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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Opinion -> 
Chaos begins at the bottom
    2012-06-18  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    Jeff Byrne

    jeffszdaily@yahoo.com

    VOTERS in Greece turned out at the polls yesterday in an election that could decide the future of the European Union.

    Greek people are hurting from the strict austerity that has had businesses shut down, throwing people out of work en masse. Lines at soup kitchens lengthen, health care is failing and suicides are on the increase. Nobody is being paid — except the banks.

    There are those of us who have yet to be convinced that borrowing money to pay a debt makes any sense. Unless you are a banker, of course.

    Spain has followed Greece by accepting a bailout from EU taxpayers and the Spanish people will have to repay these loans, with borrowing costs now rising toward 7 percent, which is the level at which Greece hit the wall.

    With 25 percent unemployment and rising in Greece and Spain — 50 percent among the youth — this would seem to be a mission impossible.

    In numerous interviews with international news organizations, Greek people say they don’t want the country to leave the euro zone. But they don’t want to pay bills. Some want to ditch the euro as a monetary unit and return to the drachma. Could it be any worse? They ask.

    Probably. According to numerous reports, Portugal is teetering and even France is starting to look slightly brittle. If this results in a domino effect, the entire Western economy will more than likely reap the whirlwind.

    This writer was born at the end of the year before the conclusion of World War II. There were austerity measures in force in the form of rationing that continued for several years after the war. Those I remember were imposed on butter and tobacco. My father’s ration was two ounces a week. I remember, because I had to collect them. But there was always food on the table and we never went without, although children don’t know if they’re disadvantaged. And, of course, things got better.

    But in Greece, people are being plunged into poverty with austerity demanded by the euro zone. The people are being punished for something that is not of their making.

    What seems to escape these so-called leaders is that the real culprits in this mess are the banks that dished out money to all and sundry without responsible, effective oversight. In all the countries in economic distress, the reason is the same: the property market.

    Europe is not in isolation. Just look at the United States where the “American Dream” has evaporated. And it is all President Obama’s fault, if you believe those who are in the hip-pockets of the banks and their corporate lackeys. Include Republicans, whose ideology is something like, putting it all down to the will of their God.

    What should be confronted is the outrageous situation where the common people are called upon to pay for the failures of those who control the world’s finances. This is a Ponzi scheme in reverse.

    Former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson regarded banks as more dangerous than standing armies. And, British historian Lord Acton is recorded as saying that the battle between the people and the banks will have to be fought sooner or later.

    Now is the time to rid the world of these parasites. Initially, everyone will suffer. The alternative is that the people at the bottom will eventually realize that enough is enough. Then all of us will all understand the meaning of the Greek word, chaos.

(The author is a former Shenzhen Daily senior copy editor and writer.)

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