Interesting bear trap sprung in the afternoon as recycled news on Greece caused a huge reversal in the markets which had been down all day. It was said that the IMF and ECB had reached an agreement on a new bailout for Greece.
Never mind that the government of Papandreou has about the same political track as Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and will probably be out on their ear before the end of summer, when the privatisation sale of Greece's public assets is consummated, more or less. If the Greek people do not toss them out on their ear first.
Look for more volatility dead ahead.
"You demagogues are like the fishers for eels;
in still waters they catch nothing,
but if they thoroughly stir up the slime,
their fishing is good;
in the same way it's only in troubled times
that you line your pockets."
Aristophanes, Ἱππεῖς Hippeîs
"Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of the smaller ones.
The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organised political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature.
The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education).
It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights."
Albert Einstein, 1949
The tension between the power and wealth of the few and the rights and liberty of the many therefore requires a continuing commitment to government of the people, by the people, and for the people. A general and pernicious attack upon the obligations of government to regulate and limit the power of the powerful few over the many is the impulse of a nascent tyranny, and the wellspring of treason.
