Tuesday, May 31, 2011

In Athens, the spirit takes hold just before the sun has set.

In Athens, the spirit takes hold just before the sun has set. - It is then that Greeks, young and old, married and single, employed and unemployed flood the square in a wave of protest against the austerity and recession that has brought their country to the brink of despondency and despair. "Openly we say that we have been inspired by the demonstrators in Spain," said Simos Adamopoulos, an organiser who has spent three nights sleeping in a tent in the square. "Our motto is 'the battle that is never waged is never won.' We will stay here, and in squares up and down the country for as long as it takes." While even protestors admit their endgame remains unclear, their motivation beyond the realms of party or political creed has surprised even the most cynical. As in Spain the demonstrators – estimated in Athens alone to have exceeded 50,000 on Sunday – have been lured into action by Facebook. Motivated by a peaceful desire to vent their spleen, they have turned up at rallies with pots and pans rather the more lethal Molotov cocktail preferred by violence-prone youngsters. "But," says Adamopoulos, "we're also really disgusted with the system, with the political establishment, with all those crooks and thieves. As we've got poorer they've got richer and that you could say is also spurring us." Greece is in a terminal debt trap. Further government austerity will just kill the economy, decrease the GDP further and hence increase the debt/gdp ratio . More bailouts that will never be repaid, will temporarily prop up the Greek economy but will also increase debt and will also make the situation worse. So the question is; "why won't the central banks simply allow a haircut?" The only reasonable answer is that they know a haircut would tip other Euro countries and banks into insolvency and set off a domino effect . Hopefully all persons reading this have hedged their positions against such a cascading sequence of defaults. If not, act soon, or forever live with the consequences. For the common person who expects decent employment opportunities, a government pension, and free health care, there is simply nowhere to hide.

3 comments:

arbitraj said...

ziaruldeinvestigatii.ro/Greece is in a terminal debt trap. Further government austerity will just kill the economy, decrease the GDP further and hence increase the debt/gdp ratio . More bailouts that will never be repaid, will temporarily prop up the Greek economy but will also increase debt and will also make the situation worse. So the question is; "why won't the central banks simply allow a haircut?" The only reasonable answer is that they know a haircut would tip other Euro countries and banks into insolvency and set off a domino effect . Hopefully all persons reading this have hedged their positions against such a cascading sequence of defaults. If not, act soon, or forever live with the consequences. For the common person who expects decent employment opportunities, a government pension, and free health care, there is simply nowhere to hide.

greece said...

Have you ever been to greece the people there want the good live but dont wont to work I seen theme the rather go in the Coffee Bars and hope the have the Tourist comming and spent spent ,Ouer people have to work to earn a living.
Holidayers theme self a stapped for cash and dont spend the money like the did in the old times and some people just cant afford to go abroad on holiday.
Greece just have to learn no work no money,whe are not better off as them but
if the goverment has no money the say either the last goverment left us in that mess like the say by us Loubor and the people on benefit that can work but the stay at home because the better off. all this people what worked very hard get not the praise there a the ones what get little in return.
I live on a small Pension 71 years old and have to grin and live with it.

Anonymous said...

Bizarre and absurd as it sounds, but it seems increasingly likely that the EU will stump up another €60 billion for the fiscal wreck known as Greece. Without a further 'pass the charity bucket' display by the eurozone , the IMF won't advance any pledged, let alone additional, funds.

It's nuts. Greece needs to be cut loose, to either sink, swim or dog paddle. Where's the incentive to honour loan schedule promises?

Greece has failed to implement reforms and assets sales that were effectively the collateral for its bailout. The 'punishment' for this brazen noncompliance is more debt.

Now how even more debt tipped into the hole that describes the Greek debt/GDP ratio can improve things is a mystery, worthy of Delphic scrutiny. The net effect of a 'top up' would be to push the debt/GDP ratio beyond an astonishing 200%.