Friedman of the NYT Mumbles about Greece’s Newest Odyssey: The Path to Marxist Revolution is at Hand.

Abstract: Thomas Friedman of the NYT meets with a member of the Papandreou Dynasty for fish and feta cheese and is properly enchanted by the predictions that Greece will ‘reform’ and ‘change’ their society. The bond holders and vigilantes are suitably cast as greedy capitalist demons by the use of hackneyed anti-capitalist phrases from a dedicated socialist. Papandreou promises what Greece cannot deliver even if every Greek cast off their socialist garb and returned to realism. The rescue package for Greece only services the debt for a short while and there is no capital in this bundle that is necessary to grow the economy. Thus, the plan is a farce to begin with.  We are urged to believe that a new Odysseus emerges to save their country from financial oblivion. A new King Leonidas of Sparta will revisit a modern Battle of Thermopylae fought hand to hand in the bond arena. Friedman is properly enchanted by this promise. This will end in failure and revolution.

The word tautological[1] would be so obscure if not for political propaganda machines like the New York Times that pursue single-objective themes. Their writers[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] and staff[12] thrash about in some ideological contest to see if any might wax noble enough to match the elegant essays and airy enlightenment of their honored Pulitzer Prize winner Walter Duranty.[13]He enchanted them with a certain literary mantle of invincibility and indelible fame in the 1930s when the Times published his leftist-sanctioned political lies and received uncultivated acclaim from the depression-era masses who could now openly celebrate the leadership of Josef Stalin while he happily murdered millions. Uncle Joe was for the people.

Duranty refined propagandistic processes for the NYT and attained a higher and loftier status than ordinary propagandists rising well above the stature of Eugene Debs. He labored with pencil and paper like those busy workers who must pound upon their rusty anvils to hammer out narrow ideological snippets of propaganda and thus turn or twist any news event into some new and pressing validation for bugger government. He was able to summon a retreat from prejudice against Marxist monsters [or now, the new Islamo-Fascists[14]] and prattle on endlessly about the undying splendor of higher taxes and authoritarian controls.[15] Most pedestrian-level keyboard plunkers on the Times’ staff cannot show us even an inkling of this lost literary art as they cannot synthesize even a modicum of the  original political magic of the Duranty Essence because of their manifold ineptitudes and transparent sophistry of their contributions, but they try. They really need more political training.

Today, one of their rank-and-file scribblers relates his wonderful experience having lunch with Greece’s current leader George Papandreou, who is one his way out the political door because he dares to defy the unions and promises to cut government spending. Friedman is properly tantalized at the pomp and circumstance of this epic union with majesty. He fawns with obsequiousness.

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[I offer extensive quotes in this blog/essay so that the reader can view the exact language and can be confident that nothing was taken out of context or that nobody was misquoted. The easiest way to take in the salient points is to read the emphatic points in the quotes and then peruse my comments. Comments on my comments are always welcome: ryckki@gmail.com.]

We begin this interview:

“For a man whose country’s wobbly finances have kept the world on edge for months, the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, evinces an Obama-Zen-like calm. He is just back from meeting fellow European Union leaders, who decided to try to stave off a Greek meltdown and an E.U. crackup with a show of overwhelming force — committing nearly $1 trillion to support the economy of any ailing member state.”[16]-- Greece’s Newest Odyssey By Thomas L. Friedman Op-Ed Columnist Published: May 11, 2010 [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

Other than name dropping, this fantasy is simply a crass form of oblique praise for another leftist. Obama has no calm—all he shows is impatience and anger.  There is no calm in Europe if you read the authoritative sources in Germany and England. This is a financial crisis.[17] This new rescue money is wasted and everybody knows it.  But, the pomp and pretense continue. The NYT attempts to help out in the propagandistic sense. Friedman hears his master’s voice.

Entire system must change:

“But over a lunch of Greek salad and grilled fish, Papandreou makes clear that he knows that the deal with the E.U. was not your garden-variety bailout-for-budget-cuts. No, if you really look closely at what it will take for Greece to mend its economy, this is actually a bailout-for-a-revolution. Greece’s entire economic and political system will have to change for Greeks to deliver their side of this bargain.”--Greece’s Newest Odyssey 

Friedman mangles his words here in some attempt to place this disaster into some kind of workable context. The revolution is at hand.  We should be keyed into the historical fact that the current guy in charge in Athens is a son and grandson of former Greek prime ministers. Greece is in terrible financial, social and economic troubles.[18] They even lied about their debt to get into the European Union from which they milk much sop.  They tried to hide their massive debts after that. Their military budget is a state secret. Their deficit spending is now exceeding 12.7% of GDP. But, this time the Papandreou Dynasty will be put to the ultimate test: avoiding a Marxist revolution.  The politically correct approach is for him to join in the party.

Friedman must feint wonder and show astonishment over the prospect of a favorable outcome for this madness and he does.

““Papandreou says he is ready and so, too, he insists, is his country: “People are saying to me, ‘change this country — go ahead and change it.’ People realize that it needs change. You don’t want to miss this opportunity.”” -- Greece’s Newest Odyssey 

Any ring of the Obama promises of ‘change’ here?? Parrots in a chorus on an undersized wooden pedestal? This is a lie. The Marxist unions do not want change unless you use the Obama definition of that world and that means more debt and more social programs.

The Evil Ones are identified

“Sitting in a rooftop restaurant with a view of the Acropolis, I ask Papandreou to put on his safari hat and tell me what it was like to be hunted by the electronic bond herd for six months.”--Greece’s Newest Odyssey 

Friedman fawns. Greece has a long history of defaults we learn from Kenneth Rogoff.[19] Kenneth is coauthor with Carmen Reinhart of the new book This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. [20] Here is a link to a transcript of an interesting interview on sovereign defaults.[21] Friedman is being set up with this  lecture on the evil bond vigilantes who watch sovereign bonds and sell when they are about to become worthless from default.  He must then scurry back to his keyboard and encourage everybody to hate bond holders as in the Chrysler and GM bankruptcy cases: Give most of the booty to the unions! This austerity view, capitalist in all variants, is unacceptable to liberals, leftists and Marxists so Friedman is playing the part of stooge here.[22]

The Nasty Ones are identified and defamed!

“Comparing bond players to some kind of living beasts may be unfair to beasts, he suggests. These markets “are not even human anymore. Some of these things are computerized, and they just go into automatic mode” when they see a hint of trouble.” -- Greece’s Newest Odyssey 

Paying off your debts is so ‘western’ and so unnecessary we learn from this.

“The only way for Greece to end this uncertainty was with an unprecedented commitment by the European Union to backstop Greek debts and with an unprecedented commitment by Greece to put its economy on a strict diet — set by the International Monetary Fund — with quarterly budget targets that Athens has to meet to receive additional support.” -- Greece’s Newest Odyssey 

And they whine and whine and whine. Friedman gobbles down some feta cheese bit as he hears this:

 “The cabinet has already approved increasing the average retirement age for public sector workers from 61 to 65. Average public sector wages have been cut 20 percent, and pensions by 10 percent. The value-added tax was raised from 19 percent to 23 percent, and there’s been an excise tax increase of about 30 percent on gas, alcohol and tobacco. The number of municipalities is proposed to shrink from 1,000 to 400 and public-owned companies from 6,000 to 2,000 to save money and red tape. So far, the deficit is down 40 percent from last year.” -- Greece’s Newest Odyssey 

Way too much…….

“That will only happen, he argues, if there is a sense of “justice” — Greeks want to see big tax cheaters and corrupt officials prosecuted — and if the people feel their leaders have a vision. “We need to give this country a dream — where we are going,” so the sacrifices make sense.” -- Greece’s Newest Odyssey 

He has a dream. There is so much political slang flying around at this luncheon it must be difficult to concentrate on the fish. The unions will not tolerate this.[23] George Papandreou is head of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party. He is only slightly right of the Maoist Marxist party coalition.[24][25] He has no chance to survive in office. He must play the game and mooch as much money as he can before the social eruption.

But, Friedman is properly enchanted by these promises with predictions and such about the outcome of a state that is dominated by leftist labor unions.

Friedman plays the part of wonder and awe at the prospects of all this:

 “Can Greece have a civic revolution? The odds are long, but you won’t need to consult the I.M.F. to determine the answer. Just watch Greek young people. In six months, if you see them migrating, then short Greece. If you see them sticking it out here, though, it means they think there is something worth staying for, and you might even want to buy a Greek bond or two.” -- Greece’s Newest Odyssey 

Like they do as they escape hostile work and business environments like California and New York??  Where else can they go? Young Greeks have an astronomical unemployment rate probably exceeding 30% or more and their future has been sold out to the evil capitalist bond holders. This is an unworkable disaster and the net effect of this is that wealth will flow from Germany and France into this cesspool of Marxian socialism. They have NO CHANCE of recovering and will default. The rest of Europe knows this but want to pretend.

My predictions: The Greeks have accomplished what Lenin wanted and that is the ‘workers’ control the country. But, as any socialist can tell you, they will spend every dollar or euro [or both] they can get their hands on and then reject the debt as illegal, immoral or belonging to somebody else using the Argentinean parlance. The current bail-out is phony because it ONLY shoves liquidity into the failed Greek banks and there is nary a speck of capital to grow the economy of this place. The ONLY way out of this is to cut government way down to size and get corporate ownership back in the hands of competent capitalists so they can generate profits that can be taxed at a reasonable rate.  That is a futile list.

This will end in disaster.

rycK

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