Keep Talking Greece

Protesting Policemen Set “Gallows” Outside Greek Finance Ministry (video, picts)

September 6, 2012 4

Powerful pictures, full of symbolism: one policeman, one firefighter and one coastal guard “hang” themselves outside the Greek Finance Ministry in downtown Athens, near the Greek Parliament. They stand there for a couple of minutes. Silent. The crowd chants: “Thieves! Thieves! Thieves!” Video: Protesting Policemen – Gallows outside the Finance Ministry/slogans …

ECB’s Mario Draghi Saves the Euro with Bond-Buying Plan

September 6, 2012 11

Ufff! The euro is saved. And together with euro, we, debt-ridden European Southerners, are save too. Head of European Central Bank, Mario Draghi announced on Thursday, that the ECD will buy bonds of countries in debt crisis until they recover. Draghi’s decision comes despite Germany’s objections fearing that member states …

Social Unrest Nears as Greece’s Society Groups Get Angry at Each Other?

September 6, 2012 27

It came as expected. Employees affected by the upcoming wages cuts included in the 11.5-billion-euro package took to the streets. Policemen, firefighters, coastal guards, judges, academics, teachers, doctors, tax officers. Greece’s public sector is boiling. Civil servants protest and strike and threaten with escalation of their mobilization. Sept 6/2012 – Athens: Riot …

Unemployment in Greece Breaks New Record: 24.4% in June 2012, 1:4 Without Job & Income

September 6, 2012 Comments Off on Unemployment in Greece Breaks New Record: 24.4% in June 2012, 1:4 Without Job & Income

Unemployment in Greece broke another record in June reaching 24.4%. In comparison: 17.2% in June 2011 and 23.5% in May 2012. More than 50,000 people lost their jobs within one month, which translates that almost 1,200 working places were lost per day. And this during the summer period, when traditionally the …

Athens Boils: Riot Police Threatens Protesting Policemen with Tear Gas (video, picts)

September 6, 2012 1

Rare scenes in Greece: Protesting policemen were confronted by riot policemen, with the latter threatening the first, that they would fire tear gas. These unprecedented scenes occurred on Thursday morning outside the police academy in Goudi suburb of Athens. Protesting policemen had gathered outside the police academy in order to prohibit police squads …

Greece Picks Norwegian PGS for Offshore Oil, Gas Research

September 5, 2012 Comments Off on Greece Picks Norwegian PGS for Offshore Oil, Gas Research

Greece selected Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) to carry out offshore seismic tests in the country’s south and west, the government said on Wednesday, paving the way for the launch of an oil and gas drilling bidding round in 2014. Oslo-based PGS will send a ship to the Ionian Sea and off …

New Tax-Shock: Greece’s Property Owners to Pay “Rent” for Living in their Own Homes

September 5, 2012 15

Greece’ property owners will become “tenants” in their own homes and pay “rent” in form of property taxes, should Samaras government plans on property taxation come true. The country’s economic team plans to unify all different taxes and fees and emergency levies that already lay heavy on the shoulders of real …

Greece to Use Water Instead of Teargas Against Rioters

September 5, 2012 2

“Tear gas has exhausted its effectiveness, we’re thinking to use water against rioters,” Greek Minister of Citizen protection Nikos Dendias said on Wednesday. Speaking to Real FM, Dendias described the use of water as an “attempt by the Greek police to focus on more modern ways.” As the autumn is expected to …

WEF: Greece’s Economy is not Competitive. Report Proves IMF/EU’s Wage Dumping Wrong!

September 5, 2012 10

What? You thought that dumping labor wages down to 500 euro per month would boost competitiveness? You thought that working 13 hours per day, 6 days per week will turn the debt-ridden country into growth paradise? The myth of “wages dumping as the fundament for competitiveness” is collapsing and thus by a report of …

KEPE: Greece’s Debt not Sustainable without Interventions

September 5, 2012 Comments Off on KEPE: Greece’s Debt not Sustainable without Interventions

Greece’s public debt is on a non- sustainable path even after a restructuring earlier this year, the nation’s Center of Planning and Economic Research said. The country will not be able to cut its debt to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, as required under a bailout from …

“Dengue Fever” is Back – First Death Case in Greece after 90 Years

September 4, 2012 2

I remember the word “dengue fever” from the elderly in my family. I don’t know, if the family had a victim, so that grannies and grandpas felt the need to talk about it. In my ears, ‘dengue fever’ sounded ‘horrible’ alone through the sequence of letters. As in Greek it is not …

Tutorial Schools Reduce Tuition Fees, in Times of Crisis & Tax Evasion

September 4, 2012 4

For some KTG readers, this may be an unknown aspect of the so-called “free education system” in Greece: The private tutorial schools for public high school students. A well-established system of tutorial classes that enables Greek students to pass exams and enter universities. A system that was established some decades ago for …