I know this is strictly anecdotal but they were doing interviews of Greek citizens and they asked this one woman what she thought of the austerity measures and she complained they can't lower the salaries to the point where an average family cannot.... and this is where I thought she was going to say, provide for basics like shelter and food....no, what she said is "afford a 5 day vacation once per year". Vacations are fine but it struck me how out of touch the Greek people are - do they really not comprehend that many of the things they have become accustomed to are not entitlements? There is a 20% unemployment rate and this woman is worried about being able to afford her yearly vacation trip?
Why are you making such a gross generalization from an interview of one person to what 10 million people think in a country? Your thinking is dangerous. Actually, I was stunned to find out the Greeks work most hours per week in EU: http://www.iamexpat.nl/read-and-discuss/expat-page/news/eu-working-hours-and-productivity
Greece is my motherland. I will probably retire there. Outside the cities nobody cares. It is and always be agrarian in the countryside. They dont get any welfare and they dont expect anybody to feed or pay them a salary. The city Greeks got lazy, like the fat dog you just keep feeding with no expectation of earning its keep. Once they accept that the government has run out of money, they will return to roots. This will eventually happen in all the debt burdened countries also. Denial Anger This is where the Greek people are right now..in between stage 3-4 of the 5 stages of denial Bargaining Depression Acceptance
LOL, dangerous huh? "That's right Iceman, I am dangerous" Maybe it was a one-off but it shows a real lack of sensitivity when your country is on the brink of bankruptcy, unemployment is rampant and you are concerned about your yearly vacation. Point taken though, I'm sure you can find no lack of idiots on US streets to say equally stupid things into a camera. That reminds me, when is Obama going to forgive all those underwater mortgages?
This is what this article seems to suggest as well: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/the-way-greeks-live-now.html
The countryside depends on EU subsidies. In 2004, Greece had 2% of the farmland in the EU but got 6% of the subsidies. While these statistics are skewed because of the enlargement, it does illustrate the point. I agree with the rest though. The funniest thing is that the Eurozone countries who joined EU in 2004 have had to fund the Greek bailout. These countries have much lower living standards, think about that for a second. For the Americans, that's like Alabama paying billions to bail out California.