The BBC has a generalized report on the situation in Greece.

My personal view is this is political cowardice of the first water. What the political parties want to do is form a temporary ‘unity government’ to pass the ‘Enslavement of Greeks to Save German and French Banks Act’, and then call for elections in which they will all claim they didn’t want to do it, and it was all Papandreou’s fault.

They should have had the referendum, and then pulled out of the euro when the Greek voters said ‘hell no!’. Let Germany and France deal with the gambling debts of their own banks.

The basic problem is ‘religious’, not economic. The euro is a fiat currency, and the European Central Bank could solve the problems by moving numbers around on a spreadsheet. The various countries that have real problems, like Greece and Italy, can deal with them after the economy recovers. Imposing austerity now may be the only ‘correct choice’ in terms of the ‘religion’ of Germany and France, but it is an economic disaster. Europe is forcing itself into another deeper recession with its actions.

If I was a Greek voter I would never vote for anyone in the current parliament ever again. Let the politicians find out what life is like for the unemployed.

Update: Duncan on French austerity. It is a downward spiral, like the threads on a screw.

There is a major discussion going on at Corrente on the Black Bloc and Occupy Oakland, and Badtux thinks that the evidence seems point toward the Bloc being a COINTELPRO organization.

It has been shown that at the Canadian G20 summit many of those who seemed to be associated with the Black Bloc were definitely police officers as they were wearing the department issued boots. This may also explain why even relatively effective police departments don’t gather up the Black Bloc before trouble happens. It isn’t as if they are worried about civil rights.

My objection to the tactics of the Black Bloc is that they aren’t effective. If the goal is to change behaviors, then notes pasted to large plate glass windows saying ‘Nice windows. It would be a shame if something happened to them. Have you considered moving your money out of large banks into locally owned smaller banks, and not voting to put morons in office? Just a thought…”

The only message sent by random destruction is that the person doing it is a jerk. Further, the trespass and other bogus charges used by the police are violations, like traffic tickets, not crimes. Destruction of property is a crime with an identifiable victim, which prosecutors and judges are unlikely to overlook. There is no right to trash other people stuff in the Constitution.

Remember: A rising tide lifts all boats … but only the 1% can afford boats, so it’s sink or swim for the 99%.

Update: I forgot to include Sara Robinson’s advice from an old hippie about dealing with troublemakers when you are attempting to change attitudes and be inclusive.