Sunday, March 31, 2013

Download the March 31 Ta Yp' Opsin podcast

Ta Yp' Opsin (Consider These) March 31 news roundup podcast:
- the extent of depositors’ losses in the Cyprus bailout deal
- Cypriot banks’ “forgiven” loans at the height of the crisis
- Napolitano’s 'select group' and Portugal’s new woes
- a bit more U.S. growth and more encouraging signs
- the reality of a nation divided over gay nuptials
- a gun "solution seeking a problem" in Arizona
- world brushes off North Korea’s angry rhetoric
- the Arab League increases the Syrian regime’s isolation
- Putin flexes Russia's military muscle in Black Sea exercises
…………………………………………..
- Jesus had a really rough week in Florida
- Hebrews 12:1 commands: “Strip ..your sins.. for Me”, so do it!
- TripAdvisor’s favorite Greek island and the least sexy U.S. cities
-  the homeless experience for $15 per night
- a dodo bone and the Taj Mahal of bus shelters
- a $91,500 T-Shirt for “ignorant barbarians”
- those dirty Danish krones and Swedish kroners!
= where to exchange damaged dollar bills
- students and instructors confess anonymously
- overweight riders break horses’ backs
 
Download here:
 

Ta Yp’Opsin (Consider These) weekly podcast (in Greek) with Chicago journalists Elena Spilioti and George Zorbas. Discussion, analysis and great music!

Friday, March 29, 2013

The March 24 Ta Yp' Opsin (Consider These) news roundup podcast

This week on Ta Yp' Opsin:
 
-Cyprus:  the first “NO” to TROIKA
-Syria: resignation of the moderate leader of the resistance
-Obama in the Middle East: an unbalanced trip: too much Israel, too little Palestine
-Kurds: on the road to autonomy
-Pakistan: Musharraf returns
-Republic of Central Africa: the new war for uranium and diamonds
-USA: Benefits still paid to Civil War descendants
-Booing is now legal.
-Cultural decibels put museums at risk
-Groundhog  in trial for false information on spring arrival
-Turkey:  search for missing bridge

Download here:

Ta Yp’Opsin (Consider These) weekly podcast (in Greek) with Chicago journalists Elena Spilioti and George Zorbas. Discussion, analysis and great music!

Like our Ta Yp’Opsin (Consider These) Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/taypopsin

The mattress safe – the latest way to bank with confidence

Giles Tremlett, the Guardian

One Spanish business has hit upon a novel update to an old idea to bypass the country's banking crisis – a mattress in which you can stash your hard-earned eurosMy Mattress Savings BankMy Mattress Savings Bank features a safe hidden among the bed springs.

Is your money safe in the bank? Obviously not if you deposited large sums in Cyprus – where the decision to raid savings accounts has rung alarm bells in other countries teetering on the bank bailout high-wire.
But what else can you do with those hard-earned pounds, euros or – for Russian tax-dodgers and mafiosi – roubles? Stuffing them under the floorboards or your mattress is hardly a secure option.
Step forward La Caja de Ahorros Mi Colchón, My Mattress Savings Bank, a novel Spanish business that provides you with a mattress that has a safe hidden inside the springs. A few months ago the company's founder, Paco Santos, saw his bespoke mattress company in the small western town of Santa Marta de Tormes heading the same way as many small businesses in a recession-plagued country with 26% unemployment.
With scared consumers keeping purses tightly zipped, sales had dried up and companies were folding. "Sales in the slumber sector are down more than 50%," he explains.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of angry Spanish small savers were taking to the streets. Why? Because they had invested in the country's dodgy cajas, or savings banks. Last weekend, the worst was confirmed: 350,000 small savers who each bought €6,000 in shares in the rescued Bankia bank were cleaned out as their shares' value fell close to zero. A further 300,000 people who bought complex, often unintelligible, products from cajas that eventually needed a joint €40bn European bailout saw their savings shaved by so-called "haircuts" of 30-60%. "Banks are in the headlines now because of Cyprus, but in Spain we have known how dangerous they can be for several years," says Santos. "People were starting to say it was better to keep it under your mattress".
At the urging of advertising company VCCP Madrid, providing free help under a scheme to stop small businesses from folding, Santos explored the idea of helping people to do exactly that – by adding safes to mattresses. A tongue-in-cheek advertisement encouraged suspicious punters to avoid bank charges and "keep your money close – and far from the banks". Wilier Spaniards may also have seen a system for dodging the tax man. Either way, the mattress safe has saved Santos's business. The first 20 sold out within 24 hours. He refuses to give figures for orders, but admits these will keep him going for several months at least. Security firms are also showing interest. And export enquiries have come from companies trading with Chile, Mexico and – inevitably – Cyprus.
Santos claims that by putting the safes at the end of the mattress, customers snooze just as comfortably as on a normal bed. He also admits that, as a bank, a mattress has certain disadvantages. It does not hand out credit cards or overdrafts and it will not lend you money. But in credit-crunched Spain, your high-street bank probably will not lend you anything anyway.
As Cypriot banks finally opened their doors again yesterday, and while German chancellor Angela Merkel presses for savers (rather than her own taxpayers) to fund bank rescues around Europe, punters in countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal may find Santos's message irresistible: invest wisely – stick it in your mattress.


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Ta Yp Opsin March 24 2013

Στα Υπ’Όψιν της 24 Μαρτίου, συζητάμε:

-Κύπρος: η  τραγική Αναδίπλωση του αστήρικτου ‘ΟΧΙ’
-Συρία: η ήττα  της μετριοπάθειας
-Ομπάμα: τόσος δρόμος για ένα τηλεφώνημα;
-Κούρδοι: η σχέση της αυτονομίας με την τουρκική προεδρία
-Πακιστάν- επιστροφή Μουσσάραφ : ο αμφιλεγόμενος σύμμαχος των ΗΠΑ ζητά θέση
 στο παιχνίδι
-Κεντρική Αφρική: ο νέος πόλεμος των διαμαντιών και του ουρανίου

Και στο δεύτερο μέρος, μεταξύ άλλων:

- ΗΠΑ:Συνεχίζονται οι αποζημιώσεις από τον αμερικανικό εμφύλιο !
- Γιουχάρισμα: ψιθυριστά, επιτρέπεται.
- Η μουσική που γκρεμίζει μουσεία
- Τιμωρία του Πανξατάουνυ: που είναι η άνοιξη του υποσχέθηκες;
- Τουρκία ( και αλλού): Απωλέσθη ..γέφυρα: ο ευρών αμοιφθήσεται

Ακούστε τους δημοσιογράφους Έλενα Σπηλιώτη και Γιώργο Ζορμπά στο


για ενημέρωση, σχόλια και πολλή μουσική!

DIRECTIONS FOR DOWNLOADING

«Τα ΥπΌψιν»  είναι  η εκπομπή (podcast)μας στο νέο, ιντερνετικό ραδιόφωνο  που μπορείτε να  ακούσετε όλο το εικοσιτετράωρο, όλη την εβδομάδα από τον υπολογιστή και το τηλέφωνό σας:  κάντε κλικ στην ηλεκτρονική διεύθυνση, επιλέξτε  με ασφάλεια  τo  φορμάτ  mp3 στο Google  και  το ιντερνετικό ραδιόφωνο  είναι στη διάθεσή σας , όσες φορές και όποτε ταιριάζει στο πρόγραμμά σας!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Cypriot "no" inspires Greeks to rail against austerity

By Harry Papachristou, Reuters

Greeks and opposition parties inspired by the Cypriot rejection of an unpopular bailout deal urged Athens on Wednesday to stand up to foreign lenders whose demands have resulted in repeated rounds of austerity that have made Greek life a misery.
Cyprus's parliament on Tuesday rejected a levy on bank deposits demanded in return for aid, raising the specter of a default for the island nation that could mean enduring wave after wave of spending cuts and tax rises, just like Greece.
"See what Cyprus did? We are proud of them," said Fey Papadopoulou, 22, a university student. "They should be an example for our politicians, who have succumbed to every demand."
Cyprus pleaded with Russia on Wednesday for a five-year extension and lower interest on an existing 2.5 billion euro ($3.22 billion) loan and 5 billion euros in new loans after voting down a euro zone plan for a 10 billion euro bailout.
"The Cypriots set an example to follow," left-leaning Eleftherotypia said in its leading editorial. "How can the Cypriots say 'no' and we can't even reject a single property tax?", ran a headline on Greek television channel Antenna.
Greece, which first sought aid from European Union and the International Monetary Fund in 2010, has yielded to demands for harsh austerity measures that have slashed household income by almost a third and sent unemployment up to a record 26 percent.
"Cyprus said 'No' on our behalf too," said Odysseas Panagiotou, a 45-year old clerk. "It's about time that our traitors - politicians - say a big 'No' to the troika demands."
The "no" vote from Nicosia comes just days before Athens and its lenders resume delicate talks on the implementation of the country's bailout, with creditors pushing Athens to respect past pledges to fire civil servants and stick to unpopular tax rises.

MERKEL'S STRATEGY

Whether Athens - which in the past has ignored riots and mass protests to approve austerity packages and avert bankruptcy - will be swayed by the latest outcry depends on whether Cyprus ends up bankrupt or finds a solution elsewhere, analysts said.
"If Cyprus goes bankrupt, then the government's argument that we must stay on the austerity path will be reinforced, but if it wins better bailout terms the main opposition's arguments will be stronger," said Thomas Gerakis, head of Marc pollsters.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's government - which has been scrambling to assure Greeks that their bank deposits are not at risk due to the Cypriot crisis - said late on Tuesday it supported Cyprus's choices.
But Greece's anti-bailout opposition, including the radical leftist Syriza party, rushed to accuse him and Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras of bowing to the austerity demands of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"After the Cypriots' proud 'no', Mr. Samaras and Mr. Stournaras are the most faithful adherents of Ms. Merkel's strategy," said a statement from Syriza, Greece's most popular party according to a MARC/Alpha survey published on Tuesday.
"The Cypriot parliament shows the way of real negotiation, which no pro-bailout government in Greece even considered."
Syriza also interpreted a statement late on Tuesday by the European Central Bank to continue funding Cypriot banks within existing rules, as a sign of weakness on the part of creditors.
"And just like that, we found out that another way is possible," Syriza deputy Rena Dourou tweeted a few minutes after the ECB statement was released.

Monday, March 18, 2013

CONSIDER THESE considers: CYPRUS: AFFORDABLE AND NON-AFFORDABLE LOSSES IN SUCCESSFUL BAILOUTS.

Cyprus chain effect still feared in other countries and it is not Tuesday yet when the banks in Greece will open. The cut may correspond just to a two-year interest and be lower than the austerity measures requested from Greece but the psychological impact on the people is stronger. It is about choosing to impose discipline instead of inspiring it. It is not only about money, it is about the loss of trust in institutions, one of the cornerstones of a regime’s legitimacy.
The measure to take may be practical and indeed the only one in this case: it just doesn’t seem…..smart.


-Elena Spilioti

Ta Yp Opsin March 17 2013

Στα Υπ’Όψιν της 17 Μαρτίου συζητάμε:

-Κύπρος: το ταμπού που εμπόδιζε και η μοίρα της Μεσογείου
-Συρία: σφαίρες δια του δύο: η μισή ΕΕ δίνει όπλα στην αντιπολίτευση, η άλλη μισή όχι
-ΗΠΑ: Τα Ρεπουμπλικανικά ρεύματα και ποιόν παίρνει ο άνεμος
-Ιταλία: προέδρους έχουμε, κυβέρνηση θα έχουμε;
-Κίνα: πρώτα η οικονομία, έπειτα οι καυγάδες με το γείτονα
-Ο Φραγκίσκος και το Ισλάμ: και όμως τον συμπαθούν

Και στο δεύτερο μέρος, μεταξύ άλλων:

- Παπικά παραλειπόμενα πριν αρχίσει η δουλειά
- Δακτυλικά αποτυπώματα προς δανεισμό ( χωρίς το δάκτυλο)
- Τσόπστικς και ξύλινα πατώματα: ο τελευταίος περιβαλλοντικός εφιάλτης της Κίνας
- Μην καθυστερείτε τους ληστές σας: έχουν να ληστέψουν και αλλού
- Το ευτυχισμένο κροκοδειλάκι που ξαναβρήκε την ουρά του
- Μην παλεύετε με καρχαρίες: κινδυνεύετε με απόλυση.

Ακούστε τους δημοσιογράφους Έλενα Σπηλιώτη και Γιώργο Ζορμπά στο

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1KU27prGcwUR2VOMWU0ZTQ2eXc/edit 

για ενημέρωση, σχόλια και πολλή μουσική!

The March 17 Ta Yp' Opsin (Consider These) news roundup podcast

This week on Ta Yp' Opsin:
- countdown to yet another U.S. government shutdown by March 27
- GOP potential presidential candidates, “wacko birds on the right” and “stale and moss-covered” old timers
- the broken taboo of hitting bank depositors with losses and the public anger in Cyprus
- a (small) step towards ending the political stalemate in Italy
- the implications of lifting the Syrian arms embargo
- the new pope, Dirty War allegations and dancing the tango
- China’s leadership lineup and an "unholy alliance" against women 
- a bold challenge to a centuries-old Chinese tradition
- a prosthetic tail gives a creature a more normal life
- stupid criminals and the best obituary ever
 
Download here:


Ta Yp’Opsin (Consider These) weekly podcast (in Greek) with Chicago journalists Elena Spilioti and George Zorbas. Discussion, analysis and great music!

Like our Ta Yp’Opsin (Consider These) Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/taypopsin

Monday, March 11, 2013

Ta Yp Opsin March 10 2013

Στα Υπ’Όψιν της 10 Μαρτίου, οι δημοσιογράφοι Σπηλιώτη και Ζορμπάς συζητούν:

-ΗΠΑ:Με τα μάτια στο 2016: τα πρώτα ονόματα
-Ιταλία: ο δήμαρχος-αστέρι που περιμένει στα παρασκήνια
-Βενεζουέλα: Μοντούρο-Καπρίλες μονομαχία για το αύριο
-Κίνα: η νέα κυβέρνηση δεν έχει καιρό για τη Β.Κορέα
-Δημοψήφισμα Φώκλαντς: γιατί τα διεκδικούν όλοι

Και στο δεύτερο μέρος, μεταξύ άλλων

- Κονκλάβιο στην ιστορία: πάπες-πατεράδες, πάπες ...τριπλοί και τί γίνεται όταν οι
πιστοί χάνουν την υπομονή τους
- Δημοτικά φροντιστήρια για ..διαρρήξεις
- ΗΠΑ: Σχολικά βιβλία και το δικαίωμα στην ανιστόρητη ανοησία
- Τι χρειάζεται για να μείνεις παντρεμένος 80 χρόνια – αν θέλεις.
- Μήνυση για ...γέλια! Όταν η ευτυχία ενοχλεί τους γείτονες.

Ακούστε τον Γιώργο Ζορμπά και την Έλενα Σπηλιώτη στο

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1KU27prGcwUQm1uYUlybnBpSUE/edit

για ενημέρωση, σχόλια και πολλή μουσική!


DIRECTIONS FOR DOWNLOADING

«Τα Υπ’ Όψιν» είναι η εκπομπή (podcast)μας στο νέο, ιντερνετικό ραδιόφωνο που μπορείτε να ακούσετε όλο το εικοσιτετράωρο, όλη την εβδομάδα από τον υπολογιστή και το τηλέφωνό σας: κάντε κλικ στην ηλεκτρονική διεύθυνση, επιλέξτε με ασφάλεια τo φορμάτ mp3 στο Google και το ιντερνετικό ραδιόφωνο είναι στη διάθεσή σας , όσες φορές και όποτε ταιριάζει στο πρόγραμμά σας!

Download the March 10 Ta Yp' Opsin podcast

This week on the news roundup podcast Ta Yp' Opsin (Consider These):

- the White House’s charm offensive ahead of budget showdown
- Greece’s bailout review and Italy’s soul search
- the predictable "extreme rhetoric" of North Korea
- Venezuela moves on without Chavez’s charisma
- the intrigue of papal conclaves from centuries past
- desired skills: "communicating zest for life to men"
- a recipe for grapefruit endorses sexual assault
-- car names that sound stupid worldwide
- the “Satan-worshipping hippies” of a Louisiana history book
- the army that wounds goats seeks end to barbaric "live tissue training"
- Tehran declares war on its freakishly big rats
- comet tourists and some long journeys to school
- a "locust alert" and a stiff fine for laughing
 
Download here:
 

Ta Yp’Opsin (Consider These) weekly podcast (in Greek) with Chicago journalists Elena Spilioti and George Zorbas. Discussion, analysis and great music!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

CONSIDER THESE considers: CHAVEZ


CONSIDER THESE considers: CHAVEZ.
They called him defiant and a populist.
He had enough petrodollars available to practice oil diplomacy abroad seeking independence for Venezuela and other Latin America countries and he helped launch Banco del Sur, a development bank funded and run by Latin American countries as an affordable, a source of aid alternative to the unpopular measures required by the IMF and the World Bank to become fully operational by April 2013 (1)
He was called defiant.
He had enough petrodollars to fund health-care for millions of slum dwellers, education for the thousands of illiterate people of the rural and urban population and job training programs in his oil-wealthy country where 61% of the people survived on a few dollars a day, many without running water. His “missions” acted as a parallel government and were controlled by him. They provided hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans with monthly stipends to learn everything from reading and writing where to setting up cooperative farms. (He also started a program to sell cheaper heating oil to low-income households in Boston, Mas. USA in 2005 – yes, as in Boston, Mas, USA (2)
He was called a populist.
He borrowed the term ‘endogenization” from economics: a process from within the economy with products from within for the people within and applied it in his own version as opposed to changes brought by globalization that was for the investors, not by globalization for the people. And he discouraged consumerism of foreign products in favor of local food (3) - in a very difficult effort to beat the powerful hegemonies in the market.
Were the programs costly? Yes. Were millions of people given an opportunity to live better for the first time? Yes. Did he manage to capture the trust not only of the poor but of the middle class as well? Yes again. The last election percentages were 55% for Chavez, 48% for the opposition.
It would require a more extended article to refer to the evaluations of the economic ups and downs of applied “Chavism” and the degree of democracy Chavez governed at. But democracy versions are way more than one as are the versions of political culture and socio-economic circumstances.
Because he didn’t stay in – and return to - power by accident, Chavez’s legacy will indeed be there even if his opponent Capriles who favors Brazil’s centrist mix of free-market economics with strong welfare policies were to become his heir instead of Maduro, named successor by him.
In the meantime – and even beyond- the question however could be: when is the populist a patriot, when is independence a synonym for defiance?
You may not like the “Chavez” doctrine or you may simply hate it for very good reasons – yet Greeks used to say: “Αλλαπεχθρόν δητα πολλά μανθάνουσιν οι σοφοί» (Aristophanes) “The wise learn many things from their enemies”.

Now that could be a helpful statement.

  1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/12/venezuela.banking
  2. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a3i7Jw3mxo8c
  3.  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110384192022808595,00.html
- Elena Spilioti

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Ta Yp Opsin March 3 2013


Στα Υπ’Όψιν της 3 Μαρτίου, οι δημοσιογράφοι Σπηλιώτη και Ζορμπάς συζητούν:

-ΗΠΑ: 1% αυτόματες περικοπές, 3 τρις εξοικονόμηση: ποιός χάνει;
-Ιταλία: οι δύο Πάπες και η ομηρεία της επόμενης κυβέρνησης
-Ερντογάν-Σαμαράς: Τί ....δεν θα συζητήσουν
-Συρία: οι ΗΠΑ στέλνουν συνταγές αλλά οι αντάρτες θέλουν όπλα
-Βουλγαρία: η απόγνωση που ακυρώνει τα εύσημα της λιτότητας: νομοτέλεια

Και στο δεύτερο μέρος,

- Παπική σύνταξη: μα θα του φτάνει;
- Άνθρωποι και ζώα σε κίνδυνο: η έξτρα προσπάθειες εκείνων με καρδιά
- Απολυτήριο γυμνασίου στα... 106 και σεξουαλική διαπαιδαγώγηση στα... πέντε!
- Η νερωμένη μπύρα και η υποκρισία της κουρτίνας
- Ζητείται ζευγάρι για να πάει στα άστρα: γκρίνια απαγορεύεται

Ακούστε τον Γιώργο Ζορμπά και την Ελενα Σπηλιώτη στο


DIRECTIONS FOR DOWNLOADING

«Τα Υπ’ Όψιν»  είναι  η εκπομπή (podcast)μας στο νέο, ιντερνετικό ραδιόφωνο  που μπορείτε να  ακούσετε όλο το εικοσιτετράωρο, όλη την εβδομάδα από τον υπολογιστή και το τηλέφωνό σας:  κάντε κλικ στην ηλεκτρονική διεύθυνση, επιλέξτε  με ασφάλεια  τo  φορμάτ  mp3 στο Google  και  το ιντερνετικό ραδιόφωνο  είναι στη διάθεσή σας , όσες φορές και όποτε ταιριάζει στο πρόγραμμά σας!

Για πληροφόρηση, συζήτηση και πολλή μουσική!


Download this week's Ta Yp Opsin


Download this week’s Ta Yp' Opsin (Consider These) weekly podcast (in Greek) with Chicago journalists Elena Spilioti and George Zorbas.
This week on the news roundup podcast Ta Yp' Opsin (Consider These):
- America's fiscal drama continues
- Italy’s post-election chaos
- troika chiefs return to Greece for talks
- diplomatic patience for Syria is running out
- Pope Benedict XVI’s retirement package
- the earth opens and swallows FL man
- rescue operations save lives, create web heroes
- the world's oldest woman turns 115 this week
- Chicago sex education begins in kindergarten
- inside the British government’s wine cellar
- Utah's "Zion curtains" and strict liquor laws
- middle-aged couple wanted for long space mission
Download here:
Ta Yp’Opsin (Consider These) weekly podcast (in Greek) with Chicago journalists Elena Spilioti and George Zorbas. Discussion, analysis and great music!
Like our Ta Yp’Opsin (Consider These) Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/taypopsin