Unemployment surged from 7.3% in the Q2 2008 to 26.6% in the Q2 2014. among youth aged 15-24, unemployment had an average of 44%.
Early retirement in the Private Sector increased by 14%.
Early retirement in the Public Sector* increased by 48%
The researchers see here a clear link to the austerity policy, that’s is the Greek government managed to fulfill the Troika requirements for smaller public sector. However, this trend caused a burden to the social security funds.
Since beginning of the austerity, direct taxes increased by nearly 53%, while indirect taxes increased by 22 percent.
Particularly poorer households paid disproportionately more in taxes and the tax burden to lower-income rose by 337%. In comparison, the tax burden to upper-income households rose by only 9%.
On average, the annual income of Greek households before taxes fell from €23,100 euros in 2008 to just below €17,900 euros in 2012. This represents a loss of nearly 23 percent.
Hmm interesting, not shocking really but goes to show who saved their asses.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the demanded reforms did not demand that the burden had to be carried on the shoulder of the small folk, or am I mistaken?
I certainly haven’t read anything along those lines.
By putting the burden on the tax payer it is automatically carried by the “small folk”. None of the “big folk” pay their fair proportion of taxes anywhere in the world. Be it good times or bad, taxes are for the small man, nobody else. Law is there to protect the big folk (and their “wealth”) and keep the small folk in their place. It is also the means by which the “big” folk transfer the wealth of the “small” folk to their pockets. This is a perfect example of this mechanism…
What puzzles me, Franz, is that the Troika was looking over the shoulders of the government throughout the past 5 years and blithely went along with everything that was done to satisfy the broad austerity requirements. At no point did anyone outside of Greece admit that the results were catastrophic. Many noted economists spoke out, but they have no “standing” in the chambers that are running this fiasco, so people like Paul Krugman and pre-Syriza Varoufakis were simply ignored. It wasn’t until the Syriza government came into office that there was even the slightest recognition of the nighmare that this report details, and that is simply because whether they like it or not, the lenders have to deal directly with Syriza, and they are obviously not happy having to deal with the truth of what has happened in Greece over the past 5 years under the “magic medicine” of haphazardly applied austerity. Afterall, the “official” line of the lenders is still, “You were doing just fine until Syriza stirred the pot.” If what is detailed in the IMK Report is “Just fine”, I’d really hate to see what Herr Schauble et al consider a humanitarian crisis to be.
I looked at the document – a little bit shocking. I mean for example:
Incomes from wages diminished, incomes from pensions relatively rose (but who will pay the pensions if there are fewer people with incomes from wages – somebody must work and pay the social security to pay the pensions, and there is less working people now );
I understood why Greeks hated so much the property tax , it was really hitting mostly the poorer …
All in all, a sad picture of something badly done. The first big experiment in history with internal devaluation… What I hope is that they learned a little at the experiment. It will not help Greeks, but maybe it will help somebody else.
In a socialist country (such as Greece) it is always the poor who suffer the most. The only reason you do not know that because you do not study the life in 20th Century Socialist countries: Soviet Union, China, Eastern Europe etc… The government people of these (past) countries were richer then the Millionaires of the Western World.
The most surprising is that the Socialist (PASOK) governments ruined Greece, even though presently Greeks hope that an other Socialist government will save them. NOT POSSIBLE.