Greeks Must Spend More Than Half Their Wages Or Face Imprisonment

Greece sinks deeper into fascism with the latest law passed yesterday. If there was any doubt among Greek that they were living under a fascist regime this bill should leave no doubt.

The PASOK regime under Papandreou has passed a law today which make it illegal for Greek citizens to spend less than half of their income and if they can not prove that they have spent over half of their income then they could be imprisoned.

As a Welshman, this is an extremely worrying development in a country that claims to be a part of the “free” European Union”. The fact that no European leader has raised objection to this latest law makes me think any European Member country could be next.

Why Papandreou is basing his decisions on of a Eurozone Summit I do not know. To state the obvious, the welfare of Greeks should be at the top of his list followed a distant second by the welfare of people in foreign countries.

Not only are the daily devlopments in Greece extremely sinister but the propaganda that accompanies the fascist occupation is extremely twisted.

For example an article in Ekathimerini today

Greece intends to save 1 billion euros a year by reducing the salaries of some 100,000 of its civil servants by as much as 40 percent, according to plans the government is discussing with representatives from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Of course these figures make absolutely no sense whatsoever. For the pay of 100,000 employess to save 1 billion euro it means that each employee will be paid apporximately 1000Euro a year less. This does not equate to a 40% pay cut or anything close.

The article continues

Sources told Kathimerini that the draft version of the unified pay structure, which does away with the variances between ministries and the host of supplementary pay packages that currently exits, will lead to 14.5 percent of civil servants, or some 100,000, seeing their salaries cut by at least 25 percent.

So the article contrdicts itself in the space of 2 paragrphs, nevertheless, 25% cut of the wages of 100,000 people comes to a lot more than 1 billion euro. And besides, 1 billion Euro a year is peanuts considering the government is spending over 2 billion Euros a month more than it receives.

Articles and announcements like this from “government sources” show that the PASOK regime does not take the government deficit seriously in any way shape or form. Either that or they are completely incompetent.

The details in the rest of the article are completely unbelievable, I encourage everyone to take a look.

And it is not just the Greek news media that are portraying a different reality, the Guardian is also in on the act with perhaps the most surreal article I have yet read regarding the Greece bailout/Troika inspections etc etc

The article starts off really well and immediately exposes the alleged reasons for the PASOK regime to be destroying the Greek economy.

Despite all the talk and speculation, we remain committed to the euro and therefore the terms of troika’s lending programme (16 months into it) even by accelerating budget cuts. Most importantly, however, we match austerity measures with much-needed structural reforms.

So there it is in a nutshell, the Greek government is claiming they have to destroy the Greek economy in order to stay in the Euro. This makes no sense to me for 2 reasons

1. Destroying the Greek economy is not going to help anyone.

2. If Greece defaults the Greek government will be forced to come into line with the strongest EU contries such as Germany and Holland. A default would force the Greek government to immediately balance it’s books. Why, why, would anyone want to see Greece leave the Euro after a default? Their government spending would immedaitely come in line with that set out by the Mastrich Treaty, why would the EU then want Greece to leave the Euro, it makes absolutely no sense. None.

The article continues

Of course many people are critical of the painful austerity measures being imposed. Greeks are upset over having to endure higher taxes, harsh wage and pension cuts, public sector redundancies and the squeezing of public services. Yet we all show a tremendous level of persistence and maturity. Will these sacrifices be worth it in the end? Yes they will. We Greeks are already treating the crisis as an opportunity. We all share a vision of change for the better and are sticking with this.

Nothing the PASOK government has done so far has any positive effect whatsoever. The author claims the sacrifices will be worth it in the end. On what basis? When has imposing oppresive taxes ever lead to anything positive and do not forget, the PASOK regime is not for one moment suggesting that these taxes are a ahsort term measure, they are a permant fixture according to Venizelos.

Structural changes are key, as they focus on the solvency aspect of our crisis. They are about restoring our economic infrastructure by recalibrating our productive capacity, reducing transactions costs and increasing our competitiveness. It is well-known though, internationally, that such changes tend to take a couple of years at least. We have already started simplifying and standardising procedures, consolidating registries, streamlining bureaucracy and deregulating markets. But we need to do more. The faster we deepen and continue these changes the better chance we have to reach our goal, win our battle against investor doubts and turn Greece into a stronger economy.

At this point I was sure the author was talking about a different country and/or dimension. “Reducing transaction costs”? How about increasing transaction costs with the proposed law that will levy a 1.5% charge on all bank transfers and the law that has made it illegal to receive payments larger than a 1000euro in cash.

“Increasing our competitiveness”? What by increasing taxes and introducing extra emergency taxes that are random and bear no relationship to earnings?

“Simplifying and standardising procedures”? Come again? A Greek accountant sums it up the “simplification” beautifully

And the nonsense did not end there

As for the opinion that Greece is better off defaulting on its debt and exiting the eurozone, this could not be further from the truth. Not only would this be bad for Greece, it would be even worse for the euro. A default would undoubtedly handicap the euro-zone with severe repercussions for the interconnected markets of the US and Asia.

Again the author brings up the Greek default and Euro exit as one and the same thing. It would be completely crazy for Greece to leave the Euro after the default both for Greece and for the Euro. If the ECB is saying that a default and Euro exit happen together, then they are clearly not acting to the agenda they claim. Greece to exit the Euro before a default would make much more sense for the EU but a lot less sense for Greece.

In the next paragraph the author insults her reader’s intelligence

A growing debt with reduced GDP productivity is a lethal combination.

I agree with the author totally, so why is the Troika on their second bailout of Greece? The bailouts which have incidentally increased Greece’s debt by at least 30%.  And why is the EU allowing Greece to pursue measures which are guaranteed to decrease GDP?

Despite the distorted and misleading media articles and despite the tyranny that Greece is under, there is a small chink of light to show some sanity still exists in government

Last month, Papaioannou heralded legislation aimed at decriminalizing drug use, though not its supply and cultivation, partly in a bid to decongest the country’s overcrowded jails, where a significant proportion of inmates are drug addicts caught with small amounts of narcotics.

Everyday Greece is sinking deeper into the mire. If you are living in Greece I would love to hear from you

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