This is the most critical moment in our history" - five days to save Greece from the abyss...

[PoliticAverse]

warn European leaders

The European Union faces "the most critical" moment in its 64-year history, after leaders warned they had five days to prevent Greece from careering out of the euro and into a full blown humanitarian crisis.

"Our inability to find agreement may lead to the bankruptcy of Greece and the insolvency of its banking system", said Donald Tusk, head of the European Council, after talks between Greece and its partners ended without agreement on Tuesday night.

Brussels has now convened a full emergency summit of all 28 European leaders on Sunday to thrash out a deal to keep Greece in the single currency.

"I have no doubt that this is the most critical moment in the history of the European Union," said Mr Tusk.

Read the rest at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11725041/Five-days-to-save-the-eurozone-from-disaster.html

[merrily]

1. Are we there yet? Are we, as a species, ready to decide that Gekko was wrong? Greed is NOT good?

I don't care whose greed it is, the nation's, its poor, its middle class, or its rich. It's not good.

Funny how quickly 80s excess was far surpassed by 2015 excess.

Just learned some things:

Stone made the film as a tribute to his father, Lou Stone, a stockbroker during the Great Depression. The character of Gekko is said to be a composite of several people, including Owen Morrisey, Dennis Levine, Ivan Boesky, Carl Icahn, Asher Edelman, Michael Ovitz, Michael Milken, and Stone himself. The character of Sir Lawrence Wildman, meanwhile, was modeled on the prominent British financier and corporate raider Sir James Goldsmith. Originally, the studio wanted Warren Beatty to play Gekko, but he was not interested; Stone, meanwhile, wanted Richard Gere, but Gere passed on the role. Stone went with Douglas even though he had been advised by others in Hollywood not to cast him.

The film was well received among major film critics, including Roger Ebert. Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the film has come to be seen as the archetypal portrayal of 1980s excess, with Douglas' character memorably declaring that "greed is good." It has also proven influential in inspiring people to work on Wall Street, with Sheen, Douglas, and Stone commenting over the years how people still approach them and say that they became stockbrokers because of their respective characters in the film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_%281987_film%29

[PoliticAverse]

2. "people still approach them and say that they became stockbrokers because of... the film."

Oh, the irony!

[merrily]

3. Maybe those who aspired to be stockbrokers because of the film also see the irony, but

don't care. They saw a possibility of getting filthy rich and said, "yeayyy, that's for me."