Wednesday 24 February 2010

Sorry, we’re closed…

The latest news in Greece’s front is that all workers’ unions today are on strike. The whole country is not working today. To give you an idea, even the country’s airspace is closed today, until midnight tonight. There will be no public transportation, newspapers, news broadcasting and mostly all schools and public sector departments will be closed for the day. There are also some marches planned for today in major cities where I hope no bad incidents will happen.


All these events are not making the situation any easier. The way I see it (from the outside), some tough measures have to be taken in order to help the country’s economy. There is simply no other way. Of course it’s going to be tough. Ok, I might sound arrogant now since I’m speaking from a very safe place. However, from my point of view, the measures announced can be the nation’s only hope. If the current government manages to decrease the public deficit of 12.7% to 8.7% during 2010 alone as they pledge, it will be wonderful. Truthfully, I wasn’t a great supporter of that specific party in the past, but from what I can see, they are indeed working in the right direction.

On the other hand, the opposition broadcasts that the situation is not that bad. They claim that Greece’s been through tougher periods and that the current government is not making the right choices by putting all this pressure on the people. They argue that the bailout agreement with the rest of the EU countries was wrong, damaging Greece’s image to the rest of Europe. The fact that the country is not that popular can be proven by an article on German’s ‘Focus’ magazine displaying the following cover (that caused a major bad reaction in Greece) whose title can be translated as “imposters in the Euro-Zone”.


There is a part of the Greek population believing that there is a conspiracy against the country. That everybody is targeting it to cover their own mess and that the rest of the ‘PIIGS’ (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) group is not in a much better position. I don’t know how much this accusation is correct but the truth is that the country needs some drastic measures in order to start being productive and reduce its debt. What do they think has to be done in order to accomplish that? How can declaring a whole day of mass strike help?

I’m not going to talk much about what the left wing parties are saying. They are so much out of reality, I’m not sure they know what’s going on. I quote from their website: They (the workers being on strike) have shown that Greece is not in danger of bankruptcy and that the big capital is responsible for the deficits and the debts. It’s the big capital that before and during the crisis has made fabulous profits blackmailing the working and popular strata and placing the burden of the crisis on their shoulders. They also make a list of demands like 1400 euro minimum salary or Full health and pharmaceutical care for all, without of course stating how all that will be achieved.

Anyway, the whole situation is sad. What made me smile though is an article I found in Times that lists the ‘Grand resort of Lagonissi’ in Athens as one of the most expensive hotels in the world where the Royal Villa costs £21,000 per night ($32,300). It looks quite nice though:


Ok, I know I'm being all political again... Sorry

6 comments:

  1. I have been to the Grand Resort Lagonissi!

    I went on a work conference, when I had a good job, a couple of years ago.

    It's VEEEEEERY nice!

    ReplyDelete
  2. darling,

    there no need to be afraid! according to my sources (inside)! EU wanna make a new economic block which will harmonized the average income and higher income countries, but of coz with sub-prime crises in USA and later on EU have make the process hick-up!

    The PIIGS countries are giving away more than 80billion euro sum of cash profits on tourism itself,so to keep these countries are indeed major priority.

    Its not only Greece, France n Germany are facing the on strike! Logically! when ppl are not happy , they will voice their unsatisfactory and acts!
    politically! the leader must raise and discuss and come up with rational solution!
    Economically! neither both parties are winning! ppl will suffer n government will bankrupt!

    The open market has always creating a winner on one side and losses to many. Obviously the term Global Economy does is to give profits to the selected ppl and oppressed the underprivileged.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your political side is very cool. Never thought of going into politics? lol

    Well, about the economical downturn, believe me when I say I'm the worst financial advisor, lol, but one thing I know for sure - paralysing the country won't improve or solve the problem. Yes, PIIGS (funny acronym) are in a bad situation as well and the only thing that is stopping me from going back to Dublin is its financial situation.

    Let's just hope for the best!
    Thanks for the update regarding this situation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 'There is a part of the Greek population believing that there is a conspiracy against the country.' Always has been! This will just fuel the existing paranoia. 'Φταίνε οι Εβραίοι, οι Αμερικανοί, οι Αλβανοί, τα συμφέροντα... μας ζηλεύουν, γι'αυτό θέλουν να μας καταστρέψουν!' (I always eavesdrop on conversations in taxis and on the tram.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ Stephen Chapman... I haven’t been there yet. It must be amazing though. I hope its worth the money…

    @Surf_n_Steve I like the fact that you’re telling me not to be afraid, but countries will bankrupt and people will suffer! I agree that most likely profits will only go the selected few and the unprivileged will be oppressed. However, since I can’t see myself easily owning ships, factories or large chains of shops, I identify myself mostly with the oppressed unfortunately. I’m intrigued about your comment that you have inside sources in the EU…

    @Pedders I like reading political newspapers and I simply adore a good civilised political debate. I don’t support someone fanatically but I do have my own opinions. I’ll never go into politics though. I can’t stand the corruption of the system. Yes, let’s hope for the best…

    @Vilges_Suola It’s very easy to blame everyone else but yourself for the problem. It happens everywhere and not just in Greece. Eavesdropping on conversations in taxis or busses / trams is amazingly funny. I’m guilty of doing that as well, but you can learn so many things. You wouldn’t believe what people talk about in the open like that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wonder how much of the Greek citizenry pays taxes - business or personal - yet expects the state to magic up some money to look after them when they need it.

    ReplyDelete