Parts of Athens were on fire as Greek political leaders voted and passed an "austerity" measure which will result in eurozone members sending Greece another bailout package which will, as Joe Stiglitz explained, end up in the hands of the banksters.
The rioters didn't riot for free markets and less regulation which would allow for increased production. They simply want the filthy lucre directed their way.
Greece will become a wasteland. Destroyed by banksters and socialists.
Of course they won't be rioting for liberty and free markets! Socialist societies get stuck in a vicious circle where objective economic thought does not get a chance to get spread. I grew up just across Greece's northern border. Greece was supposed to be the "last line of defense" against communism, so they were fed US and EU aid for decades which allowed socialism to flourish there. In such a society, Adam Smith, FA Hayek or Ludwig von Mises are unwelcome figures. The only sort of thought that gets to thrive is Marxian. At the same time this causes the potential entrepreneurial class to flee the country (which is why so many Greeks are successful businesspeople in America), resulting in a phenomenon of Negative Selection.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of austerity and Greece, the new rulers of Greece are looking to 'privatise' Greece's state energy company.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally the huge "Leviathan" natural gas field off shore between (Greek) Cyprus and Israel (the world's second largest) needs to find a non-Arab / non-Turkish route to the EU gas marketplace. In recent news the key Arab Gas Pipeline route city of Homs, Syria is now a mess.
See here, here,