Friday, November 9, 2012

Various Updates

Finally, a Bathroom Door

"Our new bathroom door will be here tomorrow," said Demetrios, with a huge smile.

"Maybe," said I, thinking of how Greeks relate to time.

The door store called and the man said it would be the next day instead.  "He's coming at 8:00 in the morning," said Demetrios.

"Maybe."

Well, he came at 10:15 today, and by noon or new objet d'art was installed.  Hooray!  It's lovely, with its little pane of highly textured, multi-colored glass.

Ah...  Now we have to get used to having a door again and remember to close it...  :-)



Okay, So That Idea Won't Work...

No, the doctors in Greece aren't going to go on strike anytime soon.  The reason is, the leaders of the various medical organizations are all govenment appointees. 

You have to admire how the people who plotted this looting of Greece (and all Europe) planned it all so carefully, overlooking nothing. 

Yes, looting is the name of the game.  Put the super-rich in charge of every asset and resource.  What's going on in Europe (not only in Greece) is the biggest transfer of wealth in history. It would make the Conquistadors envious. I rather think that says it all. 

But, a detail or two...

About half the shops in our neighborhood stand empty, having gone out of business.  Some have re-opened, bought up by guess whom?  A large multi-national corporation called Carrefour, owned by a French Jewish family, which by now must have a hundred mini-grocery stores here in Thessaloniki.

Three years ago, the Greek national debt was 50 billion Euros. Now it's around 350 billion, despite all the bailout money. ????? Where did all that bailout money go? It's nearly 400 billion, so far. The more Greece gets bailed out, the more indebted she becomes.

And the same in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and for that matter, all of Europe.  Yes, the biggest transfer of wealth in history.  To the already super-rich, from everybody else.

Enron.  Remember Enron?  In which the company's executives, not giving a hoot about the company, looted it and then let it collapse and stockholders lost and employees were done out of pensions?  Same thing is going on in Europe.  Milk it for all it's worth, tell everybody all will be well until it call comes crashing down.  Same thing as Enron, but writ very large.




...and Neither Will This Idea Work

Our Zoe Constantinopoulou isn't impressing much of anyone except Demetrios.  The general opinion is, she has a very large mouth, she's pushing herself forward for her own, personal gain, and she will not help Greece one iota. 

Which is what I've been saying, but I can still hope I'm wrong.




Those Demonstrations in Athens

Did you see the crowds a couple of nights ago throwing Molotov cocktails at the Parliament building in Athens?  Not to get excited; they were government supporters, paid to do this.  How do we know?  They were observed, afterward, re-boarding the police buses that apparently had brought them to the scene in the first place.  Hence, the rather lethargic crowd, lobbing an occastional Molotov in the general direction of the Parliament, but not really near it, the police putting on a mild show of force, and the night session of Parliament proceeding calmly. 

The idea is, if the people see someone showing anger and rioting, the people won't feel they have to do it themselves.  They vent their hostility vicariously.  Everything has been thought of.



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