We are witnessing the failure of an ideology on a global scale.
As the Greek debt crisis moves into its most explosive phase yet, many people here in America are asking themselves, “Why?”
“How did tiny little Greece,” they wonder, “become the focal point of one of the biggest crises in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall? And why, after 5 years of bailouts, is that country still on the verge of economic collapse?”
Well, the answer to these questions is actually pretty simple: austerity.
In exchange for rescue packages to help it pay its debts, the European Union, International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank – “the troika” -- have forced Greece to slash spending, cut social services, and the idea was that these cuts would make Greece more “competitive,” grow the economy, and therefore help the government raise enough money to pay its debts on its own without help from Europe.
That was the idea at least. In reality, the exact opposite has happened.
Since the troika austerity measures began in 2010, the Greek economy has shrunk by a quarter,
unemployment has skyrocketed to 25 percent, and because most of the money it’s been lent has gone straight back to the banksters,
Greece is still more than $271 billion in debt.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Over that same 5 year period, real wages in Greece have decreased by 22 percent, youth unemployment has risen as high as 60 percent,
child poverty has shot up to 40.5 percent, and cuts to the national health service have increased infant mortality by 40 percent and doubled the HIV infection rate.And, if all that wasn't bad enough, malaria has made a return after years of staying under control and
suicide rates have skyrocketed.
Oh, and a quarter of million businesses failed between 2008 and 2013.
Whatever way you look at it, austerity has been a complete and utter disaster, and Greece’s Syriza-led government is completely justified in opposing more cuts, even if doing so might force Greece to abandon the Euro.
