Guest
05-12-2010, 09:11 AM
Raising taxes and cutting public sector benefits may not be enough for Greece's problems. With the US poised to give Greece billions in bailout money we really should take a closer look at Greece.
Greek's cradle to the grave welfare state has grown through the decades with universal health care, shorter workweeks, higher minimum wage, greater job security, earlier retirements, very liberal and generous pensions, low population growth and abortion on demand has left Greece with a zero population growth.
In Year 2000, Greece had just under 11 million people and a median age of just 38. In 2050, Greece is projected to have just under 11 million people, but the median age will be 50.
I noticed one of the items in Greece's recovery plan is to "open closed professions." In Greece, private sector regulated or “closed” professions "are those in which people must meet strict qualifications (often eliminating any chance for non-Greeks to qualify), then follow rules set by the government on what rates they can charge and where they can do business. This includes notaries, pharmacists, surgeons and dozen of others; it’s common in the EU. In doing this, competitiveness is lost, services can be lackluster and consumers lose in every sense."
Greece really is a wakeup call to America.
An editorial in the Greek newspaper The Athens News warns,"THE TOUGHEST and most painful austerity programme in the history of Europe” - as a minister called it - came under the critical scrutiny of the financial markets and pundits this week, raising doubts about its effectiveness in overcoming the Greek debt crisis...
"According to the Greek finance minister’s own forecast of the programme’s impact, the economy is expected to contract by 4 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2011, returning to modest growth in 2012.
"Even if the plan is fully implemented, it will leave Greece with a substantially higher mountain of debt, climbing from 133 percent of GDP this year to almost 150 percent of GDP in 2013 - with a significantly smaller economy to pay it off."
http://www.athensnews.gr/articles/13389/09/05/2010/27468
http://livingingreece.gr/2010/05/02/greece-new-austerity-measures/
http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/AuthoritiesAbroad/Oceania/Australia/ConsulatePerth/Articles/en-US/15032010_SB1055.htm
Greek's cradle to the grave welfare state has grown through the decades with universal health care, shorter workweeks, higher minimum wage, greater job security, earlier retirements, very liberal and generous pensions, low population growth and abortion on demand has left Greece with a zero population growth.
In Year 2000, Greece had just under 11 million people and a median age of just 38. In 2050, Greece is projected to have just under 11 million people, but the median age will be 50.
I noticed one of the items in Greece's recovery plan is to "open closed professions." In Greece, private sector regulated or “closed” professions "are those in which people must meet strict qualifications (often eliminating any chance for non-Greeks to qualify), then follow rules set by the government on what rates they can charge and where they can do business. This includes notaries, pharmacists, surgeons and dozen of others; it’s common in the EU. In doing this, competitiveness is lost, services can be lackluster and consumers lose in every sense."
Greece really is a wakeup call to America.
An editorial in the Greek newspaper The Athens News warns,"THE TOUGHEST and most painful austerity programme in the history of Europe” - as a minister called it - came under the critical scrutiny of the financial markets and pundits this week, raising doubts about its effectiveness in overcoming the Greek debt crisis...
"According to the Greek finance minister’s own forecast of the programme’s impact, the economy is expected to contract by 4 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2011, returning to modest growth in 2012.
"Even if the plan is fully implemented, it will leave Greece with a substantially higher mountain of debt, climbing from 133 percent of GDP this year to almost 150 percent of GDP in 2013 - with a significantly smaller economy to pay it off."
http://www.athensnews.gr/articles/13389/09/05/2010/27468
http://livingingreece.gr/2010/05/02/greece-new-austerity-measures/
http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/AuthoritiesAbroad/Oceania/Australia/ConsulatePerth/Articles/en-US/15032010_SB1055.htm