As Greece Heads for Default…
Voters Prepare to Vote in Pivotal Referendum on More Austerity
HAVANA TIMES – Tens of thousands of Greeks have protested against further austerity cuts ahead of a key referendum on a new European bailout. The demonstrations come as the country confirms it will not meet the deadline for a $1.8 billion loan repayment due by 6 p.m. Eastern time tonight, deepening Greece’s fiscal crisis and threatening its exit from the eurozone.
Greece will hold a vote this Sunday on whether to accept an austerity package of budget cuts and tax hikes in exchange for new loans. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged a “no” vote, calling the proposal a surrender.
We go to Greece to speak with Costas Panayotakis, professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY and author of “Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy.”
I love the Greek islands and have with my back-pack both ‘island hopped’ using various types of ferry and spent longer periods walking on for example Crete and Rhodes. There is a history of failure to develop local economies, but of emigrating when times get tough. Kos for example, had 11,000 inhabitants until the sponge trade slumped and some islanders moved to Australia, others followed until 8,000 were in Australia (most of them in Darwin). Then as tourism developed many returned to Kos where today many of the taxi drivers speak English with heavy Aussie accents and the population has risen to 5,000.
The slow pace of life on the islands is one which can be envied but not replicated. In western societies (the ones that certain subscribers to these columns would describe as “capitalist’ but where they choose to live). The concept of hard work is not one understood by most of the islanders – all they traditionally sought was sufficient for tomorrow. But entry into the EU and then the Eurozone initiated the idea that they could now live and spend like the hard working protestant northern Europeans. No need to pay taxes, just accept the State handouts and live the ‘life of Reilly’. The consequences can now be seen and are a consequence of the Greeks support for Pasok – a socialist party which pursued socialist policies for a lot of years and which for the past few months has been replaced by an even more left wing party.
As ye sow…………….. !
Unless there’s more to the story than than the entire news media has reported, the Greeks have simply over-spent and under-produced themselves into a corner.
Greece is going to face economic austerity no matter what these protesters say and however the referendum turns out. The EU is fed up with lending money to Greece which is never paid back. The choice before Greece is either accept the deal offered by the EU or leave the EU and print their own money.
Then they will see what real austerity is like!