MSM coverage of events in Athens last night was lamentably slow, with Sky and the BBC sharing honours in putting BAFTA trivia ahead of a major European capital in flames. Then again, when a broadcaster like the BBC is in receipt of ££millions from the EU, perhaps the images of Athens ablaze is unhelpful? Of course in the end they HAD to show the scale and depth of public unrest but not without the repetition of this soundbite from Lucas Papademos ““Vandalism, violence and destruction have no place in a democratic country and won’t be tolerated”. I am surprised that the BBC were unable to find anyone who could point out that unelected technocrats imposing Germanic austerity against the will of the Greek people is not really “democracy” in the first place.
A GREEK TRAGEDY
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They are going to get cuts either way.
What the Greek banks should do is re-incorporate in Frankfurt. EU rules state freedom of movement of capital.
With the banks the responsibility of the German government the Greek government can go bust.
am surprised that the BBC were unable to find anyone who could point out that unelected technocrats imposing Germanic austerity against the will of the Greek people is not really “democracy” in the first place.
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So they won’t have cuts if the Greeks DIY? Think again. The Germans then won’t pony up the cash.
ie. The are fucked one way or the other.
BBC TOADY (MARXIST) THOUGHT FOR THE DAY?
The usual leftist propaganda this AM on toady.
Greece? Well, its a clear failure of capitalism right? Greedy capitalism, oh how awful it all is and its all the fault of capitalism.
The truth is very different of course and the BBC cannot allow that truth to come out, why Greece borrowed more than it could afford to pay back.
Two BBC protected entities, the left/socialism and the unions.
When Greece joined the EU/euro the public sector unions used their political muscle to win gigantic pay rises, the political class gave them whatever they demanded and they ended up a huge powerful wealth consuming parasite sector, attempts to sell off nationalised industries went down like a lead balloon with the state left union axis who wanted their lavish cake to themselves regardless of the cost, if you were lucky enough to get abourd the public sector gravy train you had it made.
A greek regime ruled by vested interests and union power and corruption and cronyism must have thought that joining the euro was a spendaholics dream come true, financial markets were falling over themselves to lend to greece and the Greek ruling class went a spending spree to end all spending sprees never once thinking of if they could pay it back. French and German banks pressed by the EU lent eye watering amounts to improve the Greek economy but by the time the left/unions/ruling class got hold of it and had spread a few public projects about to their client class it was all gone with nothing to show for it except a great many public sector ‘workers’.
The fault lies with the EU and the left and the unions and the public sector who obviously thought this free money would last forever and now it is the poorest who will suffer most, those in the private sector will carry the burden.
TFTD is usually highly political and those who deliver it chosen for the predictability of their views. The LINK to each TYFD seems to follow almost a day late and this causes me linking problems since it is then “old news”. Thanks for picking up on this for me.
And the TFTD was, of course, delivered by Universal Giles Fraser.
Thank God I missed it.
Except that the governing party in greece is a socialist party called, the socialist party and there was very little actual capitalism allowed. It was an extreme case of the state would support the country through state spending, whilst failing to collect taxes in a massive way. They thought that they could sponge off the rest of the EU forever.
And then we have the parallel Greek economy that deals only in cash and doesn’t pay tax and does fine.
Having done business with Greek companies in Athens, there were always three sets of books: one for the government, one for the shareholders, and a third for the Directors so they knew what was actually happening. The third set of books was based on a small tin in the MDs office, which contained the cash, so you could count it if needed.
Yes, they dont like paying taxes to the corrupt Socialist PASOK governmet , why should they? (Send them Steve Coogan. Apparently he likes paying taxes. Or so he tells everyone. On TV that is. If you believe him)
Greek business people don’t trust their government to provide anything, so they send their kids, paying privately, to the UK and get their health care in New York, paying privately. (Unlike Africans who send their relatives to the UK to get it all for free)
Its not “protestors” burning buildings in Athens as the journalists say, its anarchists, of whom theuy have a great number. Would you lend your money to anarchists? Fat lot of good they are for Greece. Great people ruined by the endemic corruption that is Socialism.
The BBC’s view of democracy is skewed a bit to the left of the normal or dictionary meaning of democracy.
It does not mean “a system of government based on the principle of majority decision-making”.
The BBC meaning of democracy, or Beebocracy, which does not yet have a dictionary description, is somewhat different, so here is my definition. Beebocracy is; “a system of government based on the principle that technocrats (a posh name for socialist bosses) will make the majority of decisions”.
The wording is only a little bit different and to question it is just semantics and not to be understood by the ordinary peasants that we sometimes allow to sit on our Breakfast sofa or in the QT studio. This system is now almost complete in Europe and will be rolled out across the rest of the world as soon as possible. You know it makes sense.
The failure of Greece is nothing to do with capitalism but the EU project, which was never based on sound economics, but political greed by scum politicians and demented leftists (with a few right wingers who should know better thrown in) for the most part.
The idea that you can bring together economies from all over Europe into one size fits all is nonsense, it was nonsense when it was thought up, but of course the BBC attacked anyone who thought that.
The failure of Greece is its economy is 180 degrees apart from Germany, the Germans love the Euro as it keeps the price of their exports down, but it’s not Germany paying the price, it’s Countries like Greece, Portugal etc that are being crippled by high borrowing costs. They can’t devalue or do anything other than what the Germans tell them.
No wonder people in Greece are angry, they’ve got an undemocratic Government and now the Germans are threatening them that any future Government must agree to whatever the Germans say, if they don’t the Germans will simply march in and take over.
Hitler would be a proud man today, he’d love the BBC, the most efficient propaganda organisation on the planet AND they hate Jews as well!!!
Yes, all the BBC kept repeating is that ‘The people are rebelling against the cuts forced on them’ – wishful thinking I guess.
Funny, the BBC socialists are all too keen to report the faintest skirmish in London so long as it’s against the nasty right wing Tories and Lib Dem sell outs.
John Humphrys will welcome the lower prices back at his holiday home, so it`s not ALL bad news.
The cleaners will be cheaper too, so it`s not all bad.
Yet all that CO2 being released without care?…has Germany let its kekeb barbecue get too big?
Certainly the role of the Germans and the French…nor the fact that Greece is the cradle of Western European democracy…seems ever to be mentioned.
No wonder the BBC spent so much time with Mark Kermode and his predictions for the BAFTAs…think they took his batteries out, so he could drawl for longer and so avoid those “challenging” pictures from Greece.
So if the EU hasn`t caused this-to a hitherto stable country stuffed with great people(since the mid 70s anyway)….then its got to be PASOK/Socialists.
What`s a beeboid going to say when in such a bind…bit early for the bush fires isn`t it?
Worth a repeat…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16985405
1. RickyRocky
10TH FEBRUARY 2012 – 13:26
The Greek bailout is not a bailout of Greece, it’s a bailout of foreign banks, mostly German and French.
A picture worth a thousand words:http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2011/10/20111108_GREbailoutpie.png
Got a lot of likes. Was going to get a lot more. Got pulled. Go figger.
BBC : ‘Oh…. we.-eee-eeee…. will always love EU-oo-oo-ooo’
The BBC is having a hard time spinning this as a failure of what Katty Kay called “radical austerity”. Since it hasn’t actually happened yet. Funny how the Beeboids aren’t playing this as a case where the people just don’t understand the issues.
David
The BBC are worried about how objecting to Merkel imposed austerity could lend support to “extreme right wing” politicians. Fingers on the pulse as ever…
““Vandalism, violence and destruction have no place in a democratic country and won’t be tolerated””
Thankfully, the EU have imposed an unelected leader on Greece and so Greece is NOT a democracy in any meaningful interpretation of the word. So the unelected, corrupt Greek elites should prepare for being tarred, featheres and then hung by piano wire from lamp-posts! Then, perhaps, the Greeks could return their country to a state of democracy where violence is not needed anymore.
I think the corrupt, incompetent people the unelected mandarins replaced are far more responsible for the problems. The violence started long before the EU changed the regime by fiat. If any unelected mandarins should be tarred and feathered, it ought to be them in Brussels.
Let`s hope that the feathers are not from any “at-risk” species of bird…and that the tar is sourced appropriately.
Apart from that…the curent crop of Greek autocrats, and the Brussels sprouts that launched them…as well as all concerned in shoehorning Greece into the Euro…I`m hopeful we`ll not lack tar or feathers if we don`t waste too much in these crucial early stages.
In this particular Greek riot, BBC-NUJ has been slow to document the huge destruction which the rioters have inflicted on Athens’ buildings.
‘Daily Mail’:
“Greeks left counting cost of riots they can’t afford: Cash-strapped country starts clean up of rubble-strewn streets.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2100460/Greeks-left-counting-cost-riots-afford-Cash-strapped-country-starts-clean-rubble-strewn-streets.html#ixzz1mIVx03YK
“Vandalism, violence and destruction have no place in a democratic country and won’t be tolerated” Hmmm. Can’t remember them playing similar soundbites from Cameron and May whilst shops and houses were being set alight here last year. Wasn’t the mantra that it was all the fault of the wicked coalition who wanted to stop people living off £26,000+ in benefits? Didn’t they have a split screen of the Barmy SWP Army smashing up Fortnum & Mason’s whilst Ed roundly denounced Coalition policies to an open-air gathering of bussed-in acolytes in Hyde Park until some bright spark in Labour HQ pointed out that that form of coverage was doing more damage to Ed than it was doing to the Coalition (when of course it was immmediately pulled)?
But Greece isn’t Britain and their coalition (a combination of both Socialists and Conservatives with a few members of the far-right thrown in – in UK terms a Labour-Conservative-BNP government) isn’t like ours. No, siree, the Windy City is mighty pretty but it ain’t got we got. Besides, our EU membership was never at stake as it is in Greece so cutting the minimum wage by 20% is ok then. Yes, tent cities in the USA but Greece continues to thrive under the aegis of a single currency. At least the Greeks have one benefit – no Panorama specials down their way for which they will no doubt heave a collective sigh of relief. Treble ouzos all round!
“Treble ouzos all round”?? There’s your problem, Kostas, you don’t get this austerity business, From now on, Greece, it’s only double ouzos all round. Pass the petrol bomb.
Anything you say, boss. When is John Simpson due to arrive?