Posts
GUARD: "...Politicians have persistently been behind the curve. They have made the situation much worse with their policy U-turns, conflicting messages, half-hearted measures and piecemeal approach" said an economics professor. "The lost time has produced a lot of uncertainty, which has created a lot of fear. For the first time in decades, people are really frightened. They're afraid of the future."
"With the economy set to contract for a fourth year in 2012, Greece is not only mired in a recession not seen since the second world war but has become increasingly unhinged by the crisis. Athens, already strained by a mass influx of immigrants and home to half of the country's 11 million-strong population, has been the worst hit amid soaring crime and lawlessness.
"The worst part is perhaps psychological because there is no light at the end of the tunnel, no source of hope," said another expert Thanos Dokos. "When you make sacrifices and you know they will come to something you don't mind. But that is not the case."
NEW!!! NYT's Rachel Donadio writes about the growing austerity challenges to middle class families...as the government slashes salaries and pensions and raises taxes.
The Troika demands more changes...but cuts are coming faster than modernizations of the system.
Citizens feel that the government is at war with them...as their cushions disappear.
They see the government as afraid to take on the powerful unions tied to their party.
The VAT tax alone...including food...jumped from 13% to 23%.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/world/europe/as-welfare-state-collapses-greeks-suffer-and-fear-future.html?_r=1&ref=europe&pagewanted=all
