Day 358: Greece Digs its Grave Deeper

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/28/world/europe/greece-bailout-layoffs/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Greek lawmakers on Sunday agreed to cut thousands of government workers to secure another 8.8 billion euros ($11.5 billion) in bailout funds.
The vote clears the way for 15,000 civil servants to be fired by the end of 2014, the first time Greece's cash-strapped government has said it will cut its workforce of about 700,000.
The right to a permanent position once hired by the public sector had been protected by the Greek constitution before Sunday, and about one in four Greeks is on the public payroll. Cutting that figure is part of the loan agreement between the government and its creditors, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
But the layoffs will be coming when unemployment has skyrocketed to more than 27%. Previous austerity measures have cut pay for public workers as much as 30% and reduced pension benefits.
CNNMoney: Jobless misery deepens in Greece and Spain
Sunday's 168-123 vote came after heated debate in parliament and with protesters gathered outside. The civil servants union ADEDY said the measure will signify the end of the country's welfare state, but the three parties that make up the country's ruling coalition supported the layoff bill.
"We are going through a very difficult path, but this is going to be a success story," Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told reporters after the vote.
EU and IMF officials said earlier this month that Greece is on track to reach its bailout targets. But each round of austerity measures has fueled sometimes-violent demonstrations, and critics argue the tax increases and spending cuts imposed by struggling eurozone economies have driven up unemployment without spurring growth.
28 migrant workers wounded in shooting over wages in Greece

So, your country is in economic crisis. You will not look at any radical options that would uplift the country for good. You will only consider options that are within currently accepted global norms. You may or may not be taking orders from some other person/organisation/whatever. Unemployment keeps going up (or should I say down?). People hate you. People hate the government. People hate pretty much any and every large corporation. People are super aggro. Small family businesses are closing for insufficient turnover. The world thinks you're stupid. No one can understand how the hell you let it get this bad. You don't really understand either. You're pretty sure that someone understands, and they're laughing their ass off at you right now. You can't sleep at night. You're considering leaving the country. What do you do next?

The answer comes to you in a dream. It seems so obvious - how did you not think of it before? This  is what you do:
  1. Cut a bunch of jobs to save money to get a bailout
  2. Cut welfare and certain other services provided by the state
  3. Get the bailout
  4. Pay some debts
  5. Get charged interest
  6. Realise that you're now in more debt than you were in before
  7. Watch people living on the streets
  8. Watch the crisis deepen
  9. Note the decrease in GDP and GDI 
  10. Get less tax cos there are less emplyed people able to pay tax
  11. Note the increase in welfare applications
  12. Hear stories about women selling their babies for money
  13. Start drinking again
  14. Resolve to do something to better the situation
  15. Cut some more jobs to get a bailout
  16. Cut more benefits provided by state
  17. Get the bailout
  18. Pay some debts
  19. Get charged more interest than before
  20. Realise you're in even more debt than before
  21. Watch houses and shops get boarded up
  22. Watch people move from inside houses to outside houses in the streets
  23. Get really drunk
  24. Cycle continues into eternity
I dunno about you, but something is not quite adding up in this situation... Generally when more people lose their jobs then that is a bad thing, why would it ever be good?

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