Austerity Hits Greece

The latest EU bailout installment for Greece requires tough austerity measures. Among the most devastating is the prohibition on the use of Corinthian and Ionic columns. Henceforth, only Doric columns may be utilized. This measure was a compromise among creditor consitiuencies, as Germany had previously demanded that the Greeks be limited to Bauhaus design.

Comments

[Dan from SoCal]

The Greeks are also probably consuming too much oxygen, maybe they should be limited to aspiring air only once every four minutes, what do you all think? Would that be “austere” enough? Nah, I don’t think that it is enough punishment, maybe the Greeks should only be allow to aspire every two days, there! How is that for “punishment”?

Please give us all a break, what is the “elite” smoking lately?

[rjs]

yeah, that austerity is working just fine:

For Greece a tear, for Brussels a blush - Very quickly: some of you will have seen that Greece’s tax revenue from VAT collapsed by 18.7pc in January from a year earlier. Nobody can seriously blame tax evasion for this. It has happened because 60,000 small firms and family businesses have gone bankrupt since the summer. The VAT rate for food and drink rose from 13pc to 23pc in September to comply with EU-IMF Troika demands. The revenue effect has been overwhelmed by the contraction of the economy. Overall tax receipts fell 7pc year-on-year. This is a damning indictment of the EU-imposed strategy. Greece is chasing its tail. The budget deficit is stuck near 8pc to 9pc of GDP because the economic base is shrinking so fast.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100014697/for-greece-a-tear-for-brussels-a-blush/