Micol Lucchi — This is how Switzerland’s direct democracy works

Swiss democracy by referendum is quite different from so-called liberal democracies that are democratic republics. Here is a short summary of how it works.

World Economic Forum
This is how Switzerland’s direct democracy works

Micol Lucchi | Swiss Public Affairs Specialist, World Economic Forum

Was Tsipras "bought?" Plus, what is confidence and a civics lesson.

The Greek "deal" is an orgy of neoliberal grab

Here's the "deal" that Tsipras agreed to in what is being described as anything from a whipping to a torture chamber. Frankly he deserves a whipping, but not this kind.

In the end what has emerged as the "deal" is nothing more than an orgy of neoliberal grab.

Here we go:

• Privatization program. Greece will be forced to sell off 50 billion euros in valuable assets. Of course, this is what the oligarchs were after. These are primo assets. Once again it's the looting of long-paid-for assets by theives with fraudulent claims to them. These assets have benefited the people. Now The Powers That Be can charge money for their use.

• Ambitious pension reforms. So the pension money will be stolen by the banksters to make them whole from their horribly wrong speculations. Off the backs of the innocents. What scum. This is exactly what the Greek voters voted against, but hey, referendums in Greece are not binding so too fucking bad, people.

• Liberalization of Greece's economy. That means deregulation, which is one of the favorite scams of the neoliberals who disguise this as fake competition and freeing up the "free market" when in fact it's nothing more than state sanctioned racketeering by large multinationals--European and American. They come in, take control, boost their profits and impose their will.

• Modernizing the labor market. Haha. How funny. You knew this was coming. It's a euphemism for union destruction and labor subjugation.

• Depoliticizing the Greek government establishment. Talk about brazen. These guys have gone above and beyond with this one. It's basically saying we're going to take politics out of politics. In other words, the end of any form of representative government. Don't even think about it. We'll be taking over from here on.

• Ending or rolling back legislation that Syriza passed in its first six months. This one goes hand in hand with the bullet point above. Your government passed laws? Too fucking bad, we're cancelling those laws.

Anyone who says this is not a coup is a fool. By the way, the hashtag #ThisIsACoup is trending on Twitter.

On another note, let's not get smug or overly critical of the Greek people or for that matter go on any sort of rant against this outcome for that would be hypocrisy. The same thing goes on here in America and in Europe all the time.

While we don't have binding referendums (a direct democracy) in the USA or, in most European countries, (we have representative government) the will of the people is almost always ignored just the same. We know this by looking at polls and then seeing what laws are passed, which are almost always against what the people want and almost always aligned with what the elites want.

We have seen it here in the USA with Citizens United, the many trade deals (in fact, one that Congress just gave to Obama), endless foreign wars, tax giveaways to they rich, law enforcement and police brutality, NSA surveillance and much more. So we are just as much sheep being led to slaughter as the Greeks.

If Greece votes "NO" and exits the euro and re-introduces the drachma, I am buying every Greek stock I can buy.

If Greece votes "NO" and exits the euro and re-introduces the drachma I am buying every Greek stock I can buy. Hopefully, the initial reaction will be a sharp selloff, so this way I can get them at a huge discount.

After Argentina broke the dollar peg and went back to the peso in 2002, the Argentine stock market proceeded on a 1500% advance over the next two years. It was the best performing stock market in the world.

I don't believe in all the gloom and doomers who say that going back to the drachma will be the equivalent of "out of the frying pan and into the fire."

The fire--the HELL--has been the euro and austerity. I am not saying that everything will immediately turn rosy for Greece. Not at all. There will be a period of acute suffering, but then things will normalize and get much better. They will be free of all that crushing debt and austerity.

The financial markets will be discounting this and moving higher.

Anyway, that's what I think and I am going to put my money where my mouth is.

If the Greeks vote "YES" in Sunday's referendum then I am done defending them. I have no sympathy left for them. They will have gotten what they deserve.

I barely have any sympathy left for the Greeks anyway. What a bunch of dumb shits the way they have been handling this disaster. And this from a nation with such an amazing history. They gave so much to the world: Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Archimedes, Hippocrates, Pythagoras.

Alexander the Great must be rolling over in his grave!

If they vote "YES" on Sunday that's it, I am done with them. They get what they fucking deserve.

I feel the same way about poor, dumb, Southerners here in America. I hope they stay poor and dumb because that's what they fucking deserve, too, for voting Republican.

Morons.

Raúl Ilargi Meijer — The Troika Turns Europe Into A Warzone

...the referendum has a far broader significance. It is about what and who will rule Europe going forward, and we’re talking decades here.

It will either be a union of functioning democracies, or it will be a totalitarian regime in which all 28 nations surrender their independence, their sovereignty, their votes and then their lives to Brussels and Berlin.

Democracies are about one thing first and foremost: the people decide. If you can’t have that, than why would you have elections and referendums? Those then become mere theater pieces. Like we already have in the US, where if anyone can explain to me the difference between the Clintons and the Kardashians, by all means give it a go.

Since it’s clear that Berlin is by far the strongest voice in the three-headed monster the Troika has become, it’s no exaggeration to say that what we see unfold before our eyes is yet another German occupation of Greece. There are no tanks and boxcars involved yet, but wars can be fought in many ways. And scorched earth can take up many different forms too. It’s the result that counts.

In the meantime it has somehow become entirely acceptable for politicians and media from foreign countries to tell the Greeks what to do, who to vote for, and what to make sure happens after.

European Parliament chief Martin Schulz even dares claim that Syriza should resign if the vote is yes, and it should be replaced with a bunch of technocrats. It’s none of your business, Martin. Or yours, Bloomberg writers, or Schäuble, or anyone else who’s not Greek. Shut up! You’re all way out of -democratic- line.

It’s up to Greeks to decide what happens in their country. It’s both a sovereign state and a democracy. The utmost respect for this should be the very foundation of everything we do as free people, whose ancestors fought so hard to make us free.
How come we moved so far away from that, so fast? What happened to us? What have we become?

The Automatic Earth
The Troika Turns Europe Into A Warzone
Raúl Ilargi Meijer

Greek referendum coming on Sunday. Get my Forex videos and get ready to trade! Now available on .mp4 format!!

This Sunday is the Greek referendum. All hell can break loose in the Forex markets if the Greeks vote "NO," as Tsipras and Varoufakis have been urging.

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Varoufakis threatens to quit if Greeks vote "YES" in referendum. Why wait?

Do it, bro!

Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, went from writing obscure economic articles as an academic to the ministerial head of a country at the center of one of the greatest global monetary debacles of all time.

Let's face it: Varoufakis is in way over his head. He should go back to being an unknown academic who writes obscure economic articles.

What kind of a drama queen threat is this: "I'll quit if my country votes yes." Seriously? Varoufakis had ample time to galvanize his countrymen against the destructive and usurious demands of the Troika. He also had a lot of time to convince them it would be better to leave the euro.

Don't wait for Sunday, Yanis. Quit today. The Greek people deserve better.

Telegraph — George Osborne spearheads assault to stop Greece 'suicide'

Elite freak out underway as Sampson Syriza pulls down the pillars. Shades of Lehman looming.

George Osborne on Monday led attempts to strong-arm Greece into voting for a bail-out package as he warned that a Greek exit would threaten Britain’s financial stability.
Britain joined Germany, France, Italy and the European Commission in telling the Greek people that refusing austerity measures in next Sunday’s referendum would catapult them “from the eurozone and from Europe".

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, warned the Greeks – who are on Tuesday night expected to default on a €1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – not to “commit suicide” by rejecting the proposed €12 billion loans-for-reforms package. The threat comes despite voters being asked only whether they support the bail-out.

Some £36 billion was wiped off the value of major British companies on the FTSE 100 as markets slid around the world, while Greeks queued in their thousands at cash machines, petrol stations and supermarkets for a third day....

Hold strong Syriza. Democracy is working.

Best line:

Greece on Monday published the ballot paper for Sunday’s vote, with No, or Oxi, at the top. The word carries powerful resonance in Greece from the day in October 1940 when it refused Mussolini’s ultimatum.

If this weren't so pitiful, I'd be laughing. The eurocrats are getting what they deserve. And no, they are still not willing to compromise one inch. That's the real neoliberalism on display. It's like catching a monkey by putting a banana in pot. The monkey grasps the banana and won't let go, so it is caught by its own greed.

The Telegraph
George Osborne spearheads assault to stop Greece 'suicide'

Matthew Holehouse, Brussels, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Justin Huggler, Berlin and Steven Swinford

Peter Dorman — Greece: A Referendum on What to Do Yesterday

I think a referendum was appropriate, but perhaps a month ago, not now. (1) The creditors never negotiated; they never horse-traded compromises. That was obvious from the beginning, and glaringly obvious when they responded to Syriza's final offer, which tiptoed across some red lines, with even more demands. It was always take-it-or-leave-it. Tsipras and Varoufakis were not honest with the Greek people, in my opinion, by repeatedly making optimistic statements -- they should have said "we can't negotiate with these guys" and put it to a vote right away....

As for the IMF, it was no secret that there has been a lot of tension between the technical staff and the politicians at the top. They have a policy, established after the Argentine fiasco, of not lending to insolvent states, but instead requiring writedowns from the creditors. Ah, but the creditors in the Greek case are the banks and governments that installed the IMF directors, so the policy is being flagrantly violated....

Power politics and cronyism, hallmarks of the neoliberal order being imposed through globalization. Europe is only a test case.

Econospeak
Greece: A Referendum on What to Do Yesterday
Peter Dorman, Professor of Political Economy, The Evergreen State College

Constantin Gurdgiev — Greek Political Outlook: June 2015

True Economics
Greek Political Outlook: June 2015

Constantin Gurdgiev

See also

IMF Gun, Greek Voters

Iain Martin — There’s method in Greece’s madness – it could pay off

The action is now political.

The Telegraph
There’s method in Greece’s madness – it could pay off
Iain Martin

ht Clonal

Yves Smith — Tsipras’ Bailout Referendum Sham

Have Tsipras and Syriza bungled this?

Naked Capitalism
Tsipras’ Bailout Referendum Sham
Yves Smith

Two on Greece

Two from Clonal.

The Globalist
How Grexit Could Happen: Referendum or No Referendum?
Christian Schulz | Senior Economist at Berenberg Bank in London

Why Greece Needs a Referendum — And why Germany should welcome it this time.
Meghnad Desai | member of the British House of Lords and an emeritus professor of economics at the London School of Economics

And then, of course, there's the full on neoliberal "solution."

What Greece Needs Now From Tsipras
Holger Schmieding | Chief Economist at Berenberg Bank in London

Reuters — Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult

Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis.
A grassroots committee is calling for all adults in Switzerland to receive an unconditional income of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,800) per month from the state, with the aim of providing a financial safety net for the population.

Organizers submitted more than the 100,000 signatures needed to call a referendum on Friday and tipped a truckload of 8 million five-rappen coins outside the parliament building in Berne, one for each person living in Switzerland.

Reuters
Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult
(h/t JK via email)

Failure of US Long Range Strategic Planning, National Economic Security, Public Law

If we are living in the solution rather than the problem, then why not look at a National Referendum to force ethical planning and transparency into corporate and government planning documents.  

Why not seek a referendum requiring all US organizations include a paragraph in their objectives, mission statements, and long range organizational plans that would address larger national failures that resulted in the sub-prime housing bubble, savings and loan crisis, 2008 financial crisis, Dot Com Crash, high unemployment, low taxes for high income earners, federal income tax rules that can't be understood by any one individual, court systems that are too expensive for common man on Main Street, and political and regulatory capture by those with the money to 'get in the game'.

Politics based on power is no longer acceptable.  And business or multinational business based on money or power is no longer acceptable or sustainable.  That means leaving money overseas off-shore till legislation is drafted for the US Congress - is no longer acceptable for those that pay payroll taxes automatically every payday.  Balancing power between people, the government, and corporations is a much better policy.

The main advantage of a National scheme or referendum for government and organizational ethics clauses is to make up for failure of the US Constitution and Federal Legislation.  We should adopt some national pride codified by public law that supports public discussion and transparency to keep our US Organizations on the right track.  The theory being that if we think right, can point to common goals and national concerns, then we will act 'right'.  We will address as a team or community the weakness in policy or actions.  Employees will raise discussions on their own to bring their organization in line with ethical objectives.  And it is very appropriate as ethics training for our young students and businessmen and businesswomen.  

I believe there is value looking at a kind of "reorganization" of government based on transparency, ethics, and opportunity for everyone.  I believe this kind of reorganization can be accomplished though goal setting and long range planning.  Of course the idea is to position our nation for the future and correct the failures of the past.

First I wanted to point out some problems with Strategic Planning, organizational missions and objectives. Maybe we can agree that a strategic plan by Henry Kissinger or Zbigniew Brezinski for the world based on an ethnocentric perspective is flawed and likely unethical. Perhaps we can even agree that strategic planning is a corrupting influence on the world based on the killing of non-christians and suppression of foreign governments by our own governments. 

I think a government or corporate executive can be easily understood as a human working on his mission to secure revenue, funding, profit, or value for his organization. Each of us may play roles during the work day as a corporate player, an ideologue, as a financial investor, as a person that provides service to his community, as a parent, as a friend, or as a moral citizen. Each human has many different motivations and interests.

So how do you fight the Long Range Strategic Plan for Goldman Sachs?

How do you stop a Long Range Strategic Plan by some faction of Big Businessmen, Big Multinationals, Big Petroleum Interests, World Bankers, or some evil doer?  Well you don't.  You regulate to discourage crime and fraud.  But if you can create a national imperative or national initiative to include ethical rules in all Strategic Planning it may accomplish very much in my opinion.  

In the Government they call this a "Reorganization". Clearly new rules of transparency (regulations) and new "Grand Goals", "National Goals", or "Sustainable Social Goals" would have to be adopted.

There is a precedence for this kind of legislation under public statutory law known as the social contract between a citizen and a state. The social contract defines the relationship between a state and an entity that owes allegiance to it according to wikipedia. Further, public law interacts with civil and human rights.

What is the weakness of my idea?  Well there is no way to know what government is doing. No one wants people sticking their nose into their business even government business. We have a federal "Freedom of Information Act of 1966" that has helped US Transparency and various states have passed their own version. So there is a conflict of interest between the corporate or government employee/manager/executive and letting citizens know the details of business operations. The point is large organizations by their nature do not want their operations publicly known, will resist transparency, and citizens will face years of work to get the full picture of government activities in order to demand that remedies or reparations be made through public planning documents. 

In summary this is my proposal: 

1) Insert National rules for mission statements and objective statements

2) Insert National rules for ethical behavior in goal statements

3) Mandate that US Legal Organizations Strategic Planning clearly state and addresses the community, environmental, financial interests of the government in unemployment, job preservation, and social safety nets that may be affected by job losses created by mergers and leveraged take-overs by hostile or unfriendly firms that may saddle the organization with huge debt

4) Make all US Corporations, Fountadtions, governments, and legal organizations incorporate mission, objectives, and goals that are ethical and transparent to the public and employees.

5) US Strategic Planning as practiced in the US is focused as it is on it's own goals is acting like a maverick, acting like a loner, acting to the exclusion of national identity and responsibility. US Organizations ARE Acting like an off-shore privateer, a pirate, or a disinterested party. 

6) There is nothing wrong with forcing corporations to serve the country if not the community by being transparent. I think we would expect the same of NGOs, Foundations, PACs, 501 (c)(4) organizations, 527 organizations (soft money), and any legal entity formed or incorporated in the USA.  US Legal entities must be better citizens or state economy participants.

Links for discussion of weakness in current US Strategic Planning:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_range_planning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geopolitics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_analysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations#Epistemology_and_IR_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_analysis#Bureaucratic_Politics_Model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_analysis#Other_models
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy#Grand_Strategy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_interventionism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_mundialization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeasement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_interventionism#Unilateral_intervention

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_organization