Greece Crisis Is Personal As Well As Political, As Greeks' Lives Worsen

A protester wearing a Greek flag sits in front of riot police during a rally outside the Greek Parliament in Athens, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012.

ATHENS, Greece -- Like many Greeks left unemployed by their country's economic tailspin, Dimitris Spachos finds it easier to talk about his nation's problems than his own.

Enormous debt accumulated over decades sent the country into a recession so deep it kills 200 businesses and 900 jobs every day. Elections this month failed to produce a government, and Greeks will vote again in June. Meanwhile, life for most Greeks continues to get worse.

"Every day I see more people sleeping rough on the street," said Spachos, 72. "They can't even wash their clothes or themselves. ... It worries me."

Spachos, who has been staying with different friends in recent months, may soon join them. A former doctor, he could not afford to retire and found work as a hospital orderly. But as Greece's woes mounted so did his own, and he lost his job, then two more: one as a gardener and one as a groundskeeper.

Now, he is unemployed and homeless, and spoke this week at a municipal soup kitchen, where he ate a plastic bowl of bean soup, a thick slice of bread and a banana.

"I am ashamed to be here," Spachos said, his eyes filling with tears. "My heart is broken."

"Greeks have fight in them, so maybe things will improve in a couple of years," he said, opening his shirt to reveal a scar from surgery to implant a pacemaker. "But I won't be around to see it."

Here is a look at some of Greece's problems as it struggles to pay its debts:

UNEMPLOYMENT

Over the past three years unemployment has roughly doubled, and Greece has lost more than 10 percent of its output.

Nearly 320,000 people lost their jobs in the 12-month period ending in February, pushing the unemployment rate to 22 percent. Greece's 3.8 million employed people are supporting the 4.5 million who don't work – 1.1 million officially unemployed and 3.4 million considered financially inactive.

BUSINESS WOES

Some 80,000 businesses were shuttered last year, and 136,000 more are expected to fail in 2012, according to estimates from the Athens Chamber of Commerce.

"Out of 900,000 businesses currently operating, that would be a major blow," said Constantine Michalos, the chamber's president. "I fear the (next) government may be called upon to administer the ruins of the Greek economy."

CRIME

The Public Order Ministry has reported an increase in nearly all categories of crime between 2010 and 2011, with murder up 5 percent and armed robberies in occupied homes up 110 percent.

HOMELESSNESSS

Homelessness, the most visible sign of Greece's financial despair, has risen by around 25 percent, according to estimates by a state-funded relief agency. That number includes more people from traditionally stable background such as high school and university graduates.

HEALTH PROBLEMS

Greece's Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 954 new HIV infections in 2011, a 57 percent increase from the previous year. It attributes most of the rise to drug use.

DEPRESSION

All these problems have led to a general rise in depression. According to several state-funded health and relief agencies, rates of suicide, drug dependency and depression have all broadly risen by 20 to 25 percent since the financial crisis hit in late 2009.

Comments

[gerald4]

04:33 PM on 05/21/2012

Why should the Greeks go to work and support themselves if they can live by borrowing money from their working neighbors and not working?

[Sean 6399]

03:40 PM on 05/21/2012

If the Greek economy produced products that other people desired they would not be experiencing this problem.

[gerald4]

04:25 PM on 05/21/2012

The Greeks must re-industrialize by any means possible, or starve to death.

They need to temporarily suspend their equivalent of the US's EPA to allow re-industrialization if they want to create wealth as required to buy food, energy, etc.

This might be in the future of the de-industrialized USA, sooner than you think.

[Richard Bartholomew]

07:55 PM on 05/21/2012

I agree. By eliminating burdensome regulations that afflict other euro area nations, the Greeks could make their country a haven for industry. If they repealed minimum wage laws, for instance, Greeks could at least earn some money to keep themselves alive until more productive foreigners have a chance to re-industrialize the country.

[Sean 6399]

03:33 PM on 05/21/2012

Bad economic philosophy is deadly for civilization.

[viciousvirago]

12:23 PM on 05/21/2012

You do not accumulate so many problems in a country overnight. Greeks should have seen this coming and done something about it. I do not feel sorry for the rich, but the average Greek is paying the price for hugely inefficient government and the rich not paying taxes for decades.

It is a disaster that was bound to happen. And they have the nerve to criticize Germany for wanting them to do something 'real' about it?

[gerald4]

04:28 PM on 05/21/2012

The USA is in a wealth consuming nation that is consuming the wealth created by previous US generations before the USA de-industrialized in order to prevent re-industrialization.

Why can't US citizens see it coming?

[viciousvirago]

05:18 PM on 05/21/2012

Because they simply do not want to. The truth is unpalatable for many, including our citizens. They are not willing to do what it takes to get back on track.

[doober]

12:10 PM on 05/21/2012

Why not treat the Financial disaster in Greece as you would an earthquake or Hurricane disaster and bring the help in to the grassroots and not to the top where the funds tend to disappear in to the banks and a corrupt Government..
As it stands now the Euro countries want to get rid of the Social Network at the bottom and give the money to the corrupt top and then they cant understand why there are Riots

[Willie12345]

12:37 PM on 05/21/2012

Kinda like Haiti ? The financial black hole .........

[Lechiffre]

02:11 PM on 05/21/2012

Greece is basically like Haiti and Bulgaria combined , the difference is Haiti had little to money to begin with. Greece blew up 50 times more than it owes. That's why they alone jeopardize the future of the monetary system.

Portugal is next in line.And I can't understand why. Portugal had 70% of the slaves and owned 4 times more colonies than any other colonial nation, and Portugal was the last nation to free its slaves. Where on earth did all the money go . I can't figure out how they spent all that dough and where the gold's gone . Portugal = unemployment sky high + half of the country is filthy.

[Lechiffre]

02:04 PM on 05/21/2012

FYI Greece has already received over 20 billions of dollars .Clearly everyone's tryna help.

[mthiker2012]

11:28 AM on 05/21/2012

dump the euro, default on the German banks and take back Greece for the Greeks. The banks are scared shitless that Greece and Spain and Italy will dump the euro and default on the bond speculators and the Banksters.

[filakia004]

11:37 AM on 05/21/2012

i agree. greece is being held in economic slavery. they need to go bankrupt like iceland and argentina did and stop taking orders from the imf and the ecb.

[Lechiffre]

02:13 PM on 05/21/2012

I say turn the place into a new sweatshop and stop giving money to China.

I want my made in Greece Nikes and I want my IPAD made is Tessalonikey Ipad .GAP clothes made in Athens. come on.

[AgainstAnimalAbuse]

12:47 PM on 05/21/2012

There is a hidden agenda by some to turn these countries into nothingness and the sad part is their respective governments' failure to see it. No, I am not one of those big on conspiracy theories unless there are indications to that effect. Think about this: the only country in the eurozone with no economic problem is Germany possibly because its government used the eurozone to improve its economy thru exports and shoring up its banks. Countries in the eurozone with major crisis are losing their economies, by staying in it they will have to import more at higher prices (the larger the demand the smaller the supply will increase prices), additionally being in the eurozone means having given up some of their sovereignity which gives Merkel a say as to whether they should have austerity measures. Greece, Ireland and Portugal are the only ones with loans; Spain and Italy even though they are having major austerity measures are still paying their share to the ECB while their economies are going under. Hollande has allied himself with Monti to start growth and less austerity but these 2 are having difficulty with Merkel and the ECB who have more of a say. The only solution is the end of the eurozone which will be bad but eventually each country can determine its own future without any outside orders. It's high time these governments do right by their own people and actually represent them. The alternative will be a French-style revolution!

[PROGRESSISGOOD]

11:25 AM on 05/21/2012

Conservatie economic policies at work the world over. Brutal capitalism where the investors make all of the profits during the good times and the workers and tax payers pay the costs during the bad times.

Workers the world over are sufferring layoffs, loss of their healthcare, their homes and their futures while the 1% of the world hunker down with their caviar and champagne buying up the parts of the world they do not already own.

The only force in the world powerful enough to stop the 1% are large governments. That is why the Republicans want a small, weak government for America, so the 1% can continue to run rought shod over the rest of us. The same strategy is being used by the 1% around the world.

[Micheal Frisbie]

12:19 PM on 05/21/2012

i like your insight.

[gerald4]

10:35 AM on 05/21/2012

This Greek Government situation is the future of all de-industrialized nations that have stopped creating wealth and decided to live off of borrowed wealth when the industrialized wealth creating people stop loaning the de-industrialized nations any of their hard earned money.

The Balance of foreign trade and the national debt are the indicators of whether a nation is creating wealth or consuming borrowed wealth.

[Micheal Frisbie]

12:22 PM on 05/21/2012

good insightful analysis.

[gerald4]

05:00 PM on 05/21/2012

Thanks

[Richard Bartholomew]

07:58 PM on 05/21/2012

That pretty much describes the situation in a nut shell.

[R Smyrna]

10:03 AM on 05/21/2012

By imposed austerity alone, we are witnessing the destruction of an entire people. Its not the average Greeks fault for incompetant and bribed politicans who had a gun put to their head and accepted the draconian austerity imposed by a people who are scared to death of inflation. In flation isnt killing the Greeks, high interest rates for borrowed capital is.
If it was northern Europes intention to teach a lesson to othrer countries in trouble... They have destroyed a nation in the process. If other states, in danger, face the same future, Germany will see a drastic cut in exports. It will be a classic case of starving the golden goose to death.

[Count of Anjou]

12:39 PM on 05/21/2012

Austerity was NOT forcibly imposed by anyone. It was a condition of the bailout that Greece accepted. Additional austerity measures were a condition of further bailouts... another deal accepted by the Greeks. The Greeks overspent and borrowed for decades until they could no longer keep up with their debt payments. Whose fault was that? Yes, the Greeks fault. The whole crisis in Greece and other countries, including the US, is that the people are NOT willing to live within their means. Greece has an addiction and needs to go through a very painfull and extended withdrawl period if they ever hope to recover. The problem is that the Greeks do not want to get better, they want to continue with their fiscally iresponsible agenda. The Greeks cannot even admit that they have a problem; the first step on the road to recovery.

[gerald4]

05:01 PM on 05/21/2012

Exactly True!

[Richard Bartholomew]

08:00 PM on 05/21/2012

Well said; I agree with you completely.

[Kevin Atlanta]

10:01 AM on 05/21/2012

One cannot help but marvel at the CONservative mind crowing over the real economic pain and collapse of a once vibrant economy.
It is sickening to see some of the commentary here.
Have Americans lost all sense of compassion and caring for their fellow humans?

[tinarm]

10:04 AM on 05/21/2012

The really sad thing besides them acting like the head of the Lord of the Flies, is that they don't even understand what caused the collapse. They keep screaming about entitlements and that isn't even the cause. Honestly we have an awful lot of arm chair economist all of a sudden who probably can't even balance their personal check books.

Corruption, the lack of enforcing the tax code and collection of revenues has more to do with this than any entitlement.

[Birdman 49]

10:40 AM on 05/21/2012

I am going to say Yes to your question and to what you already know to be true.

[Bklein153]

09:25 AM on 05/21/2012

This is what happens when you run a socialist entity that guarantees everything in life and you expect the 'rich' to pay for it all. Bravo Greece for demonstrating how progressive policies fail! Greece had everything a Liberal would love. Cradle to grave benefits, strong unions, a 'vibrant' public sector, a 40% tax rate, and a VAT tax. Enjoy the devalued Drachma Greece!

[kin1409]

09:49 AM on 05/21/2012

What are you talking about? Respect the pain of the Greek people at least and shut it. Your ignorance is beyond words.

[Bklein153]

09:56 AM on 05/21/2012

No! European socialism brought this about. You reap what you sow.

[SuperZach]

11:32 AM on 05/21/2012

What ignorance? You collectivist, humanist minded people like to throw that word "ignorance" around a lot. Do you know the meaning of the word? The post lays out multiple items explaining possible causes for the collapse of a country. How is that ignorant? What does respecting the pain of Greek have to do with what caused their society to collapse? If anything, by deferring to "Feelings" instead of focusing on what happens in real life- you spend more money than you make, you fail- you've essentially ignored the cause of these peoples strife. It is in fact you, kin1409, who is the ignorant one.

[tinarm]

09:50 AM on 05/21/2012

The lack of facts in your post is astounding. I'm not sure if you are simply enjoying the fact that some are worse off than you are if you are simply that callous.

[Bklein153]

09:57 AM on 05/21/2012

It is all true, and that's what bothers you. It is what Democrats want for America!

[Bklein153]

10:27 AM on 05/21/2012

So the 70s were good??? Please explain? How high were you then?

[2B4real]

09:04 AM on 05/21/2012

Obama's vision for America - Greece East...

[an seanchus mor]

09:25 AM on 05/21/2012

I thought the increase in spending policy was the opposite to the Greek austerity policy?
I must have watched the wrong news channel again, or was it read the wrong paper or was it listened to the wrong economist, I just don’t remember.
In Greece people are killing themselves, eating out of trash and electing one in fifteen representatives from the fascist golden dawn party, again I must be watching the wrong news because I still can’t see how if this lines up with Obama’s vision

[2B4real]

09:53 AM on 05/21/2012

Austerity is the cure, years of spending more then you have to give entitlements you can't afford to buy votes was the disease. And that same disease is what Obama's spreading here...

[kin1409]

09:50 AM on 05/21/2012

Obviously another racist clueless republican.

[janmB]

09:03 AM on 05/21/2012

Can't blame the need for financial assistance for the poor as the problem when -in Greece they experienced the extreme danger posed by a deflationary monetary policy which . invariably takes a toll on growth and employment.

[she343]

11:21 AM on 05/21/2012

they do not control their own money-- it is the "interest" on the loans ( their gov. in runnig a deficiet) and the strings attached (forced austerity) that is making a bad economy much worse

[janmB]

11:52 AM on 05/21/2012

I only know what I read & try to make common sense of. The European countries with some of the most socialist - that is, strong social safety networks - are Germany and Denmark, two countries where things are going just fine.
. In Denmark, not only are healthcare and education free, but they even pay students a monthly stipend to cover food, housing, and books - all the time they're in school all the way up to PhD or MD degrees.
So what differentiates Germany and Denmark from Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain? The US, for example, has gone from 20% GDP in manufacturing before the election of Reagan to just 11% now. Countries that don't make things don't create real wealth, and thus must turn to Goldman Sachs to help them borrow money. And Goldman hasn't treated Greece - or the US - all that well.

[AgainstAnimalAbuse]

01:14 PM on 05/21/2012

Most people in the US don't understand this simple concept, the austerity measures have increased the taxes a great deal which prevent you from spending that money going for those taxes on other things, small businesses can't sell so they lay off workers and close down. All these taxes are going to pay that usurious interest rate on the public debt which does not get any smaller because it is not applied toward the principal thus more borrowing becomes necessary; as fewer are employed less tax revenue goes to the government, it is a vicious cycle.

[Billy Jack]

08:45 AM on 05/21/2012

This is what repuglicans would like to see in the US

[Bklein153]

09:26 AM on 05/21/2012

No, it is what we predict the Welfare state will do to America...big difference

[dayzee10]

10:01 AM on 05/21/2012

And after 30 years of Reaganomics?

[R Smyrna]

10:05 AM on 05/21/2012

No... Bill is correct. Adopt Germanys solution and it will lend a new meaning to the "final solution".

[Annespeaks]

08:45 AM on 05/21/2012

wow. and we complain so bitterly about the state of our economy. We really should appreciate what we have.

[boonjava]

09:01 AM on 05/21/2012

This is probably the wisest comment I've read all year.

[Annespeaks]

09:11 AM on 05/21/2012

It's amazing what a little perspective can do isn't it? I also read that parents are dropping off their kids at Churches in Greece as they can't look after them. So sad. We really have it good compared to most of the world - not Australia which did not suffer a recession at all and is now ranked the world's most powerful economy per capita - but everyone else.

[PROGRESSISGOOD]

11:33 AM on 05/21/2012

That is what the 1% has been telling us for 30 years. Shut up and sit down, you could be living/working in Mexico.... India.... China.... and so we sat down and shut up.

Maybe we should have stood up to the 1% in the 80's before they bought our entire government and sold us all down the river..........