Greece: Of paupers and taxes | 143 comments (143 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Greece: Of paupers and taxes (4.00 / 4)

I find it entirely plausible that the EU circles of power could let it go all the way to total humanitarian disaster (and I mean worse than Russia in the 1990s -after all, Russia had its own currency AND a lot of mineral resources) without ever reassessing their fantasies. Unless Greeks are finally allowed to revolt.

Ever the optimist, you forget that a Greek revolt will be taken as evidence that those swarthy southerners cannot rule themselves, not to a reassessment of received wisdom.

I distribute. You re-distribute. He gives your hard-earned money to lazy scroungers. -- JakeS

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 16th, 2013 at 01:30:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Greece: Of paupers and taxes (none / 0)

Oh, no, I didn't forget that. I'm quite sure that a revolt would strengthen their myths.

But it might avert a total humanitarian disaster if it happens soon enough.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Sat Feb 16th, 2013 at 04:11:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Or be one (n/t) (none / 0)

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sat Feb 16th, 2013 at 04:52:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Or be one (n/t) (none / 0)

Well, indeed.
That's the horror that refusal to reassess your fantasies under any circumstance tend to lead to. I am not, by nature, inclined to wish for revolution, but I also reckon that if you give an entire people no option other than violence, quite a few will choose it.

And I would find it hard to blame them when they do.

I know you've covered that extensively recently.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Sat Feb 16th, 2013 at 05:20:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Greece: Of paupers and taxes (none / 0)

For that matter, a complete humanitarian catastrophe is at this stage no longer avoidable. It's been what? Four years by now? Interpolating from the Russian experience with austerity, you'd expect austerity to kill around one percent of your population over a decade. Depending on how you estimate and how you count causes of death, austerity-related complications are probably the third or fourth leading cause of death in Greece over the course of the present depression.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sat Feb 16th, 2013 at 10:35:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Greece: Of paupers and taxes (none / 0)

Yes, I'm aware of that. I just fear it could get much worse than what's already there.

The 1% over a decade is probably back-loaded so we haven't seen much of it yet. Plus the impact in Greece could end up being bigger than in Russia.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Sat Feb 16th, 2013 at 12:51:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Greece: Of paupers and taxes (none / 0)

Even if excess mortality increases linearly (meaning that five years of austerity would give only a quarter of the aggregate excess fatalities of ten years), that would still make austerity the third or fourth leading cause of death (after cardiovascular conditions, cancer and maybe infectious disease) over the course of the present depression.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sat Feb 16th, 2013 at 02:41:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Greece: Of paupers and taxes | 143 comments (143 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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