One of my favorite paintings is The Death of Socrates, by Jean Louis
David, which hangs in The Metrorpolitan Museum of Art in New York. (Go up the central stairway, through the room
with the gigantic Tiepolo frescoes, and you can’t miss it.) Anyhow, the picture is indeed appropriate
today. I have given labels to some of
the emotionally charged figures in it.
The
European Economic Community Greece The
Rest of the World
Each time I visit the
gallery where this painting hangs, I am attracted to another work, hung about
three or four paintings to the left of the Socrates shown above. Entitled Young
Woman Drawing, It is now believed to be a self-portrait of the artist,
Marie-Denise Villers, although for years it was attributed to Jean Louis
David. I suppose that is why it hangs in
the same gallery at the Metropolitan with his works. These two paintings are by themselves, worth
a visit to the Met the next time you are in New York.
Stunning, isn’t she. And isn’t this an improvement over the Varga
girls I have been using to liven up the blog.
I wonder what that couple on the terrace in the background are
discussing. But now, let’s get back to
the situation alluded to by the captions I added to the Jean Louis David
painting of the Death of Socrates.
Greece has big problems and
they impact upon all of Europe and the rest of the world as well. Greek government bonds are held by many
European banks and of course, many United States Banks have connections with
these banks. Greece is about to default
on interest payments on those bonds.
American investors and mutual funds, even those which have not invested
in Greek government bonds, may own shares in financial institutions which
have. As John Donne said, “Ask not for
whom the bell tolls, it tolls for you.”
In a prior posting, I discussed
wealth redistribution, for that is what everything else comes down to. Suppose Europe bails out Greece, enabling
them not to default on their bonds. This
means wealth will be redistributed from wealthier nations in the European
Economic Community to Greece. They will
use this money to make interest payments to their bondholders. The decrease in wealth as it departs European
banks, and government treasuries guaranteeing those banks, in more solvent
countries will affect the people in those countries since their banking system
will be weakened. There may be higher
interest rates, higher taxes, business slowdowns and job loss. So the German worker, investor and
businessman, for example, may lose some of their wealth. This will enable Greece to make payments to
bondholders, as mentioned above, who very well may include those same banks, and
their owners, who are losing wealth to bail out Greece. Meanwhile, Greece will have agreed to
austerity measures which will take wealth away from ordinary Greeks in terms of
reduced pension, jobs, salaries and availability of government benefits.
Here in the United States,
banks and funds which have invested in European banks which are funding the
rescue of Greece will lose wealth as will their shareholders. The recent collapse of the New York brokerage
firm, MFGlobal, which invested in bonds issued by the Greeks and other nations
with similar problems, illustrates the contagion of the Greek problem. MFGlobal was counting on a quick bailout of
Greece (and other nations such as Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland which are
in line for rescue) which still hasn’t happened. If anyone will eventually gain wealth from the
bailing out of Greece, it will be holders of Greek bonds who are not involved
in funding the rescue of the Greek economy.
China may fit into this category.
But even they may not get the interest rate they expected, since some of
the redistributed wealth will be skimmed off to keep the Greek economy
temporarily afloat.
The little guy, the
working person, will lose wealth in Europe’s solvent countries which fund the
bailout and more significantly in Greece, where they will have to deal with
real austerity. And this scenario may be
reenacted in the other nations mentioned above.
Wealth does not say put. It is
always being shifted around. A crisis
emphasizes such wealth redistribution.
Ask not for whom the bell
tolls. When next I go to my favorite
Greek restaurant, I will skip the Corona, Heinekens, Bud and Miller on the beer
menu and instead, choose an icy bottle of Marathon (bottled in Athens) or
Mythos (bottled in Salonika) as my little way of redistributing some of the
wealth in my wallet to the nation which gave birth to Socrates. In the
next posting, let’s look at the effect a solution to the mortgage and
unemployment problems in the United States will have in regard to wealth redistribution
in the our country. Any solution must.
Jack Lippman
*** ***
***
HORROR
(which won an award for Sid in a Halloween story competition a few years ago run by the Sun-Sentinal)
Sid Bolotin
Saul could see nothing in
the darkness. He tried to ease his cramps by arching his back and stretching
his arms and legs, but he could not move.
“What the hell?” he
muttered. “I can’t move. I can hear me talking inside my head, but can’t feel
my lips move or hear the sound of my voice. Where am I? What’s going on?”
Suddenly words came through
the blackness: “Oh, Barb, I’m so sorry
for your loss. At least Saul didn’t linger. It’s the worst when they linger.”
“Thanks, Adele. He wanted to
drop like a stone on the tennis court, and he did.”
As voices became more
distinct, Saul realized he was in the midst of a gathering of chattering
people. He tried to shout, “Hey, people! I’m in this blackness! I can’t move!
Help me!” Horror spread through him as
he realized that no sound escaped his lips because he couldn’t move his jaw or
tongue. His plea rang only inside his head.
Then he heard: “It’s a beautiful casket, Barbara, simple,
yet elegant. But didn’t Saul want to be cremated? Wouldn’t a plain, pine box
have sufficed?”
“Yes, Blanche. But the
plainness of the pine box offended me, so I upgraded. Saul would be pissed if he knew; but of
course he doesn’t know since he’s in the box.”
“In the box?” Saul groaned
silently. “They can’t hear me. I can’t bang to make a noise. I’m trapped.”
A new, solicitous voice
penetrated the blackness: “Mrs. Bogoton,
it’s time for Igor to remove the casket. Do you and your sons want to witness
the cremation?”
“No, Mr. O’Dell. Thank you,
but my sons and I have already said our goodbyes. When you return with the
ashes, we’ll complete the ceremony.” As Saul sensed movement, he
agonized. “Oh, oh, they’re moving me to the furnace. This can’t be real. Stop!
Stop!”
Try as he might, he could
not transform his think-speak into audible shouts to Igor rolling the casket. “Well, Saul,” Igor chuckled,
“this’ll take only a few minutes, and I’ll present your ashes to the mourners
in a nice, little vase. It doesn’t hurt a bit. That is, I’ve never heard any
screaming.”
As Igor lined up the gurney
with the furnace, Mr. O’Dell strode in and announced, “Igor, move him aside.
He’s sold to the medical school. Cremate
one of the dead dogs I got from my buddy at Palm Beach Animal Control. Use a
German Shepard. His family won’t know
the difference as long as the amount feels hefty enough. Ashes in a vase are just ashes in a vase…dog
or human. The school pays good money for fresh cadavers for their dissection
classes.”
"Medical school? Dissection?" Saul screamed inside his head. "Is there no end to this nightmare?"
Unable to hear the agonized screeching inside Saul's head, Igor rolled the gurney into the alcove beside the furnace to await pickup by the medical school, and went to the freezer to get the dog.
*** *** ***
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