90 seconds at 9 am with BNZ: Key Greek vote looms; Financial markets on tenterhooks; SAB Miller bids A$9.5 bln for Foster's; ChCh rebuild decisions near

You are better to click on the link. I just pasted this over but the link is much better.

Democracy vs Mythology: The Battle in Syntagma Square



I have never been more desperate to explain and more hopeful for your understanding of any single fact than this: The protests in Greece concern all of you directly.

What is going on in Athens at the moment is resistance against an invasion; an invasion as brutal as that against Poland in 1939. The invading army wears suits instead of uniforms and holds laptops instead of guns, but make no mistake – the attack on our sovereignty is as violent and thorough. Private wealth interests are dictating policy to a sovereign nation, which is expressly and directly against its national interest. Ignore it at your peril. Say to yourselves, if you wish, that perhaps it will stop there. That perhaps the bailiffs will not go after the Portugal and Ireland next. And then Spain and the UK. But it is already beginning to happen. This is why you cannot afford to ignore these events.



It is vital to understand that I do not wish to excuse my compatriots of all blame. We did plenty wrong. I left Greece in 1991 and did not return until 2006. For the first few months I looked around and saw an entirely different country to the one I had left behind.

 

Regretfully, it must be admitted that we took this bait “hook, line and sinker”. The Greek psyche has always had an Achilles’ heel; an impending identity crisis. We straddle three Continents and our culture has always been a melting pot reflective of that fact. Instead of embracing that richness, we decided we were going to be definitively European; Capitalist; Modern; Western. And, damn it, we were going to be bloody good at it. We were going to be the most European, the most Capitalist, the most Modern, the most Western. We were teenagers with their parents’ platinum card.



That irresponsibility, however, was only a very small part of the problem. The much bigger part was the emergence of a new class of foreign business interests ruled by plutocracy, a church dominated by greed and a political dynasticism which made a candidate’s surname the only relevant consideration when voting. And while we were borrowing and spending (which is affectionately known as “growth”), they were squeezing every ounce of blood from the other end through a system of corruption so gross that it was worthy of any banana republic; so prevalent and brazen that everyone just shrugged their shoulders and accepted it or became part of it.



Greeks are protesting because they do not want the bail-out at all. They have already accepted cuts which would be unfathomable in the UK – think of what Cameron is doing and multiply it by ten. Benefits have not been paid in over six months. Basic salaries have been cut to 550 Euros (£440) a month.



My mother, who is nearly 70, who worked all her life for the Archaeology Department of the Ministry of Culture, who paid tax, national insurance and pension contributions for over 45 years, deducted at the source (as they are for the vast majority of decent hard-working people – it is the rich that can evade), has had her pension cut to less than £400 a month. She faces the same rampantly inflationary energy and food prices as the rest of Europe.



So, the case is not that Greeks are fighting cuts. There is nothing left to cut. The IMF filleting knife has gotten to pure, white, arthritis-afflicted bone. The Greeks understand that a second bail-out is simply “kicking the can down the road”.  Greece’s primary budget deficit is, in fact, under 5bn Euros. The other 48bn Euros are servicing the debt, including that of the first bail-out, with one third being purely interest. The EU, ECB and IMF now wish to add another pile of debt on top of that, which will be used to satisfy interest payments for another year. And the Greeks have called their bluff. They have said “Enough is enough. Keep your money.”



My land has always attracted aggressive occupiers. Its vital strategic position combined with its extraordinary natural beauty and history, have always made it the trinket of choice for the forces of evil. But we are a tenacious lot. We emerged after 400 years of Ottoman occupation, 25 generations during which our national identity was outlawed with penalty of death, with our language, tradition, religion and music intact.



Finally, we have woken up and taken to the streets. My sister tells me that what is happening in Syntagma Square is beautiful; filled with hope; gloriously democratic. A totally bi-partisan crowd of hundreds of thousands of people have occupied the area in front of our Parliament. They share what little food and drink there is. A microphone stands in the middle, on which anyone can speak for two minutes at a time – even propose things which are voted by a show of thumbs. Citizenship.



And what they say is this: We will not suffer any more so that we can make the rich, even richer. We do not authorise any of the politicians, who failed so spectacularly, to borrow any more money in our name. We do not trust you or the people that are lending it. We want a completely new set of accountable people at the helm, untainted by the fiascos of the past. You have run out of ideas. 



Wherever in the world you are, their statement applies.

Money is a commodity, invented to help people by facilitating transactions. It is not wealth in itself. Wealth is natural resources, water, food, land, education, skill, spirit, ingenuity, art. In those terms, the people of Greece are no poorer than they were two years ago. Neither are the people of Spain or Ireland or the UK. And yet, we are all being put through various levels of suffering, in order for numbers (representing money which never existed) to be transferred from one column of a spreadsheet to another.



This is why the matter concerns you directly. Because this is a battle between our right to self-determine, to demand a new political process, to be sovereign, and private corporate interests which appear determined to treat us like a herd, which only exists for their benefit. It is the battle against a system which ensures that those who fuck up, are never those that are punished – it is always the poorest, the most decent, the most hard-working that bear the brunt.  The Greeks have said “Enough is enough”. What do you say?

http://sturdyblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/democracy-vs-mythology-the-b…

Charles Hugh-Smith in great form today and relative to the above article

http://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html

"Forestall" is the right term.....the current bailout if successful will only fund the Greek Elephant for a few weeks...another 170billion is required in a few weeks.

Thanks Andrew,

That is a powerful piece of writing because it is simple and truthful.

"Money is a commodity, invented to help people by facilitating transactions. It is not wealth in itself. Wealth is natural resources, water, food, land, education, skill, spirit, ingenuity, art."

How we have lost out way!

The Greek govt has won the vote of confidence meaning it can introduce the austerity measures.

I lived in Greece for two months in 2008. We stayed on an island and loved it. What impacted me was how much worse off they were after the Euro was introduced. They got Euro prices but kept the Greek incomes. For instance necessities like bread and cigarettes nearly tripled in price, I think Cigarettes went to 10 euro's a packet. They were all very poor when it came to consumption. The taxi drivers in Athens told the same story, that they were getting raped by the Euro.  I felt very sorry for the locals who had very simple lives that were very appealing to me and my children, underneath it all was a saddness that they had missed what could have been.

 My concern is that if we dont 'wise up fast' and stick together its going to get very ugly. Its going to be our turn soon, who are we going to blame?

British banks exposure to Greece  understated

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/210611/clipid…

George Papandreou won the vote of confidence  155 - 143 ( 2 abstensions ) .

"The speed of the rebuild is crucial for the economic recovery. " Yes, and yet I can't help wondering whether rebuilding as fast as possible is the smartest thing to do. 

Abandoning the area isn't an option and leaving people in limbo for years isn't either but when you keep getting these shocks (and last night's one was violent), one wonders. Rebuilding to a very high earthquake-resistant standard and only on non-liquefaction prone areas should be OK I suppose...

If Key and Brownlee are stupid enough to turn the announcement of what areas are to be "abandoned" into a political point scoring exercise, it could very well cost them the election.

Tomorrow is NOT the day for grand political announcements.

There are tens of thousands of properties affected by varying degrees of liquifaction and subsidence.  I doubt EQC and their engineers have even inspected every site.  Yet each site is different, every section with its own set of circumstances.  Every owner with their own intentions and thoughts.

Many areas may not be worth fixing even if they are fixable because the land values are low and most residents want to leave.  Others that are expensive to fix may be worthwhile because the areas are desirable and owners want to stay.

The Government at this point has little knowledge of individual circumstances in these areas because they have avoided consultation with residents.

These are not decisions that can be made without discussion, without negotiation with land owners.  A whole range of options is likely available in these areas including land swaps for those who want to stay in the areas with those that want to leave.  This was a process of discussion that should have begun in earnest after Feb 22, instead we have had an absolute lack of consultation, causing stress, grief and anxiety.

Now with their hand forced politically some appalling decisions are likely to be made, simply because those in leadership have no idea how to proceed.

The best outcome would be to identify those wide areas where the Government is not able to fulfil its obligations to remedy land in any reasonable timeframe, and offer those land owners the option to either purchase the land (the owner having taken the insurance payout for the building) or purchase the whole property and leave the insurance handling over to the Government.

There is also the issue of not wasting the resources that are "the damaged buildings".  Many of these buildings could be relocated (including concrete floored dwellings lifted off their slabs).  Instead of crushing these properties their should be a process set up to reuse and recycle this buildings either in whole or in part.  The current wanton destruction of these properties is symbolic of the current "it's all too hard" mentality.

Just a laugh

http://www.feedingthepuppy.com/hes-right-hes-fing-james-bond

Well after last nights shakes, and they were out by us, we had some minor damage from September, that was fixed, and now it all needs fixing again plus some...so IS there any point fixing while these are still going on, Look at the comments on Stuff.co.nz......people here are really seriously wondering if they should stay now...our kids are scared, our assets are getting smashed , it is high risk living thats for sure, and people are over the edge, they need the option (for those like Chris J) to walk away.

the governemnt is banking on people staying and rebuilding for growth, many many people now just want out.

Something I don't understand - wouldn't it be better for the EU if Greece did leave the Euro? I mean, it's better than dismantling the Euro altogether. I don't know why this option is considered a disaster by commentators.