The Greeks have now been reduced almost to the status of slaves. The average worker here earns 20 Euros a day, or about $12,000 year. Last week we met a woman whose daughter is a physician, an eye ear, nose and throat specialist, who is moving to Switzerland because her pay here is 800 Euros a month, approximately $1067 dollars a month or $12,800 per year.
Some few of the many shops that have sat closed for a long time have re-opened, but they are no longer mom and pop operations; they are mega corporations using small spaces. Gone are: our favorite greengrocer, our favorite general store, our favorite gyro restaraunt, and my Internet cafe. (Thank goodness for my iPad!)
Meanwhile, numerous tyrannical laws have been passed, all in too great a hurry to permit discussion. One of them forces businesses to open on at least some Sundays. Another says any deceased person is an organ donor, no matter what he or his family may desire, or even what their religious scruples may be.
It occurs to me that the so-called Troika, which runs this cuntry and others, is not a purely European thing. It consists of the European Comission, yes, and the Central European Bank, but also of the International Monetary Fund. International, not European. The pan-cosmic government, as the Greeks call it, is not merely some conspiracy theory; it is already in place in some countries. And it is no democracy.
Some few of the many shops that have sat closed for a long time have re-opened, but they are no longer mom and pop operations; they are mega corporations using small spaces. Gone are: our favorite greengrocer, our favorite general store, our favorite gyro restaraunt, and my Internet cafe. (Thank goodness for my iPad!)
Meanwhile, numerous tyrannical laws have been passed, all in too great a hurry to permit discussion. One of them forces businesses to open on at least some Sundays. Another says any deceased person is an organ donor, no matter what he or his family may desire, or even what their religious scruples may be.
It occurs to me that the so-called Troika, which runs this cuntry and others, is not a purely European thing. It consists of the European Comission, yes, and the Central European Bank, but also of the International Monetary Fund. International, not European. The pan-cosmic government, as the Greeks call it, is not merely some conspiracy theory; it is already in place in some countries. And it is no democracy.
9 comments:
Lord have mercy. :(
Agree - Lord have mercy!
yikes... those new laws are very invasive! Lord have mercy.
Agreed: Lord, have mercy.
Ditto. Lord have mercy!
We are visiting our daughter in Germany right now and amazed to see how things have changed since we last lived here. Prices are MUCH higher than we expected compared to equivelents stateside,
but people seem to be okay paying them. We are not in tourist area and are seeing things as the typical Bavarian would see them.
Example: the numbers in prices are the same, but when you take into account the exchange rate of $ to euro, you see the higher costs. Currently, $1=€.75. A simple meal at a restaurant may be € 10-15 (just the entree) or $15 - $21, but there are still a lot of Germans eating out. Gasoline is an entirely different matter. Much more than in the states.
Absolutely dreadful.....so sad to read about this.
I appreciate your insiders' view of the situation in Greece - but it is hard to hear about! The organ donor law is inhuman, to put it nicely.
They earn three times as much as the relatively-well-paid Romanian, and THEY have problems !?
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