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On Saturday, thousands of Greeks marched at an annual fair in Thessaloniki to protest against a new round of wage and pension cuts demanded by international lenders in exchange for aid to stave off bankruptcy. The demonstration by about 15,000 trade unionists and leftists was the first major protest against a nearly 12 billion Euro (490 billion Roubles. 15.4 billion USD. 9.6 billion UK Pounds) austerity package being readied by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to appease EU and IMF inspectors who arrived in Athens on Friday to review Greece‘s reform (sic) progress. A few protesters burned EU flags while others threw watermelons and peaches in support of struggling farmers, but the largely-peaceful protests otherwise passed off without incident as 3,500 policemen looked on. Greece is struggling through its worst post-war economic crisis that has left nearly one in four jobless, pushed up poverty levels, and shuttered thousands of businesses.
9 September 2012
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_09/Thousands-of-Greeks-protest-against-new-round-of-austerity-cuts/
Editor’s Note:
Let’s not be coy… the rightwing government in Greece is readying moves to hammer the Greek working people so that the Affluent Effluent can party on unhindered and without pain. That’s exactly what Wafflin’ Willy wants to do in the USA… after all, he socks millions in overseas tax havens, increasing the tax burden on the rest of us. He doesn’t give a damn for the common weal… no Republican does. That’s what godless greed and selfishness does to people.
Orthodox people should be aware that the konvertsy are only formally Christians, as their main belief lies in godless Far Right nostrums; they believe in a nasty and cruel Social Darwinian world. You see, they’re just like all rightwingers… greedy, nasty, and self-centred. It’s why we must oppose them; we must see to it that they leave us… our souls depend on it.
BMD
“Grexit” Could Cause EU Collapse
Tags: Barry Eichengreen, Berkeley, debt, Economic, economic crisis, Economic system, economics, EU, Euro, Euro Zone, Eurogroup, Europe, European Central Bank, European sovereign debt crisis, European Union, Eurozone, Greece, international organisations, National Debt, NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, political commentary, politics, Sovereign Debt Crisis, University of California
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American economist Barry Eichengreen warned that the consequences of a Greek exit from the Eurozone could be devastating, and that the governments of the monetary union are taking the possible repercussions too lightly. In an interview with Die Welt am Sonntag, Eichengreen, UC Berkeley Professor of Economics, said that the consequences “would spread to other countries. When a Portuguese family or Spanish businessperson sees that Euros have been converted into drachmas, they’ll take their money out of their accounts. That could lead to a run on the banks”. Eichengreen continued that this scenario would snowball, “investors would speculate on the next candidate to leave the Eurozone”, thus endangering the entire Euro project. He also thinks that financial markets are also guilty of miscalculation, with share prices giving an overly positive picture. “My experience as an economic historian has taught me that markets always look relaxed, until suddenly… they aren’t. From the banking crisis of 2008 to the emerging markets crises of the 1990s, anybody can take their favourite financial crisis and discover that markets are really not a good crisis indicator. In the run-up to the crash, the players were always too relaxed for too long, and then later fell into a complete panic”. Eichengreen believed that the new Greek government should be given more time, “They should be given some breathing space, which is also in the interests of their creditors. I’d be in favour of tying interest payments on the borrowing to economic growth. Only when the Greek economy grows, should the country pay interest, otherwise the payments will simply be deferred. The Euro is of great symbolic and geostrategic worth for Europe”. He added that such an eventuality on the economic front would also have consequences for the West in terms of the European geostrategic situation. He observed, “The West hardly wants Russia to be able to position itself as a saviour, and become involved”, adding that this would have “dramatic consequences” for NATO.
15 February 2015
Sputnik International
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150215/1018299307.html