Greece’s prime minister Lucas Papademos continues to push ahead with severe austerity measures in an attempt to avoid a horrible default next month. The public reaction has been a strong one with protesters throwing fire bombs, clashing with police and walking off the job, according to a New York Times article, Greece Plunged Into Political Turmoil Over Austerity Measures.
The backlash is not only about austerity, higher prices and less consumption, but also about the “so-called troika of foreign lenders — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” who are behind the policy.
Last year at the Economists’ Buttonwood Gathering, finance experts accurately predicted that Greece’s problems would really come down to politics: No country and its citizens want to become a “protectorate,” under the thumb of powerful EU representatives.
Greek Debt Writedown: Too Little, Too Late? from The Economist on FORA.tv