Is the Greek Crisis a Harbinger of Our Future?
Sunday, 07 October 2012 08:35 By Sarah Page, Truthout| News Analysis
People wait outside Medicins du Monde, a free clinic, in Athens, Greece, September 3, 2012.
Bank-imposed Greek economic collapse and austerity policies have resulted in social and political as well as economic impacts that may foreshadow what the rest of the so-called developed world can expect.
World economies could be affected:
In August 2012, the unemployment rate in Greece was 23.1 percent, with over 1 million people out of work. Fifty-five percent of Greek youth aged 15-24 are out of work. Nikolaos Tsangos, an unemployed student in North Heraklion, says, “Every day is harder and the things the troika are doing are making it worse. People don’t have money to buy food or anything, so businesses are out of jobs every day. In my family we’ve decreased the amount of our weekly supermarket shopping by about 50 percent.”
“The first visual sign of the crisis is traffic. There are no cars in the streets. Big avenues and streets in Athens are empty, when two years ago traffic jams were a huge problem,” relates Katia, a self-employed woman from Athens (who prefers her real name not be used).
Niki Kerameus, a lawyer in Athens, explains that as one strolls through Athens, “On the most commercial and expensive streets, one-fourth of the stores are closed down.” You can sense the crisis on a social level as well; as Kerameus indicates, “People don’t go out anymore.” [read more]
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Thanks for sharing.
What sort of economic base does Greece operate on. Do they produce agricultural products. Is there land to develop? More people in Europe do the Green House Farming and are successful in this venture. People in Greece must learn to live within a budget. If you do not plan your income and expenditure then you will be in trouble financially and you will always want financial bail outs. Borrowing money is not always the best way out of financial crisis. People become spendthrifts because they do not plan to save for the rainy day. Why is there 52% unemployment of the population? Their poor economic planning is the reason. The Government should review their economic plan and start a Compulsory National Service to harness the labour force of the population between the ages of 18-35 years.New ideas must be admitted and tried for what they may be worth. The entire Europe will face these problems in 10 years time.The EU is moving from Crisis to Crisis, from Financial to Social and economic problems. It will not be easy to handle a difficult situation as countries pride themselves on Brain power and mental Sanity. They boast of their Scientific achievements and only the otherday the Billions of dollars were spent in Europe on the Big Bang Theory. Where is the priority. You misplan and misspend and you are surely on the road to economic failures. You will take the entire Europe with you on the brink of Disaster Social, Economic and Political!