Let's return to yesterday's posts for a few points before looking again at Sri Lanka and Greece and how what is happening there is happening in the US----and remember, the UK is a decade or two ahead of US in MOVING FORWARD ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE GLOBAL 1% ----this is why we are seeing that MONEY-LESS SOCIETY going main stream in UK while only being introduced in Silicon Valley----home of ONE WORLD GLOBAL CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA.
Why is national and international media using two terms for this extreme wealth and extreme poverty----
CASHLESS SOCIETY VS MONEY-LESS SOCIETY.
When developed nation citizens as UK, US, Canada, Japan, think of CASHLESS SOCIETY they don't think all money is going to be taken out of circulation--they are thinking expanded credit card====plastic=====debt cards. So what if our employer direct deposits our paychecks----the middle and affluent class have not had problems with this. The money is always there.
The term MONEY-LESS is used more in third world societies where 99% of citizens never do handle paper money and rarely coins. They are already living in a barter society----when our US or UK media start using the term MONEY-LESS----WE THE PEOPLE know we are heading to that third world bartering status.
Below we see the AMERICAN THINKER------this is a right wing media outlet that makes good policy discussion with a right wing bias. The right wing pols would never use the term MONEY-LESS to their voters because that indicates MARXISM AND ENDING CAPITALISM.
WHEN THE GLOBAL 1% ARE PUSHING THESE PUBLIC POLICIES ON GLOBAL ECONOMICS AND THEY ARE RAGING GLOBAL BANKING NEO-LIBERALS----WE ARE NOT GOING TO LEFT MARXISM ----WE ARE GOING TO FAR-RIGHT LIBERTARIAN MARXISM----
Again, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland once left social progressive have these few decades been pulled right wing and have been installing ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE structures so please don't think these nations are still controlled by left politicians. All western Europe nations are captured by neo-liberalism as well and their citizens are fighting hard against this.
Developing nations have been using that term MONEY-LESS for these few decades via the United Nations----our developed nations are being tied to CASHLESS---
February 8, 2016
Here Comes the ‘Cashless Society’
By Mike Konrad
A recent look at some headlines, all less than two months old, gives us a scary view as to what is coming:
Denmark’s central bank was a pioneer when it first cut its deposit rate below zero in 2012, and the trend has now spread to the eurozone and Japan. The Danish deposit rate now stands at minus 0.65 per cent. - Financial Times
Sweden has followed suit. The USA is set to follow. Major Bankers are calling for an abolition of money. It may the only fix left, now that quantitative easing is failing. But no one is going to put their money in banks! Not if it means negative interest rates.
Don't worry. Governments will rise to the occasion and soon will be making cash illegal. People will be forced to put their money in banks or the market, thus rescuing the central governments and the central banks that are incestuously intertwined with them.
Beyond that, cash is probably the last arena of personal autonomy left. It can be spent anyway one pleases, with no one watching. It can be hidden from the government to avoid taxes. It can be used to engage in transactions of a semi-legal nature. It has power that the government cannot control; and that is why it has to go.
Of course, governments will not tell us the real reasons. Might provoke a reaction. We will be told it is for our own "good," however one defines that. It will be sold to us as a benefit. Millions of smartphone users are being seduced to take advantage of the convenience of Apple Pay; and indeed it is convenient, until you lose your smartphone.
When that day comes -- and we may be only one more "market correction" away -- the call will go out to have all disposable cash surrendered in exchange for bank accounts or money funds. A time period will be set up. Possibly two months, extended one or two times to make the bureaucrats appear merciful. Fluff stories will appear in the press to ease the process.
There will be stories about a seventy-year-old granny who marches in with a mattress containing $100,000 of her life earnings. She will smile, and tell the announcer, "I was always afraid of a fire; but now I feel safer." It will look so cute on the Five O’clock Action Report News.
Kids will turn in their piggy banks at school -- does anybody still use piggy banks anymore? -- for prepaid money cards. They won't be told the cards depreciate one or two percent a month, if they do not spend it immediately. Remember, that in all of these transactions, the central government/bank wins.
Side stories will inform us that mugging is down. Crime is finally being defeated. What won't be reported will be that hacking will shoot up. Bank fraud will skyrocket.
Poor people, often liberal voters, will be sold on increased personal safety. A cashless society means less crime in their neighborhoods. No cash puts muggers at a disadvantage. More importantly, they will be told that the rich can no longer hide their money and will be "forced to pay their fair share."
Conservatives will be told that no cash puts a damper on drug transactions, and social crimes, such as prostitution. Illegal aliens will not be able to get work. The media will be replete with tales of such wonder working miracles during the transition.
Be assured, however, that criminals, ever innovative, will find a way around problem. Escort Agencies now take credit cards. Muggers will soon concentrate on jewelry and smartphones, especially those with Apple Pay accounts.
Going cashless may ironically streamline drug smuggling since suitcases of money weigh too much.
In spite of that, we will be told that criminal enterprises will have been hurt badly. Their mountains of cash are irredeemable. Don't you believe it. Rather, there will be a spike in the price of Bitcoins during the conversion. Bitcoin's anonymity has already spawned major illicit franchises on the darknet. These will grow. Expect Craigslist to offer a plethora of conversion opportunities for college kids to make some spare ... well, credit by converting some cash. The more efficient drug dealers will suffer some loss as they have to farm out their stash to small operators for conversion; but the surviving dealers will end up leaner, meaner, and in fighting shape when the dust settles. Only the low-end relatively "honest" street pusher will suffer; but that street pusher was slated for an appointment with Five O'Clock News as a casualty of the drug wars, anyway. Drugs will now arrive, elegantly delivered via shipping agencies.
The real purpose of a cashless society will be total control: Absolute Total Control.
The real victims will be the public who will be forced to put all their wealth in a centralized system backed up by the good faith and credit of their respective governments. Their life savings will be eaten away yearly with negative rates. John Q. Public will be forced to subsidize bankrupt banks, or invest in an overpriced manipulated market.
People would be foolish to think they can waltz through the problem if they have gold. There is not enough gold on the planet to set up a serious competitive black market. Those who have gold will be forced to pay a severe markup premium for going off-grid. Eventually, even these will run out of gold; and bartering will soon prove tiresome.
The end result will be the loss of all autonomy. This will be the darkest of all tyrannies. From cradle to grave one will not only be tracked in location, but on purchases. Liberty will be non-existent
However, it will be sold to us as expedient simplicity itself, freeing us from crime: Fascism with a friendly face.
Perhaps the scariest consequence of all is that an individual can be "terminated" by a bureaucrat erasing his identity. Do not kid yourself, it will happen. Real "Mark of the Beast" stuff.
Rev 13:16-17 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark ... Rev 13:16-17
I do not know if we are there yet; but if recent headlines are a clue, we may be very close.
___________________________________________
Many Americans have already experienced signing on to direct utility or credit card deductions from our checking accounts----it started as voluntary and is moving to required. With that comes the hardship of DISCONTINUING THAT DIRECT WITHDRAW FOR PAYMENTS when we want to stop using it or want to change payment methods. As with all business transactions these days involving finance ----it has been corrupted and citizens/consumers are getting fleeced with fraud.
These policies are DELIBERATELY moving WE THE PEOPLE TO MONEY-LESS SOCIETY and each time a global corporation and global Wall Street introduces these policies our elected officials---first CONGRESS----then our STATE ASSEMBLIES----then our CITY COUNCILS ---have to pass laws to allow these predatory banking and corporate payment structures to MOVE FORWARD. Baltimore City pols and players promote all these policies and pass these laws because THEY ARE ALL CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA GLOBAL WALL STREET POLS AND PLAYERS.
'Millions of smartphone users are being seduced to take advantage of the convenience of Apple Pay; and indeed it is convenient, until you lose your smartphone'.
What did the corporation PAYPAL do? It eliminated yet another pathway to cash and check exchange for CONVENIENCE. Who did PAY PAL? Global 1% told our global IVY LEAGUEs to develop it and they put the 99% of students and staff to work and VOILA----a patented PAYPAL via ELON MUSK is released.
Citizens in Western nations used to convenience need to WAKE UP to think what a MONEY-LESS SOCIETY looks like and it is the opposite of a CASHLESS SOCIETY-----MONEY-LESS SOCIETIES don't have money to spend via PLASTIC.
Even the United Nations, alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, wants societies to forego cash for more virtual transacting.
OH, NO! Is that the OLD WORLD MERCHANTS OF VENICE CATHOLIC FREEMASON SYMBOL ON THAT CASHLESS REGISTER? Why it is! World Bank has talked these few decades of eliminating the sovereign nations of Denmark and Sweden to merge into what they are trying to make ONE WORLD ONE EUROZONE.
This could be the first country to go cashless
by Virginia Harrison @vharrisoncnn June 2, 2015: 11:18 AM ET
Your video will play in 00:15A plan to cut cash out of shopping could see Denmark become the first country to ditch notes and coins altogether.
The Danish government has proposed that most stores could dump their cash registers from January 2016.
Essential services, such as hospitals, pharmacies and post offices, would still have to accept cash under the plan, which is some way from becoming law.
Denmark, with its Scandinavian neighbors Norway and Sweden, is leading the global trend towards electronic money.
Business groups point to benefits such as reduced handling and transport costs, increased security and a drop in attempts to steal cash.
A cashless society is "no longer an illusion but a vision that can be fulfilled within a reasonable time frame," said Michael Busk-Jepsen, executive director of the Danish Bankers Association.
Right now all retailers in Denmark must take cash. But that hasn't stopped huge numbers of Danes embracing digital options.
Nearly 40% of the population use Danske Bank (DNSKY)'s MobilePay, which allows money transfers between people, as well as purchases in stores or online.
Norway and Sweden tell a similar story.
Scandinavians rely on cash for less than 6% of all payments made. By contrast, around 47% of U.S. payments are still made with cash, according to the Norwegian central bank.
In Sweden, you can even use a card to buy street newspapers sold by homeless people. Card reader maker iZettle said sales of Situation Stockholm have jumped following the introduction of mobile payments.
And one of the country's most famous names, Abba's Björn Ulvaeus, has been a vocal supporter of a cashless society.
The trend toward digital money is accelerating elsewhere in Europe.
Non-cash payments rose 6% in 2013, according to data from the European Central Bank. Cashless payments overtook those made with notes and coins in the U.K. for the first time last year.
Even the United Nations, alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, wants societies to forego cash for more virtual transacting. It wants to cut costs and improve transparency, and is working with governments and the private sector to encourage more use of electronic payments.
Still, a cashless society isn't great news for everyone. Digital transacting carries growing fraud and security risks, while the elderly and marginalized groups have limited access to electronic payment options.
The most recent figures from the ECB show fraudulent use of bank cards is racking up billions in costs for unlucky consumers.
Total card fraud in Europe hit €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) in 2012, a near 15% jump on the year earlier.
____________________________________________
We are all being told it is capitalism-----money ---that created these ROBBER BARON massive corporate and Wall Street frauds and government corruptions and not simply those 5% TO THE 1% GLOBAL WALL STREET POLS AND PLAYERS. Capitalism has been the economic policy for THOUSANDS OF YEARS and this construct of MAOIST/STALINIST MARXISM came from far-right wing extreme wealth extreme poverty -----global banking.
Again, left social progressive think communal living is great-----it has never worked and will not work in an INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY. That is why left social capitalism is the best economic policy for 99% of WE THE PEOPLE---making sure equal protection for all IS ENFORCED.
ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE BY A GLOBAL 1% TRIBUNAL has been working at these money-less society structures since 1950s---60s. Left academics knew back then this was global banking 1% and not a people's movement. This is why when REAGAN/CLINTON went global empire on WE THE PEOPLE ---we knew the goals----while national media and Clinton neo-liberal outlets called this CONSPIRACY THEORY. Here we are today with the 99% WAKING UP----please don't allow FAKE REVOLUTIONARIES working for ONE WORLD make that REVOLUTION THE UNITED NATIONS TRANSFORMATION.
Below we see a United Nations GLOBAL 1% ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE organization----and its tied to the GLOBAL GREEN CORPORATION PARTY---JILL STEIN.
© 2013 - It's Our Economy, a project of PopularResistance.org
We have Jill Stein---Bernie Sanders----Ellison-----AND our right wing LIBERTARIANS all pushing these MOVING FORWARD policies----this is how we know who those pesky 5% to the 1% are as Clinton/Obama morph to far-right LIBERTARIAN MARXISM.
LANKACLEAR
Corporate Profile
A World Beyond Cash
Incorporated in February 2002 as the "National Cheque Clearing House", today, LankaClear has expanded its service offering to be the "National Payment Infrastructure Provider" for the country. Owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and all Licensed Commercial Banks operating in Sri Lanka, the company boasts of multiple solution offerings not only for the banking sector but also across all industries that are ready and willing to adopt/ integrate to the latest digital technology driving Sri Lanka toward an efficient, green, and paperless nation.
In an era where electronic payment modes are gaining popularity worldwide, we at LankaClear have set the foundation & platforms in moving Sri Lanka to a cashless society with paperless offices. As the catalyst of change in the Sri Lankan Payment Industry, the company has continuously strived to maintain the highest standards of efficiency and security in catering to this emerging market needs. The LankaSign Certification Service Provider (CSP) implemented by LankaClear provides the much needed security for the electronic payment systems and is currently the only commercially operated CSP in the country.
LankaClear has introduced many ground breaking products, some of which have been first in the South Asian Region. Our committed & dynamic team of in- house professionals, with global exposure brings in the expertise in driving the technology foot print and the service delivery at LankaClear.
All Foreign Economic Zones are installing this MONEY-LESS/CASHLESS SOCIETY -----including now US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES. Where does this lead? Global corporate campus plantations where that corporation houses, feeds, clothes, and teaches its human capital without them having to leave that global corporate campus.
NO MONEY NEEDED IN A TOTALITARIAN EXTREME WEALTH CAPTURE.
Imagine For a Moment a Moneyless Society
By Tony DeLorger
Imagine for a moment a society without money. When you think about it, money, the lack of it, the pursuit of it, and what to do with it, takes up much of our waking consciousness. Even in our dreams we dream about winning the lottery, paying off the mortgage or being able to afford every whim and want. In short we are slaves to money. But in reality it is just an idea. These little pieces of paper are meaningless in themselves, rather a means by which our society is maintained, kept in some semblance of balance and order.
However from another perspective, money and the pursuit of it reveals a far more negative aspect of humanity, greed. Because money can expand life choices and gain power over those with less of it, it is by nature the corruptor. Our monetary system, devised to be a means for fair economy and balances has become the controlling force of all human endeavour. It has become a sole purpose and the false God of a race of beings immersed in self-involvement.
The world is filled with inequity, most of which revolves around money. Those born into poverty have no choice in the matter, as is our good fortune born into wealth. The success or failure of political and economic systems comes from individual circumstance for which all associated populations endure the result. Most of us have little influence on what happens beyond trying to ensure we protect and care for our own love ones. Of course, no-one wants to give up what they have, or lesson the lifestyle and freedom that we enjoy.
Here’s the clincher. Technology, energy and world resources can sustain our world populations: rid the world of hunger, drastically lessen disease and care for all its inhabitants. The only obstacle is greed and what the monetary system has created.
Imagine a world without money, without the pressure of bills, striving to amass, budgeting and all that goes with our present system. And what’s even better, without money, without power there would be far less conflict. Perhaps we would learn to live in peace and not contend with or try to better our fellow man. The benefits would be many.
There are people that have been working on this possibility for some years, working out how such a society would work. The intent is not to recreate any political system or philosophy but to imagine a new working world order whereby a governing body would oversee the maintenance and procurement of all the resources needed to sustain a balanced, healthy world. Perhaps we would all be required to work certain hours per week in our chosen fields, having been educated and nurtured to achieve our potential. The reward for participation would be housing, food and recreational choices, living in the knowledge that our future and our children’s future is assured.
It all sounds impossible to achieve but dreams can come true and a world of peace and prosperity is worth consideration. Think about it.
________________________________________
Most US citizens will without even researching this policy stance think MONEY-LESS SOCIETIES are not good. Our poor struggle every day because they don't have money-----our third world immigrants come to US because their nation leaves them with no money.
Global Wall Street 1% are trying to sell WE THE GLOBAL 99% that global corporations want to take care of its human capital. They plan to place workers in campus dormitories----with corporate campus schools---with preventative care only health care -----serving 3 institutional meals a day to its workers working 15-18 hours a day. They will give workers CORPORATE UNIFORMS for clothing----this is what we call TOTALITARIANISM.
Our US military citizens will say----well, that's how we live on military bases-----know what is different? Our US military were PAID SOLID WAGES AND BENEFITS---they could sign up for a 4 or 8 year term and then head to a free, democratic, civilian life. What is being built by global Wall Street is 24/7------LIFETIME MILITARY BASE structures with no PAY.
Here we are again in 1972 with our INTERNATIONAL LABOR UNION talking about a BLOODLESS REVOLUTION. We have been shouting for a decade in our organization that a VISIGOTH RAPE AND PILLAGE LOOTING of our US government and personal assets was happening CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA----now, do we really thing global banking and global 1% are our BLOODLESS REVOLUTIONARIES? Of course not---they are the same OLD WORLD MERCHANTS OF VENICE RICH from a thousand years ago.
Are a moneyless society and a bloodless revolution possible?; Right to Challenge; People and Power in the Steelworkers Union.
By John Herling. 415 pp. New York: Harper & Row. $12.50
Here we see Greek leaders these few decades being the same CLINTON/OBAMA only pretending to be LEFT SOCIALISTS tying the nation to so much global banking debt to sink the nations' economy but these FAKE SOCIALIST LEADERS are blaming the EU chiefs. It is the same as CLINTON/OBAMA shaking their fists at TRUMP.
What we are not hearing in our national media is part of this AUSTERITY IN GREECE required an end to that nations' quality health coverage and senior health care programs and tying Greece to UNITED NATIONS global labor pool preventative care only ----SINGLE-PAYER/UNIVERSAL CARE ---and the mortality rate for seniors in Greece is SOARING.
EU chiefs SLASH Greece's aid because Tsipras wanted to give pensioners a Christmas bonus
HEARTLESS European Union finance ministers have suspended much needed debt relief for Greece because the country’s prime minister wanted to give a Christmas bonus to pensioners.By Patrick Christys
PUBLISHED: 00:00, Thu, Dec 15, 2016 | UPDATED: 03:53, Thu, Dec 15, 2016
2K89GETTY
Alexis Tsipras wanted to give old people a Christmas bonus but the EU said no
Greek premier Alexis Tsipras said £520million would be distributed as Christmas bonuses to 1.6million pensioners who live on £700 or less a month – the same pensioners who had their life savings claimed by the government during the recent banking crisis.
But Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said it would be postponing aid to the Mediterranean nation because bringing Christmas cheer to the elderly "appears to not be in line with our agreements”.
The Germans are the main opposition force to Greece’s bailout and ministers from Europe’s economic powerhouse clearly believe bringing festive cheer to old people who have felt the full force of the failing Eurozone.
In a Twitter statement, Mr Dijsselbloem said: “Some member states see it this way also and thus no unanimity now for implementing the short-term debt measures.”
The Eurogroup believes Mr Tsipras is “disrespecting” their generosity.
Alexis Tsipras's country could now face a lean Christmas and uncertain future
Greece's pensioners suffered badly in the financial crash
The debt relief measures agreed on December 6 to include more time for Greece to repay ESM loans and brakes on interest rates.
This Christmas bonus dispute could complicate efforts by Athens and its creditors to complete the review of the second Greek bailout programme.
It will also make the situation between Greece and the International Monetary Fund more difficult, with the IMF acting as one of the country’s largest lenders now sceptical as to whether it will see a return on its loans.
The IMF has already said it will bail out of the bailout if Greece’s debt is not sustainable.
But the Washington-based lender has been quick to defend itself, saying it has no desire to demand more austerity in Greece, the demands enforced upon the country by the EU are “very high” and budget surpluses are “simply not credible”.
_____________________________________________
The WORLD BANK AND IMF have these few decades forced developing nations into these UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL LABOR POOL preventative care only structures assuring these nations will never have the quality of health care our developed nations do-------same happened for Greece when its FAKE SOCIALIST LEADERS tied Greece to WORLD BANK/IMF----and all those pensioners ---baby boomers just as in the US-----were immediately denied access to those SOVEREIGN GREEK PROGRAMS AND HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS.
Mortality rates in Greece are soaring because of this. This is why we see Greek citizens protesting en masse----
This is what OBAMA AND CLINTON NEO-LIBERALS teamed with Bush neo-cons did to the US these several years-----they created the same sovereign debt fraud----they broke down all our Federal public health structures to assure only PRIVATE STATE HEALTH SYSTEMS exist just as the economic crash and US Treasury and state municipal bond market collapse occurs so that same WORLD BANK IMF will tell Trump----Larry Hogan -----Catherine PUGH----to install that UNITED NATIONS SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL CARE just as in all third world nations.
OUR US SENIORS WILL BECOME THOSE GREEK SENIORS----IF YOU THINK THIS IS ONLY HAPPENING TO POOR CITIZENS--WAKE UP TO BECOMING THAT POOR CITIZEN.
Volunteers and patronage replacing a developed nation's public health system.
Global 1% will throw some millions to make everyone volunteers but not pay taxes to hire public employees to do civil services.
Maryland and Baltimore pols have staged citizens for just these events. Our Maryland Assembly APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIR Maggie McIntosh -----running for Governor as a Democrat-----made sure we had a strong PRIVATE STATE HEALTH SYSTEM and made sure all Maryland State funding from Health and Human Services goes to only global corporate campus medical systems and not to our local city/county coffers. This is what captures all tax revenue and its control when the economy crashes. It was our same MARYLAND BARBARA MIKULSKI as Congressional Appropriations doing the same ----Maryland and especially Baltimore will look the same as Greece.
Greek Healthcare System Now Relies on Volunteers and Donations
Posted by Harry Merritt on July 16, 2013
As austerity has imposed budget cuts on healthcare systems across Europe and North America, the effect has been diminished coverage, staff layoffs, shortages of medicines, and increases in preventable illness and deaths. This has been especially true in Greece, with multiple punishing rounds of austerity measures over the past several years effectively ending universal health care in the country. Though the statistics reveal a growing health crisis among the Greek people, a complete collapse of the system has only been avoided through the efforts of dedicated volunteers.
Greece had a health care system that was until recently much like the rest of Europe's—a social insurance scheme paid into by the employed supplemented by government budgetary appropriation to provide universal coverage to the population. Four years of austerity have changed that, with budget cuts taking funds from hospitals and clinics, a massive unemployment rate diminishing revenues, and stipulations of the austerity measures mandating that those unemployed for a year or more are ineligible to receive benefits.
Last year, the New York Times reported on an underground network of doctors and nurses who serve those unemployed patients who are no longer covered. "In Greece right now, to be unemployed means death," said Dr. Syrigos, a member of this network. But for the unemployed, the work he and others like him have done means the preservation of life and well-being. Cancer patients who otherwise would have to pay out of pocket were spared crippling payments they could not possibly afford. As the social and health crisis has grown in Greece, the need for networks like this has only increased.
The BBC has done an in depth profile, looking in particular at the Metropolitan Community Clinic run by Dr. Giorgos Vichas.
Dr Vichas says his clinic is the only place in the city where cancer patients can get free chemotherapy. They are also providing 200 families with milk formula for their babies.
The municipality provides the premises for the clinic, on a disused American military base, and pays the overheads. But the medical professionals - which include paediatricians, gynaecologists and cardiologists - work there for nothing.
All the drugs are donated by individuals and pharmaceutical companies. They enter the clinic by the plastic bagful, higgledy piggledy, to be processed by a team of volunteers led by pharmacists. They sort them, date them, label them and store them.
As the state has withdrawn, networks of volunteers—within the medical profession or without—and pharmaceutical companies have worked on these clinics, in this case on land donated by the municipality. Doctors in hospitals bend the rules by giving tests and treatment without asking for proof of insurance: "'Every day I break the law,' [Dr. Ilias Sioras of Evangelismos General Hospital in Athens] says. 'I never ask for insurance for any patient.'"
For those like Dr. Panos Eustathiou of the Greek Ministry of Health, these efforts consitute a measure of success under conditions of austerity. But pretending that an ersatz volunteer-based effort can meet the needs of millions of Greeks is disingenuous and dangerous. Dr. Vichas freely acknowledges that "his team cannot continue firefighting the city's health problems forever" and worries about growing lapses in basic preventative care like childhood vaccinations.
Indeed, the Greek medical volunteers should challenge the beliefs of neoliberal supporters of austerity policies; in contrast to marketized "private-sector solutions" the volunteers are motivated by altruism and solidarity, donating their time and money without financial returns or tax benefits. The holes they patched in the system are admirable, but cannot compare to the permanence or universality of a modern universal health care system. Though these volunteers struggle resolutely to help their fellow Greeks, so long as austerity continues to gut the national health care system, they can only fail to stem the growing health crisis in the end, as in a classic Greek tragedy.
Why is national and international media using two terms for this extreme wealth and extreme poverty----
CASHLESS SOCIETY VS MONEY-LESS SOCIETY.
When developed nation citizens as UK, US, Canada, Japan, think of CASHLESS SOCIETY they don't think all money is going to be taken out of circulation--they are thinking expanded credit card====plastic=====debt cards. So what if our employer direct deposits our paychecks----the middle and affluent class have not had problems with this. The money is always there.
The term MONEY-LESS is used more in third world societies where 99% of citizens never do handle paper money and rarely coins. They are already living in a barter society----when our US or UK media start using the term MONEY-LESS----WE THE PEOPLE know we are heading to that third world bartering status.
Below we see the AMERICAN THINKER------this is a right wing media outlet that makes good policy discussion with a right wing bias. The right wing pols would never use the term MONEY-LESS to their voters because that indicates MARXISM AND ENDING CAPITALISM.
WHEN THE GLOBAL 1% ARE PUSHING THESE PUBLIC POLICIES ON GLOBAL ECONOMICS AND THEY ARE RAGING GLOBAL BANKING NEO-LIBERALS----WE ARE NOT GOING TO LEFT MARXISM ----WE ARE GOING TO FAR-RIGHT LIBERTARIAN MARXISM----
Again, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland once left social progressive have these few decades been pulled right wing and have been installing ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE structures so please don't think these nations are still controlled by left politicians. All western Europe nations are captured by neo-liberalism as well and their citizens are fighting hard against this.
Developing nations have been using that term MONEY-LESS for these few decades via the United Nations----our developed nations are being tied to CASHLESS---
February 8, 2016
Here Comes the ‘Cashless Society’
By Mike Konrad
A recent look at some headlines, all less than two months old, gives us a scary view as to what is coming:
- Bring On the Cashless Future - Bloomberg
- China buyers go virtually cashless - The Star
- Norway's Biggest Bank Calls For Country To Stop Using Cash - Int'l Business Times
- Cashless future underway as Canadian consumers have more credit, debit and app options than ever - CBC
- In Sweden, a Cash-Free Future Nears - NY Times
- Germany proposes new cash ban and capital controls as Europe rushes towards NIRP - Examiner
Denmark’s central bank was a pioneer when it first cut its deposit rate below zero in 2012, and the trend has now spread to the eurozone and Japan. The Danish deposit rate now stands at minus 0.65 per cent. - Financial Times
Sweden has followed suit. The USA is set to follow. Major Bankers are calling for an abolition of money. It may the only fix left, now that quantitative easing is failing. But no one is going to put their money in banks! Not if it means negative interest rates.
Don't worry. Governments will rise to the occasion and soon will be making cash illegal. People will be forced to put their money in banks or the market, thus rescuing the central governments and the central banks that are incestuously intertwined with them.
Beyond that, cash is probably the last arena of personal autonomy left. It can be spent anyway one pleases, with no one watching. It can be hidden from the government to avoid taxes. It can be used to engage in transactions of a semi-legal nature. It has power that the government cannot control; and that is why it has to go.
Of course, governments will not tell us the real reasons. Might provoke a reaction. We will be told it is for our own "good," however one defines that. It will be sold to us as a benefit. Millions of smartphone users are being seduced to take advantage of the convenience of Apple Pay; and indeed it is convenient, until you lose your smartphone.
When that day comes -- and we may be only one more "market correction" away -- the call will go out to have all disposable cash surrendered in exchange for bank accounts or money funds. A time period will be set up. Possibly two months, extended one or two times to make the bureaucrats appear merciful. Fluff stories will appear in the press to ease the process.
There will be stories about a seventy-year-old granny who marches in with a mattress containing $100,000 of her life earnings. She will smile, and tell the announcer, "I was always afraid of a fire; but now I feel safer." It will look so cute on the Five O’clock Action Report News.
Kids will turn in their piggy banks at school -- does anybody still use piggy banks anymore? -- for prepaid money cards. They won't be told the cards depreciate one or two percent a month, if they do not spend it immediately. Remember, that in all of these transactions, the central government/bank wins.
Side stories will inform us that mugging is down. Crime is finally being defeated. What won't be reported will be that hacking will shoot up. Bank fraud will skyrocket.
Poor people, often liberal voters, will be sold on increased personal safety. A cashless society means less crime in their neighborhoods. No cash puts muggers at a disadvantage. More importantly, they will be told that the rich can no longer hide their money and will be "forced to pay their fair share."
Conservatives will be told that no cash puts a damper on drug transactions, and social crimes, such as prostitution. Illegal aliens will not be able to get work. The media will be replete with tales of such wonder working miracles during the transition.
Be assured, however, that criminals, ever innovative, will find a way around problem. Escort Agencies now take credit cards. Muggers will soon concentrate on jewelry and smartphones, especially those with Apple Pay accounts.
Going cashless may ironically streamline drug smuggling since suitcases of money weigh too much.
In spite of that, we will be told that criminal enterprises will have been hurt badly. Their mountains of cash are irredeemable. Don't you believe it. Rather, there will be a spike in the price of Bitcoins during the conversion. Bitcoin's anonymity has already spawned major illicit franchises on the darknet. These will grow. Expect Craigslist to offer a plethora of conversion opportunities for college kids to make some spare ... well, credit by converting some cash. The more efficient drug dealers will suffer some loss as they have to farm out their stash to small operators for conversion; but the surviving dealers will end up leaner, meaner, and in fighting shape when the dust settles. Only the low-end relatively "honest" street pusher will suffer; but that street pusher was slated for an appointment with Five O'Clock News as a casualty of the drug wars, anyway. Drugs will now arrive, elegantly delivered via shipping agencies.
The real purpose of a cashless society will be total control: Absolute Total Control.
The real victims will be the public who will be forced to put all their wealth in a centralized system backed up by the good faith and credit of their respective governments. Their life savings will be eaten away yearly with negative rates. John Q. Public will be forced to subsidize bankrupt banks, or invest in an overpriced manipulated market.
People would be foolish to think they can waltz through the problem if they have gold. There is not enough gold on the planet to set up a serious competitive black market. Those who have gold will be forced to pay a severe markup premium for going off-grid. Eventually, even these will run out of gold; and bartering will soon prove tiresome.
The end result will be the loss of all autonomy. This will be the darkest of all tyrannies. From cradle to grave one will not only be tracked in location, but on purchases. Liberty will be non-existent
However, it will be sold to us as expedient simplicity itself, freeing us from crime: Fascism with a friendly face.
Perhaps the scariest consequence of all is that an individual can be "terminated" by a bureaucrat erasing his identity. Do not kid yourself, it will happen. Real "Mark of the Beast" stuff.
Rev 13:16-17 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark ... Rev 13:16-17
I do not know if we are there yet; but if recent headlines are a clue, we may be very close.
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Many Americans have already experienced signing on to direct utility or credit card deductions from our checking accounts----it started as voluntary and is moving to required. With that comes the hardship of DISCONTINUING THAT DIRECT WITHDRAW FOR PAYMENTS when we want to stop using it or want to change payment methods. As with all business transactions these days involving finance ----it has been corrupted and citizens/consumers are getting fleeced with fraud.
These policies are DELIBERATELY moving WE THE PEOPLE TO MONEY-LESS SOCIETY and each time a global corporation and global Wall Street introduces these policies our elected officials---first CONGRESS----then our STATE ASSEMBLIES----then our CITY COUNCILS ---have to pass laws to allow these predatory banking and corporate payment structures to MOVE FORWARD. Baltimore City pols and players promote all these policies and pass these laws because THEY ARE ALL CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA GLOBAL WALL STREET POLS AND PLAYERS.
'Millions of smartphone users are being seduced to take advantage of the convenience of Apple Pay; and indeed it is convenient, until you lose your smartphone'.
What did the corporation PAYPAL do? It eliminated yet another pathway to cash and check exchange for CONVENIENCE. Who did PAY PAL? Global 1% told our global IVY LEAGUEs to develop it and they put the 99% of students and staff to work and VOILA----a patented PAYPAL via ELON MUSK is released.
Citizens in Western nations used to convenience need to WAKE UP to think what a MONEY-LESS SOCIETY looks like and it is the opposite of a CASHLESS SOCIETY-----MONEY-LESS SOCIETIES don't have money to spend via PLASTIC.
Even the United Nations, alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, wants societies to forego cash for more virtual transacting.
OH, NO! Is that the OLD WORLD MERCHANTS OF VENICE CATHOLIC FREEMASON SYMBOL ON THAT CASHLESS REGISTER? Why it is! World Bank has talked these few decades of eliminating the sovereign nations of Denmark and Sweden to merge into what they are trying to make ONE WORLD ONE EUROZONE.
This could be the first country to go cashless
by Virginia Harrison @vharrisoncnn June 2, 2015: 11:18 AM ET
Your video will play in 00:15A plan to cut cash out of shopping could see Denmark become the first country to ditch notes and coins altogether.
The Danish government has proposed that most stores could dump their cash registers from January 2016.
Essential services, such as hospitals, pharmacies and post offices, would still have to accept cash under the plan, which is some way from becoming law.
Denmark, with its Scandinavian neighbors Norway and Sweden, is leading the global trend towards electronic money.
Business groups point to benefits such as reduced handling and transport costs, increased security and a drop in attempts to steal cash.
A cashless society is "no longer an illusion but a vision that can be fulfilled within a reasonable time frame," said Michael Busk-Jepsen, executive director of the Danish Bankers Association.
Right now all retailers in Denmark must take cash. But that hasn't stopped huge numbers of Danes embracing digital options.
Nearly 40% of the population use Danske Bank (DNSKY)'s MobilePay, which allows money transfers between people, as well as purchases in stores or online.
Norway and Sweden tell a similar story.
Scandinavians rely on cash for less than 6% of all payments made. By contrast, around 47% of U.S. payments are still made with cash, according to the Norwegian central bank.
In Sweden, you can even use a card to buy street newspapers sold by homeless people. Card reader maker iZettle said sales of Situation Stockholm have jumped following the introduction of mobile payments.
And one of the country's most famous names, Abba's Björn Ulvaeus, has been a vocal supporter of a cashless society.
The trend toward digital money is accelerating elsewhere in Europe.
Non-cash payments rose 6% in 2013, according to data from the European Central Bank. Cashless payments overtook those made with notes and coins in the U.K. for the first time last year.
Even the United Nations, alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, wants societies to forego cash for more virtual transacting. It wants to cut costs and improve transparency, and is working with governments and the private sector to encourage more use of electronic payments.
Still, a cashless society isn't great news for everyone. Digital transacting carries growing fraud and security risks, while the elderly and marginalized groups have limited access to electronic payment options.
The most recent figures from the ECB show fraudulent use of bank cards is racking up billions in costs for unlucky consumers.
Total card fraud in Europe hit €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) in 2012, a near 15% jump on the year earlier.
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We are all being told it is capitalism-----money ---that created these ROBBER BARON massive corporate and Wall Street frauds and government corruptions and not simply those 5% TO THE 1% GLOBAL WALL STREET POLS AND PLAYERS. Capitalism has been the economic policy for THOUSANDS OF YEARS and this construct of MAOIST/STALINIST MARXISM came from far-right wing extreme wealth extreme poverty -----global banking.
Again, left social progressive think communal living is great-----it has never worked and will not work in an INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY. That is why left social capitalism is the best economic policy for 99% of WE THE PEOPLE---making sure equal protection for all IS ENFORCED.
ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE BY A GLOBAL 1% TRIBUNAL has been working at these money-less society structures since 1950s---60s. Left academics knew back then this was global banking 1% and not a people's movement. This is why when REAGAN/CLINTON went global empire on WE THE PEOPLE ---we knew the goals----while national media and Clinton neo-liberal outlets called this CONSPIRACY THEORY. Here we are today with the 99% WAKING UP----please don't allow FAKE REVOLUTIONARIES working for ONE WORLD make that REVOLUTION THE UNITED NATIONS TRANSFORMATION.
Below we see a United Nations GLOBAL 1% ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE organization----and its tied to the GLOBAL GREEN CORPORATION PARTY---JILL STEIN.
© 2013 - It's Our Economy, a project of PopularResistance.org
We have Jill Stein---Bernie Sanders----Ellison-----AND our right wing LIBERTARIANS all pushing these MOVING FORWARD policies----this is how we know who those pesky 5% to the 1% are as Clinton/Obama morph to far-right LIBERTARIAN MARXISM.
LANKACLEAR
Corporate Profile
A World Beyond Cash
Incorporated in February 2002 as the "National Cheque Clearing House", today, LankaClear has expanded its service offering to be the "National Payment Infrastructure Provider" for the country. Owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and all Licensed Commercial Banks operating in Sri Lanka, the company boasts of multiple solution offerings not only for the banking sector but also across all industries that are ready and willing to adopt/ integrate to the latest digital technology driving Sri Lanka toward an efficient, green, and paperless nation.
In an era where electronic payment modes are gaining popularity worldwide, we at LankaClear have set the foundation & platforms in moving Sri Lanka to a cashless society with paperless offices. As the catalyst of change in the Sri Lankan Payment Industry, the company has continuously strived to maintain the highest standards of efficiency and security in catering to this emerging market needs. The LankaSign Certification Service Provider (CSP) implemented by LankaClear provides the much needed security for the electronic payment systems and is currently the only commercially operated CSP in the country.
LankaClear has introduced many ground breaking products, some of which have been first in the South Asian Region. Our committed & dynamic team of in- house professionals, with global exposure brings in the expertise in driving the technology foot print and the service delivery at LankaClear.
All Foreign Economic Zones are installing this MONEY-LESS/CASHLESS SOCIETY -----including now US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES. Where does this lead? Global corporate campus plantations where that corporation houses, feeds, clothes, and teaches its human capital without them having to leave that global corporate campus.
NO MONEY NEEDED IN A TOTALITARIAN EXTREME WEALTH CAPTURE.
Imagine For a Moment a Moneyless Society
By Tony DeLorger
Imagine for a moment a society without money. When you think about it, money, the lack of it, the pursuit of it, and what to do with it, takes up much of our waking consciousness. Even in our dreams we dream about winning the lottery, paying off the mortgage or being able to afford every whim and want. In short we are slaves to money. But in reality it is just an idea. These little pieces of paper are meaningless in themselves, rather a means by which our society is maintained, kept in some semblance of balance and order.
However from another perspective, money and the pursuit of it reveals a far more negative aspect of humanity, greed. Because money can expand life choices and gain power over those with less of it, it is by nature the corruptor. Our monetary system, devised to be a means for fair economy and balances has become the controlling force of all human endeavour. It has become a sole purpose and the false God of a race of beings immersed in self-involvement.
The world is filled with inequity, most of which revolves around money. Those born into poverty have no choice in the matter, as is our good fortune born into wealth. The success or failure of political and economic systems comes from individual circumstance for which all associated populations endure the result. Most of us have little influence on what happens beyond trying to ensure we protect and care for our own love ones. Of course, no-one wants to give up what they have, or lesson the lifestyle and freedom that we enjoy.
Here’s the clincher. Technology, energy and world resources can sustain our world populations: rid the world of hunger, drastically lessen disease and care for all its inhabitants. The only obstacle is greed and what the monetary system has created.
Imagine a world without money, without the pressure of bills, striving to amass, budgeting and all that goes with our present system. And what’s even better, without money, without power there would be far less conflict. Perhaps we would learn to live in peace and not contend with or try to better our fellow man. The benefits would be many.
There are people that have been working on this possibility for some years, working out how such a society would work. The intent is not to recreate any political system or philosophy but to imagine a new working world order whereby a governing body would oversee the maintenance and procurement of all the resources needed to sustain a balanced, healthy world. Perhaps we would all be required to work certain hours per week in our chosen fields, having been educated and nurtured to achieve our potential. The reward for participation would be housing, food and recreational choices, living in the knowledge that our future and our children’s future is assured.
It all sounds impossible to achieve but dreams can come true and a world of peace and prosperity is worth consideration. Think about it.
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Most US citizens will without even researching this policy stance think MONEY-LESS SOCIETIES are not good. Our poor struggle every day because they don't have money-----our third world immigrants come to US because their nation leaves them with no money.
Global Wall Street 1% are trying to sell WE THE GLOBAL 99% that global corporations want to take care of its human capital. They plan to place workers in campus dormitories----with corporate campus schools---with preventative care only health care -----serving 3 institutional meals a day to its workers working 15-18 hours a day. They will give workers CORPORATE UNIFORMS for clothing----this is what we call TOTALITARIANISM.
Our US military citizens will say----well, that's how we live on military bases-----know what is different? Our US military were PAID SOLID WAGES AND BENEFITS---they could sign up for a 4 or 8 year term and then head to a free, democratic, civilian life. What is being built by global Wall Street is 24/7------LIFETIME MILITARY BASE structures with no PAY.
Here we are again in 1972 with our INTERNATIONAL LABOR UNION talking about a BLOODLESS REVOLUTION. We have been shouting for a decade in our organization that a VISIGOTH RAPE AND PILLAGE LOOTING of our US government and personal assets was happening CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA----now, do we really thing global banking and global 1% are our BLOODLESS REVOLUTIONARIES? Of course not---they are the same OLD WORLD MERCHANTS OF VENICE RICH from a thousand years ago.
Are a moneyless society and a bloodless revolution possible?; Right to Challenge; People and Power in the Steelworkers Union.
By John Herling. 415 pp. New York: Harper & Row. $12.50
Here we see Greek leaders these few decades being the same CLINTON/OBAMA only pretending to be LEFT SOCIALISTS tying the nation to so much global banking debt to sink the nations' economy but these FAKE SOCIALIST LEADERS are blaming the EU chiefs. It is the same as CLINTON/OBAMA shaking their fists at TRUMP.
What we are not hearing in our national media is part of this AUSTERITY IN GREECE required an end to that nations' quality health coverage and senior health care programs and tying Greece to UNITED NATIONS global labor pool preventative care only ----SINGLE-PAYER/UNIVERSAL CARE ---and the mortality rate for seniors in Greece is SOARING.
EU chiefs SLASH Greece's aid because Tsipras wanted to give pensioners a Christmas bonus
HEARTLESS European Union finance ministers have suspended much needed debt relief for Greece because the country’s prime minister wanted to give a Christmas bonus to pensioners.By Patrick Christys
PUBLISHED: 00:00, Thu, Dec 15, 2016 | UPDATED: 03:53, Thu, Dec 15, 2016
2K89GETTY
Alexis Tsipras wanted to give old people a Christmas bonus but the EU said no
Greek premier Alexis Tsipras said £520million would be distributed as Christmas bonuses to 1.6million pensioners who live on £700 or less a month – the same pensioners who had their life savings claimed by the government during the recent banking crisis.
But Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said it would be postponing aid to the Mediterranean nation because bringing Christmas cheer to the elderly "appears to not be in line with our agreements”.
The Germans are the main opposition force to Greece’s bailout and ministers from Europe’s economic powerhouse clearly believe bringing festive cheer to old people who have felt the full force of the failing Eurozone.
In a Twitter statement, Mr Dijsselbloem said: “Some member states see it this way also and thus no unanimity now for implementing the short-term debt measures.”
The Eurogroup believes Mr Tsipras is “disrespecting” their generosity.
Alexis Tsipras's country could now face a lean Christmas and uncertain future
Greece's pensioners suffered badly in the financial crash
The debt relief measures agreed on December 6 to include more time for Greece to repay ESM loans and brakes on interest rates.
This Christmas bonus dispute could complicate efforts by Athens and its creditors to complete the review of the second Greek bailout programme.
It will also make the situation between Greece and the International Monetary Fund more difficult, with the IMF acting as one of the country’s largest lenders now sceptical as to whether it will see a return on its loans.
The IMF has already said it will bail out of the bailout if Greece’s debt is not sustainable.
But the Washington-based lender has been quick to defend itself, saying it has no desire to demand more austerity in Greece, the demands enforced upon the country by the EU are “very high” and budget surpluses are “simply not credible”.
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The WORLD BANK AND IMF have these few decades forced developing nations into these UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL LABOR POOL preventative care only structures assuring these nations will never have the quality of health care our developed nations do-------same happened for Greece when its FAKE SOCIALIST LEADERS tied Greece to WORLD BANK/IMF----and all those pensioners ---baby boomers just as in the US-----were immediately denied access to those SOVEREIGN GREEK PROGRAMS AND HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS.
Mortality rates in Greece are soaring because of this. This is why we see Greek citizens protesting en masse----
This is what OBAMA AND CLINTON NEO-LIBERALS teamed with Bush neo-cons did to the US these several years-----they created the same sovereign debt fraud----they broke down all our Federal public health structures to assure only PRIVATE STATE HEALTH SYSTEMS exist just as the economic crash and US Treasury and state municipal bond market collapse occurs so that same WORLD BANK IMF will tell Trump----Larry Hogan -----Catherine PUGH----to install that UNITED NATIONS SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL CARE just as in all third world nations.
OUR US SENIORS WILL BECOME THOSE GREEK SENIORS----IF YOU THINK THIS IS ONLY HAPPENING TO POOR CITIZENS--WAKE UP TO BECOMING THAT POOR CITIZEN.
Volunteers and patronage replacing a developed nation's public health system.
Global 1% will throw some millions to make everyone volunteers but not pay taxes to hire public employees to do civil services.
Maryland and Baltimore pols have staged citizens for just these events. Our Maryland Assembly APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIR Maggie McIntosh -----running for Governor as a Democrat-----made sure we had a strong PRIVATE STATE HEALTH SYSTEM and made sure all Maryland State funding from Health and Human Services goes to only global corporate campus medical systems and not to our local city/county coffers. This is what captures all tax revenue and its control when the economy crashes. It was our same MARYLAND BARBARA MIKULSKI as Congressional Appropriations doing the same ----Maryland and especially Baltimore will look the same as Greece.
Greek Healthcare System Now Relies on Volunteers and Donations
Posted by Harry Merritt on July 16, 2013
As austerity has imposed budget cuts on healthcare systems across Europe and North America, the effect has been diminished coverage, staff layoffs, shortages of medicines, and increases in preventable illness and deaths. This has been especially true in Greece, with multiple punishing rounds of austerity measures over the past several years effectively ending universal health care in the country. Though the statistics reveal a growing health crisis among the Greek people, a complete collapse of the system has only been avoided through the efforts of dedicated volunteers.
Greece had a health care system that was until recently much like the rest of Europe's—a social insurance scheme paid into by the employed supplemented by government budgetary appropriation to provide universal coverage to the population. Four years of austerity have changed that, with budget cuts taking funds from hospitals and clinics, a massive unemployment rate diminishing revenues, and stipulations of the austerity measures mandating that those unemployed for a year or more are ineligible to receive benefits.
Last year, the New York Times reported on an underground network of doctors and nurses who serve those unemployed patients who are no longer covered. "In Greece right now, to be unemployed means death," said Dr. Syrigos, a member of this network. But for the unemployed, the work he and others like him have done means the preservation of life and well-being. Cancer patients who otherwise would have to pay out of pocket were spared crippling payments they could not possibly afford. As the social and health crisis has grown in Greece, the need for networks like this has only increased.
The BBC has done an in depth profile, looking in particular at the Metropolitan Community Clinic run by Dr. Giorgos Vichas.
Dr Vichas says his clinic is the only place in the city where cancer patients can get free chemotherapy. They are also providing 200 families with milk formula for their babies.
The municipality provides the premises for the clinic, on a disused American military base, and pays the overheads. But the medical professionals - which include paediatricians, gynaecologists and cardiologists - work there for nothing.
All the drugs are donated by individuals and pharmaceutical companies. They enter the clinic by the plastic bagful, higgledy piggledy, to be processed by a team of volunteers led by pharmacists. They sort them, date them, label them and store them.
As the state has withdrawn, networks of volunteers—within the medical profession or without—and pharmaceutical companies have worked on these clinics, in this case on land donated by the municipality. Doctors in hospitals bend the rules by giving tests and treatment without asking for proof of insurance: "'Every day I break the law,' [Dr. Ilias Sioras of Evangelismos General Hospital in Athens] says. 'I never ask for insurance for any patient.'"
For those like Dr. Panos Eustathiou of the Greek Ministry of Health, these efforts consitute a measure of success under conditions of austerity. But pretending that an ersatz volunteer-based effort can meet the needs of millions of Greeks is disingenuous and dangerous. Dr. Vichas freely acknowledges that "his team cannot continue firefighting the city's health problems forever" and worries about growing lapses in basic preventative care like childhood vaccinations.
Indeed, the Greek medical volunteers should challenge the beliefs of neoliberal supporters of austerity policies; in contrast to marketized "private-sector solutions" the volunteers are motivated by altruism and solidarity, donating their time and money without financial returns or tax benefits. The holes they patched in the system are admirable, but cannot compare to the permanence or universality of a modern universal health care system. Though these volunteers struggle resolutely to help their fellow Greeks, so long as austerity continues to gut the national health care system, they can only fail to stem the growing health crisis in the end, as in a classic Greek tragedy.
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