Greek austerity measures, the necessary price of a European Union bailout, have already taken a toll on the lives of the debt-ridden country's population.
After the begging of firemen, policemen, and a special negotiator to step down, the husband climbed back into the building, according to Athens News. Hours later, the woman relented as well.
Greece is currently struggling to convince the EU and IMF that it will follow through on an austerity package that its parliament passed on Sunday, a necessary step in order to receive a $170 billion bailout that will likely allow the country to avoid default.
But as Greece's public sector cuts back, its citizens have felt the pain. That's been made clear by a slew of protests earlier this week, when protesters destroyed parts of banks, hotels and stores alike.
Many desperate Greeks have already taken their lives as Greece cuts government spending. The suicide rate in Greece spiked 40 percent in the first half of 2011, according to Greek government data cited by the Wall Street Journal. To take one example, Vaggelis Petrakis, who was burdened with debt, killed himself because of his "shame," "pride," and "dignity," his son told the WSJ.
In a separate incident, a 55-year-old man set himself on fire outside a Greek bank after failing to renegotiate the debts he could not pay, according to Reuters.
Greek economy continues to flounder, contracting 7 percent at the end of last year, with the unemployment rate hovering above 20 percent, according to Bloomberg News. It's not just workers struggling either: A quarter of all Greek businesses have gone out of business since 2009, according to The New York Times.
Despite austerity measures, even the deficit has been growing as lower incomes lead to lower tax revenues: The Greek budget deficit grew 15 percent during the first nine months of 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Greek austerity measures, the necessary price of a European Union bailout, have already taken a toll on the lives of the debt-ridden country's population.
That pain was plain for all to see when a ...
Greek austerity measures, the necessary price of a European Union bailout, have already taken a toll on the lives of the debt-ridden country's population.
That pain was plain for all to see when a ...
ATHENS, Greece — A crucial meeting between Greece's Prime Minister and debt inspectors on averting default and a possible exit from the euro ended early...
Greek citizens need to realize they can lose all.. or nearly all.. and still survive. Economic collapse is not nearly as devastating as a military invasion, defeat and occupation. The Greeks now depend on the Germans who were utterly ruined thanks to Hitler. Tough times never last but tough people do. Get mad, suck it up but don't wimp out.
RandyMan7027: Greek citizens need to realize they can lose all.. or
Silly thing won't let me reply and the reply button fanned someone I am not a fan of. Pega whatever said this:
"Ok common sense says that you can only borrow money for so long before people start calling in loans. Common sense says that if you spend more money than you bring in you will eventually go bankrupt. You can rattle off all the GDP you want but for me the bottom line is how much money out of every dollar America spends is borrowed? It doesn't take a psychic to figure that out. I can say that if you haven't figured out that Keynesian economics is an absolute failure by now? It's understandable that you would find common sense a difficult concept to grasp. "
The rate of GDP to debt is a relevant measure. At the end of the Civil War and WW II the rate was much higher than today. Also, T bills are not loans in the sense you note. They can be held to maturity or traded. The only people who think Keyenes does not work have a) not read the work b) not reviewed economic history c) probably think that GB, Breitbart and Fox actually have something real to say.
The problem with the right today is that they fail to discuss things based on relevant facts. Hence the conversation is hardly useful and rarely results in any positive move forward.
wanderer12: Silly thing won't let me reply and the reply button
Greeks for borrowing the money
Banks for lending it to them ( should have known better )
The EU for even allowing them into the eurozone
but that's all Euros already lost. The past and how it got to this sorry state is irrelevant. The present is what matters.
Greece cannot possibly implement the austerity being asked of it. Short of suspending democracy and sending in german troops to maintain order, it can't be done. And even if it was possible, the economic numbers don't support it. The plan based on the idea that Greece can grow its economy or at least slow down the economic collapse while implementing severe austerity. Last years 4th quarter numbers already indicate the ridiculousness of that concept.
A disorderly default is pretty much guaranteed. It can be delayed if the EU buries its head in the sand and does the bailout at the cost how huge amounts of wealth and the misery of the Greek people. But nothing can stop it now. It'll be incredibly painful. But once done, Greece can return to its own currency and gain the stimulus it needs through devaluation. Greece can then rebuild its economy.
kottkep: All sides are guilty here.... Greeks for borrowing the money
One of the conditions of the latest so-called bailout is that Greece must stop trying to prosecute tax cheats. Just thought people should know this point.
procrustes13: One of the conditions of the latest so-called bailout is
It is. Merkel ordered Greece to reduce its wealth by 25%, its production by similar amounts. How can it pay bills under these conditions. Merkel also demands that Greece pays sky-high interest rates because she refuses to allow the ECB to serve as a lender of last resort and prevent a run on Greece. She is guilty and must be punished.
procrustes13: It is. Merkel ordered Greece to reduce its wealth by
Something we do too much: attributing situations to the wrong causes.
It is not the austerity measures that have created the chaos. It is a population that was happy to live on borrowed time and vote in the governments that allowed that to happen.
NevaforLeadership: Something we do too much: attributing situations to the wrong
Oh? The economy has contracted 25% because of the austerity measures. The debt to GDP ratio has ballooned because of the austerity measures (hint: reducing the GDP by 25% makes that debt a lot larger in comparison)...
procrustes13: Oh? The economy has contracted 25% because of the austerity
"The economy has contracted 25% BECAUSE of the austerity measures."
Prove this. Which would require you to show that without austerity measures the economy would not have contracted by 25%. Make my day. Seriously. Where is your DSGE model to support this claim? Oh that is right you don't have one. All you have is Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc.
Durrrrrr: "The economy has contracted 25% BECAUSE of the austerity measures."
This is happening here in the US also, it's just not important enough to break thru the election news. I know of one person who killed himself after he was laid off of work, and I worry about another friend of mine who has been without work for almost 2 years now. I know of a lot of men in their 50's who have lost they're jobs after decades in their industry. No body is talking about these people, what are supposed to do? Go back to school and start at the bottom of a new career straddled in debt from school loans that you can't payoff before your forced into retirement. What a waste, and no politician seems to care.
jefe: This is happening here in the US also, it's just
Not quite as bad -- or anywhere near as bad -- as in Greece, but certainly a warning for governments to cut back.
Nevertheless, one person's trauma after losing his/her livelihood is deep and personal, whether it happens in Greece or the U.S.
I feel for anyone who loses a job in middle age, but it is never too late to start again. Fifty is actually relatively young: four years of college (if need be) takes us to 54; that leaves a good, minimum 20 years of productivity in a new career. Retirement is an unhealthy concept best banned from most minds.
Our attitudes and expectations have to change. Rely on corporations, governments or even families for our financial security at our peril.
There are many positives to losing a job: gratitude of being free of the work dysfunction (most corporations); the freedom to do exactly what we want to do; new opportunity to plan our lives; exciting challenges. It's a mind set. Takes discipline and focus, but it's doable.
We must be our own CEO's; rent our talents to this corporation or that for a while, ready to move on at a moment's notice. The courses, networking and industry involvement that we partake in (on our own time) will pave the way for the next job/contract, without having to send out realms of résumés into the cyber blackholes of desperate human commodity dealers.
NevaforLeadership: Not quite as bad -- or anywhere near as bad
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The Huffington Post Bonnie Kavoussi First Posted: 02/15/2012 12:08 pm Updated: 02/15/2012 2:44 pm