Tweet
The Sunset of Democracy? (photo: Aaron Logan)
While I was focusing on Obama, because this is an American political blog, the basic potential political impact of the referendum on the incumbent ruling parties/leaders in Europe was the same but much greater. While Europe’s handling of this crisis so far has been objectively terrible for any national leader facing an election soon, like French President Nicolas Sarkozy, continuing to kick the can down the road past the election is better politics than allowing the problem to unfold now. The point of my earlier post was to show how scary this one nation’s referendum was to those in power elsewhere.
This is why I’m not surprised that with the Greek referendum potentially so dangerous to so many global financial and political elites, they turned every tool they had towards killing the referendum quickly. It only took about five days but the elites got their way, the referendum is now dead.
For the financial elites and many of the world’s incumbent political leaders, their world is now safe from actual democracy.
52 Comments
But it ain’t safe from the impending fiscal implosion. Greece is going down, and it’s taking the credit default swaps with it, and there go the banks. All in plenty of time for OUR elections over here. (Forget whether it was Michael Hudson or Ron Susskind but yesterday one of the two predicted that the Euro will come apart within a year.)
“What’s the Greek word for shafted?” -RJ Eskow
πατήσαμε !!
Pronounced: pah TEE sah may
laffin’
Still watching Pap vote of confidence tonight. (Talk about Friday night data dumps.) I spose the fix is in & it’s all Greek kabuki.
He won.
Temporarily.
I don’t think I can stomach the spectacle of another ‘election.’ It’s never been clearer that it’s a mere formality/ inconvenience.
Not a surprise.
While Europe’s handling of this crisis so far has been objectively terrible for any national leader facing an election soon, like French President Nicolas Sarkozy…
Add Angela Merkel to the list…! Her CDP took a serious beating in the last local elections and it looks mighty grim for the upcoming federal elections to the Bundesrat…!
I got an advance copy of the agenda for the next western MOTU Meeting:
1) Re: Euro — save own arses
2) delete the following from the next issue of Webster’s Dictionary:
a) democracy
b) republic
c) populism
d) good government
3) schedule meeting with China to explain that the western MOTU have eliminated the aforementioned components of western society and will no longer pretend to be concerned about human rights, transparency, due process, etc.
4) adjourn
I am stunned…how is it that so many in the Greek Parliament can disregard
the voice of the Greek people ?
Does anyone know did the opposition leader vote against or for Pap ?
Well you know it’s not stunning cuz we have people in our congress from both political parties who can’t wait to a stump on ordinary Americans.
Does this mean more rioting in the streets in Greece ?
The people want to stay in the Eurozone.
They did it to us with TARP.
Exactly -
The Germans said no euro, then no EU. Plus they had a lot of other threats.
Germans threats do work.
The Greeks want to be “part of Europe”. They forget that they are better than the rest, and at least try for democracy.
Like our people don’t want any more government spending.
ANY referendum is scary to the MOTU I think. They know what’s best for
usthemselves after all…So if they want to stay in the Eurozone
why the protestation & rioting ?
I am sorry I haven’t paid much attention to the story in Greece.
Yes she gone and so is the party and when the German public votes again there will be NO money for this bailout of the elite. Amazing even the elite of German think this a bad deal.
Well, I don’t think we have heard the last from the Greek people.
They’re protesting the austerity but want to stay in the Eurozone — which will get them more austerity.
They simply don’t get it. Leaving would cause problems but not as great as staying.
See #15
Take heart, Jon. All they can do at this point is cut off one end of the blanket and sew it on the other in a continuingly more desperate effort to maintain the status quo.
But Asia will not bail them out.
We are out of the ability/willingness to take on more debt.
100 countries throughout the world ARE NOT ACCEPTING DOLLARS.
It will crash and burn.
Viva la human race!
Speaking of Greece by the way:
Capitulation: 60 House DEMOCRATS Embrace Austerity, Sign-Off on Medicare Cuts, Defunding Government
In case nobody’s heard, we’re joining them
Hell, we’re leading the way.
i believe the greek opposition was the conservative party and their primary objection to the austerity deal was that it didn’t cut taxes
now there is “consensus” among the greek politicos the same way there is “consensus” beaming american republicans and democrats that austerity is necessary
just like here, the elected leaders in greece have become utterly divorced from the people they purportedly represent
greece is close to breaking down as a polity
in fairness, maybe some of the greek leaders figure they should just shut up until the eurocrats give them the next welfare payment
i’m beginning to get the impression that everyone knows the end is near for greece
i just hope there is some preparation underway for an orderly default: first thing greece should do is get iceland on the phone for advice
Have you read through the comments? Kos still has a robust core of users who will defend any Democrat for anything at any time, just by virtue of a “D” instead of an “R”. I ran into one of those people today who tried to feed me the line about how they’re outnumbered in the House and how every vote in the Senate requires 60 votes, (yeah, I know. But I understand the rules, the person I was talking to did not), and how Obama is really, really trying to work on our behalf but has been stymied at every turn. He didn’t want to hear it when I pointed out that for the first two years of his administration, the Democrats supposedly had a filibuster proof caucus in the Senate and an enormous advantage in the House and they weren’t any more effective at advancing the values they claim to embrace than they are now. When he asked if I was a Republican, I said “Nope. I’m a fucking retard from the Professional Left™”, and I showed him my card. I think I made an impression on him though. He’s certainly a supporter of OWS.
I was definitely hoping he would lose. Right now I have absolutely no use what so ever for anyone in power either here or in Europe.
And there is nothing I would rather see than the elites both here and in Europe IN CHAINS.
I know. Like Ecan said “politics is a team sport now”. I had a run in with a bot the other night. He didn’t have a clue that it’s the Dems breaking the whole New Deal and doing it while their slavish adoration punks them and they go to the ballot and sign their lives away.
America is OVAH.
But Harry Potter’s on and I’m going to enjoy the moment and my new kitten. fug ‘em.
Boiled in oil.
Hung by their thumbs.
Drawn and quartered.
Garrotted.
And proud of it.
Damn proud.
I still love Pappy’s referendum gambit. The very idea. Yeah so the plutocrats and likely Pappy himself slammed the car door on our fingers with that one, but still. The notion that the people could/should have a say WON’T be forgotten.
I don’t know if I’d call this guy a ‘bot. He’s a consumer of traditional media. Reads the newspaper, watches the Sunday shows, a smattering of cable news and local news thrown in. He’s a product of that environment. I gave him to some urls to look at.
Yep. That just cranks up the OWS spotlight some more.
“For the financial elites and many of the world’s incumbent political leaders, their world is now safe from actual democracy.” Well said.
I’m a little behind the curve on all things FDL …
I keep getting the feeling from jon walker that I’m reading mcjoan ??
greece could cost 0-sell-0ut the election? HUH?
what about AHIP-Care and AIG-Care?
the guy’s only HOPE is that the thugs nominate PalinPerryCainMichelle Batshit Crazy – other than bots – who gives a shit if he’s reelected?
then he’ll be able to fuck me on medicare the way tip o’neil did on social security?
rmm
The guy I talked to probably gets ALL his nooz from MSNBC. He really doesn’t know how to get his points across and bullies instead of talking. Don’t worry, I was “articulate and clean”.
Nobody gets in my face like that with low-info points to boot and doesn’t get his ass kicked
Yeah, I don’t get it either unless Goldman Sachs withdrew 0′s funding.
There’s a part of me that just wants to hand the whole thing back to the R’s and let them take the consequences for a change instead of letting this guy destroy the democratic party once and for all. Plus, I don’t think he wants it anyway. He’s done his damage, now it’s somebody else’s turn to fuck US.
I’m pretty sick to my stomach right now. Not looking forward to life in the ditch
Papandreou agrees to be forced out if he’s not voted out…
– Balkingpoints / www
a couple of things about the probably inevitable ditch …
when Raygun was elected I was 20 and I expected Blade Runner, Running Man, Robo Cop & Mad Max – for some reason, we keep dodging the bullet. our luck will continue!! (ummm… well …)
I can NOT and will NEVER vote thug in a general – they’re fascists. I have voted in thug primaries to mess with things – in ’80 I was living in my home state of MA. & the kennedy carter thing was hot and happening – I voted in the thug primary, instead of the Dem primary, and I voted for GWB senior cuz I thought raygun was a completely dangerous liar … yawn … thanks, tip o’neil, for being bipartisan with Raygun… not.
IF palin-bachman-perry-grover wins in 2012, it won’t be with my vote – given how completely apathetic and fucking complacent the population is, I think a faster trip to Tahrir square is a better bet for a 51 year old, cuz, when I’m 61 and 71 there will be less time and fewer ways for me to mitigate the evil of the fuckers.
oh well –
ttfn.
rmm
Boy, you think it would be bad to let the Greeks vote on bailing out the banks, just think how the French and Germans would vote.
Lesson learned by all of us in 2008 – stamp it on your forehead -
Don’t bail out crooked banks!
Jon; good thread and good call.
We need some “austerity” for bankers…the best kind.
Let them make do with Hatteras 52′s, instead of 73′s.
Goddamn right, folks. Firebaggers RULE! :o)
I think we may see the “referendum” move into the streets of Athens.
Who are these elites? In public Sarkozy and Merkel stamp their feet, and frown at Greece, and say if they ask the people for their opinion on the bailout of Greek Banks or whoever is really being bailed out, then they will be kicked out of the EU. In secret, the CIA issues orders for drone attacks against those who don’t even count as much as the Greek people, they just get obliterated. Democracy is basically the rule of the mob,
demos means The Mob, I’m guessing this doesn’t mean the Mafia it means the proletariat. The citizenry that are fighting for democracy, Arab Spring, Indignados, OWS whatever name they go by are being crushed because they cannot articulate clearly what is required to rid the planet of the oligarchical monetarist system once and for all. Reinstate Glass Steagall globally, and that will put the too big to fail banks straight into bankruptcy protection. The bailouts will be annulled and the United States Congress could legitimately utter credit under Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution which would restore the states back to normal, and finance gigantic, generationally spanning, infrastructure project such as NAWAPA and get NASA back up and running. The US could form alliances with first of all Russia and China so that under the terms of the treaty credit could be uttered for these sovreign nations to get on with their own infrastructure projects, and once that was established plus a New Bretton Woods, fixed exchange rate, the worlds other sovreign nations could join the alliance and get themselves together, to grow their economies and our civilization as a species, i.e. mankind, would evolve.
We would be able to come with creative ideas to increase our energy production so that productivity which results in a wealthy healthy economy, would increase exponentially per head per square kilometer.
Sane heads can and will prevail, I pray that this simple way out of World War Three will be adopted right away, it will make things carry on and will not result in the extinction of the human race.
Did anyone think the referendum would really happen?
I watched a “man on the street” BBC segment the other day and surprise, surprise, all the interviewed Greek people gave the Euro a big thumbs up.
Pappy’s call for a referendum was in fact a kill switch. The Greek people have been served with their marching orders.
As if everything is fixed now!
What bankers want, bankers get. And they are only gaining in power.
The funny thing is that the referendum would be a choice between a 50% default now followed by the remaining 50% after a “decent interval”, or a 100% default now.
Why the uproar?
I see “progressive” John Garamendi on that list. So much for supporting him for reelection …
For now. This will not always be the case. The cycle is turning.
The Greeks have indeed been served their marching orders. And they’re marching on Parliament. It is foolish indeed for the European elite to believe that the Greeks will simply knuckle under to their arrogant demands.
The same goes for the Spanish, the Italians, the Irish, the French, the English…