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Economy
In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 7 December 2012 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)53. Depression Deepens Greek Middle Class Despair With Crime
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-06/depression-deepens-greek-middle-class-despair-with-crime-rising.html
Anastasia Karagaitanaki, 57, is a former model and cafe owner in Thessaloniki, Greece. After losing her business to the financial crisis, she now sleeps on a daybed next to the refrigerator in her mothers kitchen and depends on charity for food and insulin for her diabetes....For thousands of Greeks like Karagaitanaki, the fabric of middle-class life is unraveling. Teachers, salaries slashed by a third, are stealing electricity. Families in once-stable neighborhoods are afraid to leave their homes because of rising street crime.
Karagaitanakis family cant afford gas to heat their home this winter and will rely on electric blankets in the chilly northern Greek city. They live on the 785 euros ($1,027) a month their mother collects monthly from their late fathers pension. Two years ago, Karagaitanaki sold her jewelry for 3,000 euros, which she gave to her two sons. Her blood sugar is rising because she cant afford the meat and vegetables her doctor recommends and instead eats rice and beans she gets from the Greek Orthodox Church.
SAYS George Tzogopoulos, a research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy in Athens:
Greeces effective poverty rate has risen to 36 percent from about 20 percent in 2009, Matsaganis said. About 8.5 percent of Greeks now live in extreme poverty and cant afford a basic basket of goods and services, he said.
The crisis is shredding the middle class, which is feeling the brunt of public-sector salary reductions and private job losses while paying higher taxes, said Elias Papaioannou, an associate professor of economics at London Business School.
Anastasia Karagaitanaki, 57, is a former model and cafe owner in Thessaloniki, Greece. After losing her business to the financial crisis, she now sleeps on a daybed next to the refrigerator in her mothers kitchen and depends on charity for food and insulin for her diabetes....For thousands of Greeks like Karagaitanaki, the fabric of middle-class life is unraveling. Teachers, salaries slashed by a third, are stealing electricity. Families in once-stable neighborhoods are afraid to leave their homes because of rising street crime.
Karagaitanakis family cant afford gas to heat their home this winter and will rely on electric blankets in the chilly northern Greek city. They live on the 785 euros ($1,027) a month their mother collects monthly from their late fathers pension. Two years ago, Karagaitanaki sold her jewelry for 3,000 euros, which she gave to her two sons. Her blood sugar is rising because she cant afford the meat and vegetables her doctor recommends and instead eats rice and beans she gets from the Greek Orthodox Church.
We are waiting every month for my mothers pension, Karagaitanaki said. If my mother dies, what can I do? Everyone here is dependent on their parents' pensions.
SAYS George Tzogopoulos, a research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy in Athens:
I dont think there is a single Greek citizen who believes that things will be better. There is no money for people to spend.
Greeces effective poverty rate has risen to 36 percent from about 20 percent in 2009, Matsaganis said. About 8.5 percent of Greeks now live in extreme poverty and cant afford a basic basket of goods and services, he said.
The crisis is shredding the middle class, which is feeling the brunt of public-sector salary reductions and private job losses while paying higher taxes, said Elias Papaioannou, an associate professor of economics at London Business School.
People are suffering massively. To me, its the collapse of the state.
Were at war, Giannakis said. The state is against us and were trying to protect ourselves and our rights, as much as we can. Things are becoming ferocious.
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