In Greece it's a choice between people or banks

Tomorrow the Greek people will go to the polls to determine what is more important: the needs of the people or the greed of the banks.

Six weeks ago elections were held but no party was able to cobble together enough support to form a coalition. The two parties expected to slog it out on Sunday are the right wing New Democracy Party and the left wing Syriza. New Democracy is fully on board with the desires of the European banks and investors and is more than willing to sacrifice the future of Greece at the altar of the Euro.

Syriza, on the other hand, has campaigned hard against the austerity measures imposed upon Greece by the European banks.

Those supporting the austerity measures don't understand a basic fundamental fact. You can't pull an economy out of a recession by raising taxes and cutting spending to the poor and working classes. The problem in Europe is too little demand for the goods and services produced. The solution is to increase the aggregate level of demand. 

Taking money out of the hands of the Greek people and handing it to the banks won't help bring about an economic recovery. Taking that money out of circulation in Greece won't do a damn thing to stimulate demand. It will, instead, cause demand to drop, therefore, making matters even worse.

Cutting back on the amount of money spend on education and health care will have a negative long-term impact on the Greek economy, as well as on the everyday lives of the Greek people. This is part and parcel of the same conditions the IMF and World Bank have imposed on developing nations for decades - and it doesn't work.

Such measures destroyed economies in Africa and Latin America. You could even make the argument that the measures imposed on Mexico provided the fuel for the drug war that has engulfed the country. The measures forced our small-scale farmers to make room for larger mechanized farms. The measures created a multitude of low-paying factory jobs near the border which led to chronic underemployment. It was into such a mix that the drug cartels began their brutal turf battle.

Proponents of austerity are selling the Greek people a bill of goods. It is time for the people to tell their leaders that the citizenry must take priority over the European banks and investors

Mexico to decriminalize minor drug possession

The Mexican legistlature has voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin to methamphetamine. Supporters of the measure say that if Mexico is to rid itself of the large-scale drug violence sweeping the country, it must use its resources wisely - and that means going after the large-scale producers and distributors.

President Calderon supported the legislation much like his predecessor Vincente Fox - but President Fox caved in to pressure from the Bush Administration and withdrew his support for the measure.

"The important thing is . . . that consumers are not treated as criminals," said Rafael Ruiz Mena, secretary general of the National Institute of Penal Sciences. "It is a public health problem, not a penal problem."

Critics of the plan argue that decriminalizing drugs is giving in to the narcoterrorists who have left a bloody swath across the country over the past decade. These critics worry that Mexico will become a Latin American version of Amsterdam complete with tourists coming in to satisfy their drug habits.

The plan would remove criminal penalities for the possession of up to 5 grams of marijuana, 500 milligrams of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin and 40 milligrams of methamphetamine.

Calderon's initial proposal called for mandatory treatment for those who wished to avoid jail time but the bill was changed to call for treatment to be encouraged.

While I understand the need to make better use of limited resources, I also understand that drug trafficking is big business because of the demand for drugs and that any policy designed to eradicate illegal drugs must attack both the supply and demand sides of the equation.