Ambassador Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos on the Greek economic crisis: could this Greek Tragedy lead to civil war?

Published on December 17th 2012

By Barbara Van Haute

Editorial Note:  Of all the nations experiencing traumatic economic difficulties during the course of the current Great Recession, Greece has suffered the most adverse consequences.  The country’s five year economic problems have been longer and deeper than that of any developed country.  In fact, Greece has gone through a catastrophic depression otherwise unknown in the West.

The  standard of living has dropped drastically; unemployment has reached 26%; the debt to GDP ratio  is over 180%; the country’s “fiscal cliff” is looming bankruptcy;  social spending and the “safety net” have been eviscerated; while demonstrations and riots target both domestic debt reduction measures and the financial institutions  of the European Union power brokers. In response, the European Union

Εικόνες ενός οικονομικού βιασμού

Χωρίς πολλές λέξεις…η μάλλον χωρίς καθόλου λέξεις…Το «ΜΟΥΓΚΟ» (MUTE) απαντά στις επόμενες ερωτήσεις: » Ποιές είναι οι εικόνες της Ελλάδας της Κρίσης;» , «Ποιό είναι το χρώμα της;», «Ενας Οικονομικός βιασμός που καταλήγει να είναι κοινωνικός».

(Μόλις πατήσετε το κουμπί του play, περιμένετε λίγο, μέχρι να φορτώσει η ταινία. Τότε εμφανίζεται η ένδειξη cc, στο δεξιά τμήμα της οθόνης, που υποδεικνύει τη λειτουργία υποτίτλων, όταν υπάρχουν. Κάντε κλικ για να ενεργοποιήσετε τους υπότιτλους της επιλογής σας. Μπορείτε να επιλέξετε μεγαλύτερη ή μικρότερη ανάλυση του video, ανάλογα με την ταχύτητα της σύνδεσής σας, κάνοντας κλικ στην επιλογή ανάλυσης (240p, 360p, 480p κλπ).Πατώντας το εικονίδιο του ηλεκτρικού λαμπτήρα, πάνω δεξιά, μαυρίζετε το φόντο της οθόνης για πιο άνετη παρακολούθηση.)

Well, I hear it’s fine if you got the time and the ten to get yourself in

No introduction. I ain’t got a decent one. So, let’s cut to the chase.

«τέλος επιτηδεύματος» & «εισφορά αλληλεγγύης». I really don’t know how to translate these two. “business tariff” & “solidarity contribution”? Could be. The first one is a 300€ charge to all businessmen and the second one is a percentage charge to all taxpayers. Three things to note here

None of them is called tax. My educated guess is that they could not call it “tax”. Had they called it as such, it could be thrown out of the courts. “Taxing” us retro-actively? Now, calling it “contribution”, calling it “special tariff”…. It changes things. Of course, that does not increase my respect to Law in general.

The 300€ charge is universal. There are a couple of exemptions, but they are not total by all

Greek economic crisis: Timeless values help villagers

Roger Jinkinson, a British writer who lives in a remote village on the Greek island of Karpathos, reflects on how the profound economic crisis is affecting his small rural community more than 400km from Athens.

Although times are hard, he believes that a long tradition of thriftiness, a thriving barter economy and the return of young people to work on the land will help the village weather the crisis.

The older generation in the village are thrifty and hard working; they are used to a frugal existence and times of extreme hardship.

Hundreds of thousands of Greeks died of starvation and the complications of severe malnutrition during World War Two and the Civil War that followed.

Memories of those times can be seen etched in the faces of the old