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Thursday, February 15, 2018

Giannis Antetokounmpo Check Out My New Sex Bell 'I'm a Freak in the Sheets!'

Here's NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo proving "GREEK Freak" ain't just a nickname ... showing off his Valentine's Day present from his GF -- an on-demand oral sex bell! And boy, is he happy about it. "The Freak, he can be a freak on the court and on the sheets, you know what I'm saying?! WOO ...


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Fraternities Look to Rebound in Numbers

As formal recruitment approaches, GREEK organizations look to draw in new recruits to the brotherhoods that McDaniel offers. Tallying at seven total social fraternities, the choice to commit to one brotherhood is a decision some have turned away from. Highlighted in an article published last spring, GREEK ...


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Souvla Is Opening in the Marina With Extra Greek Frozen Yogurt in Tow

Fast-growing, trend-setting Souvla will open its fourth Greek counter-service restaurant at 2272 Chestnut Street in the Marina. The new outpost, formerly a David’s Tea shop, will resemble the original, 2014-founded Souvla space in Hayes Valley, with ...


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Ceremony to Award Putin with Honorary Doctorate of Greek University Postponed

The ceremony to award Russian President Vladimir Putin with an honorary doctorate from the Department of History, Archaeology and Cultural Resources Management of the University of Peloponnese has been postponed, according to a Kathimerini newspaper report.


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GREEK supermarket chain Metro expands in home items and HORECA markets

Conditions in the GREEK supermarket sector are fluid and unpredictable, Aristotelis Panteliadis, CEO in Metro AEBE said on Wednesday, according to ANA. Speaking to reporters to present the group's entrance in the home items and Ho.Re.Ca. markets, Panteliadis noted: "The landscape in the ...


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GREEK Life is putting a focus on Unity amongst members

The GREEK Life of Missouri Western is working to unify all the GREEKS together with community activities such as sports, fundraising events and mixers. The Inter-Fraternal Council, National Panhellenic Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council are working to unify GREEK life better on Missouri Western ...


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US Ambassador Thanks Military Head for Greek Alliance

As Greece’s defense minister meets his U.S. counterpart on Thursday, Washington’s ambassador to Athens, Geoffrey Pyatt, has thanked Secretary of Defense James Mattis in a tweet “for your strong support for our alliance with Greece”. NATO defense ...


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Gee: Proactive approach will save Greek Life at WVU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A number of West Virginia University’s top academic officials do not believe Greek Life needs a permanent shutdown, but they are seeking institutional change. “I’m not one of those who believes that by shutting it down you are ...


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EU: GREECE Needs to Close Pending Prerequisites before Disbursement of Loan Tranche

GREECE needs to complete three important prerequisites before the EU disburses the next loan tranche of €5.7 billion euros, a European official said, according a Kathimerini report. The loan tranche will be disbursed upon the condition that all requirements of the third review of GREECE'S bailout program ...


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Greece Will Keep €3B Privatization Promise, Says Official

Greece will maintain its plan to privatize many industries even after it leaves the bailout program in August this year. The Hellenic Corporation af Assets and Participations’ head, Rania Ekaterinari, told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that Greece ...


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The Far Right Is a Growing Threat in Greece

Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine? The news coming out of Greece these days is in stark contrast to the dramatic stories international readers were used to at the height of the financial crisis.


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Romania's Transgaz interested in GREEK LNG terminal – CEO

Romania's natural gas transmission system operator Transgaz, a partner in a consortium bidding for a stake in the GREEK counterpart DESFA, has expressed an interest in the development of the Revithoussa LNG terminal, a piece of infrastructure that would boost the region's import capacity. Speaking ...


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GREEK yoghurt Market 2017-2022: Sales Revenue, Grow Pricing, Developments, Historical ...

GREEK yoghurt market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 7.5%. Rise in demand from end-use markets including dairy, bakery and confectionary products is driving the growth of the GREEK yoghurt market. Growing need for convenience high protein, low sugar and sodium beverages and rising ...


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GREEK Festival of Sydney to be held this weekend

Nia Karteris, Festival Chair of the GREEK Festival of Sydney noted “The GREEK Festival of Sydney reflects the rich and diverse multicultural nature of Australia and it has evolved into the most significant and prestigious GREEK-Australian community event in NSW. Now in its 36th year, the GREEK Festival of ...


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GREEK water bottling company Zaros' turnover grew by 6.3% due to exports

Zaros SA, a GREEK water bottling company, on Thursday announced that its 2017 turnover grew 6.3 pct to 11.8 million euros from 11.06 million in 2016, ANA reports. The firm, which was founded in 1980, continued expanding its export activity, recording a significant increase in sales inside and outside ...


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Only united can Greece deal with the important issues, President Pavlopoulos says

… mental, for Greece and for the unity of the Greek nation.… they are united are the Greeks capable of coping with the …


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PM Tsipras: Greece will not tolerate any questioning of its sovereign rights

… quot;Greece is a country within the … this. They are annoyed by Greece's upgraded role in … Greek Coast Guard's crucial role, Tsipras underlined that "[Greece … ," he said, underlining that Greece's borders were also …


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Greece 2018 🇬🇷 Areti responds, wishes Yianna all the best. Terzi releases Greek entry teaser!

GREECE – It seems that Yianna Terzi and her song “Oneiro Mou” will represent Greece in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest and fees moments ago snippet of the song was released on iTunes. In the meantime Areti Ketime, who Gott disqualification along ...


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WVU puts moratorium on fraternity activities, announces plans to review GREEK life

WVU also announced a campus-wide plan to review the GREEK life system in light of concerns over behavioral issues. "We know many students have a great experience in fraternity life, and do the right things - make the right choices and actively engage in philanthropy, service and leadership, but as a ...


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GREEK Theatre Receives 'Best Small Outdoor Venue' Pollstar Award

“2017 was an Incredible year for the GREEK Theatre with well over 300,000 visitors. Receiving the Pollstar award was thrilling for our management team after the consistent hard work dedicated to this beloved venue. The GREEK Management and Food and Beverage Team worked diligently at preparing ...


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2018-2019 Scholarship Applications Available, deadline May 4, 2018

NEW YORK – The GREEK Orthodox Archdiocese of America announces that applications for the Scholarship and Fellowship programs administered by the Archdiocese are now available. Applications can be accessed by visiting http://www.goarch.org/. For more information, please email ...


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Photos: Boys Basketball

Steven Gilebarto (pictured above) led the Blue Devils in the 2nd half with 16 points to help his team win 51-48 over GREECE Odyssey in thier final regular season game last night at Batavia High School. Senior point guard Naziyhar Pratt had 5 rebounds and three assists. Junior Antwan Odom had 13 ...


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thebatavian.com

Multinational Delivery Hero purchases third online food platform in GREECE

Multinational online food delivery platform Delivery Hero has bought GREECE-based Deliveras.gr, the third such company it acquired in the country after having already scooped up e-food.gr and clickdelivery.gr. Based on recent figures announced by Eltrun, fast food and short-order restaurant fare was ...


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Mind Your Mezé

Your trip to the dreamy GREEK island of Santorini will require a 10-hour flight to Athens, followed by eight hours on a relatively unromantic ferry, and an inevitably tumultuous excursion up a steep cliff whilst you cling to a donkey's back side. Or, you can cut your losses and duck into Mezé GREEK Tapas Bar ...


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT worcestermag.com

TURKEY’S THREATS FULL OF GAS – My Thought of the Day!

Last Friday, Ankara’s naval ships invaded Cyprus’s territorial waters and stopped the Italian/French ENI-TOTAL gas exploration platform to reach its destination – No 3 Plot; in the same period, Turkish military vessels deliberately ram a Greek cargo ship deep inside Greece’s territorial waters off Enia islet and damaged the Greek vessel; Erdogan has issued poisoned […] The post TURKEY’S THREATS FULL OF GAS – My Thought of the Day! appeared first on Hellenic News of America.


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Is Europe doing enough to protect human rights?

A lack of EU solidarity over the refugee crisis has placed an "intolerable burden" on Italy and Greece, says Michael O'Flaherty, Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. He meets Michel Friedman on Conflict Zone.


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The Queen Has Visited 120 Countries, But Not THIS One - And Here's the Awkward Reason Why

But there is one surprising country that she has never visited during her reign: GREECE, her husband's birthplace. Born into the Greek and Danish royal families, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles and became a naturalized British citizen when he became engaged to Elizabeth in 1947.


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Athens Energy Forum: "Greece has the potential to become a regional energy hub", says Greek Energy Minister

Greek Minister of Environment and Energy Giorgos Stathakis said at a press conference at the Athens Energy Forum today to the concession contracts for hydrocarbons in four areas i


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT balkaneu.com

Greece the main focus of Monday's Eurogroup

Greece will be the first and main issue will be at the Eurogroup meeting this Monday 19 according to the official agenda that was released Based on the agenda the Eurogroup wil


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Former PM Samaras sues premier Tsipras over Novartis case

Former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras filed a lawsuit on Thursday against current Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Alternate Justice Minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos ju


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The Costs of US Wars Are Staggering, but Most Americans Continue to Ignore Them

[US Army soldiers engage in a live-fire exercise in the Zabul province of Afghanistan, July 1, 2010. (Photo: The US Army)]US Army soldiers engage in a live-fire exercise in the Zabul province of Afghanistan, July 1, 2010. (Photo: The US Army) Help preserve a news source with integrity at its core: Donate to the independent media at Truthout. I'm in my mid-thirties, which means that, after the 9/11 attacks, when this country went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq in what President George W. Bush called the "Global War on Terror," I was still in college. I remember taking part in a couple of campus antiwar demonstrations and, while working as a waitress in 2003, being upset by customers who ordered "freedom fries," not "French fries," to protest France's opposition to our war in Iraq. (As it happens, my mother is French, so it felt like a double insult.) For years, like many Americans, that was about all the thought I put into the war on terror. But one career choice led to another and today I'm co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Now, when I go to dinner parties or take my toddler to play dates and tell my peers what I do for a living, I've grown used to the blank stares and vaguely approving comments ("that's cool") as we quickly move on to other topics. People do tend to humor me if I begin to speak passionately about the startlingly global reach of this country's military counterterrorism activities or the massive war debt we're so thoughtlessly piling up for our children to pay off. In terms of engagement, though, my listeners tend to be far more interested and ask far more penetrating questions about my other area of research: the policing of Brazil's vast favelas, or slums. I don't mean to suggest that no one cares about America's never-ending wars, just that, 17 years after the war on terror began, it's a topic that seems to fire relatively few of us up, much less send us into the streets, Vietnam-style, to protest. The fact is that those wars are approaching the end of their second decade and yet most of us don't even think of ourselves as "at war." I didn't come to the work that's now engulfed my life as a peace activist or a passionate antiwar dissenter. I arrived circuitously, through my interest in police militarization, during my PhD work in cultural anthropology at Brown University, where the Costs of War Project is housed. Eventually, I joined directors Catherine Lutz and Neta Crawford, who had co-founded the project in 2011 on the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan. Their goal: to draw attention to the hidden and unacknowledged costs of our counterterror wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and a number of other countries as well. Today, I know -- and care -- more about the devastations of Washington's post-9/11 wars than I ever imagined I would. And judging from public reactions to our work at the Costs of War Project, my prior detachment was anything but unique. Quite the opposite: it's been the essence of the post-9/11 era in this country. NUMBERS TO BOGGLE THE MIND In such a climate of disengagement, I've learned what can get at least some media attention. Top of the list: mind-boggling numbers. In a counterpoint to the relatively limited estimates issued by the Pentagon, the Costs of War Project has, for instance, come up with a comprehensive estimate of what the war on terror has actually cost this country since 2001: $5.6 trillion. It's an almost unfathomably large number. Imagine, though, if we had invested such funds in more cancer research or the rebuilding of America's infrastructure (among other things, Amtrak trains might not be having such frequent deadly crashes). That $5.6 trillion includes the costs of caring for post-9/11 veterans as well as spending to prevent terrorist attacks on US soil ("homeland security"). That figure and its annual updates do make the news in places like the Wall Street Journal and the Atlantic magazine and are regularly cited by reporters. Even President Trump, we suspect, has absorbed and, in his typical fashion, inflated our work in his comment at the end of last year that the US has "foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East" (which just months earlier, more in line with our estimate, he had at $6 trillion). The media also commonly draws on another set of striking figures we issue: our calculations of deaths, both American and foreign, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. As of 2016, about 14,000 American soldiers and contractors and 380,000 inhabitants of those countries had been killed. To these estimates, you have to add the deaths of at least 800,000 more Afghans, Iraqis, and Pakistanis from indirect causes related to the devastation caused by those wars, including malnutrition, disease, and environmental degradation. Once you get past the shocking numbers, however, it becomes far harder to get media (or anyone else's) attention for America's wars. Certainly, the human and political costs in distant lands are of remarkably little interest here. Today, it's difficult to imagine a devastating war photo making the front page of a mainstream newspaper, much less galvanizing protest, as several now-iconic images did during the Vietnam era. In August, for instance, the Costs of War Project issued a report that revealed the extent to which immigrant workers in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan are exploited. From countries like Nepal, Colombia, and the Philippines, they work for the US military and its private contractors doing jobs like cooking, cleaning, and acting as security guards. Our report documented the kinds of servitude and the range of human rights abuses they regularly face. Often, immigrants are stuck there, living in dangerous and squalid conditions, earning far less than they were promised when recruited, and with no recourse to or protection from the American military, civilian officials, or their home governments. Our report's revelations were, I thought, dramatic, largely unknown to the American public, and another reason to demand a conclusion to our never-ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They were also a significant black mark against the private contracting companies that, for years now, have profited so greatly from those wars. Nonetheless, the report got next to no coverage, as has often been the case when it comes to human suffering in those war zones (at least when the sufferers are not US soldiers). Do Americans really not care? That, at least, seems to have been the judgment of the many journalists who received our press release about the report. In truth, this has become something like a fact of life in America today, one that's only been made more extreme by the media's full-time fascination with President Donald Trump -- from his tweets to his insults to his ever-wilderstatements. He -- or rather the media obsession with his every twitch -- poses just the latest challenge to getting attention of any sort for the true costs to us (and everyone else) of our country's wars. One small way we've found of getting around this media vortex is by tapping into pre-existing communities of interest like veterans' groups. In June 2017, for instance, we issued a report on the injustices faced by post-9/11 veterans released from the military with "bad paper" or other-than-honorable discharges, usually thanks to minor forms of misconduct, acts that often stem from trauma sustained during military service. Such bad papers leave veterans ineligible for healthcare, education, and housing assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs. While the report got little press attention, news of it traveled along the circuits of veterans-oriented blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds, generating far more interest and commentary. It was even, we later learned, used by such groups in attempts to influence veteran-related legislation. WAR TO THE HORIZON AND A DEMOBILIZED PUBLIC AND CONGRESS At heart, though, whatever our small successes, we continue to face a grim reality of this twenty-first-century moment, one that long preceded the presidency of Donald Trump: the lack of connection between the American public (myself once included) and the wars being fought in our names in distant lands. Not surprisingly, this goes hand-in-hand with another reality: you have to be a total war jockey, someone who follows what's happening more or less full time, to have a shot at knowing what's really going on in the conflicts that now extend from Pakistan into the heart of Africa.  After all, in this era, secrecy is the essence of the world of Washington, invariably invoked in the name of American "security." As a researcher on the subject, I repeatedly confront the murkiness of government information about the war on terror. Recently, for instance, we released a project I had worked on for several months: a map of all the places where, in one fashion or another, the US military is now taking some sort of action against terrorism -- a staggering 76 nations, or 40% of the countries on the planet. Of course, it's hardly surprising these days that our government is far from transparent about so many things, but doing original research on the war on terror has brought this into stark relief for me. I was stunned at how difficult it can be to find the most basic information, scattered at so many different websites, often hidden, sometimes impossible to locate. One obscure but key source for the map we did, for example, proved to be a Pentagon list labeled "Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medals Approved Areas of Eligibility." From it, my team and I were able to learn of places like Ethiopia and Greece that the military deems part of that "War on Terrorism." We were then able to crosscheck these with the State Department's "Country Reports on Terrorism," which officially document terrorist incidents, country by country, and what each country's government is doing to counter terrorism. This research process brought home to me that the detachment many Americans feel in relation to those post-9/11 wars is matched -- even fed -- by the opacity of government information about them. This no doubt stems, at least in part, from a cultural trend: the demobilization of the American people. The government demands nothing of the public, not even minimalist acts like buying war bonds (as in World War II), which would not only help offset the country's growing debt from its war-making, but might also generate actual concern and interest in those wars. (Even if the government didn't spend another dollar on its wars, our research shows that we will still have to pay a breathtaking $8 trillion extra in interest on past war borrowing by the 2050s.) Our map of the war on terror did, in fact, get some media attention, but as is so often the case when we reach out to even theoretically sympathetic congressional representatives, we heard nothing back from our outreach. Not a peep. That's hardly surprising, of course, since like the American people, Congress has largely been demobilized when it comes to America's wars (though not when it comes to pouring ever more federal dollars into the US military).  Last October, when news came out about four Green Berets killed by an Islamic State affiliate in the West African nation of Niger, congressional debates revealed that American lawmakers had little idea where in the world our troops were stationed, what they were doing there, or even the extent of counterterrorism activity among the Pentagon's various commands. Yet the majority of those representatives remain all too quick to grant blank checks to President Trump's requests for ever greater military spending (as was also true of requests from presidents Bush and Obama). After visiting some congressional offices in November, my colleagues and I were struck that even the most progressive among them were talking only about allocating slightly -- and I mean slightly -- less money to the Pentagon budget, or supporting slightly fewer of the hundreds of military bases with which Washington garrisons the globe. The idea that it might be possible to work toward ending this country's "forever wars" was essentially unmentionable. Such a conversation could only come about if Americans -- particularly young Americans -- were to become passionate about stopping the spread of the war on terror, now considered little short of a "generational struggle" by the US military. For any of this to change, President Trump's enthusiastic support for expanding the military and its budget, and the fear-based inertia that leads lawmakers to unquestioningly support any American military campaign, would have to be met by a strong counterforce. Through the engagement of significant numbers of concerned citizens, the status quo of war making might be reversed, and the rising tide of the US counterterror wars stemmed. Toward that end, the Costs of War Project will continue to tell whoever will listen what the longest war(s) in US history are costing Americans and others around the world.  


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Greek-American Remains in Critical Condition after Brutal Attack

… Greek-American Alex Madias. (Photo: courtesy by Theodoros Madias) EMERYVILLE, CA – Greek-American Alex … the Novato Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church, the community where … on February 15 at the Greek Orthodox Church to attend a …


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WVU establishes moratorium on GREEK life, launches review

MORGANTOWN — On Feb. 14, WVU placed an immediate moratorium on all social and recruiting activities of the 16 social and social-professional fraternities comprising the Interfraternity Council, enacting a plan to review and strengthen oversight in the wake of concern over continued behavioral ...


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Jim Chanos on the return of choppy markets, Tesla, and the 'rent seeking behavior' that's hurting our economy

Business Insider Senior Finance Correspondent Linette Lopez spoke with famed short seller Jim Chanos at the Nasdaq Market Site about the reintroduction of inflation to the market for the first time since the financial crisis, which is causing volatility unseen in years. Chanos also touched on Tesla, China, and what he refers to as "the rent-seeking behavior" of corporations. The following is a lightly edited transcript of the video. LINETTE LOPEZ: Hi, I'm here with Jim Chanos, founder and president of Kynikos Associates, the world's largest short hedge fund. So we just had the highest CPI print in 13 years. It looks like inflation is sort of back. The market is changing. Legendary trader Paul Tudor Jones just said it's making him feel like he's in his 20s again, all this volatility. How do you feel about this market, and do you feel like you're in your 20s again? JIM CHANOS: Well, I want to take whatever he's taking to feel like he's in his 20s again. There's more volatility. But, again, compared to historical — when Paul was in his 20s and I was in my 20s — I mean it's kind of nothing. Back then the 30-year bond, which is what we used to look at, would trade in a 30 basis point band in a day. Now it moves three basis points and people get terrified. LOPEZ: It's crazy because there are so many young Wall Streeters who have never seen a market like this. They've never been chained to their chairs. They've never been, you know, glued to their screens in the way they have to when the market is volatile. Do you have any advice for those kids? CHANOS: Well back in my day ... I mean no one wants to hear that. What Wall Street has benefited from among many things is basically a probably once-in-a-lifetime move in rates from 14% to basically 2% or 0% depending on whether you're looking at short-term rates. And we're not going to repeat that, I'm pretty safe in saying. So what Wall Street hasn't seen — with the exception of a few graybeards like Paul and myself — is high interest rates or rising interest rates for any sustainable period of time. And the big change will come when that changes. So I don't know if that's what's happening now. We'll see. But, you know, when you see things like Greece borrowing at rates lower than the US for two-year notes — LOPEZ: It's a little wonky. CHANOS: It's a little crazy. And so  things are happening in the credit markets that are making people a little uncomfortable. We've moved to almost 3% on the 10-year. But based on where nominal growth is right now — I mean with or without a rising CPI — I mean the 10-year should be north of 4%. So we're still in a very accommodative environment.   LOPEZ: We seem to have a stew going here. We have this tax cut. We have this massive budget agreement between the Democrats and Republicans that's going to add to the deficit. And it seems like corporations are really winning out. And it seems like labor — you have regular people like me who are kind of losing in this equation. This has been going on for years. How do you stop it? CHANOS: Yeah, the rent-seeking economy — LOPEZ: The rent seeking economy — CHANOS: You know, it really is a puzzle. And I was reading a column in the New York Times this morning talking about that. And why we haven't seen more competitive forces bringing returns down to where rates are. In a highly competitive economy, if interest rates are so low, returns should be dropping. Instead, returns and corporate assets are remaining high. And some of that might be technology. Some of it might be just simple lobbying — rent-seeking. And I think it's probably a combination of both. But what it does lead to is stagnating wages, lower capital investment, and a disproportionate amount of the economy going to the corporate sector and shareholders. And that's great for equity holders; it's not really great for everybody else. LOPEZ: Back to your twenties, back than your nemesis was a CEO named Morley Thompson, the CEO of Baldwin Piano. That was your first big short. Now it seems like you've set your sights on another CEO. His name is Elon Musk. He's got this little company called Tesla. CHANOS: I've heard of it. LOPEZ: Yeah, what's wrong with Tesla? CHANOS: Well, I mean, first of all, Morley Thompson who ran Baldwin United had to be the greatest salesman of all time. He started out selling pianos door-to-door. LOPEZ: That sounds difficult. CHANOS: And anybody that can do that and then rise to CEO, you know, had to be able to sell pretty much anything. And that I think is Elon's greatest quality. He's a pretty good salesman. He's always pitching the next great idea. The problem is that the execution of the current ideas is falling short. And that's where I think it's problematic. And on top of that, I think — increasingly — he's making promises that he knows he cannot keep. And I think that's a much more ominous, turn. LOPEZ: What is the most recent promise that he's made that he can't keep? CHANOS: Well I think the the biggest whopper that I've seen, and we have a spreadsheet of Elon's whoppers, along with a longer spreadsheet of all the executive departures at Tesla. But I think the latest one that kind of stunned me was when he unveiled the semitruck — EV. LOPEZ: But he hasn't really even given us a regular car. The $30,000 car that he promised everyone. CHANOS: Well forgetting that, he said that truck will be out in 2019. And if that's the case, those production lines have to be up now. That factory has to be up now. And where is that? I mean what factory line is going to be making a truck in 2019 and a roadster sports car that he unveiled in 2020? You can't simply say things like that without having some evidence to back them up. You're a public company's CEO. And, you know, I'd want some clarification on where exactly this truck is going to be built to be out in 2019. But, you know, he's missed production estimate after production estimate. He thought there'd be 10,000 Model 3s a week by the end of '17. LOPEZ: Isn't it 5,000? CHANOS: Now it's 5,000 by June. I think even worse is that people have thought they were getting a car for what amounted to $27,500 — the $35,000 base plus the federal tax credit. Now they're realizing that the federal tax credit's going to, basically, be over by this year. And every manufacturer has a limit. LOPEZ: So then it's a $60,000 car? CHANOS: Well the Model 3s he's delivering now are $50,000 base pretty much. And with delivery charges and sales tax they're probably closer to $55,000. So they're almost twice what he promised people. And the car for $55,000 is not a particularly great car in our view. It might be for $27,500. But it competes against basically luxury cars at $55,000. And that's a pretty competitive area and going to get more competitive. LOPEZ: Gotcha, CHANOS: But he's already talking about the Model Y. LOPEZ: And Mars? LOPEZ: Yeah, I mean Mars looks good I guess. CHANOS: And Mars doesn't have a current extradition treaty with the US from what I understand. LOPEZ: He could go; it's fine. So you once said that the single most important market in the world is the Chinese property market. China has been incredibly quiet in 2018. We didn't see our normal China puking that we do every year at the beginning of the year. So what's going on there? And is it still the most important market in the world? CHANOS: I do think it's the most important single asset class globally. Because residential real estate represents roughly half of China's investment and investment represents roughly half its GDP — give or take. And so that means that the Chinese residential real estate is probably a quarter — roughly — of the Chinese economy — or almost $3 trillion. $3 trillion is 4% of global GDP for one asset class that I think most would realize is simply being bought for speculative purposes. They don't need to build 20 million apartments a year, but they do. And in urban environments, The amount of depreciation and net inflow to the cities, you know, means they've got to be building six or eight or nine million, not 20. So it really is the most important asset class. It drives commodity markets. It drives China's GDP. It certainly is the backbone of their banking system in terms of credit. So if you wanted to look at one asset class, you know, maybe the US Treasury market might be up there as well. But the Chinese real estate market — residential real estate market — is probably the most important market. LOPEZ: So Wall Street is a place full of geniuses. I'm sure that in your thirty years you've found that. CHANOS: I just ask them. LOPEZ: Oh yeah, so given all the geniuses that we have on Wall Street, what are you tired of hearing in this market? What do you hear over and over and over again that kind of drives you a little bit crazy? CHANOS: Well I mean probably one of the things that I think we look at — a little bit askance — is the idea that we can just keep discounting the same amount of good news over and over and over again. So whether it was tax reform, which powered the market higher at the end of 2017. And people were just simply, you know, every single day coming in and saying, "tax reform is going to be amazing; tax reform's going to be amazing." But the S&P 500 estimates for 2018 are no higher than they were when it became apparent tax reform was going to pass in the summer.  And so it's not as if we didn't quantify the impact of tax reform. But yet, people wanted to get more and more excited about it and keep discounting it. And that's just the nearest term. But in bull markets people will find all kinds of reasons to discount news over and over and over again. And they do the opposite in bear markets. LOPEZ: Okay, we've talked about one silly place — Wall Street. Let's talk about another one — Silicon Valley. CHANOS: Yeah. LOPEZ: Okay, we're seeing ICOs. We're seeing fewer IPOs. Where is all that money going? CHANOS: Yeah, and we're seeing lots of pro-forma earnings, which is also kind of fun in Silicon Valley. They've resurrected that. LOPEZ: You have a weird notion of fun, but okay. CHANOS: Yeah, you know, I think that that the sense has been there's been such a deep private market for deals that no one has needed to go public. Now some would argue that some of the business models that have these incredible valuations in the private market like Uber and Airbnb might not like the scrutiny of public markets. LOPEZ: I would never go public. CHANOS: So if you can get a unicorn-type valuation of $50 billion without going public, who needs it? LOPEZ: Right, but who's giving them all that money? CHANOS: Well I mean  first of all, it's not a deep liquid market. right? So it's a round of financing of maybe another billion dollars, but at a higher price. So these are not companies capitalized with, you know, hard assets, and cash of $50 billion. They are being, basically, valued at that based on the last round of financing. And that's an entirely different thing. That's pretty ephemeral and can go poof as it did in '01 and '02. LOPEZ: Would you short Uber? CHANOS: I'd have to see the numbers. You know, like anything we value businesses based on the numbers. From what I've heard, it seems to be a pretty interesting business model that works off basically, you know, the rent-seeking — for lack of a better term — on the back of the drivers. LOPEZ: I know that you love a good executive departure list, too. So I feel like that would be an interesting one. CHANOS: Probably, although it's hard to beat Tesla's. I mean I haven't seen an executive departure list like that since Valeant. LOPEZ: What does it remind you of — Tesla; Valiant, what in the past has? CHANOS: Enron — Enron had the same level of executive departures. Valiant and Enron had similar executive — I think Tesla actually beats it. LOPEZ: Have you closed your Valeant short? CHANOS: We still are short some Valeant. We still are short some Valeant. We think that the equity might be worthless. LOPEZ: Jim thank you so much for coming by. CHANOS: This was fun thanks. Join the conversation about this story »


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Greece stocks higher at close of trade; Athens General Composite up 2.30%

Investing.com – Greece stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Utilities and Industrials sectors led shares higher. At the close in Athens, the Athens General Composite gained 2.30%. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ...


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Greece 2018 🇬🇷 ERT disqualifies two entries!

This passion begins in 1984, in 1996 I established oikotimes as a printed pamphlet and in 2001 as a website turned eventually into Eurovision. The best thing happened is that I got to know some great friends.


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GREECE committed to post-bailout sell-offs

GREECE will not backtrack on its privatization plan after its bailout ends and expects state companies to submit plans by April to make themselves more competitive, the head ... Rania Ekaterinari told Reuters GREECE is committed to pushing ahead with privatizations, which have been agreed with lenders.


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Ex-Greek PM sues Tsipras for slander over drug bribery case

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece’s former prime minister Antonis Samaras filed a lawsuit against Alexis Tsipras on Thursday, accusing the current head of government of slander and “a villainous plot” against him over a bribery case. The case involves ...


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Mike Psaros in the Process of Transforming the Greek Orthodox Church in America

NEW YORK – Michael Psaros, a prominent businessman with expertise in how to rehabilitate troubled organizations is in the process of transforming the Greek Orthodox […] The post Mike Psaros in the Process of Transforming the Greek Orthodox Church in America appeared first on The National Herald.


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Report tweeted by Kammenos suggests 'immediate response' to any violation of GREEK sovereignty

Any violation of GREEK sovereignty will be met with an immediate response from the GREEK armed forces, US officials were told during a visit Wednesday at the Ministry of Defense, according to a media report tweeted Thursday by Defense Minister Panos Kammenos. “Greece can absolutely not afford to ...


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Turkey starts building watchtower on island of Çavuş near controversial Kardak islets

Turkey has started to build a watchtower and a pier on Çavuş Adası, an island in the Aegean Sea, only one mile away from the Kardak islets, which Turkey and Greece nearly went to war over in 1996.


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GREECE-Turkey, without an arbitrator

One aspect of the latest rift between GREECE and Turkey which could prove decisive (if not this time, perhaps next time around) is the absence of a strong mediator with the political, economic and military weight to influence developments. In the existing conjuncture, only the United States can play this ...


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MLS leads Greek tablet market in 2017

MLS Innovation was the first player on the Greek tablet market in 2017 in terms of both sold units and turnover. The company surpassed both Samsung and Apple with market shares of 24.9 percent and 22.3 percent in volume and turnover, respectively ...


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Greece CPI Falls For First Time In 14 Months

Greece's consumer prices declined … percent. EU harmonized inflation in Greece eased markedly to 0.2 …


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GREEK Australians to Rally for Macedonia in Melbourne

GREEK-Australian groups are planning a rally on Macedonia for Sunday, Feb. 25, outside the GREEK Consulate in Melbourne. The protest, organized by the Pan-Macedonian Association of Melbourne and Victoria, will take place as negotiations between Greece and FYROM are intensifying over a ...


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Fraternity rush resumes at Florida State with noticeably fewer applicants

Thirteen of the 21 active chapters within the Interfraternity Council at Florida State University are holding rush activities this week, the first since a GREEK-life ban was lifted last month. Amy Hecht, vice president for student affairs, said about 100 or so men are seeking to join fraternities within the IFC, which ...


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NATO chief calls on Turkey, GREECE to ease tensions

The secretary general of NATO on Thursday called on Turkey and GREECE to ease tensions in the Aegean Sea. Speaking at a news conference, following the NATO Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels, Jens Stoltenberg said: "I welcome the fact the two prime ministers spoke on the phone and I urge ...


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GREECE Won't Renege on Privatizations After Bailout Ends: State Fund CEO

ATHENS (Reuters) - GREECE won't backtrack on its privatization plan after its bailout ends and expects state companies to submit plans by April to make themselves ... Rania Ekaterinari told Reuters that GREECE is committed to pushing ahead with privatizations, which have been agreed with lenders.


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NATO Treads Neutrality Path in Greek-Turkish Dispute

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a call on Thursday for the de-escalation of tension in the Aegean. Asked about a recent incident involving Greek and Turkish patrol boats near the Imia islets, Stoltenberg said that it had dominated his meetings ...


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Today at Commission: Lithuanian independence and consumer rules

Portugal, Spain, France and Greece will get money in the wake of 2017 disasters.


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