Re: Greek Fascists et al

It seems like everyone is in a throw the bums out sort of mood, except perhaps the Germans...Pity the national politicians facing re-election in Europe and the US.  I'm not liking Obama's chances with the latest job figures.  And now India and China are starting to face a slowdown...

Looking on the bright side, though, this is one of those crises that has primarily faced well-developed nations.  While Europe and the US are talking about a lost decade, most of the world's population has actually become much better off over the last 10 years.  China and India alone make up more than 1/3 of the world's population, and they have seen significant increases in standards of living (although not without seeing continued crushing poverty and repression in many areas).  Also, despite headlines, much of Africa has also done quite well, along with a good chunk of South Asia.  

Other places people in the US need to pay more attention to: 

Indonesia (4th most populous country), Brazil (5th biggest), the Phillipines, Ethiopia, all of which have more people than any European country.  

FWIW.

On Fri, Jun 8, 2012 at 10:25 AM, Roy Griffin <roygg9@yahoo.com> wrote:

I thought the Greek fascists, the Golden Dawn,  were ridiculous to have a anti-immigrant stance since I was under the impression that it was unlikely there were many immigrants in Greece.    What I did not know is that Greece has a large population of immigrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The Golden Dawn also has begun physically attacking leftist politicians.  Media opinion seems to be that they have unmasked themselves as extremists and they will be obliterated in the coming elections--after surging from .46% to 7% in the last election.  Well, one hopes.   What a mess.  

There's a fascist or near-fascist government in Hungary now and Paul Krugman & Chris Hayes  seem to be among the few U.S. media figures who have noticed.  

Ouch.  

And I feel kind of gloomy about the failure of the Scott Walker recall effort.  I believe the Forces of Evil have a game plan to destroy the power of the public employee unions first--because they are among the most vital elements of the labor movement at present--and then they will proceed to abolish the right to strike.  From there, it could *really* go downhill. 

Still, I have a difficult time believing we will return to the era of 12 hour-days, poorhouses and child labor, but then I had difficulty believing that George Bush could be elected President.  

R.  

 

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