As I discussed in a previous blog about Greece’s possible default, Greece has now been faced with violent riots from its local citizens who feel outraged by the outrageous taxes and salary cuts. Many of Greece’s citizens have said that the cuts have reduced them to poverty and standard of living to which they cannot be satisfied with. According to the article, “Black-masked youths hurled chunks of marble and petrol bombs at riot police in front of the Parliament building in the centre of Athens.” This shows just how angry the people were as they held banners saying, “We are going back to the standard of living our grandfathers had,” they were not backing down and wanted some reformation to the current crisis. About 100,000 people marched down the Athenian streets rallying more and more people to get involved with this movement. This situation is obviously a social problem due to the fact that people gathered together with a common underlying problem of salary cuts that were totally unacceptable and would not be tolerated. One person shouted out, “I used to make €1200($2082) a month I now get €700.” I could only imagine how dramatically their standard of living has changed. The citizens of Greece feel as if they are absorbing most of the taxes. Instead of the government going after tax evaders they feel as if they are targeting hardworking citizens. Creditors and the European Union are to vote on reforms to be put into effect in order for Greece to get €8 billion that they need in order for Greece to maintain some monetary value, without this money Greece will be broke by next week. With such a rocky foundation in which to be standing upon, Greece’s citizens have huge doubts with the political parties to solve this economic crisis in which Greece is in. Many citizens feel as if Greece will be pushed further into a recession that they cannot pull them out of the recession but push them further into a recession. The working middle class are the people who feel most strongly about these drastic changes in the economy.
Salary cuts in Greece and higher taxes have really taken a toll on the citizens of Greece. There total standard of living has been changed within the matter of months. The underlying social economic issue is the inability of the citizens to maintain the standard of living that they are used to due to the fact that their government has ran their country into the ground. Citizens cannot spend money in their economy which affects how much revenue is flowing into other economies around the world. Socially people are feeling enraged by how the economy is affecting their lives and how well they are living on a day to day basis. Less money flowing into other economies affects how companies outsource different projects, how many employees are hired, how much of a raise if any is given to employees, and how many employees are fired due to the company having to cut costs in the most efficient way. People all around the world are being affected by Greece’s economic crisis. Although citizens in Greece are the main ones who see an immediate change in standard of living, other countries will slowly start to see the difference that Greece’s economic crisis has caused due to the fact that the world is globally connected. Globalization is a social problem that is yet again the underlying problem of economic issues that are affecting people all around the globe. If such an economic crisis such as the one that occurred in Greece hits other economies there will be even more violent acts that break out by the citizens of different countries to show how enraged people will be due to salaries decreasing and jobs being lost.
Link to Article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10760611
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