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Post by rentedmule on Feb 8, 2015 18:53:44 GMT -5
He has rejected the bailout as a failure. And plans to seek World War II reparations from Germany. Seems that Greece is now in Putin's back pocket. ArticleMy only comment is to ask a question - How much is this going to cost my children and theirs? I still can't understand how intelligent people can actually commit people in the future to paying for the consumption of a self righteous, irresponsible society.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Feb 8, 2015 19:22:49 GMT -5
My only comment is to ask a question - How much is this going to cost my children and theirs? I still can't understand how intelligent people can actually commit people in the future to paying for the consumption of a self righteous, irresponsible society. I don't know that it will cost us anything directly. If Putin destabilizes Europe that may cost us. It's past time Putin retired or died.
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Post by rocketwolf on Feb 8, 2015 23:07:33 GMT -5
Putin will be a mass murderer maybe not on the scale of Hitler or his bestest buds Stalin But he will be responsible for millions of deaths unless he goes quick.
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Post by rentedmule on Feb 9, 2015 16:13:37 GMT -5
A rather concise current analysis of the situation from the leftist position. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/greece-germany-debt-forgiveness-by-anatole-kaletsky-2015-02"Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s new finance minister, is a professor of mathematical economics who specializes in game theory. But his negotiating technique – unpredictable oscillations between aggressiveness and weakness – is the opposite of what game theory would dictate. Varoufakis’s idea of strategy is to hold a gun to his own head, then demand a ransom for not pulling the trigger."
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Post by Evil Yoda on Feb 9, 2015 22:10:34 GMT -5
I don't see Germany conceding on the debt. That matters to them, as it should. Any concession would have to come with, at a minimum, some kind of reforms to keep the Greeks from getting into trouble again down the road. The trouble is, the Greeks are like that brother-in-law everyone has who can't control his spending or hold a job, and who survives by persuading his sisters to persuade their husbands to bail him out over and over. Except that the Greeks can't threaten anyone with loss of connubial relations.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Feb 19, 2015 18:43:03 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2015 9:29:49 GMT -5
The Greeks have another 4 months to try to sort it out.
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Post by rocketwolf on Feb 22, 2015 11:22:32 GMT -5
Good luck
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Post by Evil Yoda on Feb 22, 2015 12:57:25 GMT -5
The Greeks have another 4 months to try to sort it out. Yep, forgot to post that. Hopefully they can reach some sort of accommodation. Tsipras is in an interesting quandary: Europe has made it clear there are no free lunches, but a free lunch is basically what he promised to get elected.
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Post by rentedmule on Feb 22, 2015 13:03:14 GMT -5
The Greeks have another 4 months to try to sort it out. It's just another "kick the can" piece of theater. Amazingly it always seems to work! No way the Greeks CAN possibly pay off their debts and No way anyone expects them to. Pretending that it can work is easy, and the central bankers will manipulate their "accounting" and pursue their monetarist alchemy just as they have in Sub Sahara Africa. Perhaps the Greeks already see a China-man in their future!
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Post by rentedmule on Feb 23, 2015 6:37:18 GMT -5
This current interest in Greece is only another interesting illustration of sovereigns promoting the meaningless of debt, the value of wealth transfers and the inevitable acceptance by individuals of the creed: "To each according to need, from each according to ability" with the sovereign of course deciding who "needs" and who has "ability".
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Post by Evil Yoda on Feb 23, 2015 10:13:07 GMT -5
This current interest in Greece is only another interesting illustration of sovereigns promoting the meaningless of debt, the value of wealth transfers and the inevitable acceptance by individuals of the creed: "To each according to need, from each according to ability" with the sovereign of course deciding who "needs" and who has "ability". History is full of examples of this. Leaders decide they are best suited to make all the decisions. Sometimes people even buy into that. Then the leaders start believing their own press, that they're infallible and can do whatever they like. And that those who disagree are "insurgents" or some such thing. Soon it becomes painfully apparent even to the dullest that they are being exploited. Then a cult of personality forms around someone (whose real goal is usually not to change the system, just the people at the top), there is bloodshed, and the cycle begins again. The United States was an excellent experiment in giving people some control over their destiny. Unfortunately, what it has recently proved is that not everyone is smart enough or well-educated enough to be granted that power.
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Post by rentedmule on Feb 26, 2015 19:28:17 GMT -5
This current interest in Greece is only another interesting illustration of sovereigns promoting the meaningless of debt, the value of wealth transfers and the inevitable acceptance by individuals of the creed: "To each according to need, from each according to ability" with the sovereign of course deciding who "needs" and who has "ability". History is full of examples of this. Leaders decide they are best suited to make all the decisions. Sometimes people even buy into that. Then the leaders start believing their own press, that they're infallible and can do whatever they like. And that those who disagree are "insurgents" or some such thing. Soon it becomes painfully apparent even to the dullest that they are being exploited. Then a cult of personality forms around someone (whose real goal is usually not to change the system, just the people at the top), there is bloodshed, and the cycle begins again. The United States was an excellent experiment in giving people some control over their destiny. Unfortunately, what it has recently proved is that not everyone is smart enough or well-educated enough to be granted that power.A chilling statement.
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Post by rentedmule on Feb 27, 2015 6:47:56 GMT -5
Wisdom is most often merely watching what others do. I saw Iceland as a very interesting lesson of a European society dealing with a grave crisis. Greece is perhaps a good illustration of a culture in love with dependence upon others. But Japan is the most serious and disastrous possibility of the deformation of the central banking nonsense which we ALL are relying on for our economies and our futures. fortune.com/2015/02/26/japan-economic-time-bomb/
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Post by Evil Yoda on Feb 27, 2015 9:14:50 GMT -5
Certainly. It's a sad comment on the state of humankind. But is it wrong?
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Post by rentedmule on Feb 27, 2015 9:20:55 GMT -5
Certainly. It's a sad comment on the state of humankind. But is it wrong? Yes.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Feb 27, 2015 9:27:14 GMT -5
Certainly. It's a sad comment on the state of humankind. But is it wrong? Yes. So, you believe some of the uneducated morons you've doubtless encountered should be making crucial decisions about the country's future?
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Post by rentedmule on Feb 27, 2015 11:04:37 GMT -5
Yes. If they are citizens. It's called a democratic republic. Ever heard tell of it?
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Post by Evil Yoda on Feb 27, 2015 13:31:19 GMT -5
Yes. If they are citizens. It's called a democratic republic. Ever heard tell of it? Yes, I understand that they're entitled to that voice in a democratic republic. I am suggesting that a democratic republican may be a flawed system to the extent that it grants electoral power without any expectation that such power will be exercised responsibly.
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Post by rentedmule on Feb 27, 2015 19:02:09 GMT -5
Yes. If they are citizens. It's called a democratic republic. Ever heard tell of it? Yes, I understand that they're entitled to that voice in a democratic republic. I am suggesting that a democratic republican may be a flawed system to the extent that it grants electoral power without any expectation that such power will be exercised responsibly. Sounds like a republic is not to your liking! Please don't ever put yourself in a position where a jury trial determines your fate! If it's any comfort the technocrats are on their way! For evidence check out the monetarists at the Federal Reserve...... now there are the smartest boys in the room exercising power wisely. As Michelle says, It makes me proud to be an American.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Mar 2, 2015 7:49:05 GMT -5
Yes, I understand that they're entitled to that voice in a democratic republic. I am suggesting that a democratic republican may be a flawed system to the extent that it grants electoral power without any expectation that such power will be exercised responsibly. Sounds like a republic is not to your liking! Please don't ever put yourself in a position where a jury trial determines your fate! The problem is that it's very much to my liking. I fear, however, that most people are not smart enough or educated enough to exist within that framework. That's based on observation.
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Post by rentedmule on Mar 2, 2015 8:18:00 GMT -5
Sounds like a republic is not to your liking! Please don't ever put yourself in a position where a jury trial determines your fate! The problem is that it's very much to my liking. I fear, however, that most people are not smart enough or educated enough to exist within that framework. That's based on observation. Observation you say? You must spend a great deal of your life being dissapointed? The good news is that the smart and educated ARE in charge. (or think they are)
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Post by redleg on Mar 2, 2015 12:23:04 GMT -5
Yes. If they are citizens. It's called a democratic republic. Ever heard tell of it? Yes, I understand that they're entitled to that voice in a democratic republic. I am suggesting that a democratic republican may be a flawed system to the extent that it grants electoral power without any expectation that such power will be exercised responsibly. The fallacy in your proposition is that our Republic was never intended to allow those "at the top" to make decisions for the average individual. They were to make decisions for the country as a whole. It has been the usurping of power and responsibility from the states, and the illegal tidalwave of government growth that has led to them having the power to do what they have done. Every Democrat that voted for Puppettax should now be facing prosecution for sedition, and The Puppet should have been impeached long ago. None of that will happen, of course, because, first, every Congressman that would be in a position to vote for it would be seeing himself in the same position, and second, far too many of them agree with the usurpation.
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Post by redleg on Mar 2, 2015 12:23:59 GMT -5
The problem is that it's very much to my liking. I fear, however, that most people are not smart enough or educated enough to exist within that framework. That's based on observation. Observation you say? You must spend a great deal of your life being dissapointed? The good news is that the smart and educated ARE in charge. (or think they are) Or think they are smart and educated.
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Post by rentedmule on Mar 4, 2015 7:32:04 GMT -5
Not paying one's debts is just a whole lot of work and aggravation. And more importantly, deprives generations to come from benefiting from the advantages of honest credit and lending. finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-says-vultures-circling-overhead-202300653.htmlAmazingly, people still line up at the window to purchase government debt. In real life a cheated creditor goes through a great deal of pain when his assets disappear, and changes his standards for selecting future borrowers. In government life that debt just gets shuffled from one stae to another where central banks and GSE's disguise that debt into products that are unloaded to pension funds and others who seldom even know they own the darn stuff.
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