Katla and Eyjafjallajökull - When One Eruption Triggers Another / As with Volcanos, so with Banking Scams
The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted this year, producing some fire, and a lot of ash. The ash clouds drifted over large parts of Europe, interrupting air traffic.
The Katla volcano is located nearby, and is dormant. For now. This 1512m high volcano is big, and covered by the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. If Katla erupts, the heat will melt the ice, and that could cause large floods. (David Krekling, Island holder pusten for ikke å vekke Katla, NRK, 22 Mar 2010)
IF IT HAPPENS TO ONE, IT HAPPENS TO OTHERS
"Every time in recorded history that Eyjafjallajökull volcano has erupted, the much larger Katla volcano has also erupted." "Katla has erupted 16 times since 930, in 1755 exploding so violently that its ash settled on parts of Scotland. In 1918, Katla tore chunks of ice the size of houses from the 
Myrdalsjökull glacier atop it, sending them careening down its slopes and into the Atlantic on floods of melted glacier water." (Mark Sappenfield, Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano is nothing to 'Angry Sister' Katla, Christian Science Monitor, 18 Apr 2010)
AND SO IT IS IN THE WORLD OF MONEY LENDING SCAMS
There have been at least 16 major scams in the world since 930. Situations where "trust" companies and banks took people's money, and then it disappeared.
The most recent eruption of such activity in Iceland was in the last 10 years, when Jewish bankers Björgólfur Guðmundsson and Björgólfur Thór Björgólfsson presided over the ruin of Landsbanki, and a good portion of the Icelandic economy.
In another part of Europe, the same problems were pressing towards the surface. Down on the Mediterranean, where the olives grow so big, a country had been in need of money. And it was a good country:
"Ho, no, no, no, no; my meaning in saying he is a good man is to have you understand me that he is sufficient; yet his means are in supposition: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another
to the Indies; I understand, moreover, upon the Rialto, he hath a
third at Mexico, a fourth for England- and other ventures he
hath, squand'red abroad. But ships are but boards, sailors but
men; there be land-rats and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves- I mean pirates; and then there is the peril of
waters, winds, and rocks. The man is, notwithstanding,
sufficient. Three thousand ducats- I think I may take his bond." (Shylock cited in Act I, Scene 3, The Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare))
THREE THOUSANDS DUCATS? MAKE THAT 300 BILLION EUROS
The country had means. But the means were "in supposition". And so the banks took a bond, and loaned Greece some money. "Greece's debt has reached the highest level in its modern history, the country's deputy finance minister Philippos Sachinidis has said.
Mr Sachinidis said the country's debt stood at 300bn euros ($442bn; £272bn)." (Greece's debt reaches 300bn euros, BBC, 10 Dec 2009)
And then it became difficult for the Greek government to make payments on this massive mountain of debt.
AND SO IT WAS TIME TO MAKE SOME SAVAGE CUTS
And so some "cuts" were planned: "In return for rescue funds, Greece agreed to measures that the ADEDY civil servants union called “savage.” Greece will cut wages and freeze pensions for three years as well as increase the main sales tax to 23 percent from 21 percent." (Gabi Thesing, Flavia Krause-Jackson, Greece Gets $146 Billion Rescue in EU, IMF Package (Update1), Bloomberg, 3 May 2010)
"Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio, and Gratiano, [Salerio, and others]
DUKE:
What, is Antonio here?
ANTONIO:
Ready, so please your grace.
DUKE:
I am sorry for thee; thou art come to answer
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch Uncapable of pity, void and empty(5) From any dram of mercy.
ANTONIO:
I have heard
Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify
His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate,
And that no lawful means can carry me(10)
Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose
My patience to his fury; and am arm'd
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.
DUKE: Go one, and call the Jew into the court.(15)
SALERIO:
He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord.
Enter Shylock
DUKE:
Make room, and let him stand before our face.
Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,
That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice
To the last hour of act; and then, 'tis thought(20)
Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse, more strange
Than is thy strange apparent cruelty:
And where thou now exact'st the penalty,
(Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,)
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,(25)
But, touch'd with human gentleness and love,
Forgive a moiety of the principal;
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
That have of late so huddled on his back,
Enough to press a royal merchant down,(30)
And pluck commiseration of his state
From brassy bosoms, and rough hearts of flint,
From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd
To offices of tender courtesy.
We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.(35)
SHYLOCK:
I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose;
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn, To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter, and your city's freedom.(40)
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that: But, say, it is my humour. is it answer'd?
What, if my house be troubled with a rat(45)
And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats
To have it ban'd? What, are you answer'd yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig;
Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;
And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose,(50)
Cannot contain their urine: for affection,
Master of passion, sways it to the mood
Of what it likes, or loathes. Now, for your answer.
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he, cannot abide a gaping pig;(55)
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen bagpipe,—but of force
Must yield to such inevitable shame,
As to offend himself, being offended;
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,(60) More than a lodged hate, and a certain loathing,
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?"
(Act IV, Scene 1, The Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare))
AN APPEAL FOR A GENTLE ANSWER
Not all of the people in Greece are fond of the idea of these "savage cuts". (per Gabi Thesing, Flavia Krause-Jackson, Greece Gets $146 Billion Rescue in EU, IMF Package (Update1), Bloomberg, 3 May 2010) And so they have taken to the streets to demonstrate. "Thousands of protesters took to the streets Wednesday in a general strike to protest harsh austerity measures aimed at saving the country from bankruptcy." (Greek protest fire kills 3, CBC, 5 May 2010)
THEIR MESSAGE WAS SIMPLE
"Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice To the last hour of act; and then, 'tis thought(20) Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse, more strange
Than is thy strange apparent cruelty:
And where thou now exact'st the penalty, (Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,)
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,(25)
But, touch'd with human gentleness and love" (The Duke cited in Act IV, Scene 1, The Merchant of Venice 
(William Shakespeare))
AND THE ANSWER OF THE SYSTEM WAS EVEN SIMPLER
Blows. Beatings.
And the Greek government was behind the cuts? Well, not exactly.
BOUGHT POLITICIANS
There are some politicians in "the Greek parliament. After scuffling with police, chasing the ceremonial guards away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and taking axes to the monument, hundreds tried to storm the building, screaming "let the bordello burn".
(Helena Smith, Greek bailout: Athens burns – and crisis strikes at heart of the EU, Guardian, 5 May 2010)
SHYLOCK MADE SOME DEMANDS
As MPs inside debated the draconian economic reforms that eurozone nations and the IMF have demanded in return for the biggest bailout in history,
WHICH ARE UNPOPULAR WITH THE PEOPLE
riot police outside fired off rounds of acrid teargas to keep the crowd at bay. "All of them are dirty and have eaten from the trough," said one man brandishing a large wooden club.
THE POLITICIANS WERE A PROBLEM
"Our politicians are squarely to blame and the
BUT THE WORST ARE ALREADY IN LONDON
worst of the culprits know it because they have fled the country." (Helena Smith, Greek bailout: Athens burns – and crisis strikes at heart of the EU, Guardian, 5 May 2010)
"Wealthy Greeks seeking a financial safe-haven have helped drive up the price of luxury house prices in London at the fastest pace in two years, a new report shows." (Wealthy Greeks snap up London properties in 'safe haven' buying, Telegraph, 5 May 2010)
And there they can keep company with Jewish bankers Björgólfur Guðmundsson and Björgólfur Thór Björgólfsson, who found the atmosphere in Iceland just a little too hostile. They only ruined the country.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN GREECE
"People are being pushed to the hunger line. With the intervention of the IMF things have changed. We now have an explosion situation and no one knows what the limits of Greeks are, how far people will go to vent their spleen." (Makis Papadopoulos cited in Helena Smith, Greek bailout: Athens burns – and crisis strikes at heart of the EU, Guardian, 5 May 2010)
That's the IMF run by Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Mr. Strauss-Kahn is, of course, Jewish. (Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Wikipedia)
AND IN LONDON
The Greek Jews are taking only the best houses: "Knight Frank, a high-end estate agency, said that Greeks now account for 6pc of all properties in the UK capital sold for more than £2m, double the level of a year ago." (Wealthy Greeks snap up London properties in 'safe haven' buying, Telegraph, 5 May 2010)
Draconian means "Exceedingly harsh; very severe". (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/draconian)
Those cuts demanded by Mr. Strauss-Kahn of the IMF are "Exceedingly harsh; very severe". (per Helena Smith, Greek bailout: Athens burns – and crisis strikes at heart of the EU, Guardian, 5 May 2010)
So how will things go with the people of Greece?
- "I pray you, think you question with the Jew,
You may as well go stand upon the beach,
And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
You may as well use question with the wolf,
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;(75)
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops, and to make no noise
When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;
You may as well do anything most hard,
As seek to soften that (than which what's harder?)(80)
His Jewish heart." - (Antonio cited in Act IV, Scene 1, The Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare))
But at the end of the day, there is just one question they need to be asking.
A question which has been asked before:
- "BASSANIO:
- Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?"
- (Act IV, Scene 1, The Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare))
In Toledo, on Sunday, 19 July 1467, "a group of conversos invaded the cathedral during the high mass, shouting such things as 'Die, die, this is not a church but a congregation of the wicked and vile.'" (John Edwards, The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, 1474-1520, Wiley, 2000, p 81)
"Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein testily told skeptical senators at a hearing Tuesday that clients who bought subprime mortgage securities from the Wall Street powerhouse in 2006 and 2007 came looking for risk "and that's what they got."" (Marcy Gordon and Tom Raum, Senate showdown puts Goldman's defense on display, AP, 28 Apr 2010)
The Jew Blankfein tells it like it is. People who came to his Jewish counting house were "looking for risk". Just as Antonio was "looking for risk". Just as the people of Greece were.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? 28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? (Proverbs 6, Holy Bible)
