Εκλογές 2012 "part 1"

[soti]

Γενικά όλοι μιλούν για τρομερή αποσυσπείρωση των δύο μεγάλων κομμάτων, με κυριότερο το πασοκ.

Θέλω να δω αύριο τη συγκέντρωση στο Σύνταγμα. Αν και μια πλατεία στη Αθήνα εύκολα γεμίζει, και το κύριοτερο, εύκολα φαίνεται γεμάτη.

Και γιατί δεν τιμούν την παράδοση να πάνε στο Πεδίο του Άρεως; ....Απλωθείτε ω,ρέ παιδιά, να κάνουμε μπούγιο... Πάει το κκε και κωλώνει το πασοκ; Ε,ρε γλέντια.....

[Kuchiki_Byakuya]

....Απλωθείτε ω,ρέ παιδιά, να κάνουμε μπούγιο...

Έτσι θα πάει η δουλειά. Με πολύ μακρινά πλάνα, και κοντινά μόνο στα συνηθισμένα παρεάκια των φοιτητικών παρατάξεων που χοροπηδάνε. Τίγκα στη σημαία για να καλύπτει την έλλειψη κόσμου.

Και με φόντο τη Βουλή (δεν κάνω πλάκα, το άκουσα στη ΝΕΤ), για να γίνει αντίθεση με τις διαμαρτυρίες.

[Marcoulosforyou]

http://www.gazzetta.gr/plus/article/ite ... oges-vol-1

Ενα αρθρο το οποιο μολις διαβασα και με αφησε αφωνο γιατι εχει μια τρομερη λογικη στην σκεψη του ο υπογραφων...

[Kuchiki_Byakuya]

http://www.gazzetta.gr/plus/article/ite ... oges-vol-1

Ενα αρθρο το οποιο μολις διαβασα και με αφησε αφωνο γιατι εχει μια τρομερη λογικη στην σκεψη του ο υπογραφων...

Πολύ καιρό τώρα ανεβαίνουν άρθρα του Βαρουφάκη στο φόρουμ. Τα περισσότερα από αυτά τα έχει γράψει στο protagon.gr

Η φωτό απλά άθλια.

[Kuchiki_Byakuya]

http://www.gazzetta.gr/plus/article/ite ... oges-vol-1

Ενα αρθρο το οποιο μολις διαβασα και με αφησε αφωνο γιατι εχει μια τρομερη λογικη στην σκεψη του ο υπογραφων...

Και το δεύτερο μέρος.

http://www.protagon.gr/?i=protagon.el.8emata&id=14893

[eΝy]

Ένα ενδιαφέρον αρθράκι:
http://teemulehtinen.posterous.com/gree ... d-guard#!/

As the Greek elections of all times are quickly approaching in ten days, the old guard is doing everything that it can to ensure return to the not-so-good old times. Ask yourself, if as a shareholder of the Enterprise Greece you would re-elect the same management that destroyed almost all the shareholder value? Why would you do it as a vote holder of the Republic of Greece? Someone might say that there are no experienced alternatives and that one shouldn’t put the “doorman” or “secretary” in charge. But that is exactly what the current management wants the Greeks to do – to give a mandate to their second-tier personnel which is so encrusted in old habits that one cannot scrub it off even if one tried.

I thought nothing in Greek politics would surprise me anymore and make me feel amazed, but I am proven mistaken. The “safety”, “stability”, “experience” is what is being sold as the solution, a solution provided for by the same people who provided it for the last 20 years and ruined everything. These fallacies may be scary, but they don’t have to be. Here are my theses. And I hasten to say that these views are purely personal.



Greece needs a shake-up

To slightly amend Jack Nicholson’s Joker comment in the 1989 Batman film, I say “this political system needs an enema”. Greek politics need a shake up more than it needs anything else. The current structure of two leading parties holding the absolute majority in the Parliament in an alternate manner and a handful of “nice to have” parties filling in the rest of the seats must end. If the two leading parties get an approval to form a Government between themselves, which in itself would be a practical first, then Greeks will have no excuse anymore. They have seen where these two parties have brought the country – and they will have approved them.

According to opinion polls, about 80 % of Greeks want Greece to stay in the European Union and in Euro. I agree with many of my friends and disagree with some: no party, apart from communists and Golden Dawn would take upon themselves the departure of Greece from the Union. They all are pro-euro, pro-EU when they get between the rock and the hard place. And this will inform their position on the rescue package conditions. Whatever they say prior to elections is electoral posturing.

Past behaviour is not a good tool for predicting political actions and policies of parties in tight situations. Do not forget that six months ago New Democracy was against the Stability Pact and rescue measures yet voted for it. Pasok was fully in favour of the measures as proposed by creditors, but now claims to be in a position to renegotiate them and to be in favour of policies it did not even look at four months ago. The past cannot not tell us much about an alternative future. It tells us what didn’t work.

The stability and safety will come through political process that ends in compromise. Greek system must learn this. It is possible as it has happened in other countries. It is time that collaborative, programme-based politics will overtake the demagogic populism which leads to changing positions and views every three months as we have seen in the past 18 months. At least Greeks should aim there.



We need to create more space in Greek politics

The most plausible alternative to the existing Greek State capitalist model is based on two axis: liberal markets and competitive private sector. Being in favour of the rescue package alone doesn’t make one neoliberal or liberal in any way. I find it extraordinary that parties from centre left and centre right, which have made Greece a State economy with heavier public sector than in any other EU Member State, could ever be called neoliberals. It just is not in their soul. In order to create the real alternative to this, one first need to make space for the alternative to come forward.

This space can be created with a vote that will leave New Democracy and Pasok with less than 150 seats in the Parliament. Less than 150 seats ensures that there will be at least some sort of a negotiation of the Governmental programme between three or more parties. This is achievable, but it requires voters to back the small parties in full, because as those who fully understand the intricacies of the Greek electoral law can confirm, the votes for parties which don’t make it to the Parliament will benefit the largest winners. In reality therefore, all votes for small parties that are unsuccessful on 6 May will make life of New Democracy and Pasok easier. If I am mistaken about the dynamics of the law, then the objective will become slightly less difficult.

Having a Government with three to six parties does not mean bad governance. It means discussion, planning, programming and compromise. That is a useful skill in life and should also be part of politics. Furthermore, it could mean that the Government is will remain afraid of its voters and not the other way around, as the case has been. For politicians to be on their toes is a very good exercise. They are liable to the voters, and they must not forget it.


As everyone can see from the above picture which reproduces the lowest and highest score/party from the last week’s polls (the last that will be published before the elections), the game is completely open. 20-25 % of electorate are undecided. A lot, if not everything, depends on them and their actions by the ballot box. What we know is that the young undecided are more likely to vote for small parties. The older undecided are more likely to choose either New Democracy or Pasok. If undecided fall into the hands of the old guard, Greeks prove that they are afraid of taking the future in their own hands, will have learned nothing and will get nowhere for quite some time. It is likely to be more of the same that Europe has seen to happen in Greece in the past years. Is that what Greece needs?

If they vote left, they will get more tax and demolition of what remains of the private sector. The leftist equation will not work otherwise. And even then, I am sure it will not work. One cannot programme an economy. Soviet Union tried and it failed. China tried and it didn’t work either. I don’t doubt that the Greek communists and leftists are smarter than their ideological forefathers, but it seems quite impossible to achieve what they didn’t during their 80 years of trials at the cost of the citizens. Second, wealth needs to be created by providing something with value for an exchange. This is most effectively done in the private sector. Churning zero will yield zero, no matter how many hands it changes. There is no value added in that business. Third, closing Greece down and separating it from the surrounding global economy will not provide a solution either. Greece is totally dependent on its trade.

If undecided vote far right, Greece will get the same as with the left, but the majority of people will also be upset that fascists are entering the political scene. What I don’t understand is that no one pays any attention to the 8-12% support to Stalinist communists in Greece but so many worried about 5% support to extreme right. Both are outright the same and equally dangerous. They both advocate State-led solutions, high taxes, limitations to private ownership and authoritarian control of individuals. That many in Greek intelligentsia found a safe haven in the communist camp during the junta and in years after it may explain this uncomfortable acceptance of KKE and extreme left in Greece. That doesn’t make it any better than Golden Dawn – and this must be said out loud. One cannot have it both ways.

In order to ensure that the vote goes to a useful and constructive end one should take a leap of faith and go liberal at the ballots. Two logical choices for disappointed exist: Drassi and slightly different Creation Again. I think that there is a fair chance that at least Drassi will make it to the Parliament. It may not be a perfect solution, but from those available with any experience in politics in Greece, it is the most consistent, logical and pro-market. That suffices.

If Greek voters can create as much as a hint of an alternative third pole, a liberal one, to oppose the two old State-parties and the unrealistic left and extreme right, then one can start creating a longer term solution by putting a new dynamic in motion in the Greek political system. Right now, no person from business or any “normal walk of life” in their right mind would enter politics in Greece. It simply is not an option. People are afraid to speak their minds. It should be at least possible for some of those who know about real life and its unpredictability to enter politics and also get elected. Today they all shy away from political limelight even if they could have a lot to give.



Cut the public sector and create a new Greece

Greek voters must realise that the country cannot keep operating at the same cost level as it has in the past. Spending more than one produces is both deferred taxation and ruining of the future opportunities of the next generation. Apart from Drassi no one wants to say this self-evidence. The richness must be created in a sustainable manner. Can Greek people tax themselves into prosperity? Can a man stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle?

In the end of the day, the whole Greek debt is to be paid by the private sector tax payers. All tax collected from public sector employees is money that originally comes from the private sector in form of tax. Public sector employees’ salaries are paid from private sector taxes. It is a fallacy to think that the public sector will somehow pay its share. Its share is already funded by the private sector as the Government has taken the money from the private sector to create the public one.

Increasing taxes and VAT will also make whatever little public sector produces or trades more expensive thus more difficult to sustain by the private sector. Every transaction of public sector will be taxed at a higher level (just as every transaction of the private sector would), increasing the costs public sector and thus increasing the deficit. At best, the tax increases are like the fool’s method of extending a short blanket: cut from one end and add the cut to the other. At worst, the seaming in this process shortens the blanket from the original. This nonsense must stop.

I have said this over and over again, and I will say it again. There are only four areas, where Government is needed: education, public health, defence and law enforcement. Even in these four, private sector operators can play a major role in reducing costs to tax payer and enabling healthy management of the national economy.

Everything else outside these four areas can be done equally well or better by private sector. Incompetence in private sector does not matter: should a company fail, it should fail as soon as possible so that the remaining wealth can return to the markets and consumers. Incompetence in Government is another matter and increases the tax burden. If something becomes too big (read : too expensive) to fail, and requires subsidies to stay afloat, everyone pays the price of this folly. And that what has happened in Greece.

Voters hold the key. Insecurity is not the right reason to stick to the past. That Greece survived the last 12 months as a country was more a result of lucky coincidences than of the abilities of its leadership and political elite. Greeks should not be afraid of trying something else for a change and taking the responsibility to manage their own lives instead of begging favours from Government.

[Kuchiki_Byakuya]

Ακόμα δεν είμαι σίγουρος για το τι θα ψηφίσω αλλά ξέρω πια εικόνα θα έχω στο μυαλό μου.

[ιστορικός mech-eng]

τι ωρα κλεινουν οι καλπες?

[Kuchiki_Byakuya]

τι ωρα κλεινουν οι καλπες?

7.

[fentayeen]

Ακόμα δεν είμαι σίγουρος για το τι θα ψηφίσω αλλά ξέρω πια εικόνα θα έχω στο μυαλό μου.

εγω παντως βρηκα και χρηση για το κωλοχαρτο της "χροισεισ αβγοισ, να ξαιβρωμισυ ω τωπος"