July 24th, 2011, 12:36 pm
QuoteOriginally posted by: exCBOE But something doesn't add up. Where has all the money gone? You can't deny it was borrowed. If it wasn't spent on productive investments or on R&D, and if it wasn't invested in pension funds, and if wages were low compared to the rest of Europe, somebody has some explaining to do. About 100bil either directly as cash or as government guarantees was spent over the last 3 years to "support" the banks. The rest has gone to serve previous debt, on overpriced defence contracts, on overpriced infrastructure projects, on overpriced public sector procurement, on government-fed and parasitic entrepreneurship, on a chaotic, inneficient, public sector in general. Of course media have not even touched these aspects, they insist that for the situation is responsible the average public sector employee. QuoteIs it plausible that Greek workers, with no children to support, can't earn enough in 41 or even 60 hours to keep themselves in gyros and retsina?Over the last 15 years the GDP has grown yearly by ~4%. At the same time the contribution of labour to GDP has been diminishing constantly. In layman terms, a young couple, both working, earns net, some 2000 euros per month, whereas the cost of accomodation (rent or mortgage, bills etc) for a two bedroom flat starts from 600. This level of income just allows them to survive, not even survive decently. Unless, the couple doesnt own their home, as an inheritance or gift from parents, is not "sponsored" regularly by parents, thus the wealth of the previous generations, subsidizes current employers, then the only choice is to get a second and a third job. Obviously in such a setting its getting harder and harder to raise children. Two generations back, having children was perceived as an asset, today its a liability.
Last edited by
Anthis on July 23rd, 2011, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.