Friday, March 20, 2009

In the US the scandal has reached a zenith

The following is an open letter to G700 from John de Graaf. John de Graaf is author of Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic and National Coordinator of Take Back Your Time, a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.



Dear G700 Friends,

I'm honored to be asked to write something for G700 and inspired by the new wave of young activism in Greece. Your struggle reminds me of those that swept the United States, France, Germany and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Perhaps had those struggles succeeded, the world would not be facing the crisis that now befalls it. I am 62. I was part of that 1968 generation. For a time I believed the crisis we now see would come very soon. Then, I believed it would never come at all. And suddenly, here it is: the failure of the corporate market system for all to see. Of course, we in the US bear primary responsibility for the pain that now inflicts working people around the globe. But so great a crisis is also an opportunity for re-making the world. It's up to us to seize it and make the most of it.

While Europe built and maintained at least a modest "social contract" more broadly sharing economic prosperity, the US turned first to the neo-conservative Reagan/Thatcher model. The idea was simple (and simple-minded): unregulated markets and unregulated greed, spurred by sharp cuts in tax rates for the rich, would produce an economic boom that would "trickle down" to the rest of us. It didn't happen.

Instead, wealth in the US gushed up to those at the top while wages for workers barely budged or even fell. The rich became so rich there was not even much in the way of real products they wanted to buy. So they invested their massive surpluses in real estate and a soaring stock market unsupported by real wealth creation and productivity increases.

Workers in the US were able to keep up their material lifestyles only by putting in longer hours on the job and going deep into debt. In time, they could not afford their enormous mortgages; their homes were foreclosed on and they were evicted. But the banks, left holding enormous mortgages they could not re-sell and already massively over-leveraged by the various derivative and pyramid schemes the deregulated market made possible. began collapsing.

But the turmoil was not confined to the US. European elites, envying their American counterparts (US CEOS were earning 400 times the salaries of their workers) and eager to take advantage of higher profits in the US, had invested heavily in American stocks and banks. Like collapsing dominoes, the US failures and those in the similar UK banking system spread quickly throughout the world.

Now, in the US, the scandal has reached a zenith. Poor and middle-income Americans are being asked to bail out the very banks and speculators who caused the problem in the first place. AIG, the company that had insured the collapsing banks, has received more than a hundred billion dollars from the US government and has paid millions in "bonuses" to the executives most responsible for the disaster. There is an anger in America over this that I have never seen before.

What is to be done? President Obama, a good man I believe, simply cannot use his stimulus money to restore the order that existed before the crisis. First of all, around the world, we must renew the concept of the social contract and shared prosperity. We must understand once again that an unregulated corporate market is a recipe for disaster. We must understand that governments must intervene to re-establish economic justice, and set new goals for a more just and sustainable economic system, reining in forever the unchecked power of global capital.

The second step is for citizens everywhere, led by passionate young people like yourselves, to raise a new question--not "what will this or that policy do to the economy?" but rather, "what's the economy for, anyway?" What are the economic policies that will bring us justice, good health, time for friends and families and communities, strong local institutions, economic security for all, and a sustainable world for generations to come?

As I have studied these things it is clear there are no Utopian models, but most western European countries have done a better job in meeting real human needs than has the United States, the country whose policies the European elites sought to emulate. Whether it be health or security or economic fairness or leisure time or education or children's welfare or the condition of the environment, the US, far from being a model, ranks near the bottom among the wealthy countries of the world.

It is time to create a social market system that works for all, time to strengthen the social contract, build on its best practices and steer away from the failed neo-conservative model. I remember the slogan of the Czech students who faced Russian tanks in the "Prague Spring" of 1968. Their rallying cry was "socialism with a human face." Perhaps the least we can demand 41 years later is "capitalism with a human face." I think G700 will be leaders in that struggle.

In solidarity,



TAKE BACK YOUR TIME

Seattle, Washington, USA


31 comments:

  1. Dear John,

    thanks a lot for this open letter to G700. We find the More Time Less Stuff agenda very attractive. In a way it provides for an answer to your fundamental question "what's the economy for anyway?".

    Keep up the good work with Take Back Your Time,

    G700

    ReplyDelete
  2. "capitalism with a human face" or Barbarism.Very good and very realistic slogan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Πολύ ωραίο το γράμμα-άρθρο του John de Graaf.Γεμάτο ουσία.Και πολύ τιμητικό για τη "G700".

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Πεκαρίωση(απο το precariato),είναι διανοητική διαταραχή των νέων της γενιάς των 700 ευρώ,οι οποίοι, αν και φτωχοί, συμπεριφέρονται σαν πλούσιοι....."

    μια εναλλακτική ερμηνεία της affluenza

    ReplyDelete
  5. "In the US the scandal has reached a zenith"

    Η απόλυτη λαμογιοποίηση των ΗΠΑ.
    Πως λένε το λαμόγιο, στα Αγγλικά, Κομφού;

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear John,

    today's financial system and frequency of crises resembles a lot the early periods of the financial systems' development and particularly the south sea bubble era. De-regulation, high risk speculation, very frequent collaspes.

    The biggest problem in my opinion is that over the last decade growth has not been based on employment but on financial bubbles. I.e. the real economy never grew and we are now experiencing the flashback to reality.

    Work is the fundamental parameter for development. People tend to forget that. But the meaning of work must constantly be redefined so that it neither becomes an anecdote for obtaining privileges nor it becomes synonymoys to slavery. These are very precarious moments we are living today, nothing like 1968. There is a great deal of uncertainty that is more and more translated into social unrest. Challenging times.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yet I believe you, in the US, have all the necessary ingredients to inspire the rest of the world and show the way to a more just, transparent and credible economic and social reality. EU is on the contrary entering its 21st century mini dark ages. If you in the US don't change, noone will.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Εδώ και τώρα να μεταφέρουμε τα σκάνδαλα από τον ιδιωτικό τομέα (καπιταλισμός - πληρώνουν οι μέτοχοι και οι επενδυτές) στο δημόσιο τομέα (σοσιαλισμός - πληρώνουν όλοι).

    Η ηθική του κάθε συστήματος εξαρτάται από την ηθική των ανθρώπων. Ειδικά αυτών που λαμβάνουν αποφάσεις.

    Βαρετο θέμα.

    Όσον αφορά στο προηγούμενο:

    1) οι Κινέζοι μπορεί να φοβούνται πτώση της αξίας ορισμένων αποθεμάτων τους εάν πέσει το δολάριο, αλλά αυτή η πτώση θα αντισταθμιστεί από την άνοδο της αξίας των αποθεμάτων τους σε χρυσό.

    2) Επίσης, οι Αμερικάνοι ΔΕΝ έχουν το productive capacity + industrial capacity για να ξαναοδηγήσουν το δυτικό κόσμο. Και για να κάνουν τα πράγματα χειρότερα, έχουν αυξημένη φορολογία κεφαλαίων κάτι που καθυστερεί ή και απαγορεύει τη βιομηχανική ανάπτυξη (γι' αυτό τρέχουν όλοι στην Κίνα).

    3). Ο Κρούγκμαν και άλλοι διαπίστωσαν την κρίση όταν ήδη ήταν αργά και δεν άκουγαν καθόλου τις προειδοποιήσεις άλλων, όπως ο Peter Schiff που προειδοποιούσε από την τηλεόραση από το 2002 κιόλας με μαθηματική ακρίβεια

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhJaVEWAG24

    ή τις προειδοποιήσεις των Nouriel Roubini, Doug Casey, Marc Faber, Jim Rogers, και πολλών άλλων που προειδοποιούσαν από την τηλεόραση σε οικονομικά σόου, από συνέδρια, από ότι θες...

    Όλοι αυτοί οι κουφοί νομπελίστες σαν τον Κρούγκμαν ξύπνησαν μόνο όταν χτύπησε η κρίση και ακόμα και τότε δεν συμφωνούσαν με τη σοβαρότητα της κρίσης για την οποία προειδοποιούσαν οι άλλοι, παρά μόνο (και πάλι), όταν πραγματικά σοβάρεψαν τα πράγματα.

    Γι' αυτό κι εδώ στις ΗΠΑ κανείς σοβαρός επενδυτής δεν ακούει τον Κρούγκμαν... οι περισσότεροι ακούνε τον Marc Faber και τον Nouriel Roubini (ο Schiff, αν και λέει σωστά πράγματα και ήταν ο 1ος προφήτης, έχει κακό timing... Προβλέπει για το 2009 πράγματα που μπορεί να συμβούν το 2011).

    Η Αμερική το μόνο που έχει αυτή τη στιγμή είναι το δολάριο, τίποτα άλλο. Το οποίο όμως δολάριο δεν είναι αρκετό για να ισοσταθμίσει 53 τρισεκατομμύρια σε entitlements, obligations, bonds, notes, interest, κλπ κλπ.

    Στο απώτερο μέλλον, μάλλον θα είναι σε καλύτερη θέση από την βραχυπορούσα και φιλοσοφίζουσα Ευρώπη, αλλά αμφότερες οι ΗΠΑ και ΕΕ θα ξεφουσκώσουν άγρια μέχρι τότε. Καθόλου άσχημα, μια και τουλάχιστον τα σπίτια θα πέσουν σε τιμές που να μπορεί να αγοράσει κι ο φτωχός, αλλά από την άλλη, θα αυξηθούν οι τιμές σε τρόφιμα και ενέργεια σε επίπεδο που δεν θα μας μένουν χρήματα να αγοράσουμε τα φτηνά σπίτια.

    Κι εδώ έρχονται αυτοί που θα έχουν τα μεγαλύτερα αποθέματα τόσο σε μετρητά, όσο και σε χρυσό: Οι Κινέζοι.

    Κι εμένα μου φαίνεται απίστευτο, αλλά μέχρι τώρα τουλάχιστον, είναι η αλήθεια των αριθμών.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Μιλάμε για μια νέα εποχή,για μια άλλη εποχή.Με νέους τρόπους παραγωγής, με νέες μορφές ενέργειας,με άλλου τύπου εργασιακές σχέσεις,με, εν τέλει,άλλο πολιτισμό.Αυτό νομίζω,ως ομαλή συνέχεια, μόνο η Αμερική μπορεί να το κάνει.Γιατί έχει,όχι τα χρήματα,αλλά τις δυνάμεις,το αναπτυξιακό περιβάλλον,τη κρίσιμη μάζα σε ταλέντα.
    Δεν υπάρχει διάδοχος κατάσταση,εκτός και αν μεσολαβήσει ένας κάποιος μεσαίωνας.Μετά όμως το μεσαίωνα καθόλου σίγουρο δεν είναι ότι θα είναι η Κίνα που θα ηγηθεί του νέου κύματος.Τώρα αισθάνεται ασφαλής με το να είναι ένας σοβαρός διεκδικητής αλλά πάντα με μια Αμερική που θα της ανοίγει το δρόμο όπως ο Μπούς και αυτή θα είναι ο free rider.Οι Κινέζοι τρέμουν την αλλαγή ισορροπιών ΚΑΙ ΘΑ ΚΑΝΟΥΝ ΤΟ ΠΑΝ ΝΑ ΣΤΑΘΟΥΝ ΣΤΑ ΠΟΔΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΟΙ ΗΠΑ.ΟΛΑ ΤΑ ΑΠΟΘΕΜΑΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΟΛΟ ΤΟ ΧΡΥΣΑΦΙ ΘΑ ΤΑ ΔΩΣΟΥΝ ΓΙΑΥΤΟ ΤΟ ΣΚΟΠΟ.Ποιό αλλο κορόιδο θα βρουν που θα τους εξασφαλίζει τον ύπουλο ιμπεριαλισμό τους που διεξάγουν με αριστοτεχνικό τρόπο.ΟΙ ΚΙΝΕΖΟΙ ΠΑΡΑΣΙΤΟΥΝ ΣΤΙΣ ΗΠΑ.ΚΑΙ ΑΝ ΑΡΡΩΣΤΗΣΕΙ Ο ΞΕΝΙΣΤΗΣ ΤΟ ΠΑΡΑΣΙΤΟ ΠΕΘΑΙΝΕΙ.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Κανένας σήμερα σοβαρός Δελφίνος δεν θέλει να πέσει η Αμερική.Ολοι έχουν μαζί της σχέση ΠΑΡΑΒΙΩΤΙΚΗ.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Αυτό το ξέρω, αλλά:

    Εάν τα μέτρα που λαμβάνουν τώρα, πιστεύουν ότι είναι πραγματικά αποτελεσματικά, τότε γιατί δεν τα εφάρμοσαν πριν από 5 μήνες ας πούμε;

    Ο λόγος είναι ότι αυτά τα μέτρα αποτελούν ναρκοπέδια για το μέλλον.

    Πιστεύετε πραγματικά ότι μπορεί κανείς να τεμπελιάζει και να ζει δωρεάν και όταν έρχεται μια κρίση απλά να τυπώνει περισσότερα χαρτονομίσματα;

    Πιστεύετε πραγματικά ότι η καλή συνταγή για να "τονώσει" κάποιος την επιχείρησή του που είναι καταχρεωμένη, είναι να πάει να πάρει άλλο ένα δάνειo;

    ReplyDelete
  12. «Βόμβα» Κ. Μητσοτάκη για χρέος 800 δισ. ευρώ.

    "Τα ελλείμματα θα τα σηκώσουν οι δύο επόμενες γενιές"

    Στο αστρονομικό ποσό των 800 δισ. ευρώ εκτιμά ο πρώην πρωθυπουργός κ. Κ. Μητσοτάκης ότι ανέρχεται το πραγματικό χρέος του κράτους, των επιχειρήσεων, των νοικοκυριών και του ασφαλιστικού συστήματος. Τη νέα «βόμβα» -αφού κατά την εκτίμηση του επίτιμου προέδρου της Ν.Δ. το πραγματικό χρέος είναι κατά 35% μεγαλύτερο από τις επίσημες εκτιμήσεις- εξαπέλυσε σε κλειστή συζήτηση στρογγυλής τραπέζης που διοργάνωσε το Ινστιτούτο Διπλωματίας και Διεθνών Εξελίξεων του Αμερικανικού Κολεγίου. «Η απόλυτη αλήθεια πρέπει να αποκαλυφθεί στο λαό, ζήσαμε δανειζόμενοι, αρνηθήκαμε πεισματικά τις μεταρρυθμίσεις και τα συσσωρευμένα ελλείμματα των τελευταίων 28 ετών θα τα σηκώσουν μία ή δύο γενιές», τόνισε ο κ. Μητσοτάκης. Πάντως, εμφανίστηκε αισιόδοξος πως η Ευρώπη «δεν θα μας αφήσει τελικά να βουλιάξουμε».Πρότεινε δε, «για να πορευτεί η χώρα με σιγουριά στη δύσκολη εποχή που διανύουμε, να γίνει ένα είδος απογραφής, να μετρήσουμε τι συμβαίνει και πού ακριβώς βρισκόμαστε». Και διευκρίνισε ότι «η απογραφή θα μπορούσε να γίνει από την Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος, με συμμετοχή εμπειρογνωμόνων των κομμάτων. Ακόμη, αν χρειαστεί και με τη βοήθεια κάποιων διεθνών οργανισμών».

    ReplyDelete
  13. o Roubini τα έχει πει καλά όταν βέβαια τα έλεγε τον χλεύαζαν. Τώρα όμως τι κάνουμε μάγκες;;;

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lefteri το πρόβλημα με τις κρίσεις που έχουν βάθος και δε λύνονται μετο να βγει ο Γκρινσπαν εκ του ασφαλούς να μειώσει τα επιτόκια είναι ότι κανείς δεν ξέρει τι και πως να το κάνει.

    libertarian σιγά μην αναγνωρίσει ποτέ κανείς τον πλήρη όγκο των οικονομικών υποχρεώσεων κράτους και πολιτών. Η αλήθεια πονάει και ξεβολεύει. Τώρα περιμένουμε να λύσουν το δημοσιονομικό οι μεσίες του ΠΑΣΟΚ παναθεμά τους είμαι και της παράταξης. Τώρα φωνάζουν για τον κεφαλικό φόρο στα 60 χιλιάρικα εισόδημα. Ουυουστ. Θα γίνει της Αργκεντίνα...

    ReplyDelete
  15. The current economic crisis serves as an argument for all sorts of proposals, commonly nowadays along the lines of "unbridled, environment destroying capitalism brought us to this point, hence anything counter to this will get us out of the mess".

    This is not necessarily true. The economy is there to create monetary incentives. And governments are there to regulate the economy and to direct monetary surplus from the economy to social services. Today there is a tendency to confuse the demand for greater/better regulation of the economy with social justice and economic stimulus with social services. This confusion is the result of anger and panic (or in some cases, political agendas). However these terms are not interchangeable. In a situation where we do not have surplus but huge deficit, investment in social services because it is just, does not necessarily mean that it will act successfully as an economic stimulus. Just because we are facing a huge economic crisis does not mean that gravity has seized to exist. The nature of social justice and social services is still opposed to monetary incentives and hence these cannot be the spearhead of an economic stimulus.

    I am all for social justice, of course, like everyone else. But let's not get confused here. A better regulated economy does not bring, in itself, social justice or social services. And pumping money that we do not have into social services that do not satisfy monetary incentive criteria, even in the long term, will not act as an economic stimulus.

    Old socialists get excited, of course, reminiscing their youth and their until recently forgotten righteousness.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ξεφεύγω σκόπιμα από το θέμα σήμερα και ζητώ εκ των προτέρων συγνώμη
    Όμως εδώ το ζήτημα είναι ιδιαίτερα σημαντικό, όταν ένας "ΞΕΝΟΣ" κάνει αυτό που οι Ελληνες δεν κάνουν

    Θα ήθελα να δω πως θα συνεχίσουν (?) το ζήτημα οι 2 έλληνες υπουργοί στους οποιους κοινοποιείται η επιστολή για το επόμενο "κυπριακό" ζήτημα
    January 22, 2009

    Editor, Archaeology Magazine
    36-36 33rd Street
    Long Island City, NY 11106
    U.S.A.


    Dear Sir,

    I opened the January/February issue of Archaeology today and eagerly turned to “A Letter from Macedonia” only to discover that it was actually a letter from ancient Paionia – the land north of Mt. Barmous and Mt. Orbelos. Livy’s account of the creation of the Roman province of Macedonia (45.29.7 and 12) makes clear that the Paionians lived north of those mountains (which form today the geographically natural northern limits of Greece) and south of the Dardanians who were in today’s Kosovo. Strabo (7. frag 4) is even more succinct in saying that Paionia was north of Macedonia and the only connection from one to the other was (and is today) through the narrow gorge of the Axios (or Vardar) River. In other words, the land which is described by Matthew Brunwasser in his “Owning Alexander” was Paionia in antiquity.
    While it is true that those people were subdued by Philip II, father of Alexander, in 359 B.C. (Diodorus Siculus 16.4.2), they were never Macedonians and never lived in Macedonia. Indeed, Demosthenes (Olynthian 1.23) tells us that they were “enslaved” by the Macedonian Philip and clearly, therefore, not Macedonians. Isokrates (5.23) makes the same point. Likewise, for example, the Egyptians who were subdued by Alexander may have been ruled by Macedonians, including the famous Cleopatra, but they were never Macedonians themselves, and Egypt was never called Macedonia (and so far as I can tell does not seek that name today).
    Certainly, as Thucydides (2.99) tells us, the Macedonians had taken over “a narrow strip of Paionia extending along the Axios river from the interior to Pella and the sea”. One might therefore understand if the people in the modern republic centered at Skopje called themselves Paionians and claimed as theirs the land described by Thucydides.
    But why, instead, would the modern people of ancient Paionia try to call themselves Macedonians and their land Macedonia? Mr. Brunwasser (p. 55) touches on the Greek claims “that it implies ambitions over Greek territory” and he notes that “the northern province of Greece is also called Macedonia.” Leaving aside the fact that the area of that northern province of modern Greece has been called Macedonia for more than 2,500 years (see, inter alios, Herodotus 5.17; 7.128, et alibi), more recent history shows that the Greek concerns are legitimate. For example, a map produced in Skopje in 1992 (Figure 1) shows clearly the claim that Macedonia extends from there to Mt. Olympus in the south; that is, combining the ancient regions of Paionia and Macedonia into a single entity. The same claim is explicit on a pseudo-bank note of the Republic of Macedonia which shows, as one of its monuments, the White Tower of Thessalonike, in Greece (Figure 2). There are many more examples of calendars, Christmas cards, bumper-stickers, etc., that all make the same claim.
    Further, Mr. Brunwasser has reported with approval (International Herald Tribune 10/1/08) the work of the “Macedonian Institute for Strategic Research 16:9”, the name of which refers “to Acts 16:9, a verse in the New Testament in which a Macedonian man appears to the Apostle Paul begging him: ‘Come over into Macedonia, and help us.’" But where did Paul go in Macedonia? Neapolis (Kavala), Philippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia, Thessaloniki, and Veroia (Acts 16:11-17:10) all of which are in the historic Macedonia, none in Paionia. What claim is being made by an Institute based in Skopje that names itself for a trip through what was Macedonia in antiquity and what is the northern province of Greece today?
    I wonder what we would conclude if a certain large island off the southeast coast of the United States started to call itself Florida, and emblazoned its currency with images of Disney World and distributed maps showing the Greater Florida.
    Certainly there was no doubt of the underlying point of “Macedonia” in the mind of U.S. Secretary of State Edward Stettinius on December 26, 1944, when he wrote:

    “The Department [of State] has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia, emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state. This government considers talk of Macedonian ”nation”, Macedonian “Fatherland”, or Macedonian “national consciousness” to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece.”
    [Source: U.S. State Department, Foreign Relations vol viii, Washington, D.C., Circular Airgram (868.014/26Dec1944)]


    Mr. Brunwasser (a resident of Bulgaria), however, goes on to state, with apparent distain, that Greece claims “Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander the Great) . . . as Greek.”
    This attitude mystifies me. What is there to “claim”? Alexander’s great-great-great grandfather, Alexander I, was certified as Greek at Olympia and, in the words of the father of history “I happen to know that [the forefathers of Alexander] are Greek” (Herodotus 5.22). Alexander’s father, Philip, won several equestrian victories at Olympia and Delphi (Plutarch, Alexander 4.9; Moralia 105A), the two most Hellenic of all the sanctuaries in ancient Greece where non-Greeks were not allowed to compete. If Philip was Greek, wasn’t his son also Greek?
    When Euripides – who died and was buried in Macedonia (Thucydides apud Pal. Anth. 7.45; Pausanias 1.2.2; Diodorus Siculus 13.103) – wrote his play Archelaos in honor of the great-uncle of Alexander, did he write it in Slavic? When he wrote the Bacchai while at the court of Archelaos did he not write it in Greek even as it has survived to us? Or should we imagine that Euripides was a “Macedonian” who wrote in Slavic (at a date when that language is not attested) which was translated into Greek?
    What was the language of instruction when Aristotle taught Alexander? What language was carried by Alexander with him on his expedition to the East? Why do we have ancient inscriptions in Greek in settlements established by Alexander as far away as Afghanistan, and none in Slavic? Why did Greek become the lingua franca in Alexander’s empire if he was actually a “Macedonian”? Why was the New Testament written in Greek rather than Slavic?
    On page 57 of the so-called “Letter from Macedonia” there is a photograph of the author standing “before a bronze statue of Alexander the Great in the city of Prilep.” The statue is patently modern, but the question is whether the real historic Alexander could have read the Slavic inscription beneath his feet. Given the known historic posterity of Slavic to Greek, the answer is obvious.
    While Mr. Brunwasser’s reporting of the archaeological work in Paionia is welcome, his adoption and promotion of the modern political stance of its people about the use of the name Macedonia is not only unwelcome, it is a disservice to the readers of Archaeology who are, I imagine, interested in historic fact. But then, the decision to propagate this historical nonsense by Archaeology – a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America - is a disservice to its own reputation.
    Let it be said once more: the region of ancient Paionia was a part of the Macedonian empire. So were Ephesos and Tyre and Palestine and Memphis and Babylon and Taxila and dozens more. They may thus have become “Macedonian” temporarily, but none was ever “Macedonia”.
    Allow me to end this exegesis by making a suggestion to resolve the question of the modern use of the name “Macedonia.” Greece should annex Paionia – that is what Philip II did in 359 B.C. And that would appear to be acceptable to the modern residents of that area since they claim to be Greek by appropriating the name Macedonia and its most famous man. Then the modern people of this new Greek province could work on learning to speak and read and write Greek, hopefully even as well as Alexander did.

    Sincerely,




    Stephen G. Miller
    Professor Emeritus, University of California,
    Berkeley

    PS: For a more complete examination of the ancient evidence regarding Paionia, see I. L. Merker, “The Ancient Kingdom of Paionia,” Balkan Studies 6 (1965) 35-54

    cc: C. Brian Rose, President, Archaeological Institute of America
    Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States of America
    Dora Bakoyiannis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece
    Antonis Samaras, Minister of Culture of Greece
    Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Enlargement
    Erik Meijer, Member, European Parliament

    ReplyDelete
  17. @SER

    Θαυμάσια.Ελπίζω να το διαβάσει και o john de Graaf,που παρακολουθεί, υποθέτω ,τα σχόλια για την επιστολή του.Δεν μας λείπουν τα ιστορικά επιχειρήματα ser,αν και αυτά δεν τα ξέρουμε και δεν τα χρησιμοποιούμε όσο πρέπει.Είναι το χρέος των 800 δισ. που μας κάνουν ανήμπορους να μετατρέψουμε την Αρχαία πολιτιστική μας κληρονομιά σε σύγχρονη γεωπολιτική ισχύ.Και σαυτό εμείς οι νεοέλληνες έχουμε μεγάλη ευθύνη.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ser you are excused as you rarelly make off topic comments anyway.

    Greece doesn't lack historical arguments. It lacks a cohesive, solid and convincing geopolitical argument backed by the necessary will and power to support it.

    Σε ό,τι μας αφορά κλείνουμε την παρένθεση.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Στη λογική που περιγράφει ο κύριος καθηγητής, ο Μάνος είχε πει τότε ότι θα έπρεπε να απαιτήσουμε από τα Σκόπια να τους λένε Μακεδονία με το ζόρι ρίχνοντάς τους ουσιαστικά το μπαλάκι.

    Παρένθεση κλείνει οριστικά.-

    ReplyDelete
  20. My personal moto is More Time More Bafff duderinos.

    Definately liked the letter.

    ReplyDelete
  21. O parmenidis το χει πιάσει το νόημα με τις ΗΠΑ.
    Όποιος θέλει ας τσεκάρει το παρακάτω λινκ για να πάρει μια ιδέα για το πολύ κοντινό μέλλον.

    Metamaterial Revolution

    Όταν έχεις την DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), το χρήμα και τον χρυσό απλά τα εξαφανίζεις...

    ReplyDelete
  22. "Σιωπηλός,άφωνος,κομπάρσος,και πολύ κατώτερος των περιστάσεων ο Ελληνας πρωθυπουργός στην Ευρωπαική σύνοδο..."
    Τάδε έφη Παπαδημούλης,ο μακράν καλύτερος Ελληνας Ευρωβουλευτής.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Παρόλα αυτά παραμένει ως ο καταλληλότερος Κωλοτούμπας.Αυτός ο λαός έχει χιούμορ.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ναι, αυτό το λέμε καζούρα στα Ελληνικά.Αυτό δεν νομίζω να το ξέρει ο John de Graaf,ούτε φαντάζομαι να υπάρχει αντίστοιχη λέξη στα Αγγλικά.

    ReplyDelete
  25. @Gμόσιος:

    Τι κάνουμε; Αφήνουμε το σύστημα να καταρρεύσει.

    Εκτός και αν εδώ υπάρχουν υποστηρικτές της θεωρίας "ξοδέψτε περισσότερο" που ισοδυναμεί με υπερπληθωρισμό.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Τζέμ Εζντεμιρ|Αρχηγός πρασίνων Γερμανίας.

    Αλλος ένας φίλος και θαυμαστής του ΓΑΠ


    "Όλοι οι Πράσινοι της Eυρώπης χαίρονται με την επιτυχία των Oικολόγων Πράσινων της Eλλάδας. Tους υποστηρίζουμε και ελπίζουμε ότι θα μπουν στην ελληνική Bουλή, αλλά και στο Eυρωπαϊκό Kοινοβούλιο. Kαι η Eλλάδα θα μπορούσε να αποκτήσει κυβέρνηση ΠAΣOK - Oικολόγων. Δεν μπορούμε να αφήνουμε τους Σοσιαλδημοκράτες να αποφασίζουν μόνοι για θέματα περιβάλλοντος. Ξέρουμε το θέμα καλύτερα. Bεβαίως, με συνδέει και μακρά φιλία με τον Γιώργο Παπανδρέου. Θαυμάζω πάρα πολύ το θάρρος που έδειξε ως υπουργός Eξωτερικών, όταν έσπασε τα ταμπού και συνέβαλε στην εξομάλυνση των ελληνο-τουρκικών σχέσεων".
    ΗΜΕΡΗΣΙΑ.

    ReplyDelete
  27. parmie, mind the GAP.

    John
    most western European countries have done a better job in meeting real human needs than has the United States

    this is partly because the GDP share of social expenditure in the EU-15 is around 24% while in the US only 14.7% (2001 stats). Of course this situation leads to a crowding out of economic activities in Europe. Indeed GDP per capita in the US is almost 50% higher than the average in EU-15. Of couse Europeans don't seem to mind that much citing their longer leisure time, their lower income inequality and their longer life expectancy. BUT there is a big BUT here. How long is this going to keep on going? This balance might go completely off track by the demographic aging process. Europe now is as old as the US in 2017 and it will keep on aging after 2025 while in the US the proprtion of elderely to young people will remain stable. What i want to say is that in a decade from now, at most, the rising expenditure on the elderly might blast the welfare state. Unless europeans find viable ways to pay for it.

    ReplyDelete
  28. «Αν και η οικονομία είναι πιθανό να συνεχίσει να επιδεινώνεται για κάποιο διάστημα», ανέφερε το CBO, το οικονομικό πακέτο ενίσχυσης της κυβέρνησης, ύψους 787 δισεκατομμυρίων δολαρίων και «πολύ επιθετικές ενέργειες της Ομοσπονδιακής Τράπεζας και του υπουργείου Οικονομικών προβλέπεται ότι θα βοηθήσουν να τερματιστεί η ύφεση το φθινόπωρο του 2009».

    Το CBO προβλέπει ότι, έπειτα από την απότομη οικονομική ύφεση που θα σημειωθεί φέτος, η οικονομία θα μεγεθυνθεί με ρυθμό 2,9% το 2010 και 4% το 2011.

    Eίπαμε, οι ΗΣΣΠΑ θα βγούν πρώτες απο τη κρίση.Γιαυτό εμείς θα λουφάρουμε κανονικά ως το 2010.Μέχρι τότε θα πρωθυπουργεύει ο Σουφλιάς και θα μας λέει διάφορα καλαμπούρια για να μην πλήττουμε. Α! θα έχουμε και live κλέφτες και Αστυνόμοι.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Το Φθινόπωρο θα μας μπει εμάς η κρίση. Τώρα είμαστε ακόμα στην ήπια φάση.

    ReplyDelete
  30. thanks 4 understanding -
    now going to de Graaf's post

    In Greece the scandal has not yet reached its zenith.
    -Here, too, we have executives earning MORE than 400 times the basic salary
    -Here,too people have gone deep into debt

    however
    there are major differences with the US case
    -(bank) executives managed to delay the "salvation package" in November just to pocket their bonuses! No opposing voices
    -people went into debt mainly due to lifestyle spending; not due to declining asset prices (yet)

    There are 2 more HUGE differences
    - US administration has kudos and ethics
    - the administration there acts, while the administration here doesn't

    It is very much logical and expected the US, being the heart of global economy,to act swiftly and decisively.
    There is will and there is a mechanism

    The Greek government on the other hand still have not figured out what the problem is.
    The PM is absent being effectively replaced by Souflias, a stone-age politician with stone-age economic view and the new FINMIN is struggling to be re-elected in the next elections (whenever held)

    So the Greek government has no clue on the problem and subsequently no plan.
    Greek society is lethargic after so many years of joyous partying. People are more concerned over keeping their luxurious cars than the country's economy.
    To the majority of my compatriots this is a micro-economic problem and not a macro-economic one!
    Pity and shame.....

    The crisis is just showing up in Greece still people keep on asking and the government tries to find ways to keep them all as happy as can be.

    EU calls for no rises in the public sector and the governement go round it with the 'extra bonus" logic while at the same time charge extra -one off-tax (per head) income over 60K !

    As you correctly said greed and lack of production base were the problems. Just wait to see what these will bring to this country, which considers tourism its "heavy industry"

    Hope to see you posting more regularly

    ReplyDelete
  31. a stone-age politician with stone-age economic view

    xaxaxaxa έγραψε

    ReplyDelete