The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    jollyroger's picture

    We can't pay! We won't pay!

    By jollyroger on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 4:42pm |

    Facing extractions of capital more or less equivalent to the Versailles Treaty reparations (once creating a flow in the opposite direction, so to speak) the Greek people have voted for a parliament in which 60% of the votes will belong to anti-bailout parties.

     

    Whether a workable coalition emerges from this caldron of cross complaints and resentments or whether a further election in two months is called, the message to Berlin is unmistakable.

     

    Coupled with the Hollande victory in France, not to mention the fall of the Dutch government last week, a loud "Fuck the Banks" echoes across Europe.

    Comments

    I suspect that this is just the beginning. By the time the rout is finished, Merkel's attempt to use austerity to bring Europe closer together will look even dumber than it already does.

    But I wonder how the dynamic will ultimately play out. Two antithetical forces are reaping benefits from the conservatives' fall: liberals who oppose Berlin's economic dictates and nationalists who oppose Brussels' social and political dictates. Call it Hollande vs. Le Pen. They won't mix very well once the conservatives are out.


    by Michael Wolraich on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 7:02pm

    nationalists who oppose Brussels' social and political dictates

    eg,Geert Wilders..

    The short term rubber will meet the road in Greece in a couple of weeks when the next bailout tranche is up for qualification

    The CDS's (written by US Banks?) triggered on the last round of restructuring, and there is a hint that the Troika thinks they have quarantined Greece enough that a drachma for euro exit won't bring down the rest of the enterprise. This will make them tougher negotiators when  Samaras tries to get them to unbox the Acropolis and put it back where it was...


    by jollyroger on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 7:13pm

    e.g, Syriza vs Golden Dawn


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 1:49pm

    significantly, right and left both represent a pushback against the cost shift to the working class. of the mistakes of capital.

    by jollyroger on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 2:14am

    Jolly said the 'f' word and you just ignored it!

    ha


    by Richard Day on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 2:49am

    Nobody likes a snitch, pal...

    by jollyroger on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 4:45am

    The f-word ain't illegal. We just don't like to put it on the front page.


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 12:36pm

    Besides, if you took away the f-word, how would Jolly communicate? I mean, sure, he still has the p-word, the s-word, the d-word, and the z-word, but you'd seriously be compromising his art…


    by Verified Atheist on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 12:56pm

    The z-word is actually illegal.


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 1:46pm

    Zut!


    by Donal on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 2:10pm

    jollyroger - the Alfred Jarry of Dagblog. 


    by Elusive Trope on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 2:20pm

    Donal, don't make me tell to Destor spank you again.


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 8:02pm

    Zounds!!


    by Donal on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 8:08pm

    Whooooooo?


    by Michael Maiello on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 8:57pm

    Yes, you may spank him now.


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 11:13pm

    The French just went socialist!

    ....this caldron of cross complaints

    I have no idea what this new French election tells me!

    If you look deeply into the 'Tea Bag movement' you will find that teabaggers hated Wall Street and the bailout!

    There is something happening here, and I (we) don't know what it is!

    After all the current encumbrante who has just been voted out of office was not French!

    I don't know.

    Cable is saying that 'austerity' is the answer! That is Europe has fallen somehow into austerity!

    And the peasants are revolting!

    Actually, all of us peasants are revolting.

    That is why we are never invited to celebrity galas!

     


    by Richard Day on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 7:26pm

    they didn't exactly fall into austerity it was more like thelma and louise

    by jollyroger on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 8:34pm

    hahahahahahaahah

    I hereby, easily render unto Jolly the Dayly Line of the Day Award for this here Dagblog Site; given to all of him from all of me.

    Thelma and Louise!

    YOUBETCHYA!

    hahahahahahah


    by Richard Day on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 8:38pm

    Guardian on Hollande:

    Hollande suggested they would come from the richest 5%: "If there are sacrifices to be made, and there will be, then it will be for the wealthiest to make them".The plank of his manifesto was making the tax system fairer — raising the tax bracket for the highest earners favoured under Sarkozy. He focused on education and youth, promising 60,000 new jobs in schools and 150,000 state-aided jobs for youth, as well as help for small start-up companies. The banking industry will be forced to draw a line between its speculative financial market operations and the more traditional role of using savers' deposits to finance industry and the economy...

    Sacre Bleu! Socialists taxing the rich! How absurd! And the banks cannot play at the casino!

    Who will imbibe the haute vintages of France?  I mean the $350 bottles of Jayer-Gilles 2004 Echezeaux Grand Cru wine?

    Only Republicans being feted by DC lobbyists?

    Rep. Ryan (R-Wi), chairman of the House Budget Committee may be the only one left to buy and scoff down $350 bottles of French wine!


    by NCD on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 9:08pm

    45% on income over €150K, 75% on income over €1 million.

    And this money should go to bail out Greece, Italy, Spain & Portugal?

    [gone are those Berlusconi pool parties for underage girls, I guess... or else Hollande will be paying for them? If only Sarkozy had just nationalized the Libyan oilfields]

    It's rather a mistake to compare France too closely to the US.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 7:17am

    Italian playwright Dario Fo  wrote a play in the mid-Seventies entitled "We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!  Perhaps it's time for a revival. 

     


    by MrSmith1 on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 7:34pm

    It's CAN'T PAY? WON'T PAY! which became "we can't. pay, we won't. pay " when. done. by. the. San Francisco mime troupe

    by jollyroger on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 8:31pm

    Asian stocks down 2-1/2%.

    by jollyroger on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 12:54am

    pro austerity 149. 151 needed to govern

    by jollyroger on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 2:03am

    Greece: highest per capita arms budget. in world? WTF?!!

    u

    by jollyroger on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 2:21am

    Greek joke: summit in Athens, Merkel lands. Customs Guy: Name? Merkel: Angela Merkel C.G.: Occupation? Merkel: Not this time, just visiting.

    by jollyroger on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:16am

    Greece is small enough that it can safely pull an Iceland, default, restructure and get back to growth.  What's got the ECB scared is the example that might be set.  The Irish might start asking why they're suffering unnecessarily.  Spain and Italy could follow suit.  The Euro zone needs a massive debt write down.  The bankers want to stop it from happening.  But maybe the people can force the issue.


    by Michael Maiello on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 3:01pm

    what specially chaps the. grits is the paper that is being defended arose as an incident of bailing out the. banks!

    by jollyroger on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 10:51pm