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Ian Pollard: Dixons Abandons Smartphone Sales in Greek Stores
Dixons Carphone plc DC Greece had become the jewel in Dixons international empire with like for like sales up 9% but it looks like that will not last for long unless Dixons management can start getting its act together. Smart phones is its problem. At one of its biggest Kotsovoulos stores in Athens it has had to stop selling smart phones because it has no staff trained and qualified to explain to customers what the terms of the contracts are which it offers with the three main service providers to enable it to give huge discounts on the prices of smart phones. Each model of smart phone has a price label next to it showing the discount and the specific contract which it offers with each provider. The problem is permanent, not temporary and it is that no staff member is allowed to tell customers what the terms of those contracts are because they are untrained and unqualified. Worse still they are trained to lie about the reason.Thus customers are told that a qualified employee from another store will be there from 5pm but it is just a lie. Other more truthful members of staff they will have to go to a store several miles away to find an employee with the necessary qualifications. They even advise customers to go directly to branches of the providers in a distant shopping mall, thus ensuring that Dixons loses the sale permanently. The manager joins in the deceit by claiming that the price labels do not advertise the package offered, they are purely notifications. Often it is the tiny things which expose the failings of management which is not on the ball, in some of our largest companies.
Thomas Cook Group TCG has been forced to admit that it can not compete with UK holidays when the UK enjoys hot summers, as it did this year in June and July. And if one thinks about it, that is not surprising because who wants to go through the trauma of spending part of their annual holiday trapped in a UK airport full of undrinkable coffee and British rail sandwiches, plus overbearing security officers waiting to pounce and perform an intimate body search at the slightest opportunity. What Cooks describes as the “unprecented” hot weather, led to higher levels of discounting and the recent trading performance has been disappointing, with full year operating profit expected to be only 280m. But then Cooks gives the game away by admitting that even bookings for next winter are down by 2% so the problems appear to be more ingrained than just a few weeks of summer sunshine. Dread the thought but could management perhaps be at fault if hot summer weather is followed by winter booking problems.
EU Tells Greece To Spend, Spend, Spend
The Troika which rules Greece has imposed austerity on Greece the likes of which have never been seen in peacetime. Now, all of a sudden a scapegoat is required for Europes immigration problem as Schengen becomes Europe sans frontieres and Greece is ordered to spend millions in defending what were untila few weeks ago, Europes border.
Hardly a single illegal immigrant wants to stay permanently in Greece. They risk the death boats on the short trip from Turkey to Greece not because they want to live in Greece but because they want to get to Germany and the prosperity offered by it and other northern members of the EU.
Not only do the immigrants want to reach Germany almost at any cost, Germany has encouraged them to come to Europe as illegal immigrants so that they can help solve Germany’s demographic time bomb. Germans do not make enough babies to ensure that its future working population will be large enough to pay for the pensions which will be needed from 2020, onwards by its growing number of pensioners. The immigrants are needed to turn the deficit into a surplus by making enough babies to solve the problem. Neither Merkel nor Schauble bothered about the niceties of encouraging illegal immigration into Europe, as long as it was good for Germany. Now things have changed they demand that Greece picks up the tab for for their folly.
Schengen was one of the prides of european union, allowing complete freedom of travel within its borders. At a stroke many of Germany’s neighbours have delivered a death blow to Schengen by reinstating or threatening to reinstate national borders and national border controls.
Greece’s borders ceased virtually overnight to be a Schengen border and reverted purely to a national border for the security of which Greece must now accept sole responsibility.
Greece with a population of some ten million people, had to receive and provide facilities for 850,000 illegal immigrants in 2015 and it already looks as if that figure will be exceeded in 2016.
Because of its numerous islands Greece has a coastline of 13,676 kms., by far the longest in Europe. Now it has been told to abandon government austerity, accept its responsibilties and spend, spend spend on patrolling and securing its borders and threatened with expulsion from Schengen if within three months, it has failed to comply.
Europe has not paid a single euro, towards the cost of protecting the states of northern Europe from the now unwanted waves of immigrants, a cost which it says Greece alone must bear.
US controlled NATO is sending warships to patrol the Aegean but NATO has no power to stop the refugees and turn them back. It can only try and reduce the hundreds of drownings taking place on the short crossing. Turkey callously pretends it has no power to stop the death boats leaving its shores and Europe accepts that without demur.
Greece will sink into an even greater sea of debt if, on its own, it is forced to attempt the impossible and comply with the arbitrary demands of the gauleiters of the EU. Europe and its so called union has become a cipher, broken on the back of illegal immigration.
The dream of a union of European states, working closely together has foundered at the first big test, washed up on the shores of a tiny Greek island.
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Greek Rip Off For Syrian Refugees
Greek tourism has had an excellent summer, save that on the islands which were the main targets for the refugee smugglers, the huge influx of refugees brought an early end to the season, as tourists stayed away in droves.
Traders on one of these islands decided to make good their losses by introducing a dual pricing.system – normal prices for the tourists and the locals and much higher prices for the refugees. The rip off was particularly aimed at the many wealthy Syrian refugees who arrived on the island armed with wads of 500 Euro notes.
Normally any Greek cafe owner will let you recharge your phone for free. Charge to the refugees ? 10 Euros. A small bottle of water – legal price 50 cents – refugee price 2 Euros. Some bread sir, certainly sir, that’s 1 euro per slice, sir.
And it did not end with the pricing rip off. When the bill came there was 2 Euro for the coffee which had neither been ordered, delivered nor drunk, plus a further 5 Euros for 2 glasses of some illegibly scrawled drinks which were similarly a fiction of the cafe owners imagination.
And the scam did not stop there because the receipts which were given to the refugees were handwritten ones from a tear off pad. That way the cafe or bar owner does not have to pay VAT and because the sales are not recorded through the till and the tax man does not get to know about them, not only does the owner keep the VAT on his non existent sales, it does not show in his turnover and profits, so he also escapes income tax. To be fair, cheating the Greek tax man is a traditional way of getting ones own back at corrupt politicians and is a time honoured Greek custom, so evading VAT and tax on the transaction can not be said to have been aimed at the refugees. That is just a bonus, a good little earner.
And how do I know all this. A friend on holiday on this particular island, so outraged by the way the refugees were being ripped off, posed as a refugee just to get some documentary evidence of what was happening, went to a cafe in the port, ordered little more than a starter, a small bottle of water and 2 slices of bread. An itemised handwritten receipt was issued for a total 25 Euros, including all the items which had not been ordered or supplied. I have seen the receipt.
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Germans Have Stopped Making Enough Babies
Germans are not making enough babies with the result that the country is now sitting on a very ugly demographic time bomb.
Why ? is the question. Has nookie and rumpty tumpty suddenly become unfashionable amongst the denizons of the Munich beer halls and the Berlin cabaret bars. Do lederhosen and those voluminous Dirndl skirts make mating so difficult that in the end it is not worth the effort. Or is it the serious German character where passion is reserved for the fatherland rather than for ones partner.
Whatever the reason, Germany is in a serious mess and that, believe it or not, is why it is throwing its arms wide open to hundreds of thousands of (mainly young) refugees who seem already to have done rather well in the baby making stakes. They may not know it yet, but they and their offspring are the ones who are going to keep German pensioners in the lifestyle to which they are accustomed from 2060 onwards, if not earlier.
Germany’s population statistics are frightening. The 2011 census showed that the German population was only 80.3m, 1.5m less than the expected 81.8m.In 2014 deaths exceeded live births by 150,000 and the imbalance will get worse as the years go by. 20.3% of the German population now has a migrant background but recent immigration levels will not resolve the problem..
The nightmare for Germany is that by the year 2060 its population will have fallen drastically to between 68 and 73 million, depending on whether immigration is high or low. This represents a loss of between 8 and 13 million from present figures.
From 2020 the working age population will start to fall drastically. By 2060 it will be down to roughly between 34 and 38 million as against 49 million as recently as 2013 and will then represent only about 50% of the total population, meaning that every German will have to pay enormous taxes to provide for the young and the elderly.
In 2013 just over 21% of the population was aged 65 or over. By 2060 the figure will have risen to 33%. As for the over 80s, their numbers will have risen to 9 million by 2060, as against 2013s 4.4million.
Already the country is beginning to suffer from long term under investment, especially in public projects. Some of its infrastructure such as bridges has already fallen into disrepair because there is no money to pay for even essential repairs.
So one can understand the German welcome to these refugees who seem mostly to be of child bearing age.One can understand the millions which Germany has just announced it will spend on them
But hang on a minute, Greece has massive youth unemployment, over 60% at the last count and created by the austerity forced on Greece by the German led ECB. Why cant Germany start proclaiming a welcome and jobs for lustful young Greeks who are desperate for work and who would be only too happy to be invited to go to Germany and make babies. And after all they are Europeans and as young people they can not be blamed for the Greek crisis. So why this discrimination by Germany against fellow young Europeans in need, in favour of immigrants from the Middle East.
Perhaps Europe has really become a meaningless cipher.
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Troika Abolishes Democracy in Greece
The publication of the requirements which the Troika is imposing on Greece, contains frightening restrictions for any who believed there was hope of a free, united and democratic Europe.
1. The Greek administration will de politicised under the supervision of the European Commission and replaced by a government of technocrats controlled by the EC. So the present elected government has to go and will be replaced by unelected technocratcs.
2.Draft legislation can not be submitted to the Greek parliament until it has first been approved by the Troika.
So Greece has lost the right to elect and appoint a government, the right to make and pass its own laws and is now under the direct rule of Brussels which will have supervisors based in Athens to make sure that the diktats of Brussels and Berlin are obeyed.
What an invitation this is to the British electorate which has to decide on continued EU membership in 2016.
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German Economy Soars on the Back of Greek Austerity
Over the past 5 years the German economy has soared as the Euro has become weaker and weaker on the international currency stage. Not all that many years ago the the DAX was at about the same level as Londons FTSE, which has remained stuck at under 7,000 whist the DAX has gone ahead in leaps and bounds until it stood at over 12,000 before its recent retreat, as Germans became worried that Greece may exit the Euro.
And Germans were right to worry because without Greece the Euro would have become a super strong currency, just like the Deutchmark of old. By making the Euro weak Greece has, almost single handedly been responsible for the soaring level of German exports and Merkel knows this.
Yet the Germans claim that the Greeks have no right to expect any further subsidies and if Germany has its way Greece will not get any further help and Greeks will be puished even more with extra doses of austerity. The truth of the matter is that austerity and the collapse in the Greek economy has been the equivalent of a massive subsidy by Greece to Germany. Germany has not once complained about the weakness of the Euro and why should it. It has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the decline of the Euro. And that is what a single, one size fits all, currency union is all about. Transfer of wealth from the poor countries to the wealthy countries.
The Germans are desperate for Greece to remain in the eurozone but they are not prepared to contribute a single cent more to the country which has enabled Germany to have a huge and illegal budget surplus which it repeatedly refuses to reduce.
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It Looks Like OXI and Europe Calls for Overthrow of the Greek Government
A week ago Greece’s debt suddenly became irrelevant to the unelected officials of the ECB, the IMF and the Eurozone. For the last 7 days solving the debt problem has hardly received a mention. The Troika suddenly lost interest in it, for a far more insidious threat. The Greek government was doing the unthinkable, it was giving the Greek people a choice as to whether accept or refuse the Eurozones proposed deal, which the Troika immediately withdrew from the table. As long as there was to be a referendum there could be no further attempts to solve the crisis. The terrified Troika’s only concern became how it could threaten and bludgeon the Greek people to says “Yes”
Firstly it stopped immediately the agreed daily support to the Greek banks, resulting in immediate imposition of stringent withdrawal limits of 60 Euro per day from ATMs. Many pensioners without bank cards, could not get their pensions. Lesson number one for the Greek people. we are going to make this very hard for you.
And then came the real threats many from political and European leaders and officials who were not even involved in the debt dispute. Here are just a few;
“Armageddon “ Without new money, salaries wont be paid, the health system will stop functioning, the power network and public transport will break down” warns President of European Union. This is a Eurozone matter at best, involving the Troika. It has nothing to do with the EU but even if it did what right does its President have to threaten the people of a member nation, without the EU itself first deciding that will be its stance.Is this an example of European so called unity which now appears to have completely disentegrated in the face of democracy.
“Meltdown” The head of the European Parliament says the country faces total meltdown if it rejects creditor demands. What has it got to do with him. Who told him to say this. The European Parliament would not normally say boo to a Goose as its members are too busy slurping up gravy from the Eurotrough.
Greece is now under economic siege by its so called allies in Europe. The ATMs are tonight running dry. The likelihood is that in the morning there will be no notes left for them to be refilled. st rangely enough t he first bank to “go under” and stop replenishing its ATMS was HSBC which closed ATMS down as early as last Wednesday. It even could not be bothered to replenish its ATM at Athens airport, forcing its customer to use Greek ATMS instead. That presumably is what happens to a bank which gets involved up to its neck in money laundering and fiddling interest rates. Customer care flies out of the window.
Overthrow of the Greek Government The head of the European Parliament has now called for the democratically elected government of Greece to be replaced by a government of technocrats – presumably unelected in the true traditions of the EU. To hear that makes it a very,very sad day for Europe.
And now the results are beginning to come in and it looks like OXI. Tomorrow could be one of the most important dates since 1939. Is Europe about to tear itself apart or will common sense prevail in the end.
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Greece On the Brink of Collapse
After only four days of closed banks the Greek economy is already collapsing.
Manufacturers who need to import basic materials can no longer do so and are facing closure.
Supplies of basic medicines will soon begin to run out. Whether you are dying of cancer or just suffering from hay fever, will become irrelevant.
Supermarket shelves are already beginning to empty and are unlikely to be restocked, especially with anything containing imported products.
The allowance of 50 Euros per day in withdrawals from a bank, means that most people can not pay their rent or other larger bills .
EasyJet founder Stelios Hadji Ioannou is alone feeding 2,500 people every day in Athens.
The Greek banks are down to their last 500 million Euro, for a population of 8,000,000 or more
Credit cards, which people thought could help to keep them going, are becoming unacceptable. Even if the credit card companies pay the trader, what is the point if the trader can not get the money out of the bank in order to restock supplies.
Dixons has already announced it will close down its larger Kotosobolos stores and perhaps reduce opening hours at the remainder.
As dawn breaks today, things will be even worse. Many Greeks have not yet woken up to the reality of their immediate future and think they will get by with large purchases of lentils and tinned milk. The reality they face will be far worse than that reflected by a shortage of toilet paper.
The crunch will really come when fuel supplies start to run out, perhaps later next week, leading to major power cuts and empty roads. How will basic daily necessities be delivered to the shops and supermarkets, if there is no fuel for delivery vehicles.
And all of this imposed by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, terrified by the thought of Greece, the home of democracy, daring to have a referendum, which may challenge their rule. Let them remember that next year the UK is also daring to have a referendum as to whether to stay in a Europe whose rulers are prepared to impose hunger, starvation and death to get their own way.
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Is the IMF For Real ?
After years of subjecting the Greek economy to the closest and longest scrutiny to which any modern economy has been subjected, the IMF has suddenly at the 11th hour, claimed to have “discovered” that Greece will need an extra 50 billion Euros over the next three years. Who are these people who preside over the worlds only monetary rescue organisation ? Are they so clueless that they are incapable of adding up and getting their sums right ? What explanation can they give for having missed this rather vital hole in their calculations.
Or is there a simple explanation, namely that the IMF has suddenly adjusted Greeces growth prospects downwards from a healthy 2.5% to zero over the next 3 years. Or did it get its sums wrong ? Are the new figures based on the effects which the troikas own proposals will have on the benighted Greek economy. Perhaps in the Alice in Wonderland world in which the IMF lives, it is sensible to impose additional taxes on tourism, Greece’s largest industry, additional taxes which will help to shrink the one area of the Greek economy which has been booming for the past three years.
Because Greece dared to have a democratically held referundum, the troika, like a spoilt child, has thrown a tantrum. And the euro- bureaucracy has done that with every country which has dared to hold a referendum. Even to the extent that when the result has gone against its wishes, it has forced those countries to hold a second referendum to make sure that in the end the result is the “correct” one.
And this is an organisation, let it not be forgotten, which is presided over by a woman against whom an investigation has been launched by the prosecuting authorities in her own country, for alleged involvement in a massive fraud.
No wonder the Chinese are now taking the first steps to set up an alternative fund to deal with the worlds economic casualties, an attempt supported by the UK. One can only hope that it succeeds.
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U.S. Official Warns of Assassination of Greek Government
As long ago as February, US Treasury official Paul Craig Roberts warned that the Greek government could be assassinated if it turned to Russia for help.
Dr Roberts in a recent interview said ” “The Greek people and the Greek government have before them the unique opportunity to prevent World War III. All the Greek government needs to do, if the Greek people will get behind the government, is to default on the loans, resign from the EU and from NATO, and accept the deal that the Russians have offered them.
This would begin the unraveling of NATO. Very quickly Spain and Italy would follow. So southern Europe would desert NATO and so would Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. NATO is the mechanism that Washington uses to cause conflict with Russia. So as the EU and NATO unravel, the ability of Washington to produce this conflict disappears.
The EU and the ECB are using the Greek crisis to establish a ruling power structure. That makes it difficult to make an agreement with the new Greek government to ameliorate the conditions imposed on Greece. So it makes the EU inflexible. That inflexibility gives Greece the cards to say, ‘We’re not playing your game. We’re going to play a different game and accept Russia’s offer.’”
But back in early February Dr. Roberts said;
“We’ll see whether the Greek government does that. Now of course they may not be allowed to. They may be assassinated. It’s entirely possible. I’ve never thought that the United States would allow a new government in any of its vassal states to rise up and become independent of Washington’s control. So the new Greek government officials may have an ‘accident.’ All kinds of terrible things can happen to people, and have, that get out of sync with Washington. We’ve had several cases in Latin and South America of leaders who wouldn’t follow Washington’s line having mysterious deaths. There have been a number of them who have been overthrown in CIA organized coups. ”
And a CIA coup in Greece is not beyond the realms of possibility. It has already happened once.
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