Let's remember that "chaos" is a Greek word. Before you get too sad about the poor bondholders and how much money they're going to lose, have a think about what life in Greece has become, as it's dealt with round after round of austerity over the last two years.
A recent paper in The Lancet tells us that there was a rise in admissions to public hospitals of 24% in 2010 compared with 2009, and by 8% in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period of 2010. Suicides rose by 17% in 2009 from 2007 and unofficial 2010 data mention a 25% rise compared with 2009. Homicide and theft rates nearly doubled between 2007 and 2009 and the number of people able to obtain sickness benefits declined between 2007 and 2009, probably because of budget cuts, and further reductions to access and the level of benefits.
Writing in The Guardian, Julie Cross says: "The town hall itself has been occupied by strikers for the last week. The rubbish hasn't been collected for three weeks. Standard processes are paralysed. This includes the payment of staff – many are owed over six months. The four women in my office spend a proportion of every day weeping into the papers on their desk. This is true despair. They've had their wages slashed by 40% and are struggling to pay the mortgage. They work long hours in an impossible environment, 7 to 3, without any breaks. It makes me furious when I read about lazy, overpaid Greeks in the newspapers. This is a lie calculated to set ordinary working people from different nations against each other."
Yiannis Roubatis, a former member of the European Parliament, says Greece is nearing the breaking point. And it's going to get worse because, as reported here, Credit Suisse says the budget cuts are exacerbating the disaster as European leaders continue to misdiagnose and resolve the root of this issue which is the currency crisis.
no comment untill now