This FreedomWorks petition about the "Greek bailout"

glennmagusharvey

http://action.freedomworks.org/4596/stop-obamas-greek-bailout/?source=brick300&gclid=CMWFgLDiz6oCFQFzgwodzUCFqg

In case it gets changed for whatever reason, I'm going to repost it here:

Stop Obama's Greek Bailout

--Over the past three years, President Obama has spent billions of dollars bailing out big banks, insurance giants and auto companies. --But that’s only the beginning—now Obama wants to bailout failing countries.  --Using the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Obama plans to put American taxpayers on the hook for a second 145 billion dollar rescue package for Greece. --Bailing out Greece again will only open the floodgates to more European countries headed for economic collapse including Portugal, Spain, Italy and Belgium. --In America, we have our own debt to worry about.  We are the only nation with the power to veto any major IMF decision. Sign our petition below to tell Washington enough is enough: it’s time to stop Obama’s Greek Bailout.

...except they're wrong.  There is no "Greek bailout" coming from the U.S..  The European Union is footing that bill; that's why you have countries like Germany fretting over it.

Not to mention that the EU already agreed to bail out Greece after it agreed to a bunch of budget cuts (over the protests of lots of demonstrators outside Greek government buildings).

So what the hell are these people talking about now?

Protip: You could have made it more current and talked about stopping bailouts of Portugal, Ireland, and Italy instead.

RedEyedAbyss

(types in FreedomWorks on Google Toolbar)

(sees freedomworks tea party as third option)

Oh, those losers.

LouieW

I thought this editorial would help clear things up a bit. It seems to be more direct about how it links Pres. Obama to the bailout of Greece.

glennmagusharvey

Ah, I see.  Though that piece was written by the two people who head FreedomWorks.

I did a quick Google News search for "greece IMF" and it seems that there was a second bailout for Greece from the Eurozone approved 21 July.  And it might have been paid for in part with IMF funds, but I'm not sure about that.  Whether said IMF funds included US funds, I also don't know.

Anyone else know more about this issue?

In any case, said article by the heads of FreedomWorks is from 9 June, yet the way I got to that FW page was by clicking an ad today, over at DKE.  I would think they'd have a better sense of time...

Hatter

Why would you bail out a country like Greece?

Iaculus

^ Presumably, because they wanted it to have some time to fix its problems rather than pitching straight into economic hell and having to claw its way back up.

Maybe the latter is what the Greek government deserves, but not the population as a whole.

Hatter

In a democracy - or even a representative democracy - the government IS the people. In all but the most oppressive of dictatorships, all government exists by the will of the people. Whatever failed policies the Greek government has made, it has been by the consent of the people.

Iaculus

Correction - the consent of the majority of the people, assuming that they bother putting it to a public vote in the process. Do you agree with every decision that your government has made?

glennmagusharvey

I know that Italy has a law that forces people to vote (by fining them if they don't).  What about Greece?

@Hatter: Presumably, it's because the Greek economy is worth enough to other Eurozone countries that they'd rather not see it default on its debts or wholly collapse.

Iaculus

That is the other thing - Eurozone integration means that Greece could take down a lot of other countries with it.