Financial Crisis in Greece

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  • Prolet
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2009
    • 5241

    Over 580 Different Jobs in Greece listed as "Hazardous" = Early Retirement

    Thursday, 11 March 2010


    Vasia Veremi may be only 28, but as a hairdresser in Athens, she is keenly aware that, under a current law that treats her job as hazardous to her health, she has the right to retire with a full pension at age 50.
    “I use a hundred different chemicals every day — dyes, ammonia, you name it,” she said. “You think there’s no risk in that?”

    “People should be able to retire at a decent age,” Ms. Veremi added. “We are not made to live 150 years.”

    Right, but that still makes it difficult to explain to anyone outside Athens why the Greek government has identified at least 580 job categories that are deemed to be hazardous enough to merit retiring early — at age 50 for women and 55 for men.

    The law includes some predictably dangerous jobs like coal mining and bomb disposal. But it also covers positions like radio and television presenters who are thought to be at risk from the bacteria on their microphones and musicians playing wind instruments who must contend with gastric reflux as they puff and blow <--- are they serious?

    As a consequence of decades of bargains struck between strong unions and weak governments, Greece has promised early retirement to about 700,000 employees, or 40 percent of its work force, giving it one the lowest average retirement ages in Europe at 61.

    But its patchwork system of early retirement has contributed to the out-of-control state spending that led to Europe’s current sovereign debt crisis.

    The predicament has emerged as a divisive topic within Europe, especially because Germany, Greece’s most stubborn taskmaster on fiscal matters, has already taken politically difficult steps to increase its retirement age to 67 and reduce benefits.

    Indeed, the problem with Greek pensions far outweighs the troubles caused by finagling with its accounts in the early 1990s to get its official deficit figures low enough to qualify to join the euro club. A recent report by the European Commission found that Greek spending on pensions and health care for its aging population, if left unchecked, would soar from just over 20 percent of G.D.P. today to about 37 percent of G.D.P. by 2060, the highest level in Europe.

    Of course, Greece is not alone. Bigger countries like Germany, France, Spain and Italy have relied for decades on a munificent state financed by a range of stiff taxes to keep the political peace. Now, governments across Europe are being pressed to re-examine their commitments to providing generous pensions over extended retirements because the downturn has suddenly pushed at least part of these hidden costs to the surface.

    The situation in the United States is different but equally dire. The United States government will face its own fiscal reckoning, analysts say, as 78 million baby boomers begin drawing on underfinanced Social Security and Medicare programs to support them in retirement.
    Without some combination of raising taxes, reducing benefits or pushing back the retirement age, both programs will run out of money within the next few decades. And many American states are woefully short of meeting their pension obligations for public employees.

    In Europe, the conflict has already erupted on the streets of several major cities, with workers demanding that generous retirement policies be kept while governments press to pare pensions and raise retirement ages because taxpayers cannot bear any additional weight and creditors will no longer finance excessive borrowing.

    To make matters worse, the unfunded pension liabilities far outweigh the high levels of official sovereign debt that governments owe creditors, which have caught Greece and several other weak European nations in a borrowing vise. And Greece’s government is setting itself up for a far bigger crisis down the road because it has not set aside nearly enough money to pay for all the pension promises it has made.

    According to research by Jagadeesh Gokhale, an economist at the Cato Institute in Washington, bringing Greece’s pension obligations onto its balance sheet would show that the government’s debt is in reality equal to 875 percent of its gross domestic product, the highest level in the 16-nation euro zone, and far above its official debt level of 113 percent.

    МАКЕДОНЕЦ си кога кавал ќе ти ја распара душата,зурла ќе ти го раскине срцето,кога секое влакно од кожата ќе ти се наежи кога ќе видиш шеснаесеткрако сонце,кога до коска ќе те заболи кога ќе слушнеш ПЈРМ,кога немаш ни за леб,а полн си во душата затоа што ја сакаш МАКЕДОНИЈА. МАКЕДОНИЈА во срце те носиме.

    Comment

    • osiris
      Senior Member
      • Sep 2008
      • 1969

      i doubt we will see the whole truth come out this time, greece will try to fool everyone including themselves, i wonder how long they can keep up this bullshit and still be believed.

      Comment

      • Risto the Great
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2008
        • 15658

        I have to contend with paper cuts at least once a year. It is a very demanding job and I feel that a pension is the only solution.
        Risto the Great
        MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA
        "Holding my breath for the revolution."

        Hey, I wrote a bestseller. Check it out: www.ren-shen.com

        Comment

        • makedonche
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2008
          • 3242

          Yeah RTG!
          And I have to keep taking stressfull phone calls while I'm trying to post on the MTO! I'm going to move to Macedonia(Kotori - Lerin) and retire on the pension as well, after doing my hazardous job for so long! And further more I have to put up with people claiming I am some other nationality and telling me my ancestors are not Macedonian, surely that will get me a full pension in the old country!
          On Delchev's sarcophagus you can read the following inscription: "We swear the future generations to bury these sacred bones in the capital of Independent Macedonia. August 1923 Illinden"

          Comment

          • fyrOM
            Banned
            • Feb 2010
            • 2180

            If one were a cynic one could say the Greeks have taken this 2012 end of the world thing to hart. Spend up big like there is no tomorrow. lets hope there isnt one for them in the next few months. smrt na dusmanot.

            Comment

            • osiris
              Senior Member
              • Sep 2008
              • 1969

              how can a nation have respect for truth when their national identity their very soul is totally false and based on nothing more than wishful thinking when their occupation of macedonia is so recent in history, less than 40 years before my birth yet they claim it as theirs for 4000 years.

              give me a break wannabees you couldnt lie straight in bed if your lives depended on it.
              Last edited by osiris; 03-12-2010, 01:59 AM.

              Comment

              • Bij
                Member
                • Oct 2009
                • 905

                Ok.... then.....

                Though seriously with the fucked up laws in Macedonia can we really laugh a them?
                Last edited by Bij; 03-12-2010, 04:00 AM.

                Comment

                • fyrOM
                  Banned
                  • Feb 2010
                  • 2180

                  PIgS

                  EU prepares in case Greek woes spread to Spain

                  Brussels, March 12 (MIA)

                  If Greece's debt crisis is giving the European Union a headache, it is minor compared to the pain it will suffer if a large member state such as Spain sinks into similar trouble.

                  Spain has an unemployment rate of almost 20 percent, large deficits, a heavily indebted private sector, and weak prospects for growth -- which could make its debt a target for speculators if Athens' problems prove contagious in the euro zone.

                  A Greek debt default would increase pressure on the euro but the damage would likely be limited since Athens accounts for less than 3 percent of the 16-country currency area's GDP.

                  A Spanish debt crisis would be much harder for the EU to handle because its economy is the euro zone's fourth-largest, accounting for nearly 12 percent of euro-wide GDP.

                  "Greece is a small country and at the end of the day its problems can be solved," said Cinzia Alcidi of the Center for European Policy Studies think tank in Brussels.

                  "The big headache would be if the crisis spread from Greece to Portugal because the next one would probably be Spain. This would be a much bigger problem for the euro zone as a whole and it would be very difficult to solve."


                  EU states have not committed to any bailout for Greece
                  but, with countries such as Spain in mind, are discussing creating a European monetary fund to offer help in any future crises. But even such a fund might struggle to cope in Spain's case.

                  "If you talk about Spain, the money needed would be much more than in Greece's case and it's very difficult to see how they could collect such a huge amount of money," said Zsolt Darvas of the Bruegel think tank in Brussels.

                  Comment

                  • Risto the Great
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2008
                    • 15658

                    The end is near.
                    IMF loans will mortgage these countries soon enough. Germany, France and Italy will cling desperately to the EU myth. They may in fact try to create a privileged position in the group as bankers to the rest. The rest will fend for themselves. Everything back to the good old days ... except the USA will have even more tentacles in Europe. But imagine if China goes shopping in Europe ... my goodness, the next 50 years will be tumultuous either way.
                    Risto the Great
                    MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA
                    "Holding my breath for the revolution."

                    Hey, I wrote a bestseller. Check it out: www.ren-shen.com

                    Comment

                    • fyrOM
                      Banned
                      • Feb 2010
                      • 2180

                      I started this new thread as I don’t think the last of Euro crisis is over. We already have the thread Greece is Ready to Explode in the News and Politics section so this tread can be for the others.

                      Comment

                      • osiris
                        Senior Member
                        • Sep 2008
                        • 1969

                        what is never mentioned is greeces overall debt, its the 5th largest in absolute terms in the world. the state debt is only the tip of the iceberg.

                        the whole west, possibly except germany including my two favorite hypocrites the usa and britain are hocked to their eyeballs and i for one cant wait for the fall out.

                        Comment

                        • fyrOM
                          Banned
                          • Feb 2010
                          • 2180

                          Maybe they know Greece is the west’s concoction and so they think the west is responsible for them otherwise their latest action makes no sense retiring 700 thousand employees. maybe they want to make us want to be greek and enjoy the benefits of being greek.

                          Greece prematurely retire 700 thousand employees
                          17.03.2010



                          The combined pension plan for Greece early retirement has contributed to uncontrolled spending public money, which led to the debt crisis in Europe which joined

                          Athens (New York Times) - Vassi Veremi perhaps only 28 years, but as frizerka in Athens, what good is knowing that, under current law, her work is considered harmful to health and may retire with full pension rights of 50 age.
                          "People should be able to retire at a decent age," said Miss Veremi. "I will not live 150 years," she added.
                          Maybe not, however, is difficult to explain to people why by the Greek government announced at least 580 jobs for dangerous enough to deserve an early retirement at 50 years for women and 55 men.
                          The combined pension plan for Greece early retirement has contributed to uncontrolled spending public money, which led to the crisis with debts which entered Europe. Pension promises will grow sharply in coming years, and investors see that the country is not left on-hand enough money to cover expenses, which complicates the January $ greece ability to borrow money with normal interest rates.
                          As a result of decades spent in negotiations between powerful unions and weak governments, Greece promised early retirement to about 700,000 employees or 14 percent of the total workforce in the country, with the average retirement age was 61 years, one of the lowest in Europe.
                          The Act included dangerous jobs in coal mine or bomb demonteri. TV and came here and radioprezenterite, which are considered at risk because the bacteria in the unit, and the musicians who play brass instruments that making great effort to play with inflation and blowing.

                          Comment

                          • Mastika
                            Member
                            • Feb 2010
                            • 503

                            An early retirement sounds good to me.

                            Comment

                            • fyrOM
                              Banned
                              • Feb 2010
                              • 2180

                              Greece bankruptcy-bankruptcy of German banks, New recession in two years

                              &#1050;&#1072;&#1085;&#1072;&#1083; 5 &#1090;&#1077;&#1083;&#1077;&#1074;&#1080;&#1079;&#1080;&#1112;&#1072; &#1082;&#1072;&#1082;&#1086; &#1077;&#1076;&#1085;&#1072; &#1086;&#1076; &#1074;&#1086;&#1076;&#1077;&#1095;&#1082;&#1080;&#1090;&#1077; &#1090;&#1077;&#1083;&#1077;&#1074;&#1080;&#1079;&#1080;&#1089;&#1082;&#1080; &#1082;&#1091;&#1116;&#1080; &#1074;&#1086; &#1052;&#1072;&#1082;&#1077;&#1076;&#1086;&#1085;&#1080;&#1112;&#1072;, &#1086;&#1076; 1998 &#1075;&#1086;&#1076;&#1080;&#1085;&#1072; &#1085;&#1072; &#1084;&#1072;&#1083;&#1080;&#1090;&#1077; &#1077;&#1082;&#1088;&#1072;&#1085;&#1080; &#1076;&#1086; &#1075;&#1083;&#1077;&#1076;&#1072;&#1114;&#1077; &#1086;&#1085;&#1083;&#1072;&#1112;&#1085; &#1076;&#1077;&#1085;&#1077;&#1089;, &#1080;&#1079;&#1074;&#1077;&#1089;&#1090;&#1091;&#1074;&#1072; &#1079;&#1072; &#1085;&#1072;&#1112;&#1085;&#1086;&#1074;&#1080;&#1090;&#1077; &#1074;&#1077;&#1089;&#1090;&#1080; &#1086;&#1076; &#1052;&#1072;&#1082;&#1077;&#1076;&#1086;&#1085;&#1080;&#1112;&#1072;, &#1088;&#1077;&#1075;&#1080;&#1086;&#1085;&#1086;&#1090; &#1080; &#1089;&#1074;&#1077;&#1090;&#1086;&#1090;.


                              Bankruptcy of Greece may close more banks Germanija.Shtetata would cost the locomotive a few billion, estimated Director of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann. According to data from German banks are the third largest constituent in Greece. Chancellor Merkel has proposed establishing a system for excluding problematic states of the eurozone.
                              -New financial crisis two years and threatens the global economy. The newspaper The New York Times "the crisis associated with the period of repayment of risky bonds of firms with low ratings, worth 700 billion dollars and the return of the loans approved before the global recession that most companies are unable to return.
                              - Italians will be invested in energy and infrastructure Balkanot.Denes a contract for investment in renewable energy sources in Serbia with the business plan to expand in Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Turkey.

                              Comment

                              • osiris
                                Senior Member
                                • Sep 2008
                                • 1969

                                z greece broke one day and fucked the next i hope when the shit hits the fan some of those naive western european grkophiles taste the real greek coffee coming their way.

                                Comment

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