Greece....how can they...

I know this is strictly anecdotal but they were doing interviews of Greek citizens and they asked this one woman what she thought of the austerity measures and she complained they can't lower the salaries to the point where an average family cannot.... and this is where I thought she was going to say, provide for basics like shelter and food....no, what she said is "afford a 5 day vacation once per year".

Vacations are fine but it struck me how out of touch the Greek people are - do they really not comprehend that many of the things they have become accustomed to are not entitlements? There is a 20% unemployment rate and this woman is worried about being able to afford her yearly vacation trip?
 
Quote from syswizard:

survive given the fact their own people are causing damage from riots, and they are not working due to strikes...police are on overtime, etc.

How can this country get out of this mess given these facts ?
This is economically damaging stuff they're doing.
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All I read there is that you have never been to Greece.
 
Greece is my motherland. I will probably retire there.

Outside the cities nobody cares. It is and always be agrarian in the countryside. They dont get any welfare and they dont expect anybody to feed or pay them a salary.

The city Greeks got lazy, like the fat dog you just keep feeding with no expectation of earning its keep. Once they accept that the government has run out of money, they will return to roots. This will eventually happen in all the debt burdened countries also.

Denial
Anger

This is where the Greek people are right now..in between stage 3-4 of the 5 stages of denial

Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance
 
Quote from intradaybill:

Why are you making such a gross generalization from an interview of one person to what 10 million people think in a country? Your thinking is dangerous.
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LOL, dangerous huh?

"That's right Iceman, I am dangerous"

Maybe it was a one-off but it shows a real lack of sensitivity when your country is on the brink of bankruptcy, unemployment is rampant and you are concerned about your yearly vacation.

Point taken though, I'm sure you can find no lack of idiots on US streets to say equally stupid things into a camera. That reminds me, when is Obama going to forgive all those underwater mortgages?
 
Quote from Crispy:
Greece is my motherland. I will probably retire there.

Outside the cities nobody cares. It is and always be agrarian in the countryside. They dont get any welfare and they dont expect anybody to feed or pay them a salary.

The city Greeks got lazy, like the fat dog you just keep feeding with no expectation of earning its keep. Once they accept that the government has run out of money, they will return to roots. This will eventually happen in all the debt burdened countries also.
More...
This is what this article seems to suggest as well:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/the-way-greeks-live-now.html
 
Quote from Crispy:

Greece is my motherland. I will probably retire there.

Outside the cities nobody cares. It is and always be agrarian in the countryside. They dont get any welfare and they dont expect anybody to feed or pay them a salary.

The city Greeks got lazy, like the fat dog you just keep feeding with no expectation of earning its keep. Once they accept that the government has run out of money, they will return to roots. This will eventually happen in all the debt burdened countries also.
More...

The countryside depends on EU subsidies.
In 2004, Greece had 2% of the farmland in the EU but got 6% of the subsidies. While these statistics are skewed because of the enlargement, it does illustrate the point.
I agree with the rest though.

The funniest thing is that the Eurozone countries who joined EU in 2004 have had to fund the Greek bailout. These countries have much lower living standards, think about that for a second.
For the Americans, that's like Alabama paying billions to bail out California.
 
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