| Author | Message | ||
     Hootowl |
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487042 40004575084853361540506.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETop Stories socialism always ends at the barrel of a gun. | ||
| Rwven |
It could happen here. | ||
| Midknyte |
Could? I can't say I believe that we have that much resolve anymore... | ||
| Bosh |
"Government austerity". Sounds like the Greek government is going in the right direction to me. | ||
| B00stzx3 |
I agree. We should get rid of these public roads and public schools pronto. Next thing ya know we'll be in bread lines. | ||
| Buellkowski |
Greece is a parliamentary democracy in which a social-democratic party currently (as of 2009) holds a slight majority of seats in parliament. In 1974, 1977, 1990, 2004 and again in 2007 the center-right (conservative) New Democracy party won parliamentary elections and represented the government in power. Since the end of the military junta in 1974, Greece has had a strong two-party (liberal/conservative) political system. The current protests against austerity measures come as a result of Greece's attempt to abide by their EU debt-level commitments after the recent global economic downturn coupled with chronic overspending by both conservative and liberal governments. This story may be a cautionary tale, but certainly not because of "socialism." | ||
| Liquorwhere |
It may not be "socialism" to you, but did you read the article? Planes were shut down due to the "air controller union", papers were not printed due to the strike of the "journalist union" and in the end their signs read keep your hands off our benefits. Seems so very close to a socialist society to me, everything unionized, the "poor" civil servants that will fight to keep their benefits regardless of whether or not it is sustainable, just keep providing for ME...lol...seems like socialism..but hey..maybe it isn't.... | ||
| Danger_dave |
You guys have had worse trouble after Football matches. | ||
| Hootowl |
The current government is socialist. The voters put them in power. This means greater than half the voting population are socialist. The unions are fighting tooth and nail to stop the attempt at economic sanity. They want to keep on spending on their benefit/entitlement programs at the expense of what's left of the wealthy. This is the mentality of the majority of the citizenry. I'm calling it a socialist country, regardless of what current/former political groups chose to label themselves. I did post it as a cautionary tale. We're swiftly heading in the same direction. | ||
| Liquorwhere |
You guys have had worse trouble after Football matches. We have? hm...I thought that was only in European Football matches....I must have missed that one. | ||
| Danger_dave |
There were some big riots after a College football game - don't recall where either. It's on You Tube somewhere. Molitovs, Police cars overturned - whole deal. (Message edited by danger_dave on February 24, 2010) | ||
| Hootowl |
Yep. And their team had WON the game. I think it was Chicago, or somewhere in the midwest. This is what passes for a celebration in some circles. I don't think it was college though. | ||
| Danger_dave |
There was a smaller scale riot in Newcastle NSW when they closed a pub. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
"The journalists' union also took part, so there were no reports of the strike on Greek television, and no newspapers were scheduled to be published Thursday. " priceless | ||
| Danger_dave |
| ||
| Drkside79 |
Riots in Chicago... Hmm lets see after the Bulls won people flipped some cars. Other than that I believe 68 Democratic convention. Please try again.... | ||
| Peter |
Greece's issues mainly come from the national sport of tax avoidance and public servant corruption. | ||
| Hootowl |
Yeah, I wouldn't call it a riot. Riotous behavior maybe. Might not have been Chicago either. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
One has to wonder why so many people are employed by the government. The single largest increase in jobs and salaries in the US are for government employment. Seems to be a troubling trend here. See Greece. | ||
| Blake |
I'm for considering the getting rid of public schools part, at least the ones that perform below average. Just give each family the same $8,000 per student that is now spent on average for public schools and let them choose where they'd like to send their children to school. Problem solved. Competition rules. Better schools garner more business, just like the better universities do. | ||
| Danger_dave |
There are a few to choose from - one of the 2002 ones sounds about the time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_riots | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Buellkowski hit the nail on the head. If the Greeks don't live up to their Euro comittments they're going to be in even worse trouble than they are now. All this is typical Union knee jerk reaction, we get it in France too, albeit to a lesser degree. It's a mediterranean thing it seems, perhaps it's all that sun. | ||
| Sifo |
Greece is a parliamentary democracy in which a social-democratic party currently (as of 2009) holds a slight majority of seats in parliament. You are describing their style of government. Socialism is an economic theory. Their economy is a socialist economy. Our economy is heading that direction at breakneck speed. Expect breakdown of our system as a result. Violence will follow. It's as sure as reading history. | ||
| Buellkowski |
Sifo, I see no evidence of the Greek economy being anything other than market-oriented. What do you mean when you wrote "their economy is a socialist economy"? | ||
| Sifo |
It's already been summarized in this thread with the unions and government benefits. A high percentage of the employees are civil servants, etc. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Its not a party until the dumpsters are burning.... | ||
| Cravacor |
I didn't see anything in the article about guns or the end of socialism. It did say the cops tear gassed about 20 kids who got out of control (1/10th of 1% of the protesters). The article also states their unemployment is 10%, no different than the US & better than some parts of the US for sure. Tax evasion & protesting are national pass times in Greece, this is really nothing unusual. All you folk bithing about unions are also opposed to 8 hour work days & 5 day work weeks, I suppose.  | ||
| Throttlepansy |
The current government is socialist. The voters put them in power. This means greater than half the voting population are socialist. ...Depends on the turn out. In the last UK election, I think there was something pathetic like a 53% turn-out, AFAIR, which meant that B.Liar's party got their majority from about 24% of the population.... | ||
| Nobuell |
Blake Vouchers are not always the answer. It sounds good in principle but it is much more complicated. My wife teaches 4th grade at an inner city school in Hammond Indiana. Her school is well funded and has some very good teachers. However, in many cases to kids and parents are a big problem. Many of the kids come into 1st grade way behind. Most of the parents will not participate, facilitate homework, properly feed the kids or make the kids attend school. There are many kids that move back and forth between school districts on a regular basis. Getting a report card signed is a month long process. Books are always getting lost (The school replaces for free). They are lucky to get 15% of the class to pass the IN standard tests. The others are many grades behind. In addition to the above she will have 15-20% of the kids that have behavioral issues and another group of kids that have learning disabilities. Most of the kids that have learning disabilities never get help because the school district is overwhelmed. Add in another group of kids that barley speak english and parents that speak no english. As you can see it is not a simple as sending vouchers. These same kids will have the same needs and problems. Vouchers may work in suburban communities, but I believe most of the problems will be the inner city schools serving large populations. I am not saying there are not some bad teachers or administrations, but things can get very complicated in the inner city schools. | ||
| Nobuell |
Blake I agree with minimizing the public roads. The toll road system in Illinois has for the most part very well maintained roads. The roads are upgraded on a regular basis when traffic becomes a problem. Tolls are a perfect point of use tax. Don't like the tolls, then take the side roads. |
