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Posts Tagged ‘Antonis Samaras’

Greece Bailout Crisis a Warning for U.S. Politicians Facing the Nation’s Fiscal Cliff

November 22nd, 2012 Comments off

At their most recent meeting, the finance ministers representing the 17 countries that comprise the Eurozone, along with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and ECB (European Central Bank), have thus far failed to decide on releasing the next tranche of bailout funds to insolvent Greece. Without the bailout money being released, Athens is fiscally up the creek, without a paddle.

“Greece has done what it had to and what it had committed to doing. Our partners, along with the IMF, also must do what they have undertaken.” an increasingly desperate Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pleaded.

The austerity measures enacted by Greece have imploded the economy, now entrapped in a frightful economic depression. The debris of the Greek economy has smashed social cohesion and political stability, witnessed by the sharp rise in popularity of the Fascist and neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, which has promised economic salvation through bashing the immigrants they claim are the cause of the economic woes in Greece.

It is looking increasingly likely that the repeated bailouts at the expense of Eurozone taxpayers, especially from Germany, of the insolvent Greek state will run their course sometime in 2013. The odds that Greece will default on its vast and unsustainable public debt, prompting it to leave or be expelled from the Eurozone, are growing.

As the U.S. political establishment confronts its own self-made fiscal cliff, it should view what is transpiring in Greece as an ill omen and not a situation to gloat over. It is only because of the sovereign debt crisis ravaging Europe’s economies that has enabled a reality whereby the U.S. government can borrow more than a trillion dollars a year, accounting for about thirty percent of all federal government expenditures, at record low interest rates. This situation cannot endure indefinitely. If American politicians fail to craft a sensible, sustainable, long-term fiscal consolidation, America will end up in the economic wasteland that is contemporary Greece. As we can all currently observe, such a draconian reality would present the U.S. with the choice of either  crippling austerity measures imposed by the nation’s creditors, or some form of debt default ( including the option that the Federal Reserve engineers massive inflation).

Greece is not only suffering appalling economic devastation. It is also presenting to the world a modern-day national Cassandra, with a prophetic warning that is especially relevant for American policymakers.

 

 

                 

 

 

 

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

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Greek Debt Crisis & Eurozone Crisis

August 22nd, 2012 Comments off

More political maneuvering  on the Greek debt crisis, which threatens the integrity of the entire Eurozone. After receiving a second massive bailout from Eurozone taxpayers (especially German taxpayers), the Greek political establishment promised that it would adhere to all the austerity conditions, and meet the required timelines. Now, without a trace of embarrassment, politicos are ascending from Greece to towards the decision-makers in the Eurozone, begging for a two-year extension on the formerly sworn promises originally agreed to by Athens.

To be fair to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the austerity agreement imposed upon Athens is so crippling, it has plunged the Greek economy into a deep recession, hardly a recipe for the growth required to pay off the massive Greek debts.

These political games seem to point even more strongly towards an eventual exit by Greece form the Eurozone. Once Greece leaves the monetary union, who will be next?

 

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

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 To view the YouTube video with audio excerpt from “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

 

Sex, murder, financial power and pathological greed come together in the explosive suspense thriller by Sheldon Filger, WALL STREET KILLS: A NOVEL ABOUT FINANCIAL POWER, VIOLENT SEX AND THE ULTIMATE SNUFF MOVIE.
This video provides a free audio reading from chapter one of “Wall Street Kills.” The scene depicted involves two characters from “Wall Street Kills” having a business conversation in a Los Angeles suburb. One character is Peter Hoffman, director of new business development for a secretive Wall Street hedge fund and private equity group. The other character is Daniel Iachino, president of a major independent film company specializing in “adult entertainment” for niche markets. Hoffman is on a mission to investigate if portraying unsimulated violent death in the form of entertainment would be a lucrative business investment. The conversation between the two men quickly focuses on the phenomenon of snuff movies.

Greece and the Eurozone Debt Crisis: Political Brinksmanship

November 4th, 2011 Comments off

 

French President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Merkel had barely popped open the champagne bottles when their supposedly final, permanent fix to the Greek debt crisis got thrown for an unexpected loop. There is a word of Greek origin called “democracy” which has been totally lacking in all the machinations of the policymakers and their financial lobbying friends since the eruption of the global economic crisis. Now, in a surprise move, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced plans for a popular referendum on the latest Eurozone bailout package. Knowing that the public of Greece is overwhelmingly opposed to the bailout crafted in Brussels, the European politicians and the markets castigated the Greek prime minister. This morning, the consensus was that Papandreou would certainly resign and cancel the referendum. Based on these reports from supposedly reliable sources, the stock markets  launched a major rally.

When Papandreou addressed the Greek parliament, however, he did not offer his resignation. He also did not cancel the referendum. Instead, he invited opposition New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras to join him in a national consensus supporting the Eurozone bailout package, with the carrot being that if this occurs, he would then find the referendum unnecessary. Samaras has responded by calling on Papandreou to resign, and for new Greek elections to be held within 6 weeks.

Instead of resolving the Greek debt crisis, the latest effort from the clowns in Brussels has sparked more political instability in Greece, while in the meantime the other PIIGS insolvent Eurozone members, in particular Italy, are headed for their own debt catastrophes, unhindered by the supposed definitive solution to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe that is now up in the air.

                 

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Officer Larry of the NYPD is on his way to Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan to arrest peaceful protesters involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Being a public spirited member of the New York Police Department, Officer Larry does remind us that there is a global economic crisis underway that rivals the Great Depression of the 1930s.