Caution.

As the postal crisis unfolded recently, I kept reminding Democrats that they, too, have contributed to this problem via their bizarre eagerness to accept the gutting of public services.

Oh no, they replied.

Oh yes. Sorry to bug you,but it's true. This can be fixed. First, Democrats must stop agreeing with Republicans on voodoo economics. They might begin by listening to their own left wing.

It’s Not Just Trump: The Neoliberal Roots of the Postal Service Crisis, by Max B. Sawicky (In These Times)

We should defend the Post Office, both from Trump and the ideology of austerity that treats the agency “like a business.”

We’re cur­rent­ly get­ting a vivid, painful reminder of why we need a pub­lic sec­tor. The col­lapse of pub­lic ser­vices, in par­tic­u­lar the pro­vi­sion of pub­lic health, has tor­pe­doed the entire econ­o­my as a dead­ly pan­dem­ic rav­ages the coun­try. The end of the road in our cur­rent devo­lu­tion may be the assault on one of our old­est pub­lic insti­tu­tions — the ven­er­a­ble and very pop­u­lar U.S. Postal Service.

snip

From an eco­nom­ic stand­point, there is no rea­son a postal ser­vice must run a prof­it. As many com­men­ta­tors have point­ed out, this con­straint is applied selec­tive­ly, out of ide­o­log­i­cal prej­u­dices. Nobody requires the Depart­ment of Defense to turn a profit. (For this we should prob­a­bly be grateful.)

snip

The point here is that the spu­ri­ous notion that the U.S. Postal Ser­vice should be finan­cial­ly self-suf­fi­cient — which goes back decades — helped give rise to the abil­i­ty of Trump’s crony in charge of the Post Office, the con­flict-of-inter­est-rid­den Louis DeJoy, to cut ser­vices in the name of account­ing sol­ven­cy. For his part, Trump has acknowl­edged open­ly that his refusal to pro­vide nec­es­sary sup­ple­men­tary funds to ensure effec­tive deliv­ery of the mail is found­ed on his deter­mi­na­tion to frus­trate the vote-by-mail system.

In the wake of the uproar over mail sab­o­tage, pub­lic pres­sure has appar­ent­ly forced DeJoy to defer some ser­vice cuts until after the elec­tion. To make sure this pledge is hon­ored, we will have to keep a clear eye on the actu­al progress, on the ground, in prepar­ing for the elec­tion. For­tu­nate­ly, union­ized postal work­ers will be essen­tial allies in mon­i­tor­ing the integri­ty of Postal Ser­vice man­age­ment. Pend­ing the suc­cess­ful removal of the cur­rent admin­is­tra­tion, a forth­right reju­ve­na­tion of the U.S. Postal Ser­vice can com­mence, in which we final­ly cast off the unfound­ed account­ing imper­a­tives that crip­ple its operations.

Yanis told you so: "How Syriza’s capitulations allowed the Greek right to escape the dustbin of history."

As we've observed here in New Albany at a grassroots level, breaking free from the tentacles of business as usual is a daunting task. As an example, there are too many beak-wetting imperatives to justify local government perpetually spending money on shoddy annual repaving projects rather than examining the realities of car-centrism and alternatives to it -- and if you believe against all prevailing evidence that "leaders" like Bob Caesar have any interest in learning new tricks, think again. They're too busy nuzzling the effete pants legs of oligarchy-drunk entities like One Southern Indiana, hoping they might be tossed a tattered bone.

Where was I?

Oh yes, Greece.

In an essay at New Statesman, Yanis Varoufakis explains the invariable result when the Left, forever unwilling to stand by the veracity of its own political principles, caves to the Right -- itself forever willing to seize opportunity when the vacuum presents it.

How Syriza’s capitulations allowed the Greek right to escape the dustbin of history

The left-wing party’s embrace of austerity created the conditions for a parasitic and cruel oligarchy to return.

 ... What the people of Greece had said to us, their government, in that 2015 referendum, made perfect sense: “We don’t want to leave the euro or to clash with the European Union. But, if the European Union is demanding of you, of our government, the intensification of the austerity-insolvency doom loop that forces our youngsters to emigrate and the expropriation of what is left of our public assets, don’t you dare surrender — even if Grexit is the price we must pay.”

That night, while our people were out on the streets celebrating their remarkable victory, the political representatives of Greece’s oligarchy were in tatters. The leader of New Democracy resigned, the party’s cadres wallowed in deep despair, the oligarchy they represented was in a state of panic. Alas, they worried unnecessarily. For at the same time, a coup against the people was being hatched in the office of my colleague, the prime minister.

Focus on Portugal: The Carnation Revolution in 1974, and Portugal in the current age.

Before the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia (1989), there came the Carnation Revolution in Portugal (1974).

Remembering Portugal’s Carnation Revolution (Freedom House)

... The Carnation Revolution—the first of the world’s many subsequent flower or color uprisings—is little remembered today. Its very success may account for its obscurity. At the time, however, the Portuguese developments were understood to be extraordinarily important. The Carnation Revolution brought about the overthrow of an entrenched right-wing dictatorship. It ended, once and for all, European colonialism in Africa. It was decisive in ensuring that at some time in the future, Europe could truly boast of being whole and free. It set the stage for peaceful and democratic change in neighboring Spain. It produced a democratic breakthrough at a time when strongmen and commissars seemed to be on the march around the globe. And it was eventually recognized as the event that triggered the “third wave” of democratization, a phenomenon that was to transform politics throughout the world.

There were immediate implications of the Carnation Revolution in Angola and other soon-to-be former Portuguese colonial realms.

Portugal's new regime pledged itself to end the colonial wars and began negotiations with the African independence movements. By the end of 1974, Portuguese troops had been withdrawn from Portuguese Guinea and the latter had become a UN member state. This was followed by the independence of Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola in 1975. The Carnation Revolution in Portugal also led to Portugal's withdrawal from East Timor in south-east Asia. These events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Angola and Mozambique), creating over a million Portuguese refugees — the retornados.

Portugal was accepted into the European Economic Community (now the EU) in 1986. At the time, the country was among the poorest in the EEC. It joined the Euro zone in 1999, and after a transitional period of three years, the escudo disappeared in 2002.

Between 2009-16 the Portuguese economy experienced a severe economic crisis – characterised by falling GDP, high unemployment, rising government debt and high bond yields. This was caused by a combination of the global recession, lack of competitiveness and limitations of being in the Euro.

Portugal's policy of austerity in the wake of the recession proceeded without the newsworthy tumult of protests in Greece. It was controversial nonetheless.

The Next Portuguese Revolution, by Mark Bergfeld (Jacobin; 2014)

... Beneath the cloak of unity, bitter wars have been raging over the nature of 1974–5, the government’s eager submission to the Troika’s austerity agenda, and whether the new Portuguese left is up for the task of providing a people ravaged by capitalism with a viable alternative to it ...

... While many of the gains of that revolution have been eroded, the poet Ary dos Santos reminds us that “no one will ever close the doors that April opened.”

To keep up with current events in Portugal (in English), visit The Portugal News Online.

Je suis Greece.

I may be a Europhile, but underdogs come first.

Those who would say that it's just another instance of a slacker country looking to evade its debts are missing the metaphor. In a world dedicated to income equality and the preservation of the 1%, most of us are Greece, already.

Greece's leaders stun Europe with escalating defiance, by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (The Telegraph)

"The euro is like a house of cards. If you pull away the Greek card, they all come down,” says Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister

Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has spelled out the negotiating strategy of the Syriza government with crystal clarity.

“Exit from the euro does not even enter into our plans, quite simply because the euro is fragile. It is like a house of cards. If you pull away the Greek card, they all come down,” he said.

“Do we really want Europe to break apart? Anybody who is tempted to think it possible to amputate Greece strategically from Europe should be careful. It is very dangerous. Who would be hit after us? Portugal? What would happen to Italy when it discovers that it is impossible to stay within the austerity straight-jacket?”

"The French are right: tear up public debt – most of it is illegitimate anyway."

I love social elites ... as long as they're properly cooked.

The French are right: tear up public debt – most of it is illegitimate anyway ... Debt audits show that austerity is politically motivated to favour social elites. Is a new working-class internationalism in the air?, by Razmig Keucheyan (Guardian)

As history has shown, France is capable of the best and the worst, and often in short periods of time.

On the day following Marine Le Pen's Front National victory in the European elections, however, France made a decisive contribution to the reinvention of a radical politics for the 21st century. On that day, the committee for a citizen's audit on the public debt issued a 30-page report on French public debt, its origins and evolution in the past decades. The report was written by a group of experts in public finances under the coordination of Michel Husson, one of France's finest critical economists. Its conclusion is straightforward: 60% of French public debt is illegitimate.

Alexis Tsipras warns Greek crisis is also Europe's

Maybe Henry Miller really did have an inkling about the Greeks. Maybe Americans will come to have an inkling about the Europeans. Maybe I've had too much to drink.

Alexis Tsipras warns Greek crisis is also Europe's; Greece's leftwing leader tells Paris audience that other EU countries will be next if they fail to oppose radical austerity drive, by Kim Willsher (guardian.co.uk)

 ... "We are here to explain to people in Europe that we have nothing against them. We are fighting the battle in Greece not just for the Greek people but for people in France, Germany and all European countries."

"I am not here to blackmail, I am here to mobilise," he said.

"Greece gave humanity democracy and today the Greek people will bring democracy back to Europe."

Price to council: Do as I don't, not as them people say.

New Albany, Indiana (NAC) -- Steve Price says enough is enough, and tonight he’ll introduce a resolution before the city council calling for their health insurance benefits to be withdrawn.

"Like all them uninsured Americans everywhere, it's our job as councilmen not to get sick," Price told reporters. "People are hurtin', and everyone else should hurt just as much, 'cuz that's the American Dream."

Price, who has claimed in the past to be such an ineffective manager of his rental property business that he “doesn’t make any money out of it,” stopped short of calling for the complete abolition of council wages.

“After all,” said Price, “I gotta buy some dog food for when the scraps run out, and some longnecks for me now and then, except for when I sing, and then the guys at the VFW buy me beers so I’ll stop. God love 'em.”

But the 3rd District councilman vows to bring another list of austerity measures before his colleagues.

“I reckon there’s a whole bunch of things we can do without, and then we’ll be examples to the taxpayer of how poor we council people can be and still do a teensy tiny bit of the job they elected us to do.”

Price specified five areas for immediate council member household cuts.

"Heck, I'm doing without these already, so why can't they honor the taxpayer by cutting unnecessary expenses?"

Flush toilets … “We ain’t got no sewers, anyhows, and there’s nuthin’ like running to the outhouse in the dead of winter to make you think of the rate payer.”

Pasteurized milk … “It just a French word that adds pennies to the gallon, and for what?”

Water heaters … “Them people waste too much water takin’ baths, anyway.”

Automatic transmissions … “Son of an Erika, they’re plumb dangerous on icy streets, and lemme tell ya, there’s gonna be more ice than ever after I get rid of the salt subsidy.”

Electricity … “I done me a study – didn’t have to pay some pointy head for it – and it shows that if you take away the juice, none of them expensive gadgets’ll run, anyways. Heck, according to Dave Ramsey, we don't even need none of 'em."

Benefits in doubt? Price proposing elimination of council health insurance, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune).

Resolution challenges city health insurance for New Albany council members, by Grace Schneider (Courier-Journal)