December 2, 2012
Greeks turn to the forests for fuel as winter nears After first felling society’s most vulnerable, with pensioners and low-income workers at the fore, debt-stricken Greece’s great economic crisis is now destroying the middle class. The announcement this week that €44bn in emergency aid will soon be funnelled into the country – the latest in a series of rescue programmes by the EU and IMF to prop up an economy running on empty – comes as little consolation for people on the ground. Poised for their worst winter since the eruption of the crisis three years ago, Greeks who once thought nothing of heating their homes now hesitate. After relentless waves of austerity and tax rises that have seen their purchasing power drop by up to 50%, even doctors and lawyers are feeling the pinch, with many saying they cannot afford the 40% surcharge the government has slapped on heating oil. Having been on the frontline of Europe’s debt drama from the outset, Greece embraced austerity in return for international financial assistance that has kept bankruptcy at bay and tied it to the family of single currency nations. But the effect has been ever more devastating on its social fabric. Middle class downsizing is the latest tell-tale sign in a country whose GDP officials predict will shrink 25% by 2014 – a contraction unheard of in an advanced western economy since America’s Great Depression. (via The Guardian)

Greeks turn to the forests for fuel as winter nears

After first felling society’s most vulnerable, with pensioners and low-income workers at the fore, debt-stricken Greece’s great economic crisis is now destroying the middle class. The announcement this week that €44bn in emergency aid will soon be funnelled into the country – the latest in a series of rescue programmes by the EU and IMF to prop up an economy running on empty – comes as little consolation for people on the ground.

Poised for their worst winter since the eruption of the crisis three years ago, Greeks who once thought nothing of heating their homes now hesitate. After relentless waves of austerity and tax rises that have seen their purchasing power drop by up to 50%, even doctors and lawyers are feeling the pinch, with many saying they cannot afford the 40% surcharge the government has slapped on heating oil.

Having been on the frontline of Europe’s debt drama from the outset, Greece embraced austerity in return for international financial assistance that has kept bankruptcy at bay and tied it to the family of single currency nations. But the effect has been ever more devastating on its social fabric. Middle class downsizing is the latest tell-tale sign in a country whose GDP officials predict will shrink 25% by 2014 – a contraction unheard of in an advanced western economy since America’s Great Depression. (via The Guardian)

10:10pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxYX73DA
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Greece Greek Debt Crisis Greek Financial Crisis Eurozone Eurozone Debt Crisis Eurozone Financial Crisis Economy Austerity Poverty Fuel Poverty 
November 30, 2012
Spanish unemployment crisis – picture gallery Jasper Juinen was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1973. He left school at the age of 16 to start as a trainee with Reuters photographer Jerry Lampen, then joined Getty Images in 2007. Here, he documents the troubles of Villacañas in Spain, a formerly thriving industrial town now struggling with unemployment (via guardian.co.uk)

Spanish unemployment crisis – picture gallery

Jasper Juinen was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1973. He left school at the age of 16 to start as a trainee with Reuters photographer Jerry Lampen, then joined Getty Images in 2007. Here, he documents the troubles of Villacañas in Spain, a formerly thriving industrial town now struggling with unemployment (via guardian.co.uk)

10:09pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxYNcAbl
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Jasper Juinen Villacañas Spain Unemployment Economy Spanish Economic Crisis Eurozone Crisis Photography 
March 14, 2012
Dutch government in lockdown as AAA-rated country comes unstuck A hush has descended on a handsome 17th century villa in The Hague where the leaders of the Netherlands’ rightwing minority government are huddled over spending ledgers, debt projections, budget balances, housing market analyses and deteriorating pension fund figures. Mark Rutte, prime minister and leader of the liberal-conservative VVD party, has imposed a vow of omerta on his colleagues locked away in his official residence until they chart a path out of a worsening public finances debacle. Europe’s two-year debt and deficit crisis has pitted preachy northern creditors against “feckless” Mediterranean spendthrifts – countries the Dutch are wont to dub the “garlic belt”. But suddenly the air in Brussels and elsewhere is thick with tales of pots and kettles, glass houses and stonethrowing as the triple-A rated Netherlands comes unstuck. Rutte launched the three-week retreat for the top members of his government at his residence last week after shock budget projections from the CPB Bureau for Economic Analysis, the old and authoritative thinktank which crunches the finance ministry’s numbers. The CPB, accustomed to delivering inarguable verdicts on fiscal and budgetary policy, said the Netherlands was in flagrant breach of the new eurozone rulebook and fiscal pact it has been highly instrumental in drafting. (via The Guardian)

Dutch government in lockdown as AAA-rated country comes unstuck

A hush has descended on a handsome 17th century villa in The Hague where the leaders of the Netherlands’ rightwing minority government are huddled over spending ledgers, debt projections, budget balances, housing market analyses and deteriorating pension fund figures.

Mark Rutte, prime minister and leader of the liberal-conservative VVD party, has imposed a vow of omerta on his colleagues locked away in his official residence until they chart a path out of a worsening public finances debacle.

Europe’s two-year debt and deficit crisis has pitted preachy northern creditors against “feckless” Mediterranean spendthrifts – countries the Dutch are wont to dub the “garlic belt”.

But suddenly the air in Brussels and elsewhere is thick with tales of pots and kettles, glass houses and stonethrowing as the triple-A rated Netherlands comes unstuck.

Rutte launched the three-week retreat for the top members of his government at his residence last week after shock budget projections from the CPB Bureau for Economic Analysis, the old and authoritative thinktank which crunches the finance ministry’s numbers.

The CPB, accustomed to delivering inarguable verdicts on fiscal and budgetary policy, said the Netherlands was in flagrant breach of the new eurozone rulebook and fiscal pact it has been highly instrumental in drafting. (via The Guardian)

8:51am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxHzQm6x
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Netherlands Holland The Hague Economy Mark Rutte VVD Party CPB Bureau for Economic Analysis Euro Eurozone Eurozone Debt Crisis Eurozone Financial Crisis 
March 7, 2012
Italy’s Mason-Dixon Line: Euro Crisis Fuels South Tyrolean Separatist Dreams Many in northern Italy have long wanted to secede. Now, the euro crisis is giving the separatist movement new momentum, with the rich north unwilling to pony up for the poor south. Prime Minister Monti’s efforts to exert control may be making matters worse. (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)

Italy’s Mason-Dixon Line: Euro Crisis Fuels South Tyrolean Separatist Dreams

Many in northern Italy have long wanted to secede. Now, the euro crisis is giving the separatist movement new momentum, with the rich north unwilling to pony up for the poor south. Prime Minister Monti’s efforts to exert control may be making matters worse. (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)

2:33am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxHbPxcD
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: Italy South Tyrol Politics Economy Autonomous Regions Separatism Eurozone Crisis Eurozone Debt Crisis Populism 
March 7, 2012
Puertollano, Spain Mercedes Garcia, the director of a residency for severely mentally disabled adults run by Fuente Agria Foundation, hugs a patient. The residency has been running on fumes for months because the local government, squeezed by austerity measures to combat the euro zone debt crisis, has not paid its share of expenses. (via Reuters.com)

Puertollano, Spain

Mercedes Garcia, the director of a residency for severely mentally disabled adults run by Fuente Agria Foundation, hugs a patient. The residency has been running on fumes for months because the local government, squeezed by austerity measures to combat the euro zone debt crisis, has not paid its share of expenses. (via Reuters.com)

1:19am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxHb7gSz
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Spain Puertollano Fuente Agria Foundation Local Government Spending Cuts Austerity Economy Eurozone Crisis Eurozone Debt Crisis Photography 
March 5, 2012
Armenian Economy: a Diagnosis Policy Forum Armenia, a Washington based Armenian think tank and advocacy group, has published an in-depth report, which might well be the best diagnosis of Armenia’s economic woes available out there. Unlike the optimistic wish-like projections of the Armenian officials, or the softened, politically colored evaluations of World Bank and IMF officials on the state of the Armenian economy, this report lays out well reasoned and factually backed criticism of key aspects of the Armenian economy, dwelling on public debt, fiscal policy, taxation, inflation and the banking sector. The report warns that unless drastic changes in the economic policy direction and political-economy landscape are carried out, within the next 3 years, Armenia will be forced to undergo a large and painful devaluation of its currency, the dram, and/or an external sovereign debt restructuring or default. (via The Armenian Observer Blog)

Armenian Economy: a Diagnosis

Policy Forum Armenia, a Washington based Armenian think tank and advocacy group, has published an in-depth report, which might well be the best diagnosis of Armenia’s economic woes available out there.

Unlike the optimistic wish-like projections of the Armenian officials, or the softened, politically colored evaluations of World Bank and IMF officials on the state of the Armenian economy, this report lays out well reasoned and factually backed criticism of key aspects of the Armenian economy, dwelling on public debt, fiscal policy, taxation, inflation and the banking sector.

The report warns that unless drastic changes in the economic policy direction and political-economy landscape are carried out, within the next 3 years, Armenia will be forced to undergo a large and painful devaluation of its currency, the dram, and/or an external sovereign debt restructuring or default. (via The Armenian Observer Blog)

1:17am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxHURW8P
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Armenia Analysis Economics Economy Debt Fiscal Policy Taxation Inflation Banking Policy Forum Armenia 
March 1, 2012
"It is hardly surprising that “austerity” is unpopular. It is nothing other than a transfer of incomes from labour and the poor to capital and the rich. One of the greatest fallacies of the current crisis is that “there is no money left”. This is wholly untrue. Companies are sitting on cash mountains all across Europe. And the profit share of national income has risen. This is why stock markets are rising – corporate incomes (profits) are rising."

—

Michael Buurke on how Ireland’s EU referendum can strike a blow against ‘austerity’

(via guardian.co.uk)

6:19am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxHHB1R9
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: Ireland Referendum EU Fiscal Treaty Eurozone Euro Economy Eurozone Debt Crisis Eurozone Financial Crisis Quotes Austerity 
February 16, 2012
Athens, Greece A woman suffering from the effects of teargas passes a defaced Bank of Greece sign during protests against planned reforms by Greece’s coalition government (via guardian.co.uk)

Athens, Greece

A woman suffering from the effects of teargas passes a defaced Bank of Greece sign during protests against planned reforms by Greece’s coalition government (via guardian.co.uk)

2:24pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxGVg69i
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: Greece Athens Protest Demonstration Economy Greek Debt Crisis Greek Economic Crisis Greek Financial Crisis Austerity Teargas Bank of Greece Photography 
February 4, 2012
European Union: Angela’s commandments - cartoon German chancellor Merkel’s Tablets of Fiscal Law according to The Economist: “Thou shalt not incur a structural deficit. Thou shalt pay down thy excessive debt. Thou shalt adopt a balanced-budget rule in thy constitution, and subject it to the European Court of Justice.” (via Presseurop)

European Union: Angela’s commandments - cartoon

German chancellor Merkel’s Tablets of Fiscal Law according to The Economist: “Thou shalt not incur a structural deficit. Thou shalt pay down thy excessive debt. Thou shalt adopt a balanced-budget rule in thy constitution, and subject it to the European Court of Justice.” (via Presseurop)

8:22pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxFu65z0
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: EU European Union Eurozone Eurozone Fiscal Pact Angela Merkel Economy Cartoon Peter Schrank 
February 4, 2012
Athens, Greece Hackers associated with the activist group Anonymous posted a protest against Greece’s EU and IMF-inspired austerity policies on the website of the country’s justice ministry. Hackers involved with the loosely organised group have been linked to attacks around the world aimed at punishing governments for policies they dislike. (via ZUMA)

Athens, Greece

Hackers associated with the activist group Anonymous posted a protest against Greece’s EU and IMF-inspired austerity policies on the website of the country’s justice ministry. Hackers involved with the loosely organised group have been linked to attacks around the world aimed at punishing governments for policies they dislike. (via ZUMA)

2:24pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxFt2kDl
(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: Greece Athens Greek Ministry of Justice Hackers Hacking Anonymous Economy Austerity 
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