with everything. This is exactly what has happened in Greece and will happen here if people don’t stand up and say enough is enough. When I don’t have the money I do without. However, if I know someone in the community who has a large bank account and hold them at gun point and tell them to give me $100,000 dollars, when I am arraigned it will not matter that I robed them to pay for a surgery for my sick daughter I will be found guilty of stealing nonetheless, and rightfully so. Does it matter what weapon I wield, whether a 357 magnum or the U.S. Government? It certainly does not. I am guilty of stealing either way. This is why the founders outlined the constitution the way they did, to avoid what is happening today. While I may have the right to earn all the niceties of life, I have not the right to use the Federal Government as a weapon to force someone else to provide it for me. I hope that the economic situation gains momentum and ends with having all, and I do mean all, government spending that is not constitutional ended and us finally free. I would rather be broke and free than to be a slave to the state.