This is what happens when a society becomes dependent on government.....................

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Socialism causes yet another massive failure with Greece

Living in a comfortable and debt financed socialism for many years, Greece reacted with a mix of resignation and outrage on Monday to a painful austerity package from the government. It foresees a massive fiscal adjustment driven primarily by cuts in the country's bloated public sector, which makes up roughly a third of the workforce.

"The time to pay the bill has come, the time of responsibility for all of us tackling this crisis must become the big opportunity to modernize our public life, even if we have to bleed," said financial daily Kerdos.

Prime Minister George Papandreou's socialist government unveiled the plan to overhaul Greece's debt-ridden economy on Sunday after talks with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU).

A public sector pay freeze was extended until 2014 and treasured holiday bonuses will be scrapped for many employees. Pensions will also be cut.

Center-right newspaper Eleftheros Typos said the government was telling Greeks that they must die in order to live, describing the economic medicine it was doling out as "more harmful than the disease."
  
Ta Nea, a centrist daily, said the way of life Greeks had become accustomed to had come to an end on Sunday, while center-left Eleftherotypia deemed the measures unfair because they would hit average wage earners and pensioners hardest.

Center-left Ethnos said the austerity would mean "asphyxiation" for the Greek people and a "violent modernization" for the economy, which according to new government projections will contract by 4.0 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2011.

NATIONWIDE PROTESTS

Papandreou met President Karolos Papoulias on Monday morning and requested a meeting of the heads of Greece's political parties to inform them in detail about the austerity package and seek their backing for it.

"With the consent of the political and social forces we will make the changes that are needed to the political system and the economy that should have been made years ago," Papandreou said. "Now is the opportunity to make these changes."

How the public reacts to the measures will be decisive in determining whether the government is successful in implementing them.

Smaller protests were expected on Monday ahead of nationwide strikes by public and private sector workers on Wednesday, which will offer a first glimpse of the extent of the anger with government plans.

There are precedents for the massive fiscal adjustment that Greece is undertaking, but economists say the country faces a more difficult challenge because of the weak state of the economy and the expectation that it will continue contracting for the next two years.

To avoid "reform fatigue" the government is frontloading its fiscal measures with the goal of pushing the budget deficit down to 8.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, from 13.6 percent in 2009.

That could put huge pressure on the banking sector, which is likely to see its non-performing loans rise substantially. As part of the government's package with the EU and IMF, it plans to set up a special fund to recapitalize vulnerable banks.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/21942/20100503/greece-braces-for-violent-modernization.htm

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Fears intensify about Greek crisis' impact on US
May 7, 5:33 AM (ET)

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. economic recovery is on shakier ground.
The growing European debt crisis has sent stock markets on a wild ride. A weaker European economy could sap demand for U.S. exports and hurt sales by U.S. companies in Europe. U.S. banks that hold European government debt also could cut back on lending to conserve cash.
"The perception of risk has just changed in a major way," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities. "Business leaders now think there is more risk in the world economy than they did 30 days ago."
Wall Street endured a dizzying plunge Thursday, sending the Dow Jones industrials to a loss of nearly 1,000 points in less than half an hour. A computerized selloff possibly caused by a trader's mistake may have been responsible for the late-session plunge, and the Dow recovered two-thirds of the loss before the closing bell.
But the jitters over Europe remained and the selling spread to Asia on Friday. Markets in Japan, South Korea and China all posted steep losses, with Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average closing down 3.1 percent.
Vitner and other economists worry that Europe's debt crisis could tip the 16 countries that use the euro currency back into a recession. The euro area comprises the second-largest economy in the world, after the United States. And as in the United States, its economy has been slowly recovering from recession.
The likelihood that the U.S. would fall back into recession remains low, economists say. Still, a falling U.S. stock market could unnerve consumers and investors and cause cutbacks in spending. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity...............>>>>............>>>>.............http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100507/D9FHTSIG1.html

The US having to pay the IMF for 17% of the bailout of the countries who are so far in debt due to their inability to pay for the workers of these countries large pensions and benefits is really going to help our financial situation, not.

It could happen here. Fill your food pantry, and buy some silver and gold. They say silver is undervalued.

Greeks are generally socialistic and finally it has caught up with them. Even the ones I know of here back big government policies and love Paul Tonko and the democrats liberals. How sad.

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EU Creates $1 Trillion Package to Save Euro

The European Union spearheads a $1 trillion plan to contain Europe's spreading debt crisis and keep it from tearing the euro currency apart and derailing the global economic recovery.

BRUSSELS — The European Union spearheaded a $1 trillion plan Monday to contain Europe's spreading debt crisis and keep it from tearing the euro currency apart and derailing the global economic recovery.

Central banks around the world joined the coordinated effort to prop up the euro and repel speculative attacks against Europe's weakest countries. The European Central Bank used what analysts called its "nuclear option" — buying public and private debt to shore up liquidity in "dysfunctional" markets and lower borrowing costs.The U.S. Federal Reserve separately reopened a currency "swap" program to ship billions of dollars overseas, pumping more short-term cash into the financial system.

Many investors, rattled for weeks by the prospect Greece would default on its mountain of debt, showed relief. The euro climbed as high as $1.2984, up from the 14-month low of $1.2523 it hit late last week. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.5 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.3 percent. European markets jumped higher — major indexes were up more than 3 percent — and Wall Street was also expected to surge on the open, with Dow futures also 3.0 percent higher.

There was cautious endorsement from analysts who still feared the measures may not be enough to save the common currency, which was adopted by many of the EU's member states in 1999.

"It buys time. We don't know if it will be enough. They're trying to give the impression that they're still united. They've bought some breathing space but that's all," said Song Seng Wun, an economist with CIMB-GK Research in Singapore. "This perhaps just postpones the inevitable, the euro may have to ultimately give way, that's the worst case scenario."

Under the three-year plan, the European Commission — the EU's governing body — will make €60 billion ($75 billion) available while countries from the 16-nation eurozone would promise backing for €440 billion ($570 billion). The IMF would contribute an additional sum of at least half of the EU's total contribution, or €250 billion.

"We shall defend the euro whatever it takes," EU Commissioner Olli Rehn said after an 11 hour-meeting of EU finance ministers that capped a hectic week of chaotic sparring between panicked governments and aggressive markets.

Officials hope the massive sums will deter currency speculators from betting on a euro collapse after political posturing and soothing words failed to convince investors that Greece's financial implosion could be contained.

Markets had battered the euro and Greek government bonds even as EU leaders insisted for days that Greece's problems were a unique combination of bad management, free spending and statistical cheating that doesn't apply to other euro-zone nations.....................>>>>.................>>>>................http://www.foxnews.com/world/2.....euro-disintegration/

So now that we, the taxpayers, are bailing out Greece.....think they should return the favor and bail out california? IT'S ALL NUTS!

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Europeans Fear Crisis Threatens Liberal Benefits
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: May 22, 2010

PARIS — Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt. The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.
Payback Time

Pension Problems
Europeans have boasted about their social model, with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care systems and extensive welfare benefits, contrasting it with the comparative harshness of American capitalism.

Europeans have benefited from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-grave safety net. “The Europe that protects” is a slogan of the European Union.

But all over Europe governments with big budgets, falling tax revenues and aging populations are experiencing rising deficits, with more bad news ahead.

With low growth, low birthrates and longer life expectancies, Europe can no longer afford its comfortable lifestyle, at least not without a period of austerity and significant changes. The countries are trying to reassure investors by cutting salaries, raising legal retirement ages, increasing work hours and reducing health benefits and pensions..................>>>>.......................>>>>.....................http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/world/europe/23europe.html?src=me&ref=general