Michael Nevradakis Ph.D student in Media Studies, University of Texas at Austin   Is austerity the way forward for Greece and other countries that are in the throes of a severe economic crisis? According to much of the world's media, the answer to that is a resounding "yes." Since the outbreak of the economic crisis in Greece in late 2009, many prominent media outlets, including all of Greece's major t ...

Instead of an analysis of what kind of "austerity measures" and in whose favor, the troika and its vassals in the Greek government have been preparing, I'll just show you a table of taxes before and after the new tax system, a part of the latest austerity package, is implemented, by income category. This is income tax only, it does not include social security taxes... The really fun part is at the bottom of ...

Hilde van der Pas describes how high hopes for a strong Socialist Party vote and a Labour majority gave way to a right dominated coalition with Labour, and draws out the options for the future. ...

Across Europe it is the sick the old and especially the young that are being forced to pay for the economic crisis. In Spain and Greece youth unemployment stands at over 50%. In Ireland although that figure is somewhat lower at 17.9% but this still means nearly 1 in 5 youth are workless and the statistic covers up the distressing reality that we face; in particular, ongoing attacks to education and the lack ...

Nick Dearden reports from an activist conference on austerity and debt in Athens. It will come as no surprise to the hundreds of people gathered for a conference I have just returned from, that Greece’s ‘bailout’ package agreed 12 months ago has failed to provide a solution to the country’s debt problems. ...

by Ingeborg Beugel on September 11, 2012   Dutch and German politicians like to blame Greece for refusing to stick to the agreements — but, in truth, the Greeks are doing more than they should.   Everyone who talks about Greece these days — even well-intentioned liberals — seems to assume a priori that Greece is somehow “opposing the reforms” and “refusing to stick to the agreements”. With Dutch P ...

Most    politicians and pundits have a vested interest in promising better times ahead, provided their policy advice is followed. The current worldwide economic difficulties have provided no exception to this behavior. Whether the discussion focuses on unemployment in the United States or the escalating costs of state borrowing in Europe or the suddenly declining rates of growth in China, India, and Brazil, ...

By LIZ ALDERMAN ATHENS — Anastasia Kastaniotou, a struggling mother of three, stood near the Greek Parliament building on Wednesday and threw up her hands as she contemplated an €11.5 billion austerity package that her country’s government was trying to tie up this week to keep Greece in the euro.   Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been scrambling to seal a deal with his coalition government for fres ...

Tax evasion in Greece In flagrante   "If I could get everyone in this room to pay their taxes, I wouldn’t need to be here." So muttered a member of the troika last year, in a room filled with Greece’s great and good. The problem of tax evasion in Greece has been pointed out many times during the debt crisis: Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, got into hot water over the summer with her comments th ...

A leaked email sent to the Greek Ministries of Finance and Labor from the Troika says Greek private sector workers should work six days a week and longer hours. The letter, which was published on August 31, shows that the Troika expects the Labor Ministry to implement a number of other new measures. They include reducing the notice period before firing a worker, and cutting certain severance packages by 50 ...