The Two Big Lies
Dispatch #2
From Wisconsin to Greece
Part of a set.
THE TWO BIG FAT LIES
1) The current financial crisis in Greece was caused by social programs
2) The average worker in Greece lives well. "High on the hog"
Translation: shut off the news ~ Thessaloniki (Salonica), Greece
How does this relate to the U.S. you might ask?
Look at what people like Scott Walker, Rick Snyder and all the other hardline neoconservatives are doing.
Look at the justifications they use.
The lines of reasoning.
Look at how these situations relate.
I won't give you the answers, but I will point out the facts and let you draw conclusions.
We are all in this together.
There are uprisings in different places, under different conditions, playing out in different ways.
Each of these uprisings represent the same fundamental inequality.
There are more humans than ever.
Resources stretch thinner and thinner.
The ultra rich grab more and more.
The rest of us have to make do with less and less.
2% of the population controls over 80% of the wealth.
They don't want to give it up and so we are left with crumbs..
But we have more mouths to feed every day, and the crumbs only go so far.
This article is about the arguments this tiny super privileged percentage use to try and convince us, AND themselves, that we should accept less while they take more.
MORE, when we don't have enough.
MORE, when they have too much already.
All across the world, people are rising up and saying: NO!! OXI!!
This is not enough.
Give back what you stole.
It is time for YOU to share.
You cannot take more than we can give.
...
My aunt grinned at me.
“This is how it always is Odysseas”
She was smoking a cigarette across the white plastic table from me.
Part of a set.
Four chairs and a table, the omnipresent white plastic patio furniture that seems to adorn every Grecian patio, veranda and porch in the nation. In one sat my aunt, another my cousin, another my uncle and the last myself.
Smoke drifted from her cigarette as she tapped it on the ash tray in front of her.
“One person is to blame and the other pays.”
With a sigh she put the cigarette out and continued.
“They (the politicians) ate the money and now we (the people) pay the bill.”
I replied
“People in America are being told, even by relatively left of center people like John Stewart, that your financial crisis was caused by the people getting social services like state run retirement… That basically, the cause of the crisis is the social programs here.”
My aunt leaned forward and responded
“The cause of the problem is not that we get too much from the government. I’ve worked all my life paying into my retirement. I run my salon by myself, I own my own business and every day I pay in to a fund for my retirement… Do you know what they will give me when I retire?”
“No, what?”
“600 euro a month… Do you know what it costs to eat for a month if you never go out and make the most of what you get? About 400 Euro… At very least… The cost of everything has tripled. Then rent, say at least another 400 euro. Do you know what that means? That means no matter the fact that I have paid in all my life I can’t live and I have to keep working until I drop. That’s not even counting everything else. The cost of living is very high.”
I leaned forward and asked puzzled
“So.. What you are saying is that you won't get enough to survive in the end, even though retirement can come relatively early?”
She lit another cigarette and replied
“Exactly. So the average worker pays in, then doesn’t take as much out, then has to keep working anyway… What I mean to say by this is that we don’t really get much of anything from the government, and what we do get doesn’t work very well.”
I sat back in my chair and sighed.
“That sounds a lot like the same resentment that some people have against public sector workers in Wisconsin… They get a retirement fund if they pay in… Except that you guys don’t even get a functional one… So what IS the problem then?”
She grinned again and said
“One person eats the money and another pays the bill. The government disappeared tremendous amounts of money. You remember the money we got from the European Union to build roads? Well, we didn’t get too many roads. The overhead lost to corruption was so high that there wasn’t much left over to pay for the roads themselves.”
My cousin laughed and interjected
“Did you know that a plane sold in the Germany (I think it was Germany, I didn’t catch that part) for 15,000 euro costs the people 26,000 euro to buy because of corruption. The pricetag becomes inflated because all the corrupt officials take a cut.”
My aunt nodded and said
“The real problem is two things, corruption and the insecurity it causes leading to people hiding their transactions. The corruption makes the government ineffective and the ineffectiveness of the government makes people hide their transactions to try and protect themselves.”
She paused to ash her cigarette, the smoke drifting up in the still afternoon air, then she continued.
“In this way, the people are somewhat to blame for the situation, but it’s not that simple. The real problem lies in the government officials and big business. The fact that they eat the money that would give the people security and power the economy is the root of the problem. It starts a cycle that is inescapable. We pay very high taxes but do not see the results.”
To this I chuckled and said
“Big business indeed. Do you know Goldman-Sachs? One of the big companies that fleeced the American people?”
“Yes”
“You know where they went after they robbed us? Greece. They did something similar here.”
My uncle laughed.
“That’s how it always is Odyssea. One person is to blame, and another pays the bill.”
…
Poster ~ Syntagma Square ~ Athens Greece
In Greece the gross inefficiency and loss of funds due to corruption has driven a financial collapse of epic proportions.
The EU gave Greece money to develop infrastructure and the people never saw any results.
Money for roads evaporated before it hit the ground.
Every corrupt official and big business along the way took their cut, until there was barely anything left.
Highways stand half built. End dates indeterminate.
The roads are only one example amongst many.
This extreme level of corruption and inefficiency leads to Greece’s tremendous shadow economy. The people hide their money because they never see any results. It’s just one more funnel into the pockets of the ultra rich and big foreign business.
There was a saying I heard on TV in Greece.
A comedian pretending to be Papandreou, the Prime Minister of Greece.
He is giving a speech and fumbling for words searching amongst cue cards attached by strings to his body.
“Together we ate the money and…. Um.. Uh… Together we ate the money and together… Ah.. Hang on I have it written here somewhere. Together we ate the money and to.. To to to.. Together we will… Ah… No, hang on.. Together we ate the money and you guys will pay for it.”
The comedian playing PM Papandreou sits down relieved.
“Ah. But don’t be worried. From great trouble comes reward. A reward from the people. A great reward for the Greek people. Oh.. Hang on. I forgot what it is. I have a card for it.”
He fumbles through his cue cards, sifting through them… Finally, he pulls out a card hidden in the crotch of his pants attached by a short string and holding it down there he reads…
“Ah, here it is. From great difficulty comes great reward. The Greek peoples reward is opposite this card.”
Reward indeed.
Together we ate it, you guys pay the bill...
One of the government bigwigs known for using the term "Together we ate it, together we will pay", was eating at a restaurant.
This official happens to be an overweight fellow who has, during the financial crisis awarded himself and his buddies increases in pay.
He ordered a big meal with all kinds of food... A big fish... Lot's of stuff..
Expenses which of course would be charged to the government.
When his back was turned, a group of protesters snuck in and started eating the feast.
He turned around to discover that, to his shock and outrage, his meal was being eaten by the protesters.
He asked them what the hell they were doing and they replied
"Together we paid for it, we want to eat some of it too!"
So, here we are. In a fine mess.
The “left of center” party PASOK is in the pocket of big business and the right wing party New Democracy eagerly ready to snatch the reins is insane and far far worse.
No solution in sight.
No solution for the people.
This leads to uprisings like what we see in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and America (especially Wisconsin)
Can a global uprising lead to a global movement ~ Syntagma Square ~ Athens, Greece
The problem in Greece is the same as the problem as everywhere.
The rich kept getting richer until there wasn’t enough for anybody else.
Now, society sputters and coughs, starved for air, choked by the ultra rich and titanic meta-national corporations.
Now, they have most of the money, society is starting to not function, and they won’t give up even a drop.
Not until we are begging for water and bread.
Not until we have nothing and they have everything.
But as always...
As with every tyrant drunk on power.
They forget one vital fact.
Their money might give them power.
But there are more of us.
And there is power in numbers.
We are all in this together.
Part of a set.
Screw us and we multiply.
SHINE project light graffiti ~ Madison, Wisconsin, USA
In solidarity,
Odysseas
Parts 2.5, 3 and 4 coming soon.
“The Third Lie”
and
“Walkerville to Greekville”
and
“There’s power in the people, there’s power in a strike.”