Why not make slaves out of unemployed people? Unpaid work by unemployed people is the suggestion of the ex finance deputy minister, Petros Doukas. Mr Doukas outlined on his personal webpage a number of suggestions in order for Greece to exit the crisis. One of his brilliant suggestions is that unemployed people should offer unpaid work wherever the State needs them to. Also enterprises could be asked whethe ...

Consider it a mea culpa submerged in a deep pool of calculus and regression analysis: The International Monetary Fund’s top economist today acknowledged that the fund blew its forecasts for Greece and other European economies because it did not fully understand how government austerity efforts would undermine economic growth. The new and highly technical paper looks again at the issue of fiscal multipliers ...

It is a dark day for the rule of law. Federal and state authorities have chosen not to indict HSBC, the London-based bank, on charges of vast and prolonged money laundering, for fear that criminal prosecution would topple the bank and, in the process, endanger the financial system. They also have not charged any top HSBC banker in the case, though it boggles the mind that a bank could launder money as HSBC ...

Doctors are left "playing God," having to choose which patient will get the costly treatment.   By Benoît Vitkine LE MONDE/Worldcrunch THESSALONIKI - It was in 2009 – what feels like ages ago now - that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that the Greek healthcare system was "rather efficient." Around that very same time, doctors in Thessaloniki successfully cured ...

PARIS — Its membership in the euro currency union hanging in the balance, Greece continues to receive billions of euros in emergency assistance from a so-called troika of lenders overseeing its bailout. But almost none of the money is going to the Greek government to pay for vital public services. Instead, it is flowing directly back into the troika’s pockets. The European bailout of 130 billion euros ($163 ...

Is Greece the Weimar Republic of today? What is the reason for the rise of fascism in Greece and Europe? Is there a relation between fascism, the economic crisis and EU austerity policies? How does the Greek neo-nazi party Golden Dawn take advantage of people's desperation to promote racist violence? What is the role of economic elites in the uprising of fascism? Finally, does fascism help the Greek governm ...

A worldwide research effort in collaboration with BBC Panorama and the ICIJ reveals the people behind these anonymous companies       The existence of an extraordinary global network of sham company directors, most of them British, can be revealed. The UK government claims such abuses were stamped out long ago, but a worldwide joint investigation by the Guardian, the BBC's Panorama and the Wa ...

Exactly one year ago, the EU agreed to several extreme measures to combat the ongoing economic crisis, to mixed results. But despite its unique economic distress, Greece shows no sign of cutting back its considerable military budget. ­A year ago to the day, EU leaders met to tackle debt troubles that German Chancellor Angela Merkel described as Europe’s worst economic crisis since the end of WWII. The EU sp ...

I am sitting in front of my pc trying to organize my thoughts while at the same time trying to overcome the shock I am under. Its impossible…No matter what kind of language I will use, how much superlative expressions I will put in the paper,  is still difficult  for me to express myself the way I would like to. Hence, I will try to be as simple as possible describing the facts that I experienced and hoping ...

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 ...