This is our future if the banksters continue the total control of our major streams of information.

just endless dribble. It's so bad I got rid of cable TV. I use a HDTV antenna and get 25 local channels with far better quality than cable, and use ROKU for Internet TV, far far better.

although it's skirting around the underlying issue: balancing a budget that was destroyed by the grasping rich on the backs of impoverished people who can't afford it.

And this is what's going to happen here if another Republican gets into office.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17003432 The video is great.

outside world to find out what's going on.

And that is exactly what "austerity measures" are, Wraith - they're an effort to destroy an entire segment of the society, those judged "undesirable" - the poor and middle classes. You've heard of ethnic cleansing? Think of this shit as "Economic cleansing" and you'll be pretty much spot-on.

guess what happens.

If it were me, I'd be up to anything including total fucking war to take back what the rich subhumans stole from the 99%.

...which is total serfdom, at best, and extermination of the poor, more likely.

People are fighting for their sovereignty and their future survival. If the Greeks don't stand up to this neoliberal assault on democracy, who will?

will see what happens.

after the vote.

It's "anarchy" versus an autocratic state.

The ordinary people have been austeritized into recession and poverty for years and have been out in force peacefully forever. Seems like many have had it.

I love how people around here love to project a cause on any bunch of idiots laying waste to the community.

since none of us know at this point.

don't have to pay higher taxes.

At least if it were the markets, some retirees might benefit.

molotov cocktails.

Cry over the poor Greeks all you want, but know something about them first. It's a country about the size of Alabama with a GDP equivalent about twice the size of Alabama's but the per capita income and GDP is less than Alabama's. 78% of what there is of their economy is tourism, shipping, and government, and they import over twice what little they export. And what they export is mainly bauxite, cement, and some olives. Maybe a few shoes, too. And, apparently, diners in New Jersey.

Let me repeat something-- a whole country, full member of the EU, with economic activity just barely twice of what our poorest state has. With a huge wealth divide. Not nearly as bad as Haiti, but heading in that direction.

So, how did they become a contender for the poorest country in Western Europe? You can point at that 1% who just didn't give a shit about their country and made all their money in the shipping business never paying a nickel in taxes, and you can blame a government that was happy to just pay off the citizenry with noshow jobs and easy pensions instead of trying to build a real economy. You can also point a finger or two at the population itself, which was happy to let things go on that way forever until the checks started to bounce and the free rides stopped.

Now the Germans and the French, after stopping a thousand years of warfare, are finding their reward for running their countries honestly and becoming BFFs is to pay the Greeks' bills. And boy are they pissed.

But, hey, it's all the banks' fault. Why not?

against it (and the intrinsic value countries like Germany and France bestowed up the euro) to pay for cushy government jobs for people. This was not a subprime mortgage situation. The liars were the greek people.

A couple of Greek politicians conspired with Goldman Sachs to purchase currency swaps to reduce the apparent debt level, but a subsequent audit showed Greece had clearly met the qualifications for entry into the EMU.

The major problem for Greece is that they adopted the Euro at a punishingly uncompetitive exchange rate (arranged to favor their powerful trade partner Germany) and were thus forced to borrow in a non-sovereign currency simply to maintain their basic standard of living. Greeks work harder than most Europeans and receive fewer benefits.

It's absurd to blame this manufactured crisis on the Greek workers or to imagine they should be forced to suffer and endure a severe economic depression and unnecessary hardship as punishment for the failed Eurozone project their leaders embarked upon. How far American liberalism has fallen. FDR must be rolling over in his grave.

were only too happy to lend to Greece because Greece used the proceeds of those loans to buy German and French products.

I grew up with the idea that lenders 'lend at their own risk'. This austerity bullshit is a way to keep the 1% whole on the backs of the poor and working classes.

Tax avoidance by the wealthy and by corporations is a serious problem in Germany, the UK, and, of course, in the United States. Our corporations and our .01% probably put the Greeks to shame when it comes to using tax loopholes and shelters and any other means of not paying their fair share.

Your rhetoric on "noshow jobs" and "easy pensions" could have come straight from Grover Norquist or any other anti-government/anti-worker right winger in America.

Greece could increase its export market and reduce imports if it could manage its exchange rate. Greece could also pay its workers a fair salary without being forced to borrow if it had a central bank. These are the essential things a country gives up when it trades away its currency sovereignty.

In all seriousness, no American should be lecturing Greece on trade deficits and government debt, or tax avoidance by the rich or dependence on foreign borrowing, etc.

The Greek people are showing us exactly what they think about austerity & Greece staying in the EU....Not!

At least they got that part right.

you can tell by the scale, but also the fact that thousands of people are standing firm in the midst of teargas and stun grenades on a sunday evening.

And, our M$M has "thousands of anarchists" involved in the violent protest. Targets are also international chains and banks, among others.

thousands, thats not agents provocateurs, and neither are they anarchists imho - that a LOT of MAD people.

I wish we had the guts to do that here. Nothing in this country is going to change until thousands get really pissed at the PTB. Power to the people. Fuck the bankers.

Sorry

"...But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can COUNT ME OUT!"

Count me out

parasitic owners.

yea, i said it...!

for over a year to acclimate the people's thinking to the proposed austerity program. They were hoping the repetition would wear down public resistance. Plus the banker countries were trying to use Greece to impress on the other PIIGS what could happen to them if they didn't cave in to similar austerity programs. So far looks like the intended strategy might not be working as hoped for. We'll have to wait for a week or so to see if the opposition peters out or grows. Either way, Greece goes down.