Greek cabinet approved on Thursday a package of austerity measures, the so called ‘II. Memorandum of Understanding” or else “Budget Plan 2011-2015” or else “Mid-Term Stability program” dictated by the IMF/EU/ECB Troika. Call it whatever you want, the package contains measures that will kill small and medium enterprises, drive mad families, starve pensioners and steal the youth’s future. Specifically the package will enforce the sell off of state assets, massive layoffs in public sector, increase property taxes, a special tax (“Poll Tax”) on all incomes, VAT hikes in restaurants just to mention a few. The package comes at times of unemployment at 16.2 percent, recession at 5% and consumption just to cover people’s basic needs. The Austerity measures will be voted at the Parliament on June 28. (more details on the package during the day)
The tax tsunami on everything that breaths, walks and crawls seems to be the only solution for a ‘socialist’ government that was elected with the slogan “There is money!” I am really curious to see what will happen when taxpayers have run out of money.
How do Greek protesters chant at Syntagma Square? “Eh eh eh, oh oh oh, Take the Memorandum and Get out of Here! Shoo!” The next big protest is planned for Sunday, June 12 at 7.30 pm
The future of the youth was stolen a long time ago. Already in 2008 everybody talked about Generation 700. )Who does not remember December 2008? The death that broke the camels back…) And that was only a name for a situation that was here already for a while.
The parents and grandparents have stolen this future.
Not unique for Greece though. For anyone who can read German, this is a link to a nice wiki-page about Generation Praktikum http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Praktikum#Situation_in_Griechenland
The German youth faces the same problems.
But not even unique in time. When I finished my studies, long long ago in a distant past… Ok, the 80s, my generation was in the same situation. High unemployment. Jobs for just a few hours. Falling starting wages. First-in-first-out. I never got to work in the profession I studied for. But I still had a future.
Fact is that all these laws and privilages so many people seem to defend so passionately at the moment are part of this problem and not a part of the solution.
Iparchoun lepta! Was that not the slogan? So don’t shout “Eh eh eh, oh oh oh, Take the Memorandum and Get out of Here! Shoo!” The Memorandum is not the problem. The total incompetence of the whole Greek political and officials class is the problem. It’s a nomenklatura that took East European countries the best part of the 20th century to get rid of. Greece seem to have used the last decades to take over that flame.
And no, I am not talking about ‘The Flame of Hope’ that was lit yesterday on the Pnyx for the Special Olympics.