This is the title of an article written by a Guardian reader in Athens about experiencing austerity in Greece on a daily basis. The British newspaper decided to publish this following piece regarding austerity in crisis-stricken Greece.
Among others Sovjohn writes:
“I’m surely late to this discussion. Apologies. I would just like to post a teeny bit of sobering material for your amusement(?): there’s no dispute about Greece being, in part, a basket case, as aptly mentioned in this article. As a Greek citizen, I was appalled to find out that the Greek state did not know (!) or ignored even, exactly how many public sector employees were on its payroll. And it’s not the only thing that nobody was ever bothered with…
Let’s say you are disabled. In many cases, you still have or had to present yourself every two years to a state agency, with eye-watering paperwork, of course, to just convince the state you are still disabled. This is not the case anymore, but even this still applies to very many cases.
People pay very high health and pension contributions to the state funds, with no quality of service to speak of. Plus, even in 2013, the contributions are the same as in 2008, if not more. There’s a catch, though: state pensions are already 30% smaller, and they will become even smaller after 2015. Tough luck. There are no “individual accounts” in place, so the state pays you whatever it wants – when and if you get a pension.
What the fuck is somebody supposed to do about this mess, exactly? Pray tell. You need €250 (rent) + €60 (electricity and council tax) + €30 (land-line/internet/mobile) + say €50 (heating in winter) + €150(?) food + €50 for public transport. I did not include: clothing, entertainment, smoking, alcohol, any vice at all, debt of any kind, holidays (ha!), a car or motorcycle (ha, ha, ha!).
Benefits? None remaining. Stipends? Nothing. A great tax-free personal income allowance? Nope – everything over €5,000 a year is taxed…
You enjoy this mess? Talk to your local Greek embassy and volunteer to swap places with a Greek for a month. Once you get back home, you’ll be thanking God / a higher power / whoever that you are not in their shoes. And you can take that to the bank, dear naysayers. Saludos.”
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