I still eat there semi regularly and I would still call it average to slightly above average. I mostly stick to the regular roast beef sandwiches and the chicken bacon and swiss. For the life of me though I don't understand why people love the curly fries.

I haven't eaten there in a decade or so, but it used to be a slightly above average fast-food chain.

In the current situation, "structural reforms" is used to subsume two entirely different sets of measures.

The first is meant to remove what you previously mentioned: corruption in all the shapes and forms it takes in Greece, from a (intentionally) broken tax system formed over decades of nepotism to a bankrupt national media in the hands of oligarchs. The institutions of the Greek state are precisely what you expect when a country has been run by four families (Papandreou, Samaras, Mitsotakis, Karamanlis) for basically five decades.

This kind of structural reform is part of Syriza's program. Like you said, it'll be hard work and they might very well fail. They'll have only weeks, maybe a few months to undo significant parts of what has grown over half a century. It's not fair, but that's what it is.

The second kind of "structural reform" is meant to increase competitiveness, generally speaking, and a reduction of the public sector. In case of Greece, this included the slashing of wages, pensions, benefits, public employment. The economic and social results are part of just about every article these days, so I won't mention them again. A Great Depression, as predicted.

That's the sort of "structural reforms" Syriza wants to undo. And it's the sort that is expected of Spain, Italy and France as well, which, if done, would probably throw the entire continent into a Great Depression.

I'd go so far as to call any demand to increase competitiveness to German levels madness. Germany gained its competitiveness by 15 years of beggar-thy-neighbour economics, undercutting the agreed upon target of ~2% inflation (read: 2% growth of unit labour costs) the entire time. France played by the rules, was on target the entire time, and is now expected to suffer for it. Only Greece was significantly above target, and are now slightly below target. That's only halfway, yet already more than any democratic country can take.

They could have spread the adjustment out over 20 years, with Germany running above average ULC growth, but decided to throw Greece (and to a lesser degree Spain) off a cliff instead.


So where are we now? Debt rose, GDP crashed, debt as percentage of GDP skyrocketed. That's a fail. Social situation is miserable, health care system basically collapsed, reducing Greece to North African standards. That's a fail.

Those are not reforms to allow Greece to function independently. Those are reforms to throw the Greek population into misery, with ever increasing likeliness of radical solutions (eg Golden Dawn, who are eagerly hoping for a failure of Syriza).

So yes, almost every nation in Europe needs reforms of one sort or another. But using austerity as a rod to beat discipline into supposedly sovereign nations is just about the shortest way imaginable to blow up the Eurozone. Inflicting this amount of pain on people against their will does not work in democratic countries, and the rise of Syriza, Podemos, Sinn Féin, the SNP and the Greens as well as the surge of popularity for Front National and Golden Dawn are clear indicators that the current form of politics cannot be sustained.

Force austerity on France and Le Pen wins the election.

Meaningful reforms that are to increase Europe's "prosperity" would have the support of the people. And reforms are definatly needed, given that the Eurozone is in its fifth year of stagnation, with many countries suffering from both a recession and deflation. A European Union without increasing prosperity for the masses will not last long, I'm sure of it. And a European Union that intentionally causes Great Depressions wouldn't be worth having anyway.

Yet after everything is said and done, I believe you are still absolutely correct in saying that the pro-austerity states won't blink.

Which is what makes it interesting, really. Greece might be able to take a default. They run a primary surplus and most (90%+) of the funds went to foreign banks, the ECB and the IMF anyway, or were used to stabilize the banking system. The people got bugger all. But the Greek banking system would collapse without access to the European system.

Which raises the question: would the pro-austerity states risk a collapse of the Greek banking system and everything it entails? Spanish banks would follow in a heartbeat.

As for the morality of it (they elected those governments, they deserved it): I don't believe in collective punishment, especially not the kind that cripples an entire generation, which is what years of 50+% youth unemployment and a failing educational system does.

My own country, Germany, in particular gets no sympathy from me in this case. Parts of our system were intentionally reformed to channel funds into the market, knowing full well that there was nowhere near enough demand for credit to soak up the surplus savings, nowhere near enough reliable debtors to generate a reasonable return of investment without generating bubbles, be it real estate or financial. They were looking for debtors, and if all it took was turning a blind eye to the painfully obvious longterm problems it would create in Southern Europe, they were more than eager to play along.

I haven't looked into him specifically, I just went to their twitch page http://www.twitch.tv/thecreatures
where they have a subscription and people occasionally donate to their favorite streamers. Assumingly, he gets a cut of the subscription and whatever people donate to him.

Anyway, gold nova (which you can see when he gets kicked to menu on mid-left above friends) is the competitive rank in CS:GO meaning he's basically in the 60-70 percentile. http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2012/10/5565/
So he's slightly above average, but maybe he's fun to watch, or interesting to listen to.

Statistically individual, personal commitments make very little impact on a population. I agree with the sentiment, but our views on "personal responsibility" don't work in reality beyond our individual family, they just make us feel better about ourselves thinking that way. You are superior. Good for you, but it doesn't put a dent in the real problem.

Reform works. For example, your children didn't make these decisions, rather you (and I assume a life mate), who are the institution of your children, made a parental reform and it benefits them greatly. Now, if you left it up to your children, what do you think they would do without your positive influence?

I'm a product of that and it has taken me years to realize this and patch the hole in my very being; years of bad habits and depression. I didn't have responsible, nor very smart parents, and I went to public school to boot. I was fucked and I didn't even know it. All of the potential to be an above average human and what did I do? FML'd. Flunked out of honors, AP, kicked out of the gifted and talented education program; though, I did provide that needed C average spot for Academic Decathelon, my potential meant squat. Personal responsibility BULLSHIT. That's an illusion and the reality is pathetic. I struggle EVERY DAY and I shouldn't have to.

I guess it's up to me to make up for my parent's irresponsibility, but most people just go with the flow. I guess if you don't mind paying for the ignorance of the sheeple, you can just let things be the way they are and deal with a failing population of dumbed down, unhealthy Americans.

Personally, I'd rather live in a world where people are getting smarter and healthier every day. A land where the government that tricked us (social contract) into giving them our livelihood, gives back to us, makes us stronger, more fit, and appropriately able to compete in a global economy. A land where the people in power work to make us better, rather than feeding off of our ignorance.

This imaginary world would abso-poso-lutely require reform away from the stranglehold dystopia the real.

My experience with some tech in inboard audio assist is the damn program being the one with the speech impediments, not just in response to user input, but invariably the weak link is in the the recognition of the systems crap software. This coming from someone who speaks clearly and articulately towards the above-average. Still too many bugs in most cheap systems. Most of the weaknesses lie I am guessing, in poor, unmatched microphones and user placement of head while speaking.

Indeed, a horrible jurist, but it's by reason of this very confession that you'd ACTUALLY make an excellent police officer...errrr cop. Oh, sorry...Enforcement Representative.

Almost certain you'd score above-average in the psyche tests at any police academy.

...if only that really happened.
I'm 100% in favor of feeding human meat to animals, if it's safe for them to eat (most is probably poisoned). At least we could give a little back to nature in death, but people seem to want to keep it to themselves for some reason.
I'm also in favor of eugenics, or selective breeding of animals we have control of (including humans). We could have almost completely ended genetic diseases in one generation if only the thought didn't outrage and disturb most people. We could have also stopped the insane overpopulation with strict selective breeding, solving many if not most of the problems facing us today. That is a step removed from offing my little bro to feed the dogs....even I'm not that heartless in real life.
The only arguments I've heard against it are 'only Nazi's would do that', and, 'it's my right to pass on my (low quality) genes to as many mini-mes as I wish'. I disagree with those ways of thinking and see them as throwing out the baby with the bath water or short sighted self centered bad planning (or child abuse, depending on your genes).
Personally, I didn't think my 'better than average' genes were good enough to warrant creating another person to save them. (I have an above average IQ and no known physical genetic flaws, only crippling personality flaws and a broken body!) Perhaps you can imagine how I feel about the likes of Honey Boo-boo breeders negating my choice and then some.
I know, I know...I'm a disgusting narcissistic Nazi freak....but what about the argument I made?

If there was no welfare of any sort, people would still have to apply at Walmart. People with stomachs to be filled far outnumber jobs that generate an income. And while the population is increasing, the number of jobs -- in the long run -- is actually decreasing.

It was always clear that automation would greatly reduce the number of jobs in manufacturing and agriculture, first and foremost. Given that the latest burst in technology is represented by Google, Apple, FB and Amazon, I'd say the hope of generating jobs through new areas of technology fell flat on its arse -- those four giants are worth a combined $1T, yet employ only 150k, or half as many as GE.

tl;dr

#people >> #jobs, exacerbated by robots/automation and politically suppressed aggregate demand

--------------------------

As for minimum wage being entry level wage: that's the idea, but given the age structure of fast food workers and the number of them who worked the job for years and years, it is merely theoretical in nature. Many people are stuck in it, others are floating in and out of employment at minimum wage level. Asking for a higher wage becomes a futile exercise as long as there's an army of willing replacements on the market. Some corporations try to minimize turn-over by paying above-average wages (Costco, Aldi), but the vast majority engage in a race to the bottom.

If you ask me, all of us deserve food in our stomachs, a roof over our heads. And health insure, while we're at it. The establishment over here used to call it the "revolution tax", because it allows people to retain some level of dignity and prevents them from chopping everyone's heads off with a guillotine. I prefer a considerably more expansive definition of human dignity, but I'm just one of those dirty socialists, so...

And once everybody achieves above average status it becomes the new mediocre and we're back to square one again.

It's not hopeless though. Maybe we can work towards a world where nearly everyone is above average.

They're trolling us. They are. They have to be.

The video production quality is above average for amateurs, so something isn't right.

My Q is way above average. My P is, sadly, very average.

It's a cryin' shame more folks could give a fuck about this particular Hydratic head of the beast of Babylon, innit? The fact that folks here with above-average Q's would rather use their meat to defend the machine or wallow in infotainment??-Quite telling and tragic, business as usual on planet chump.