Η έκρηξη μίας δεκαεξάχρονης!

Μία μαθήτρια του Νομού Κορινθίας μας έστειλε μία «οργισμένη» επιστολή! Η νέα γενιά δηλώνει δυναμικό παρόν και είναι ετοιμη για μεγάλες αλλαγές…

Διαβάστε τι λέει η 16χρονη φίλη μας.

«Γύρω μου ακούω ότι έρχονται εκλογές. Είμαι 16 χρονών. Θέλω να ακούσω αλήθειες, θέλω να ακούσω λύσεις και συγκεκριμένο σχέδιο. Δε θέλω άλλες παρόλες.

Τους πολιτικούς δεν τους θέλω απόμακρους να μου το παίζουν «μούρες». Θέλω να μου μιλήσει για το μέλλον μου κάποιος διπλανός μου, κάποιος που ζει δίπλα μου, που μοχθεί στον τόπο μας και δεν έχει πέσει στην πολιτική με αλεξίπτωτο. Αυτόν μπορεί και να τον πιστέψω, αλλά είναι πολύ δύσκολο. Βαρέθηκα πια τις αερολογίες και όλα αυτά τα ατελείωτα «θα» που δεν βγάζουν πουθενά.

Σ’ αυτές τις εκλογές θέλω να δω τους πολιτικούς δίπλα στους νέους ανθρώπους. Θέλω πολιτικούς που θα έρχονται και θα μου σφίγγουν το χέρι και θα με ρωτάνε να μάθουν τα προβλήματα που αντιμετωπίζω, να τα κατανοήσουν και να μου πουν τι θα κάνουν συγκεκριμένα. Καταλαβαίνω ότι δεν θα μπορέσουν να λύσουν όλα μου τα προβλήματα. Ζητάω όμως να καθίσουν και να συζητήσουν, να δουν τι κινήσεις μπορούν να κάνουν, να ακούσουν τι έχω να προτείνω και μετά ας μου πουν ακόμα και πως δεν γίνεται τίποτα !

Η Ελλάδα μοιάζει να χάθηκε. Από τη στιγμή που ο πολιτικός δεν δέχεται την γνώμη και την άποψή μου και δεν σέβεται τις προτάσεις του λαού, είναι καταδικασμένος να υποστεί τις όποιες συνέπειες.

Δεν έχω ακούσει ποτέ έναν πολιτικό να λέει απλά πράγματα που έκανε ή θα κάνει. Απλά πράγματα που με αφορούν στην καθημερινότητά μου. Μιλούν πάντα με γενικότητες, για το συμφέρον τους και μόνο. Θέλω να τελειώσει εδώ αυτό. Αν δεν τελειώσει τα πράγματα θα χειροτερέψουν. Ο λαός δεν θα το ανεχτεί για πολύ. Τουλάχιστον ας λένε μόνο αυτά που μπορούν να κάνουν, ακόμα και αν είναι ελάχιστα. Φτάνει πια η κοροϊδία. Κανείς δεν θα κερδίσει κάτι λέγοντας αναλήθειες και λόγια του αέρα.

Δεν θέλω να μου τάξουν πράγματα. Δεν ζητάω να γίνουν όλα αυτά που θα ζητήσω. Ζητάω λίγη κατανόηση. Αν δεν μπορέσουν να με πείσουν ότι η Ελλάδα θα αλλάξει δεν θα μπορέσω να μείνω εδώ, σε μια χώρα με τόση ανεργία και τόσα προβλήματα.

Όλοι θέλουμε να δούμε την Ελλάδα καλύτερη . Όλοι θέλουμε κάποια πράγματα να αλλάξουν και να μπουν στη σειρά. Όλοι ζητάμε ένα πιο σίγουρο μέλλον. Κανείς δεν θέλει να συνεχιστεί αυτή η κατάσταση. Αυτή η κατάσταση πλήγωσε τον Έλληνα. Πλέον εγώ ντρέπομαι να πω ότι είμαι Ελληνίδα, ντρέπομαι να το πω γιατί φοβάμαι πως θα με κοροϊδέψουν. Πλέον ο Έλληνας δεν είναι περήφανος όπως ήταν. Και το κεφάλι του θα σκύψει και το στόμα του θα κλείσει. Χάσαμε την αυθεντικότητα μας. Πλέον μέσα μας όλοι το νιώθουμε πως η γνώμη μας δεν μετράει. Κι όμως, είναι αδέσμευτη η σκέψη του να αλλάξουμε την Ελλάδα, είναι καθολικό αίτημα.

Θέλω πολύ να ξαναδώ την Ελλάδα ζωντανή. Να πάρει ο κόσμος μια ανάσα. Να κάνουμε μια καινούρια αρχή με καινούρια, αυθεντικά καινούρια, πρόσωπα στις θέσεις αυτών που μας κατέστρεψαν και όχι απλώς κάποιους που προσποιούνται το «καινούριο» μόνο και μόνο για να κερδίσουν μια έδρα στη Βουλή. Δεν θέλω να εκλεγεί κάποιος και μετά να τα αφήσει όλα όπως είναι ή απλώς να παρακολουθεί εξελίξεις.

Είναι κάτι που πραγματικά ευχόμουν και εύχομαι. Να ξυπνήσω μια μέρα και να τα δω όλα καλύτερα. Ελπίζω στο καλύτερο και θέλω να αφήσουμε πίσω όλα όσα μας πόνεσαν αυτόν τον καιρό που κρατούσαν λάθος πρόσωπα το τιμόνι της χώρας. Ας ελπίσουμε αυτήν την φορά να εκλεγεί κάποιος περισσότερο άξιος και λιγότερο υποκριτής, κάποιος που να μου δώσει ελπίδα και να με οδηγήσει σε ένα αξιοπρεπές μέλλον. Γιατί και εγώ είμαι η Ελλάδα, γιατί η καρδιά μου είναι γεμάτη Ελλάδα και θέλω περήφανα να λέω σε όλο τον κόσμο ότι είμαι Ελληνίδα.»

http://www.prionokordela.gr/ellada/i-ekrixi-mias-dekaexaxronis/

Ψυχικά νοσήματα και αυτοκτονίες φέρνει η κρίση

Από Στέλιος Μπαμιατζής | News247.gr – 23 λεπτά πριν



Ψυχικά νοσήματα και αυτοκτονίες φέρνει η κρίση


Τις άκρως σοβαρές επιπτώσεις στην ψυχική υγεία χιλιάδων πολιτών, εξαιτίας της άκρως οικονομικής κρίσης και οι δυσκολίες που αντιμετωπίζουν στον οικονομικό τομέα, καθώς δεν μπορούν να ανταπεξέλθουν στις υποχρεώσεις τους.

Σύμφωνα με έρευνα του υπουργείου Υγείας, άμεση είναι η συσχέτιση ψυχικών νοσημάτων και χρηματικών οφειλών.

Τα ίδια λοιπόν τα στοιχεία του υπουργείου Υγείας, κατά την τετραετία 2007-2011, δείχνουν ιδιαίτερα σημαντική αύξηση στις απόπειρες αυτοκτονίας απελπισμένων ανθρώπων -όπως τις δήλωσαν οι ίδιοι αρμοδίως- σε ένα ποσοστό 36%.

Δραματική άνοδο παρουσιάζουν και οι αυτοκτονίες που τελέσθηκαν - δυστυχώς - με επιτυχία.

Το πρώτο εξάμηνο του 2011 αυξήθηκαν κατά 45% σε σύγκριση με το αντίστοιχο διάστημα του έτους 2010.

Τα στοιχεία παρουσιάστηκαν, από τον κοσμήτορα της Εθνικής Σχολής Δημόσιας Υγείας, Γιάννη Κυριόπουλο, ο οποίος και επισήμανε:

"Δεδομένου ότι ο δείκτης αυτοκτονιών χρησιμοποιείται συνήθως ως μέτρο των ψυχικών νοσημάτων, αφού σε κάθε αυτοκτονία ενυπάρχουν στοιχεία ψυχικής διαταραχής, η κατάσταση που προκύπτει σε ό,τι αφορά την ψυχική υγεία των Ελλήνων είναι ιδιαίτερα αρνητική. Το 23% των ατόμων με ψυχικό νόσημα έχουν δάνεια. Το χαμηλό εισόδημα και τα χρέη συνδέονται με την εμφάνιση ψυχικών νοσημάτων".

Οι άνεργοι κινδυνεύουν πιο πολύ

Ομάδες υψηλού κινδύνου, για την εμφάνιση ψυχικών νοσημάτων, θεωρούνται κυρίως "οι άνεργοι, αλλά και όσοι αντιμετωπίζουν το φάσμα της επαπειλούμενης ανεργίας, καθώς και ολοένα περισσότερες εκπρόσωποι του λεγόμενου «ασθενούς φύλου» που, φαίνεται να επιβεβαιώνουν τον χαρακτηρισμό που τους αποδίδεται, σε θέματα ψυχικής αντοχής και υγείας", πρόσθεσε ο λέκτορας.

Στις "παράπλευρες απώλειες" της οικονομικής κρίσης είναι και οι συνταξιούχοι, οι οποίοι φαίνεται να πλήττονται ιδιαίτερα από τις συνέπειες της κρίσης σε ψυχικό επίπεδο.

Greek “Jobless Party” to Join Parliamentary Elections

Posted by keeptalkinggreece 

21/3/12



The “Movement of Unemployed” plans to join the upcoming parliamentary elections, it was announced during a press conference in Thessaloniki. Party representative Gavriil Avramidis addressed the jobless in Greece but also all social classes that are affected by the economic crisis to form a joint front and help the party enter the parliament. He said also that the Movement of Unemployed that until now has supported the jobless and promoted their demands, seeks to change the policy correlations, to overturn the current policies and change the political system.

It is the first time the the Movement will jion the parliamentary elections. IT first appeared during the European union elections in 1999. (Zougla.gr)

PS I didn’t know there is such a movement, maybe because it is local for Thessaloniki only?

Finally Competitive! Part-Time Jobs in Greece For just 255 EUR Gross

Posted by keeptalkinggreece 21/3/12

You happen to be in Greece and fortune bless you with a part time job? If you’re under 25 years old… you’d better stay home. Then all you can earn working 4 hours per day, 20 hours per week, 80 hours per month will give you just 255 euro gross. Net salary it is estimated a little lower than 200 euro. So much as your daddy can give you or your granny before her pension was cut. If you are over 25, you can get the amazing amount of 299 euro per month – gross, it is understood, of course. This applies to young professionals without previous work experience. And they are many. According to official statistics one out of two young Greeks until 25 are jobless. Unemployment in Greece is estimated at 20+%. The data for 2011 have not been released yet.

In much better situation are employees with work experience of more than 9 years. A part-time job will give them 380 euro gross per month if they are over 25. If they are under 25 and have 3+ years working experience, they’ll go home with less than 280 euro.

These wages are formed after the decreases of 22% and 32% in the private sector.

The lawmakers (earning more than 5,000 euro per month) have decided so after the Troika’s pressure to increase ‘competitiveness’ in Greece. The wages cuts are valid retrospective from February 14. Employers can cut their employees’ wages even without their consent.

Greek media reported that enterprises get advantage of this measure and hire indeed young professionals for part time jobs. Time will show whether they work in reality only four hours per day.

With this “competitive” wages, Greece can soon claim it has combated young unemployment.

PS Taking into consideration the recession (-7%), the high unemployment, and the fact that if there are any jobs at all, the majority of them are for part-time, we can say, We are Finally competitive to Croatia! – Why investment is not so big there although competitive, that’s a question that on the IMF can answer.

Avoiding a Lost Generation

Posted on March 15, 2012 by iMFdirect


By Nemat Shafik

Young people were innocent bystanders in the global financial crisis, but they may well end up paying the heaviest price for the policy mistakes that have led us to where we are today.

Young people will have to pay the taxes to service the debts accumulated in recent years.

Moreover, the global economy is threatened by continued strains in the euro area, and unemployment is still climbing in several countries, in particular in Europe. Young people (those aged 15 to 24) are the most affected, and youth unemployment has reached record levels in a number of countries.

If the right policies are not put into place, there is a risk not only of a lost decade in terms of growth but also of a lost generation.

Consider this. In Spain and Greece, nearly half of all young people cannot find jobs. In the Middle East, young people account for 40 percent or more of all unemployed people in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia and nearly 60 percent in Syria and Egypt. And in the United States, which traditionally has had a strong job creation record, more than 18 percent of all young job seekers cannot find employment.

Legacy of loss

Youth unemployment has long-term consequences for economic growth because of the loss or degradation of human capital. But it also has many other consequences, both for the individuals affected and for society as a whole.



Among those consequences are
Increased costs to the economy: Youth unemployment results in higher unemployment insurance and other benefit payments, lost income tax revenues, and wasted productive capacity.
Brain drain: Youth unemployment often leads to increased emigration, which is clearly happening in Ireland and Iceland and has been a long-standing feature of many Middle Eastern countries. Many crisis-hit economies have a tradition of emigration when the economy undergoes a serious downturn.
Higher crime rates: Increased unemployment has been linked to higher crime rates.
Lower lifetime earnings: Youth unemployment leaves a “wage scar” in the form of lower earnings that can last into middle age. The longer the period of unemployment, the bigger the effect.
Lower life expectancy: Unemployment more generally has been linked to lower life expectancy, a higher incidence of heart attacks later in life, and even higher rates of suicide.

Road map to jobs

The biggest contribution the IMF can make to reducing youth unemployment is helping its member countries foster macroeconomic stability and restore economic growth. It is only when the economy recovers that people will start to find jobs again.

To get the world economy back to where it creates rather than destroys jobs, a number of steps should be taken.

In advanced economies like the United States and Europe, there is a problem of inadequate demand. More needs to be done to energize growth and employment.

Many countries in Europe also face obstacles to hiring young people that are of a more long-standing structural nature.

As part of its policy dialogue with member countries, the IMF is recommending measures to reduce labor market segmentation, lower barriers to competition (especially in the service sector), implement growth-friendly tax reforms, and increase efforts in education and research and development.

Emerging economies are another story. They have been growing strongly, and some—at least until recently—were even at risk of overheating. Some of these countries—mainly those running large external surpluses—could contribute to solving the global and youth unemployment problem by boosting domestic demand and purchasing more goods produced elsewhere, including in advanced economies.

Low-income countries weathered the crisis pretty well after 2008, but in the process used a lot of their government resources. They now need to rebuild their fiscal buffers, so they can sustain employment and redirect spending toward high-priority areas such as health, education, and infrastructure, even if the global environment deteriorates.

Access to credit is another important factor in job creation. That is why it is important to recapitalize banks and more broadly restore confidence, so that financial institutions can get back to the business of lending and contributing to growth.

In developing economies, many banks are lending, but the loans do not reach large segments of the population, particularly young people and would-be entrepreneurs.

Call to action

For millions of young people around the world, a lot is at stake in 2012. If we do not succeed in putting the world economy back on the path to recovery, futures will be blighted, and more dreams will be stolen. To solve the problems of youth unemployment, restoring global growth is crucial, as are policies to support job creation and credit. None of this can be achieved without global cooperation

A country in decay: Greece's youth pay bitter price for the wisdom of their elders

Greek youths will be victims for years to come thanks to the austerity being demanded in return for the 130 billion euro bail-out that was hammered out in Brussels overnight. David Blair reports from Athens.


Greeks are bitterly aware that "bread, education and freedom" will be an empty dream for years to come, thanks to the austerity demanded by Eurozone finance ministers in return for a euros 130 billion bail-out being hammered out Photo: EPA

By David Blair, Athens

4:00AM GMT 21 Feb 2012  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/9094463/A-country-in-decay-Greeces-youth-pay-bitter-price-for-the-wisdom-of-their-elders.html



The knot of 100 black-clad protesters strode out under an anarchist banner through the heart of Athens, their cry simple as it was stark: "bread, education, freedom!".


But for all the sound and fury passers-by barely seemed to notice their fist-waving presence. Ordinary Greeks, wearied by their country's all-consuming crisis, have become inured to demonstrations and the chosen slogan of Monday's march seemed almost quaint.


Greeks are bitterly aware that "bread, education and freedom" will be an empty dream for years to come, thanks to the austerity demanded by Eurozone finance ministers in return for a euros 130 billion bail-out being hammered out.


Athenians now live in a city where physical decay mirrors social malaise: traffic lights have broken down across the capital, either because demonstrators have smashed them or the state, which is sacking thousands of personnel, no longer troubles to fix them. City thoroughfares are stained with graffiti, shops are boarded-up and Stadiou street, scene of the last big protests, is lined with the blackened shells of burnt-out buildings.


Meanwhile, a pack of stray dogs roams the street beside the Parthenon, snarling at passers-by and running in demented pursuit of motorcyclists.

Greece had endured five consecutive years of recession even before the looming onset of this new round of deflation. Unemployment for those aged under 25 already stands at 48 per cent, having risen by more than a third since November 2010. Perhaps most stark of all is a national suicide rate that has doubled from 2.8 per 100,000 people in 2008, to about 6 last year.

Erasmia Dimoula, 25, qualified as a nursery schoolteacher two years ago. Since then, she has not had a job, save for a brief stint as a waitress. She now lives at home, in a state of enforced dependence on her parents, along with her similarly unemployed sister who speaks three languages and has a master's degree in psychology.

"If there wasn't a financial crisis, I would be working now. I'm sure of it," said Miss Dimoula. She will not vote in the elections expected in April and, like many Greeks of her generation, expressed nothing but contempt for the politicians of all parties who brought the country to its current pass.

"I don't expect anything from any government, from any politician. I can only expect things from myself," she said. "You have to take responsibility if you give your vote to these people. Then you'd have to shut up about what's going on."

Young Greeks cannot be blamed for their nation's crisis, but what about an older generation who voted for corrupt governments, handed out jobs according to family or political ties, and artfully avoided taxation? This generation launched a famous student revolt at Athens Polytechnic in 1973, toppling a military regime and bringing in democracy. Then, arguably, they went on to cripple the country.

"A lot of people my age are blaming the Polytechnic generation," said Miss Dimoula. "I found myself doing it as well. But you can't blame a whole generation."

She added: "They are an optimistic generation: they thought things will be better for them and for their children. But we can't be optimistic. We can't believe in anything."

Those from the Polytechnic era who played by the rules were not always rewarded. Miss Dimoula's father worked for 35 years and must now support two unemployed adult daughters from his pension, which has inevitably been cut.

"I want to try and do better, I want to not let this thing get on top of me, but it's very difficult," she said. "There are times that I cry because of all this." Miss Dimoula left for an interview for a vacancy as cashier of an Athens taverna.

One possible answer for young Greeks is to emigrate. Kyriakos Soubasis, 28, graduated in mechanical engineering four years ago and has been unable to find a job. "In the last two years, I never went to an office. I send my CV by email, but no one answers. I have no income right now, I live with my family," he said.

Those of his university contemporaries who do work have often left Greece. "Many of them go abroad: to London, to Berlin. And those who stayed here, some have jobs, but no pay. If the bosses have no money, they don't pay you, perhaps for two or three months."

Half of all small businesses in Greece are unable to meet their payroll costs, while a quarter of companies have gone bankrupt since 2009. Greeks have shown how little they trust their banks by emptying their accounts and stashing savings under metaphorical mattresses: about a third of the money on deposit has been withdrawn.

The established parties of left and right, PASOK and New Democracy respectively, have alternated in power since the advent of democracy in 1974. The leaders of both movements have pledged to implement the agreed austerity measures in return for the bail-out package. Success will mean reducing Greek national debt from today's level of 160 per cent of gross domestic product to a mere 120 per cent by 2020.

"The political system is incapable of handling the situation. The people who created the problem are now going to solve the problem: that's the paradox," said Stelios Kouloglou, a current affairs presenter on national television.

"It is doomed to fail. This just creates more and more recession. It's a vicious circle between more recession and more measures."

One policy, aimed squarely at the poorest members of the workforce, might serve to symbolise them all: the minimum wage will fall by 22 per cent to Pounds 490 per month, less than half of the Pounds 1,050 equivalent in Britain.

In the meantime, Greece has suffered perhaps the most wounding blow of all – its national dignity and self belief has been undermined.

Mr Kouloglou deeply resents the media caricature of the easy-living, non-taxpaying Greek. "It's becoming kind of racist," he said. "You cannot have an honest solution when you have an image as bad as that."

Greece, Youth and the Phoenix

ANTHONY STRANO

Posted: 02/24/2012 12:41 pm  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-strano/greece-youth-and-the-phoe_b_1299533.html



"The day that Youth had died,
There came to his grave-side,
In decent mourning, from the country's ends,
Those scatter'd friends
Who had lived the boon companions of his prime,
And laughed with him and sung with him and wasted,
In feast and wine and many-crown'd carouse,
The days and nights and dawnings of the time
When Youth kept open house.............'
"The Funeral of Youth: Threnody" -- Rupert Brooke

Always it has been a sense of identity, a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose that has provided a state of self-worth and emotional balance to all people, especially those on the threshold of their lives. Greece at the moment is no different but its crisis has pushed the people, especially its young people over the threshold. Not the threshold of creating, planning and visioning for their country but to migrating... this seems to be their only alternative to better their lives, at least, for a significant number of them. Unable to find support they must fulfill their dreams elsewhere. Of course this is not new for the Greeks. Dysfunctional, parochial governance has often, in Greek history, created such conditions. At the core the problem is not really money but an absence of a genuine democratic system. A centuries-old policy of self-aggrandizement in political, religious and social systems that heavily penalizes those who do not comply has been the norm even till today.

The real crisis is and has been an existential one. People do not know how or in what way to exist contentedly. Of course, this is not peculiar to the Greeks. However, at the moment, the Greeks seem to have center stage and their frustration in terms of identity, belonging and purpose are issues for them and particularly their youth.

In Greece there has always been tumultuous fumbling in terms of survival and identity but it has now evolved into a desperation which is so clouded by fear and doubt that solutions are neither believed in nor aimed for. Youth have ideals, dreams, hopes, enthusiasm and optimism to create the best but it is clear that at the moment Hellenic youth have not been considered.

The government's frenetic frenzy to survive and to keep the country buoyant has overshadowed the great necessity to open windows for real opportunity and creativity. It is hopelessly short sighted but the inability to see long term consequences does tend to be a national characteristic. So what other alternative do the young people have except to migrate to warmer and kinder climates? The future is built on the young adults of today. If they go, Greece will go.

We are hearing about the tragic increase in suicides, strange extremes in political groupings, further strikes, and on Sunday, Feb. 12 the biggest outburst of violence and frustration in the streets of Athens were witnessed since this whole austerity and bankruptcy scenario emerged.

The scorched buildings reflect their burnt hopes and trust. Hooded and hidden, violent protesters were depicted as the young and the angry. However many see these hooded protesters as agents of either the police force or government. The truth of these often quoted assumptions cannot be verified but obviously many people believe the extreme violence is a set-up, something else is lurking underneath. People speak of influences and agendas that are in place, intent on disabling their country.

In this protest the hoods took the limelight but they certainly do not represent the vast majority of young people who search for other ways to find viable solutions. New demonstrations are now planned because, though the new bailout was passed, many doubt that the draconian measures that must be implemented can be or even should be. Whom will we see again? The hoods? Rigged police action?

It is so well known that the dinosaur public administration of the country is completely dysfunctional not only because of its extreme outdated-ness but the unjust way it has dealt with the Greek people. For decades the "clientele consciousness" of giving jobs and securing allegiance to political groups where pandering and bribery were and are the norm bred social elitism. Its inevitable collapse is what we are witnessing now. Such systems cannibalize; they are parasitical -- not open and humane to allow a free flow of new perspectives and inputs. The blind leading the blind, the decrepit clenching the decrepit until all the sycophants topple and crash together in a hollering heap. Such is politics!

Is it a wonder that the people have lost faith in their leaders and their systems or rather any system including the IMF and EU? However, worse than that they have lost faith in themselves. Many of the Greeks I have spoken to do realize they have recklessly spent beyond their means, that they had no idea of the meaning of accountability or taking responsibility. Dependent on the traditional "savior consciousness," that someone out there will do everything for them they have negated their own sense of creative responsibility. So they accuse and blame very eloquently those who have betrayed them! Politically and socially they invested in the wrong people and now are faced with the reality that they themselves can only save themselves. On the one hand a very liberating position on the other hand very daunting. Some are even willing for a degree of austerity if it really helps the country. However they cannot stomach the blatant inequalities as the richer, including their own ministers, escape their financial accountability simply because they have the connections and means!

Democracy may have been born in Greece but it seems also to have died here. All of what is happening shows that something absolutely clean and transparent is needed. Things could not go on as they were. Neither young nor old could exist with dignity in such a system.

The majority of the young people are bright, hardworking and willing to try. Of course there is a significant minority spoilt by indulgent parents providing for their every whim and have not learnt the basic human skill of responsible living. You can still find them in abundance hanging around in the coffee shops, talking and smoking for hours. However what is to become of the enterprising ones? What is to become of their energy? Many are leaving or hope to, but on the other hand many, for one reason or another, are staying. They wish to conquer their quiet despair and still hope. Another positive horizon may open they say, as from the ashes of the legendary phoenix bird a young one resurrected for a new cycle of life. The same can happen now to the society no matter how bleak things appear, they keep saying. Some pointed out to me that the phoenix bird was the symbol of the Greek War of Independence.

The noble-hearted Ioannis Kapodistrias, in 1827, was elected the first head of state of an independent Greece. He used the phoenix bird as a symbol of his new provisional government. The symbol was abandoned many, many decades later when the despotic junta also used it. The bird migrated into oblivion. Now it seems it could have a revival as a symbol of spiritual resurrection.

The more reflective youth I have spoken to who cannot or will not migrate feel that neither anarchy nor violent revolution can change people and structures. They believe an inner change in mentality will bring back the moral and creative elements to their society. With a change in thinking and systems the phoenix can fly again out of its self-made funeral pyre of ashes into a better cycle of prosperity. Is this idea too far-fetched? Is it all really, after all, just a myth?

Those of us who have been young, and who still young are at heart, know how ideals do not always translate into practical day to day living so easily but it is said "where there is a will there is a way." All things are possible. And what was at the very, very bottom of Pandora's box? Hope!

Youth always hopes and is willing to venture. Youth has always had this idealist energy. They were and are willing to experiment, to migrate, to stay, to dare, to change, even to sacrifice.

One such young idealist was buried in Greece in 1915 at the age of 27 on the far flung island of Skyros. Young Rupert Brooke was a poet who lived and studied in Cambridge. Brooke, like his more famous predecessor Lord Byron, who was also a poet and Cambridge man , who also idealistically participated in the Greeks' War for Independence about 100 years before, also believed in the great ideal of liberty. Together with his comrades, Brooke sailed to fight in Gallipoli. They felt like the crew of a new Jason and Argonauts expedition eager to recover the Golden Fleece of freedom. Brooke cherished what most Europeans have and still cherish about Greece, a nostalgia for a country and a culture that has shared its superlative heritage with Europe. Actually even helped create and define it. Where has this spirit gone? Will it return?

The phoenix never dies. It is an immortal bird that rejuvenates itself over and over again. Not to go back to the past. The past is the past. It can be appreciated and admired but any nationalistic nostalgia is of no use at the present time. However to rekindle the creative spirit that can again arise and face the challenges of the present is both a possibility and a necessity. A consciousness that can integrate and adapt to the modern reality but with a different compass than the one used by older generations.

The young Brooke found a meaningful direction as expressed in his poem "Peace" (strange title for a young recruit about to enter a war but it most probably expresses that having found his purpose he was at peace with himself):

" Now God be thanked Who has matched us with His
Hour,
And caught our youth, and wakened us from
Sleeping,
With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power.
To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping,
Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary...."

I remember visiting his solitary grave made of white marble surrounded by the turquoise silence of the sea and by a grove of ancient olives that had watched his burial 97 years before. Standing there I felt how another group of youth at the turn of the early 20th century were given a sense of purpose, even of identity through this war for liberation. In hindsight we know that no activity which uses violence as a means can ever liberate. Violence creates enemies and repeating cycles of violence that periodically explode with long suppressed resentments and vengeance. Only when people emerge who have the consciousness to reconcile differences with compassion and heart-felt acceptance does peace and well-being become long lasting.

Brooke became a national icon; even Winston Churchill eulogized his death and sacrifice. The point in later years is that he, like all the young men that died in Gallipoli, did not have to be sacrificed. Mismanagement and inept leaders created propaganda and youth was deceived. Lies are the best things governments are good at and often the truth is discovered many years later, although these days because of the impact of social media "you cannot fool all the people all the time," as easily as in the past. This is a very healthy thing.

As a 19-year-old Brooke had written in "Seaside":

".........I stray alone
Here on the edge of silence, half afraid,
Waiting for a sign........."

What's the sign? Is a debacle a sign? Is it a disguised opportunity for more authentic things to come? Can we hope, can we have the confidence for something better and for a moment leave the" how" and "why" of it and just keep trust as we watch the ashes still glowing?

As one young person earnestly pleaded, "Now we must no longer wait but create!"

Greece's youth: 'I have no hope'

24/10/2011
Degrees in hand but no jobs and few prospects, many of Greece's young say they'll reluctantly abandon their near-bankrupt country and look for work and a new life in other countries. Others are just resigned.

By Andy Dabilis for Southeast European Times in Athens -- 24/10/11




Angelo Kotzampas [Andy Dabilis/SETimes]


Like nearly half of Greeks under the age of 25, Angelo Kotzampas, a recent college graduate, is unemployed.

Kotzampas, 22, who received his degree from a technical school in radiology, recently strolled through riot-damaged Syntagma Square in the centre of Athens, and said he is resigning himself to the idea he may stay jobless.

"I'm looking for work," he said, not with an air of desperation, but matter-of-factly.

He doesn't display the kind of outrage demonstrated in the same spot by scores of thousands of "Indignant", who gathered each night all summer to blow whistles, shout and shine lasers on the parliament building across the street -- angry at pay cuts and big tax hikes.

The austerity measures have largely failed, creating a deep recession of 16% unemployment and more than 40% -- officially -- for young Greeks, although Kotzampas and his friends believe the number is higher. Most of them are without work and losing hope faster than Greece is bleeding red ink.

"I sent my bios to all the hospitals -- Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, Serres," Kotzampas toldSETimes, ticking off the few big cities in the country where he thought he'd have some luck. He didn't.

"I have no offers, no answers," he said, adding that that fact may drive him out of the country.



George Kollios [Andy Dabilis/SETimes]


George Kollios, 25, sighed the same refrain, even though he said he's lucky that he works for his family's long-established jewelry store -- filled with luxury items that many Greeks now avoid buying.

"Everyone who produces something is in trouble … everyone is angry. I want to throw rocks," he told SETimes, although he said he would not, unlike the many thousands who demonstrated and rioted this summer.

While Kollios has a job, he said he knows many young Greeks who don't. "I think I speak for everyone, for young Greeks who have no hope, no perspective. Everyone under 30 wants to leave."

And that's the problem for Greece -- the vanishing young, an estimated 70% who've said in polls they want to migrate to other countries -- the US, England, Canada, Germany, Australia -- in search of a better life. It's the same pattern that their great-grandfathers undertook a century ago, fleeing poverty-stricken lives in Greece in search of a more promised land.

In recent decades, as Greece flourished in the EU -- an economic illusion that has evaporated -- few of its young wanted to live or work elsewhere, but many said they now have no future. They rail against a political patronage system that they said stifles entrepreneurs and young workers with ideas.



Many Greek youth acknowledge they have lost hope in prospects at home. [Reuters]


Nearby, outside the University of Athens, 23-year-old Amalia Ziakos walks with her friend, ignoring junkies shooting up in broad daylight against the walls of the ancient school, while a dozen or so illegal immigrants sell counterfeit goods on sheets spread on the sidewalk.

This violates the EU intellectual property law and undermines small shop owners who've complained about the practice, saying it is hurting their sales as much as the reluctance of Greeks to spend now.

"We hope something will change, but we don't think it will," Ziakos tells SETimes. "I have no hope. If we've come to this point when things are this bad, we're done."

With an estimated 30,000 civil servants being put into a labour reserve pool at 60% pay and likely to be fired in a year -- with another 90,000 to follow over the next three years -- Greece's young feel trapped by a system that prefers the middle-aged worker, yet now is shedding even those jobs. That leaves few prospects for those under 30, and worse for those under 25.

Now a demand from the EU-IMF-ECB Troika that the country scrap the minimum wage that guarantees a 700 euro monthly net pay has left many of the young bereft and seeing no way out except leaving the country. They call themselves the "700 Euro Generation".

Their hopelessness is creating worry that the country will experience a brain drain of its best and brightest young.

Lois Lambrianidis, an economist and geographer at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, told The Australian that 9% of young Greek graduates emigrated between May 2009 and February 2010. "And in recent months, the departures are accelerating," he said, noting that Greece's population of 11 million includes about one million immigrants while the diaspora has seven million – and counting.

Mass uprising of Greece’s youth

Why did Greek youth take to the streets? For the first time since the second world war young people have no hope of a better life than their parents. But there is also a failure of trust in politicians and all state institutions, particularly the police
by Valia Kaimaki


The veteran Greek politician Leonidas Kyrkos, now in his eighties, is an iconic figure of the Greek left. He told me what he’d like to say to the young people out on the streets: “Welcome to social struggle, my friends. Now you must take care of yourself and your struggle.”

Following the killing of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos by a special police unit on 6 December, school and university students have risen up in an unprecedented outpouring of rage. Spontaneous demonstrations, mostly organised by email and SMS, have shaken towns and cities across the country: Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa, Heraklion and Chania in Crete, Ioannina, Volos, Kozani, Komotini.

This is an uprising with many origins; the most obvious is police brutality. Alexis is not the first victim of the Greek police, only the youngest. But its roots also lie in the economic crisis – a national one which struck hard even before the consequences of the global financial storm made themselves felt. On top of this, Greece is going through a profound political crisis, both systemic and moral; it comes from the duplicity of political parties and personalities, which has broken all trust in state institutions.

Alexis’s death wasn’t an exceptional case, or a blot on the otherwise pristine copybook of the Athens police. The list of student and immigrant victims of torture and murder by the police goes back a long way. In 1985, another 15-year-old, Michel Kaltezas, was murdered by a police officer – a crime whitewashed by a corrupt judicial system. The Greek police may be no worse than police forces in other parts of Europe, but the wounds left by Greece’s dictatorship, the military junta of 1967-74, are still open here; and the memory of those seven dark years is deeply ingrained in people’s minds. This society does not forgive as readily as some.
The 700 euro generation

This united front is led by a generation of the very young. There is a reason for this: daily life for most young Greeks is dominated by intensive schooling aimed at securing a university place. Selection is tough and children focus hard on it from the age of 12. But once the lucky ones get there, they soon discover the reality of life after university: at best, a job at €700 ($1,000) a month.

The Greeks know all about the “700 euro generation”. One group has now named a new association after it: Generation 700, or just G700. They try to give a voice to this generation, and give free legal advice too. Those who are lucky enough to get the €700 are freelancers or subcontractors. Even a short-term contract is seen as exceptional, because that would entitle you to some social security, redundancy pay and holidays, whereas a freelance agreement, now common even in the public services, gives you no legal rights or security.

Stratos Fanaras, a political analyst and director of the public opinion survey company Metron Analysis, outlines the situation in Greece: “The studies we have recently conducted show that all economic indices as well as people’s aspirations for the future have sunk to a record low. People feel let down and disillusioned, and cannot see the situation improving. This reaction is the same for men and women, and across all social classes and educational levels. And studies by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research, which has been publishing monthly reports since 1981, also show that economic indices have never been so low.”

For the young, the political system and parties that represent it have no legitimacy. Three political families have reigned over the Greek political scene since the 1950s. The two main parties, New Democracy on the right and the socialists of Pasok, have shared power for more than 30 years.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE), still Stalinist, is in no position to provide solutions. The Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) does at least know how to communicate with the young, and its leap in the opinion polls in the last months has been spectacular: after a modest 5.04% in the national elections of September 2007, it won almost 13% of voter preferences six months later. The election of Alexis Tsipras, 33, as leader of its biggest component, the Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology, Synapismos, has also contributed to this rise in support. The original positions it has taken on current issues have helped to gain support from some young people, as have some well-chosen media coups (Tsipras took a young woman immigrant from Sierra Leone as his partner to the Greek president’s annual reception to commemorate the restoration of democracy). Even after some levelling out, Syriza is still getting about 8%, well ahead of the KKE (which is finding its decline hard to swallow).
Need for a scapegoat

This struggle for primacy on the left may have led the KKE to ally itself with the New Democracy government and the far-right Popular Orthodox Rally (Laos) when the government denounced Syriza as a “haven for rioters”. New Democracy needed a scapegoat to divert the public debate from the causes of the uprising. Pasok, meanwhile, is keeping its mouth shut, knowing that its turn to govern is coming sooner than it expected.

The government of Kostas Karamanlis has much responsibility for all this. Elected in 2004 on a promise of openness and honesty, it has become embroiled in scandals even worse than those of its predecessors. Bribery, corruption, nepotism – and more. The latest concerns the illegal trading of state land for less valuable land owned by the monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos, for which those responsible have still not been brought to justice.

The young are right to believe that in such a corrupt country, no one gets punished. And this belief fuels the violence of their response. Their faces hidden by masks or balaclavas, the most radical demonstrators, mostly anarchists or autonomists, often gather in the main square of the Exarchia district in central Athens, the area where Alexis was killed. The police have a longstanding vendetta against the anarchists of Exarchia, particularly because the district is right next to the Athens Polytechnic, where students fought a decisive battle again the junta in 1973. Street-fighting between radicals and the police in Exarchia has a long history.
No lessons learned

TV coverage of the uprising across the world focused on stock images of burning buildings and petrol-bombers. But there are significant differences between these demonstrations and earlier ones. The crowds of violent protesters are much larger. And the protests are not just in Athens but in a host of towns across mainland Greece and the islands – and they have been going on for some time. That suggests that a great many young people have joined in the violence, and most had no previous contact with the anarchists. On the barricades that have sprung up everywhere you can find kids of 13 or 14.

The government of course used the masked petrol-bombers to inspire fear of a “threat to democracy”. “What democracy?” ask the protesters. It is true that schoolchildren and university students attacked police stations with rocks and that others damaged banks. But only a few days earlier the government, indifferent to the impoverishment of hundreds of thousands of Greeks, gave those banks a gift of €28bn ($39bn). And these are the banks which use private debt-collection agencies to insult and threaten anyone who owes them small sums of money, and to seize their property.

But young people’s anger hasn’t yet led to their politicisation, at least not in the traditional sense. This is not surprising since the political parties themselves, with the exception of those of the far left, are deaf to the demands of the movement. open discussion, not even any sign that they have got the message, no lessons learned,” said Fanaras. “It’s as if they’re just waiting for the young to get tired of smashing things up and believe that will be the end of the uprising.” Some, he thinks, may retreat into passivity and isolation. Others may be drawn into terrorist groups. “It was already like that after the murder of Michel Kaltezas,” said Alexandros Yiotis, a former journalist and “anarcho-syndicalist” who had been active in that movement in France, Spain and Greece. “In particular, they swelled the ranks of the [Greek] 17 November terrorist group.”

There are two striking things in the state propaganda relayed by the media, especially television. The first concerns the role of immigrants in the uprising. It is claimed that all the shops that were burned were targeted by hungry immigrants. And even that in Asia, for example, “it is standard practice: people demonstrate, break into shops and then loot them.” But the violent protesters were, for the most part, ordinary Greeks, in revolt against a corrupt political system. And when Roma took part in some of the violence, they were avenging their own people, forgotten victims of police repression.

Still, some of the looting was indeed the work of hungry crowds, Greek for the most part. “It’s a new phenomenon,” said one student. “In protests in the past you’d get students and trade unions at the front, then political parties with Syriza at the back. Behind them would be the anarchists and, when things kicked off, they would move among the ranks of Syriza… and everyone would get beaten up. But now, behind the anarchists there’s a new bloc – the hungry. Whether they are immigrants, drug addicts or down-and-outs, they know you can usually get something to eat on a protest.”
World turned upside down

A second invention of the government and media is the claim that “angry citizens” have taken the law into their own hands to chase off rioters. On the contrary: they have often tried to chase off the riot police. Small shopkeepers shout at them to get lost; passers-by wade in to try and rescue students they’ve arrested. Having understood they cannot keep their children at home, parents and grandparents join them on the streets in order to look after them. A world turned upside down.

Will the movement continue to grow? “There’s plenty of fuel for it,” said Dimitris Tsiodras, a journalist and political analyst. “For the global economic crisis will soon begin to bite here and a great many young people will remain marginalised; and the education system isn’t exactly going to improve tomorrow morning, and there isn’t any sign of an end to political corruption.”

It is not only a question for Greece. The movement has managed to export itself – or simply converge with others elsewhere. For one good reason: there is a whole generation, the first since the second world war, which has no hope for a better life than their parents. And that is not an exclusively Greek phenomenon.

http://mondediplo.com/2009/01/06greece 

Greece on the breadline: view from a teenager

'The issue is not violence, but misery' – Jon Henley uncovers the hopes and fears of young people




'Greece needs help and support because it has great history and it deserves it'. Photograph: John Kolesidis/Reuters


Katherine Poseidon, a secondary school teacher of English in Athens, asked her class of 13-year-olds to write a letter to a foreign newspaper editor about what they would like people outside Greece to really know of their lives here.

"I was quite frankly blown away by what they produced," Poseidon said. "Each has a different focus, but all share their hopes and fears for the future of Greece, and their worries about how the rest of the world views them."

Greece's crisis, and how it is viewed and portrayed, is preoccupying even quite young Greek teenagers. Katherine, who also blogs, sent me some extracts. Here they are:




"My life and everyday routine is the same, but my parents seem different. They try to hide it, but I've heard them talk." - Mina

"Living in Greece is difficult when you see suffering and when the politicians continue to vote in programmes from Europewithout solving the problem. Not all people have caused this crisis, but the people who actually did continue to make wrong decisions. Please do not humiliate our country. Greece needs help and support because it has great history and it deserves it." – Chris

"As you can see, things are bad in our country and it won't be easy for us to get out of this crisis. However, sometimes people exaggerate and talk about Greece as if it is completely ruined and there's no way we can be saved. That is not true and unfair towards us. I'd like the rest of the world to know that we Greeks are proud of our nation. I'm sure that we will overcome this crisis since we are hard-working and persistent and we don't give up easily." – Tetty

"No one seems to care about the huge effort the citizens of Greece make, oppressed by unbearable taxes, the increase in prices and the pressure we put up with from all around the globe. Statistics show that we have one of Europe's top rates of unemployment, poverty and homeless people. Parents worry about their kids' future since they can't even pay for their food. A new image has appeared in Athens, our city that even we can't recognise anymore." – Eleana

"Things have been tight and hard for lots of families. But, honestly, if people believe they are helping the situation by humiliating and throwing the blame on the Greeks, then this is an illusion. Right now Greece needs other countries to help us stand on our own feet and make reasonable changes." – Ioli

"Have you ever thought about the big nations and the advice they gave Greece in the first place that led this country into the state it is now? And we are still taking advice from the 'Good advisers', for no other reason except we have nowhere else to turn. We have not got the choice to recede from the big international forces. So please, consider my advice, and choose not to demote my fellow citizens but help people understand the situation that really exists. Even though I am a 13-year-old I believe I know better about my fellow citizens than the media that change the real story into a tragedy." - Max

"It is sad that most interviews are not taken from people who still feel optimistic about the recovery of Greece. This includes the majority of the population who realise that mistakes have been made and are ready to help their country and compatriots overcome them." - Odysseas

"Everyday life in Athens doesn't correspond to the violence shown on television. There are long lines of people waiting for free lunches, but there isn't a fire outside every building! Supermarkets organise collection points for customers who offer groceries for voluntary organisations. Life in Greece is actually quiet and depressing. Greeks go out far less than before and restaurants and bars are quite empty. So the issue is not violence, but misery! But Greeks continue to stand on their feet. For that they should be respected." - Louise

"Life in Greece has changed dramatically for many people over the last year or so. Everyone has been affected in one way or another, by the loss of a job, unemployment, the reduction of pensions, the increase of taxation. Poor people seem to have been penalised more than the rich, and this is one of the reasons for the protests and violence we see on the news. I think that people in other countries should know that the new generation, to which I belong, considers Greece to have a great future. I think we deserve another chance." - Alexia




http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2012/mar/17/greece-on-the-breadline-teenagers-talk?newsfeed=true

Greek jobless rate hits new record in Q4

By George Georgiopoulos


ATHENS | Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:36am EDT


(Reuters) - Greece's jobless rate rose to a fresh quarterly record of 20.7 percent in the last three months of 2011, reflecting the country's deep economic malaise, exacerbated by austerity to repair public finances and emerge from a debt crisis.

Greece secured a new 130 billion euro bailout from its euro zone partners and the IMF this week, after agreeing further painful budget cuts. But the labor market's sharp deterioration is feeding public discontent and hurting consumer confidence. On Thursday, statistics agency ELSTAT data showed jobs being shed at a fast pace as unemployment rose from 17.7 percent in the third quarter and from 14.2 percent in the last quarter of 2010.

"The quarterly unemployment data reflect the deepening pace of the domestic economic contraction. Considering that unemployment is a lagging indicator, we should not rule out a further rise in the jobless rate in the months ahead," said EFG Eurobank economist Platon Monokroussos.

Young people have been hardest hit by the country's protracted economic recession. Almost four in ten people in the 15-to-29 age group were out of work, data showed, up from 28 percent in the same period a year earlier.

One of the worst affected economic sectors is construction, where employment dropped 19 percent year-on-year.

Greece's 215 billion euro economy slumped by 7 percent in 2011 and is projected to remain in recession for a fifth consecutive year in 2012.

The economic downturn is making it harder for the government to meet revenue targets and cut the budget gap, raising the risk that further belt-tightening may be necessary.

"It will be difficult to stabilize the trend in the first half of 2012. The main hopes for a slowdown in the trend rest on the summer months when there may be an improved picture because of tourism and exports," said National Bank economist Nikos Magginas.

ELSTAT said the number officially unemployed reached 1,025,877 in the fourth quarter, an increase of 44.1 percent year-on-year and of 16.8 percent from the third quarter.

Greece's December unemployment rate was almost double the 17-country euro zone's seasonally adjusted average of 10.6 percent, but is still lower than 22.9 percent seen in Spain in the fourth quarter.

Greek unemployment figures are not seasonally adjusted.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Catherine Evans)

(Corrects year in first paragraph)






http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/15/us-greece-unemployment-idUSBRE82E0I620120315

Europe's Scariest Chart Just Got Scarier

Tyler Durden 11/3/12


The last time we plotted European youth unemployment in what was dubbed "Europe's scariest chart" we were surprised to discover that when it comes to "Arab Spring inspiring" youth unemployment, Spain was actually worse off than even (now officially broke) Greece, whose young adult unemployment at the time was only just better compared to that... of the United States. Luckily, following the latest economic (yes, we laughed too) update from Greece, it is safe to say that things are back to normal, as Greek youth unemployment is officially the second one in Europe after Spain to surpass 50%. In other words, Europe's scariest chart just got even scarier.





And so while the Greek economy is in tatters, following another downward revision to its GDP as reported last week, this time dragging Q4 GDP from -7.0% to -7.5%, that's only the beginning, and it now appears that a terminal collapse of not just the Greek financial sector, but its society as well, has commenced, as the number of people unemployed in the 11 million person country is now 41% greater than its was a year ago. FromAthens News:


The average unemployment rate for 2011 jumped to 17.3 percent from 12.5 percent in the previous year, according to the figures, which are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

Youth were particularly hit. For the first time on record, more people between 15-24 years were without a job than with one. Unemployment in that age group rose to 51.1 percent, twice as high as three years ago.


Budget cuts imposed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund as a condition for dealing with the country's debt problems have caused a wave of corporate closures and bankruptcies.

Greece's economy is estimated to have shrunk by a about a fifth since 2008, when it plunged into its deepest and longest post-war recession. About 600,000 jobs, more than one in ten, have been destroyed in the process.

Things will get worse before they get better, according to analysts. "Despite some emergency government measures to boost employment in early 2012, it is hard to see how the upward unemployment trend can be stabilised in the first half of the year," said Nikos Magginas, an economist at National Bank of Greece.

A record 1,033,507 people were without work in December, 41 percent more than in the same month last year. The number of people in work dropped to a record low of 3,899,319, down 7.9 percent year-on-year.

When will the Greeks ask themselves if the complete and utter destruction of their society is worth it, just to pretend that life as a European colony is worth living. Especially now that pension funds have been vaporized?


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/europes-scariest-chart-just-got-scarier

Greece’s Lost Generation: 51.5% Out of Work

By Andy Dabilis on March 8, 2012 In Economy, News, Politics

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/03/08/greeces-lost-generation-51-5-out-of-work/

Jobless Greeks line up to receive their benefit at an unemployment bureau in Athens November 11, 2011. (REUTERS/John Kolesidis)

ATHENS – Austerity measures imposed by international lenders in return for bailouts to keep the country from defaulting are taking their toll on Greek workers, with 21 percent now out of work – and 51.5 percent of those under 25 unemployed, again setting records. Numbers from Greece’s statistics agency ELSTAT said the overall jobless rate is now twice that of the rest of the Eurozone of countries using the euro as a currency, and that there are more young without work than those who have a job. The unemployment rate for the young is twice as high as it was three years ago, before the economic crisis began, and Greece has surpassed Spain as the country with the most jobless young.

A record 1,033,507 people were without work in December, 41 percent more than in the same month last year. The number in work dropped to a record low of 3,899,319, down 7.9 percent year-on-year. Overall, the rate has risen by 40 percent over a year ago with signs that it will continue to climb amid a wave of company closures and private businesses now beginning to make deep cuts to the salaries of their workers.

Pay cuts for public workers, tax hikes, slashed pensions, and the coming firing of 150,000 workers in exchange for a first bailout of $152 billion from the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) Troika and a pending second rescue of $172 billion have led to the closing of more than 111,000 businesses, with many more expected. The second bailout also came with a requirement that Greece cut the minimum wage by 22 percent, and 32 percent for the young. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who doubled income and property taxes and for the first time assessed a tax on the poor, said Greece’s young now could be forced to work for about $160 a week after taxes, equivalent to rates in the United States 50 years ago. Meanwhile, tax evaders costing the country more than $60 billion have so far largely gone unprosecuted, despite a recent crackdown which led to the arrest of more than 100 tax cheats.

The average unemployment rate for 2011 jumped to 17.3 percent from 12.5 percent in the previous year, according to the figures, which are not adjusted for seasonal factors. Greece’s economy is estimated to have shrunk by a about a fifth since 2008, when it plunged into its deepest and longest post-war recession. About 600,000 jobs, more than one in ten, have been destroyed in the process.

Things will get worse before they get better, according to analysts. “Despite some emergency government measures to boost employment in early 2012, it is hard to see how the upward unemployment trend can be stabilized in the first half of the year,” Nikos Magginas, an economist at National Bank of Greece, told the Associated Press. Most analysts believe it will get much worse and already more than 70 percent of young Greeks have said they want to leave their homeland to find jobs and a new life elsewhere, many saying they have gone past hope and are giving up.

Even college graduates will find themselves with the prospect of now having to work for the minimum wage, providing little incentive for them and contributing to the “brain drain” in which Greece is seeing many of its brightest and youngest leaving. Last July in Athens, at a debate entitled I Am Leaving Greece about many of Greece’s young fleeing, Grigoris Farmakis, Managing Consultant at the Greek information technology company Grigoris Farmakis, said the country’s young could use their skills elsewhere. “Every person who works outside our borders, or establishes a business there, or sets up a laboratory at a university is yet another small chance for yet another new method of cooperation,” Farmakis said. “A chance to cooperate with a business here, the chance to cooperate with a laboratory here, or the chance to promote an idea that would have been lost here.”

Apostolos Doxiadis, author of Logicomix, said there was a difference between leaving Greece young and those who did so a century ago in mass emigration to the United States, Australia and other countries. “Staying in 2011 is not the same as staying in 1920 or in 1950,” Doxiadis said. “To leave does not mean exile, that I go and do not turn back or that I listen to Kazantzidi and I cry.”

Europe's Youth Unemployment Crisis Is Leading To An Exodus

Wolf Richter|February 01, 2012

Unemployment is a staggering problem in those Eurozone coutries that are at the core of the debt crisis. Spain’s jobless rate jumped to 22.8%. Among 16 to 24-year-olds, it's an unimaginable 51.4%, up from 18% in 2008 when Spain’s crisis began with the collapse of its housing bubble. In Greece, youth unemployment reached 46.6%. In Portugal, it’s 30.7%, in Italy 30.1%.
And optimism, that essential source of energy for the younger generation, has been replaced by pessimism. Gallup reported that 80% of the people in the EU had a negative outlook on their local job situation. Crisis countries were at the extreme end of pessimism: in Portugal, 84% thought it was a “bad time” to find a job; in Italy, 91%; in Spain, 92%; in Ireland, 93%; and in Greece, 96%These numbers convey a sense of utter hopelessness. For young people, the vision of a good life that their society has imparted on them has gone up in smoke. A bitter irony: it’s the best educated generation ever—and the most pessimistic.
People deal with it the best they can. Some retrench. Even 35-year-olds move back in with their parents. They delay plans and wait for the situation to turn around. But others, the most energetic and entrepreneurial, those that the country needs to rebuild the economy, they don’t have that kind of patience. They pack up and leave to find a job elsewhere. And they are doing it in massive numbers.
Spaniards are heading mostly to Argentina whose economy has been booming over the last few years, though troubles are everywhere. The exodus reversed the flow from Argentina to Spain following Argentina’s bankruptcy in 2001. For many years a magnet for immigrants, Spain registered a net emigration of 50,000 people in 2011.
Portuguese prefer their former colonies. Angola, whose official language is Portuguese, has a wealth of natural resources, particularly oil and diamonds. Since 2002, after a quarter century of civil war, the economy has grown in the double digits every year, and Luanda has become the most expensive city in the world. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 70,000 Portuguese sought their fortunes in Angola in 2010 alone. Similar numbers are expected for 2011. For Portugal, with a population of only 10.5 million, it’s significant.
Other Portuguese try their luck in Brazil whose economy is in need of engineers and experts of all kinds. Brazil recently softened its immigration restrictions to attract the educated elite—and others are have taken notice. For example, the number of Spaniards immigrating to Brazil jumped by 45% in 2011.
Ireland has had a net outflow of people since 2009. First, Polish immigrants who could no longer find work returned home, but then the Irish themselves set out mostly for Australia and New Zealand, which have favorable visa agreements with the EU. 40,000 left in 2011, many of them women.
Greeks head to Germany, an irony of sorts, given the bad will that German efforts to impose strict austerity measures have engendered in Greece.
When educated and entrepreneurial young people leave their country in massive numbers, it impacts the economy for the long term. Their country invested heavily in their education, an asset, and now they put this asset to work in another country. There, they earn money, pay taxes, consume goods and services, and rent or buy a home—the exact activities that their own country must have to get out of the economic quagmire. Sure, emigration reduces the expenses for unemployment compensation and other services, but it drains the economy of energy, entrepreneurial spirit, can-do attitude, and know-how.
And it worsens the debt crisis. For national debt to remain “sustainable,” young people need to stick around, start a productive career, consume, build up assets, move into those vacant homes that banks are holding, and pay taxes. But the exodus underway now doesn’t bode well for a long-term solution of the debt crisis—assuming that a country like Greece can even stay in the Eurozone.
"The case of Greece is hopeless," Otmar Issing said. He should know. He was on the Bundesbank and the ECB. Another substantive voice in an increasingly loud chorus. But it’s legally impossible to kick Greece out of the Eurozone. So he suggested a procedure—a procedure that has been happening all along. 

Read more: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-01/europe/31011916_1_immigrants-oil-and-diamonds-angola#ixzz1oZI1jK5z