Social Unrest in Greece

The situation in Greece is getting ugly, and all indications are that this is just the start. Greece is the home of democracy and tourists still flock to the Parthenon on the Acropolis hill. I did so 40 years ago.

The British newspaper The Guardian says: “The surge in violence comes amid rising social tensions over the austerity measures enforced by the government in exchange for €110bn in emergency aid, the biggest bailout in history.

Mounting social unrest, waning support for political parties and record levels of unemployment among an increasingly radicalised youth are believed to have augmented the ranks of anti-establishment groups.”
LINK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/greece-war-zone-revolutionaries-tourists

The above description is true...but the problem goes much further than this. The rich and upper middle class in Greece have made an art form of not paying their taxes. So the reverse Robin Hood phenomenon exists. The poor working classes and lower middle classes are supporting the comfortable lifestyle of the upper social classes.

America is moving in this direction. As income taxes become less progressive and legislators enact tax cuts targeted at the wealthy, we see the upper classes paying less and less of their fair share. Americans are a docile people. Even among white people the slavery mentality lives on. We do not protest, we don't have general strikes. The trade union movement is almost dead. But eventually the American people will wake up to the reality of what is happening. When that does happen America may well follow in the footsteps of the Greeks.

-
-
-
-
-
-