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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2011-06-29 12:40 pm

Dash Down Yon Cup Of Samian Wine

The Greeks have never been in thrall to the protestant work ethic (they're not protestants for a start) and the bankers who threw money at them should have known better.  We have allowed bankers to take over the world and run it by their rules. Greece is where the fight-back begins. 

[identity profile] daisytells.livejournal.com 2011-06-29 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Long live Greece, say I! Work ethic is fine, but when it completely rules there is sickness in it. Families suffer, children grow up as virtual orphans, there is no interaction among neighbors and little time for friends. No time for anything that is really worthwhile, just work and earn money and spend money on "toys" and also on "keeping up with the Joneses".
Go, Greece! Be the example to our present society that you once were to civilization.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-06-29 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I totally agree.

[identity profile] airstrip.livejournal.com 2011-06-29 09:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, it's cheaper. If it were true, if it really worked, they'd not have to do nearly as much work and the profits would be that much higher.

They just want to believe in this so badly because the alternative is to be careful. Caution is, after all, expensive.

[identity profile] internet-sampo.livejournal.com 2011-06-30 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
An NPR (National Public Radio) story on this concluded that the austerity measures are just a bad way of putting off finding a permanent solution to Greece's and the EU's problems.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-06-30 08:06 am (UTC)(link)
I think this could be the case. The solution is merely postponed. The EU makes sense as a federation of hard-working northern-European states on the German model. Letting in a bunch of states with a wholly different ethos was a mistake. One way of looking at the EU is as Germany's third big attempt at taking over Europe. Like the other two it seems to be coming to grief.

[identity profile] michaleen.livejournal.com 2011-06-30 10:42 am (UTC)(link)
How odd. I actually had high hopes for the EU.

On what Greece should do, I agree. They should say, "Fuck the banksters", and default.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-06-30 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I've always been an enthusiast for the EU, but I'm starting to have doubts

[identity profile] michaleen.livejournal.com 2011-07-01 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
During the Cheney-Bush junta, I had hopes of the EU someday being a counterweight to the US imperium. At the time, I assumed that Europe had made more progress toward establishing an equitable and sustainable society. Silly me.