From the Times of London: “The President of Greece warned last night that his country stood on the brink of the abyss after three people were killed when an anti-government mob set fire to the Athens bank where they worked.”
Almost right. They were not an “anti-government” mob, but a government mob, a mob comprised largely of civil servants. That they are highly uncivil and disinclined to serve should come as no surprise: they’re paid more and they retire earlier, and that’s how they want to keep it. So they’re objecting to austerity measures that would end, for example, the tradition of 14 monthly paycheques per annum. You read that right: the Greek public sector cannot be bound by anything so humdrum as temporal reality. So, when it was mooted that the “workers” might henceforth receive a mere 12 monthly paycheques per annum, they rioted. Their hapless victims—a man and two women—were a trio of clerks trapped in a bank when the mob set it alight and then obstructed emergency crews attempting to rescue them.
Read the rest. It will send shivers down your spine.
Steyn pulls no punches. This is brilliant and frightening.
ReplyDeleteHow many times can it be said, "Steyn nails it."
ReplyDelete"They cannot mitigate their deathbed demography through immigration, because, even more so than Canada and the rest of Europe, the only foreigners with any incentive to head there are those who either want to lounge around on welfare or plot jihad at taxpayer expense"
"As I pointed out in my bestselling hate crime America Alone four years ago..."
ReplyDeleteGawd, I love Steyn. Do you think the EU will collapse? I think he nailed it too, Fay.
Steyn's description of the 14 month's pay and retirement benefits in Greece reminded me of the same situation in Italy. In the job I had before the one I have now, I was responsible for the compensation and benefits for our offices in France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Japan and Australia.
ReplyDeleteItaly has exactly the same set up as Greece, employees get 14 months salary a year. Plus if you want to lay them off or fire them you have to pay severance based on 14 months worth of salary. Once the employee has been there a certain length of time (maybe 5 years?) they are allowed to receive a no interest, non taxable, loan from their employer worth up to 50% of what their severance pay would be. And believe me, EVERYONE is entitled to severance pay (= to one month for each year of service) regardless of why they are leaving.
I hope the world realizes pretty quickly that mommy and daddy are not paying for everything anymore.
ReplyDelete"Removing the state from health care brings down prices? Who knew? This New York Times is presumably entirely unrelated to the New York Times that’s spent the last year arguing for the governmentalization of U.S. health care as a means of controlling costs."
ReplyDeleteCan't you just hear him saying this? It is chilling. I think people here have realized that we're heading in the same direction and are finally scared enough to shed their apathy and take action.
From what I understand, this latest bill that's being pushed through down partisan lines gives the executive branch more control over financial institutions. And yet not Freddy & Fanny?? WTH?? They played such a large part in the housing market collapse, I was stunned when I heard they are excluded from the repercussions of this new legislation? Did I miss something?
We also had to "bribe" government officials in order to close the office, disconnect the phone service, cancel the electricity contract, etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteWe were also entitled to a VAT refund but the only way to ever see any money refunded was to "sell" the refund (at a discounted rate of course) to a "buyer."
Then, a full six years after we filed the final tax return for the Italian office (which was probably a good eight years after it closed)we received a "re-evaluation" notice from the Italian government who demanded paper records of every transaction that had occured over the past twenty five years (yeah, sure) and if we didn't comply they would fine us 25 x 500, however if we didn't comply and just admitted guilt they would let us off with a penalty of only 10 x 500.
ReplyDeleteCorrupt bastards.
Fay, I had no idea it was that bad. I truly hope people stay angry long enough to clear out the pols we have in place now.
ReplyDelete"I hope the world realizes pretty quickly that mommy and daddy are not paying for everything anymore."
Let's just hope we AREN'T paying. That's what scares me. And isn't the Greek PM going to try to sue US banks for their own woes?
Jaysus, I hope the "progressives" are getting a good look at what their pipe dream pans out to be.
"We also had to "bribe" government officials in order to close the office, disconnect the phone service, cancel the electricity contract, etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteWe were also entitled to a VAT refund but the only way to ever see any money refunded was to "sell" the refund (at a discounted rate of course) to a "buyer."
Fay, that is sickening. I have to admit I'm glad I'm not a 20-something just starting out in the world :-(