More Greeks homeless as crisis takes its toll

ATHENS, Greece - Until about 18 months ago, Dimitri had a home, a job, a regular life. He had passed homeless people on the street, rarely giving them a second thought. He never imagined he could become one of them.

That was before Greece was gripped by a vicious financial crisis that has left the country teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Now the place he calls home is beneath a highway overpass, his bed a blanket laid out beneath a battered old desk. Part of a discarded crate serves as a pillow.

Since the debt crisis erupted in late 2009, tens of thousands of Greeks have lost their jobs or businesses and many others struggle on in employment where they haven't seen a paycheck in months. The unemployment rate reached a record 18.4 percent in August, a time when the peak tourist season usually sees a dip in jobless figures.

The number of those sleeping rough has shot up by about a quarter over the past two years to reach an estimated 20,000, said Athanasia Tourkou of Klimaka, a charity that cares for homeless people as well as the mentally ill.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/business/20111130_ap_moregreekshomelessascrisistakesitstoll.html#ixzz1fCmV2h3H

And the govt did nothing to change that. Freedom costs the people. And in Greece the people forgot the lessons of the past. If you allow the govt to fail to do its job, we are all in jeopardy of losing our freedoms as a people and our economic security.

tax evasion is common among ALL the Greeks.

The world’s leading financiers are betting they can prevent bankruptcy in Greece with a bailout deal that will force strict austerity on its citizens, but that plan does not account for stubborn people like Olga Katimertzis.

The 58-year-old has served as a deputy mayor in the Athens suburb of Nea Ionia for more than three decades, and she embodies the way this country has started to fight itself. Wearing an old leather jacket in her chilly office, and chain-smoking cigarettes, she proudly describes how her municipality is offering free legal advice to anybody who refuses to pay new taxes imposed by the central government. Her offices are even organizing human barricades to prevent the electrical utility from disconnecting people who fall behind on their bills.

Ms. Katimertzis does not smile when asked whether there’s any irony in the fact that she’s a public servant organizing a tax revolt.

“I work for the people,” she said. “My allegiance is with the people, against the state.”

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/i-dont-pay-revolt-challenges-greek-coalition/article2240559/?service=mobile

It is the central government, pawn for the capitalists as is ours, which is the people's enemy. We are not talking about run of the mill taxes here, all sort of revenue collection is being employed for the sole purpose of enriching French and German banks, which the greek banks and government are subject to. Extraordinary property taxes are attached to electric bills and the juice will be cut if the taxes are not paid. At least that was the plan, but the workers at the state electric refuse to implement this draconian plan and it is being reevaluated.

So be it.

And once government is wrested from the plutocrats that issue will be resolved.

I imagine that wasn't a boost for tourism.