Washington Post: In Greece, fears that austerity
is killing the economy By Anthony
Faiola,
[Excerpted] "...Does austerity
really work?
Unemployment has surged to 18.8 percent from 13.3 percent only a year ago.
Overburdened public hospitals are facing acute shortages of everything from
syringes to bandages because of budget cuts, with hiring freezes forcing the
mothballing of operating rooms even as more unemployed are relying on the
public health system. Rates
of homelessness, suicide, crime and HIV cases from intravenous drug use are
jumping....
'Conditions have deteriorated so dramatically that doctors in this country
now believe that the Greek crisis is no longer just a financial crisis but a
humanitarian crisis,' said Dimitris Varnavas, the president of the Federation
of Greek Hospital Doctors’ Unions."
MAJIA HERE: I've commented quite extensively on austerity, demonstrating that it is being enforced by elite interests to reduce their tax burden and enforce privatization of services and government assets.
Corporations and financial entities like hedge funds can swoop in as assets are being privatized and buy up property and infrastructure (e.g., state capitol buildings) at fire-sale prices.
Austerity-enforced government spending cuts and neoliberal reforms simultaneously impoverish populations, while decimating health and education.
Austerity has turned into a formula for elite looting of nations.
Austerity is a tool for implementing neo-feudalism.
Here are some of my former comments. The first link is a detailed discussion excerpted from my research:
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