IS GREECE 'AN EXPERIMENT' FOR AUSTERITY MEASURES IN THIS 'ECONOMIC WAR'?

ARTICLE By 

Debbie Papadakis.

One thing is admired is the 'fighting spirit' of the Greeks in this crisis, call it perseverance trying to balance things on this 'roller coaster ride' .While at the same time other people of countries such as Brazil are demonstrating against 'plans for economic measures' to be implemented, once the Fifa World cup is over; and of course Australians demonstrating against cut backs produced in the Budget by the Abbott Government, that might lead to 'credit drying up' and people being made abundant dew to more cut backs-leading to a 'mini recession'. How are Austerity in Greece and the Demonstrations in other countries connected? What do all these countries have in common? Where does Germany fit in the picture? Have economic institutions used governments to 'do away with' society friendly economics?

ECONOMIC 'BOOM AND DOOM' TACTICS all in the name of 'Open economics' in the EU.

With Greece entering its 5th year of economic 'doom' in this 'economic war' all you can do is to admire the 'fighting spirit 'of the people. The people are feeling the 'crunch ' ; the middle class has almost disappeared off the social class map, with many business having closed that were in debt; many people who had jobs and were made redundant, but still carry the loans they had and were paying when employed, but now hang over their heads as 'toxic debts'. naturally, those that had businesses are unemployed but are not given unemployment benefits because they were 'in business' and were not employees. This is the reason only 10% of those unemployed get some benefits. As for the young in the work force, they are employed with the latest minimum wage being anything less than 300 euros.With still over 50 % being unemployed between the ages of 19- 30. As for the rest of us in the work force in the private sector we are 'under-employment' with salaries that come when they come, working at all hours when called. These conditions have never before have been lived. in fact they are in humane to exist in the EU;but still they do! As for the Public Sector it is feeling redundancies, salary cuts, and 'downsized conditions' while at the same time retraining as well. 

Since, TROIKA and the IMF have stepped into Greece we have had the German government through these bodies,leading negotiations with a number of points that Greece needs to ad hear to, handing out loans to further place this country in further debt and setting dead-lines.How effective has that been? They have even asked Greece to vacate islands with less than 150 people to vacate these islands and to hand them over to TROIKA because Greece can not afford them. The Greek Government have not allowed that but it has sold a few islands. How can austerity exist without allowing growth? Greece has a number of resources including natural gas, petroleum and alternative energy, that would be able to act as supplier in order to pay debts. But why is everything standing still? Through the German media we have been called 'all sorts degrading names' like being 'care-less and lazy'. The Greek people know who they are as an identity, and what they are as a people. Tactics of enforcing economic policies, allowing banks to manage governments and nations and imposing policies that are so austere that have led to extremist faction rising in the political arena in Europe as well as in Greece. Will such tactics be used against other countries to impose austerity? Will Australia be heading for a recession after its real estate boom and people flocking to get loans? Will a recession enable banks to cash in on other people's loss? Is Brazil next?

Call it a new 'economic war' strategy, to withdraw the flow of cash, make people redundant, lower salaries, and worsen conditions and expect for the people to up rise and be at each other's ' throats'. If this had occurred it would have allowed them to 'step in' . Further more, call it a test to see how people react, in the case in Greece; where no political change has really occurred and so many scandals coming to surface that involve prominent political figures and German business having led Greece to economic destruction and the EU with Germany heading it, an then impose austerity. Will this be allowed? Surely, Germany wants to see how long Greece can last under these inhumane conditions.This could happen to any country, don't forget the slogan: "WE ARE ALL GREEKS". It can also be said, after all, that these new economic policies are tailor-made to benefit the IMF.

GERMAN ECONOMIC POLICY HAS BEEN FROWNED UP ON BY A UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR.

The good thing is that many people through-out Europe can see what is happening and University professors of economics and history have taken a stand. Mr.Albercht Ritschl a professor of economic history at the London School of Economics had stated to an interview by a reporter of SPIEGEL when asked: "Mr. Ritschl, Germany is coming across like a know-it-all in the debate over aid for Greece. Berlin is intransigent and is demanding obedience from Athens. Is this attitude justified?" Mr. Ritschl replied that there was 'no basis for it' to be justified. Though, most German people would be likely to disagree with Mr. Ritschl's stand ,he went on to explain that Germany's position today was the result of being allowed to recover and prosper. "Germany was responsible for what were the biggest bankruptcies in recent history. It is only to the United States, which sacrificed vast amounts of money after both WW1 and WW2, that Germany is financially stable today and holds the status of Europe's headmaster." The vast amounts of money borrowed by the Weimar Republic between 1924-1929 led to the collapse of the credit system that was formulated by the US and with the Wall Street crash led to the devastation of the Great Depression of the 1930's that affected the USA and counties world wide.In Germany's case austerity led to WW2. However, the same tactics were not applied. The USA had stepped in and had minimized the reparations payment that Germany had to pay to countries such as Greece. The WIRSCHAFWUNDER KNOWN AS THE ECONOMIC MIRACLE had saved Germany leading her to economic growth and development from devastation. Germany had defaulted 3 times in the 20th century,This country was helped after all the pain it had caused. In fact "Germany was the biggest transgressor of the 20th Century" To sum up, Greece should be helped by Germany to reconstruct and grow rather than be forced into extremes. Debts should be cut down to a micro-minimum, as it was done for Germany, even though two world wars were instigated by Germany, not forgetting the destruction and loss to Greece that they had caused. This would be expensive for Germany however just imagine the grace and stability that was achieved for Germany to be at this position today. "We will have to pay either way "said Mr. Ritschl,"At least Greece would then have the chance to start over." Solutions can be found!