12/07/15

[Maik]

http://civilprotection.gr

[Maik]

Greece nears euro exit as bailout talks break up without agreement
Last-ditch negotiations to resume on Sunday after eurozone’s fiscal hawks put up fierce resistance to Alexis Tsipras’s rescue plan

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/11/greece-euro-exit-bailout-alexis-tsipras

[U4ea]

Could this bepart of the problem???

Some years ago a small rural town in Spain twinned with a similar town in Greece.
The mayor of the Greek town visited the Spanish town. When he saw the palatial mansion belonging to the Spanish mayor, he wondered aloud how on earth he could afford such a house.
The Spaniard replied: ‘You see that bridge over there? The EU gave us a grant to construct a two-lane bridge, but by building a single lane bridge with traffic lights at either end, I could build myself this place.’

The following year the Spaniard visited the Greek town. He was simply amazed at the Greek mayor's house: gold taps, marble floors, diamond doorknobs, it was marvelous.
When he asked how he’d raised the money to build this incredible house, the Greek mayor said: ‘You see that bridge over there?’
The Spaniard replied: ’No'
 

[Maik]

A-ha, it was the mayor of Zakynthos, the Spanish mayor wanted to board the Greek gravy train?

An old story that resurfaced yesterday in Canada's National Post:

The Island of the Blind: The audacious scam that epitomized Greece’s ‘mentality that rules are made to be broken’

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/greece-zakyntos-island-of-the-blind-scam-822595

Scroll down that page for some interesting snippets, such as:

DRIED UP
In an example of featherbedding run amok, the Institute for the Protection of Kopais Lake, which has been dry since 1930, has more than 1,700 workers on its books.

According to Germany's Spiegel Online:

...there are still 30 employees working at Kopais today. When employees retire or are let go, their positions are filled with new employees, who are paid monthly salaries of up to €2,500. They supposedly work on drainage issues, but no one knows exactly what those issues are or who benefits from their work.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/herculean-task-ahead-is-it-already-too-late-to-save-greece-a-694263.html

OK, they're getting probably getting paid for nothing but there's a big difference between 1,700 and 30. Maybe no-one really knows how many 'workers' are on the books and getting paid.

Interesting observations a little further down the same article:

In approving the Greek bailout plan, the international community is more intent on saving its own banks than rescuing Greece itself.

Creditors must surely realize that the loans are no longer collectable, says Ulrich Blum, the president of the Halle Institute for Economic Research in eastern Germany. "The verdict on Greece is already in."

These are drastic measures, and they will deprive the Greeks of the last of their money -- money that will then be unavailable for consumption, which will hamper the economy even further.

The article is dated May 11, 2010.

[Aristarches]

I like the, no doubt apocryphal story, about the 85 year old lady living in a village in northern Greece whose pension was reduced to 400 euro per month and whose property tax was charged on her electricity bill a 240 euro per month.  She was found frozen to death last winter.

Or does this not reflect the common view of the Greek as a lazy, coffee swilling, featherbedded, tax evading crook and so such stories are ignored.  After all, they aren't really funny, are they.  Unfortunately, they do reflect the reality suffered by so many.  A reality caused by the Troika and a weak, self serving, deeply corrupt political class and the oligarchy that supports it.  Tsipiras is just the last in a long line prepared to sell out Greece for the sake of power.