CHINA JOINS GREECE IN RECESSION: THE WORLD IN THE 1930’s AGAIN?
Think Greece's economy is the one in trouble? It's CHINA that's facing financial meltdown and the biggest stock market crash since the Great Depression
China's tumbling stock markets plunged even further today, intensifying fears the country was tail-spinning towards the biggest financial disaster since the 1929 Wall Street crash. Almost $3trillion (£2trn) – more than the entire economic output of Brazil – has been wiped out since markets went into reverse just a few weeks ago, posing a bigger headache for many global investors than even the Greek debt crisis. China's government, regulators and financial institutions are now waging a concerted campaign to prop up the nation's stock markets – a move that failed spectacularly in the 1929 crash that triggered the Great Depression. The plunge in its previously booming stock markets, which had more than doubled in the year to mid-June, is a major problem for President Xi Jinping and China's top leaders, who are already grappling with slowing growth in the world's second largest economy and another bursting bubble. Scroll down for video
'After more than a decade of frantic growth, extraordinary wealth creation and excess, both economies – America in 1929 and China today – are at roughly similar stages of economic development. 'Indeed, China's credit boom dwarfs that of even the "roaring Twenties".' Beijing intensified efforts at the weekend to pull China's stock markets out of a nose-dive, with top brokerages pledging to buy massive amounts of shares and a report that the government has set up a market stabilisation fund. Beijing has also suspended new share offers in an attempt to take pressure off the market after a 30 per cent plunge in three weeks. The reported suspension of initial public offers (IPOs) came a few hours after extraordinary announcements by major brokers and fund managers, which collectively pledged to invest at least $19billion of their own money into stocks. Mr Warner said: 'The firebreaks that China put in place over the weekend to mitigate the panic are, in practice, not much different from those applied during the Great Crash of 1929, only this time it's public rather than private money that promises to quell the fire.
'This time around, they've thrown the kitchen sink at the problem, but so far it has produced only a mild, and wholly unconvincing, rebound. The fire still smoulders, threatening to break out anew.'
Chinese stocks plunged today after the country's securities regulator warned investors were in the grip of 'panic sentiment' and the market showed signs of freezing up as firms scrambled to escape the rout by having their shares suspended. Asian markets down as investors worry over Greek debt crisis
+5 Time to wake up: Investors sit in front of screens showing stock market movements at a brokerage house in Shanghai. With the stock markets falling more than 30 per cent in less than a month, wiping out $3.2 trillion, Chinese government officials have cobbled together rescue measures aimed at propping up the market
Beijing, which has struggled for more than a week to bend the market to its will, unveiled yet another battery of measures to arrest the sell-off, and the People's Bank of China said it would step up support to brokerages enlisted to prop up shares. With another round of margin calls forcing leveraged investors to dump whatever shares could find a buyer, blue chips that had been supported by stabilisation funds earlier in the week bore the brunt. 'I've never seen this kind of slump before. I don't think anyone has. Liquidity is totally depleted,' said Du Changchun, an analyst at Northeast Securities. 'Originally, many wanted to hold blue chips. But since so many small caps are suspended from trading, the only way to reduce risk exposure is to sell blue chips.' The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 7.1 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 6.3 per cent. Around 30 per cent has been knocked off the value of Chinese shares since mid-June, and for some global investors the fear that China's market turmoil will destabilise the real economy is now a bigger risk than the eurozone crisis. Chinese support to tumbling stock markets seen as 'backsliding'
+5 A security guard stands in front of a panel displaying stock indexes of Asian markets at Hong Kong Exchanges in Hong Kong. Losses on the mainland weighed heavily on Hong Kong shares, with the Hang Seng Index down 3.3 percent and shares of Chinese companies listed in the city falling 4.2 per cent 'Also, the ripple effect from the market correction has yet to show up,' wrote Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts in a note. 'We expect slower growth, poorer corporate earnings, and a higher risk of a financial crisis.' More than 500 China-listed firms announced trading halts on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges on Wednesday, taking total suspensions to about 1,300 – 45 per cent of the market – as companies scuttled to sit out the carnage. With so many small-cap companies sheltering on the sidelines, the ChiNext growth board, which has seen some of the biggest swings in valuations, fell a relatively modest 1 per cent. Beijing's interventionist response has also raised questions about its ability to enact the market liberalisation steps that are a centrepiece of its economic reform agenda. China has orchestrated brokerages and fund managers to promise to buy billions of dollars' worth of stocks, helped by a state-backed margin finance company which the central bank pledged on Wednesday to provide sufficient liquidity. The securities regulator said the Securities Finance Corp had provided 260 billion yuan ($41.8 billion) to 21 brokerages.
+5 Tensions are high: People line up at the main gate of the National bank of Greece in central Athens this morning as they wait to withdraw a maximum of €120 euros for the week Unlike other major stock markets, which are dominated by professional money managers, retail investors account for around 85 per cent of China trade, which exacerbates volatility. 'It's uncommon to see so many shares posting consecutive daily limit falls, and the index futures swinging so wildly,' said Wang Feng, CEO and founder of hedge fund firm Alpha Squared Capital Co and a former Wall Street trader. 'It's a stampede. And the problem of the market is that all the players move in the same direction, and are too emotional.' A surprise interest-rate cut by the central bank at the end of June, relaxations in margin trading and other 'stability measures' have done little to calm investors. The barrage of official commentary and new support measures continued on Wednesday. Deng Ge, a spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said in remarks posted on its official channel on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, that there had been a big increase in 'irrational selling' of stocks. The state asset administrator told central-government-owned firms they should not sell shares in their own listed companies and should buy more stock in companies they controlled to stabilise prices. And China's insurance regulator said 'qualified' insurers could increase their ratio of equity assets to 40 pct from 30 pct by buying blue-chip stocks. Greece remains in economical crisis as banks stay closed
Crush: Elderly Greeks push and shove as they argue to be allowed into the bank to withdraw their money But the market sell-off has extended beyond the mainland, with Chinese stocks on U.S. exchanges falling as much as 6.1 per cent on Tuesday, according to the Bank of New York Mellon index of such securities. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 5.9 per cent, with shares of Chinese brokerages taking a pounding. The impact was also felt in credit markets, where the spread on bonds from securities houses widened by 18-20 basis points. 'Investors are extremely unimpressed with their sudden conscription into national service, and you can see that in their share prices,' said Matthew Smith, a strategist who covers the China financials sector for Macquarie. Despite the grave predictions for the world economy in the event of a Chinese crash, it is the Greek debt crisis that has dominated headlines in recent weeks. Today, the head of France's central bank warned of the dire consequences facing Greece if it fails to strike a bailout deal this week, adding that he fears the country will descend into 'riots and chaos'. Warning that the Greek economy 'is on the edge of catastrophe', Christian Noyer said he was concerned that major civil unrest could break out if a deal isn't struck by the weekend. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will address the European Parliament today after European leaders gave his debt-stricken country a final deadline to reach a new bailout deal and avoid crashing out of the euro.
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| AFTER GERMANY HELPED GREECE. THIS IS WHAT THE GREEKS FEEL. 'No' vote wasn't just about austerity but continued resistance against 'occupation'
It was the scene of a savage World War II massacre – the murder of 218 old men, women and children in a bitter reprisal against Greek resistance fighters. Four days after the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944 a ruthless battalion of German soldiers took out their frustration and anger on unarmed civilians in Distomo, a country village set below mountains where partisans hid. Ordering fixed bayonets an SS officer ordered his troops to spare no one – butchering babies, raping women, slitting the throats of small boys and gunning down anyone who tried to run away. Scroll down for video
+12 Memory: Eleni Nikolaou-Sfountouri, 82, told MailOnline Berlin owes Greece a huge debt for what the Nazis did during the war, adding: 'I don't think Germans today care about what they did to us Greeks during the war. But they are to blame for the conditions we live under today – them and our own politicians'
+12 Slaughter: Mrs Nikolaou-Sfountouri was 11 when her parents (Miltiadas and Condelia, pictured with her in 1940), grandparents and two younger sisters were murdered by Nazi soldiers in the massacre The youngest victim was two months old, the oldest in their 80s. More than 70 years later this shameful piece of history – and countless other brutal events throughout the German occupation of Greece – help explain why voters rejected the bail-out plan offered by Berlin and Brussels in Sunday's referendum. The events of World War Two are still raw in many memories and the hard-left government of Alexis Tsipras has used the painful episode in Greek history stir support for their stance against the German-led EU demands for austerity. The "no" vote felt like a continuation the Greek resistance fight against the German occupation Argyris Sfountouris, 75 Survivor Argyris Sfountouris, 75, told MailOnline: 'The "no" vote felt like a continuation the Greek resistance fight against the German occupation.' Mr Sfountouris was just four years old when his parents were murdered in the massacre in Distomo in 1944. Taken in by an orphanage in Switzerland he battled to gain an education and became a physics teacher. Now he returns to his home village for holidays. He told MailOnline: 'There has never been a true friendship between Germany and Greece after what happened here during the war. And that lack of trust was partly responsible for the Greek people voting against the so-called "rescue plan" offered by Berlin and Brussels. 'It was Germany's refusal to make things easier for us [ease the austerity measures] that made people release their anger towards the Germans. 'Newspapers [in Germany] have said we are lazy, that we get huge pensions and that we don't want to work, and most German people believe this is true.' Many observers believe nobody but Greece is to blame for the country's current crisis after decades of tax avoidance, financial public spending sprees and widespread cheating of the system.
+12 Murder: In June 1944, a ruthless battalion of German soldiers took out their frustration and anger on unarmed civilians in Distomo, a country village set below mountains where partisans hid
+12 Haunted: The Mausoleum in Distomo, Greece, which houses the bones of the 218 killed by the Germans
+12 Museum: Pictures of some of the 218 victims massacred by the Germans, on the walls of the Museum for the Victims of Nazism in Distomo, Greece. Ironically, it was paid for by the EU The Mausoleum in Distomo pays tribute to the victims But survivor Eleni Nikolaou-Sfountouri, 82, said Berlin still owes Greece a huge debt for what the Nazis did during the war. She was 11 when her parents, grandparents and two younger sisters were murdered by Nazi soldiers in the massacre. Mrs Nikolaou-Sfountouri said: 'I don't think Germans today care about what they did to us Greeks during the war. But they are to blame for the conditions we live under today – them and our own politicians. They were the victims of a merciless German attack. I don't hate them, I despise them. I feel like Germany is the enemy Eleni Nikolaou-Sfountouri, 82 'I have lived through sad times. I had a lovely father who I loved very much. He was a shoemaker and he was a musician, an educated man. Until I was 11-years-old I lived a happy life but then everything changed. 'Unfortunately I may have to end my days under the same sadness imposed by the Germans [because of the austerity plan] again. 'My two sons are solicitors and they have suffered financially because of the economic crisis. 'My granddaughter studies languages. But she cannot go to the college in Crete where she wants to study because my son cannot afford to send her there. That makes me very sad. 'My niece has a university degree but the only job she can get is as a waitress. If my pension was bigger I would help out my niece but it is not even enough for me. 'If I could send a message to [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel I would say; "Think about how we [the Greek people] have suffered because of what your country has done to us in the past, so please try to do your best for us now."'
+12 Rhetoric: Graffiti like this is not uncommon in the Greek capital Athens. The Greek Prime Minister has used the wounds of WWII to rally support against the German-led EU during debt negotiations
+12 Intent: One of Prime Minister Tsipras' first acts when he was elected was to leave flowers on a monument at the Kessariani site where hundreds of members of the Greek Resistance were executed by Nazis
+12 Debt: Tsipras has demanded Germany pay back more than €160 billion (£112billion) in Second World War reparations. This included a €11 billion loan Greece was forced to give the Nazis during the occupation Mrs Nikolaou-Sfountouri added: 'After the massacre I was an orphan. I cannot live without the memories of what happened on that day. I was brought up by my grandmother and I married a lovely man, but I cannot forget that terrible day. 'The people [of Distomo] did nothing to deserve what happened to them. They were the victims of a merciless German attack. I don't hate them, I despise them. I feel like Germany is the enemy.' A museum for the massacre victims has been built in the centre of the quiet and pretty village. A theatre, showing a 20-minute history film about the massacre, was built five years ago, with EU money. A mausoleum holding the bones of the dead sits on the hill overlooking the village. RAPED, BURNED AND SLAUGHTERED: HOW THE SS DESTROYED DISTOMOGerman troops from the 4th SS Panzer Grenadier Davison rolled into the sleepy village of Distomo on Saturday 10 June 1944 looking for revenge. Earlier their comrades had been ambushed by Greek partisans hiding out in mountains nearby, killing 40 German soldiers. SS Company Fuhrer Fritz Lautenbach ordered his troops to execute the 12 Greek peasants they had taken hostage of their way into the village. Lautenback then instructed his soldiers to fix bayonets and go door to door and kill anyone they found – women, children and old men.
Evil: SS soldiers Fritz Lautenbach (left) and Kurt Rickert (right) were among the Nazis who fixed bayonets and indiscriminately set about killing the residents of the village Over the next few hours German soldiers murdered, raped, burned and slaughtered their way through the community. Infants, some just days old, were bayonetted in their cribs. Pregnant women were stabbed in the stomach. The Greek Orthodox priest was beheaded. Children were garrotted. Some terrified villagers managed to run away, escaping to nearby caves by the beach. Others hid for hours in their homes as the slaughter continued around them. By the end over 200 had been killed. Their mutilated bodies lay strewn along the streets. No one dare move them for days. Survivors did not return to their homes for months. When they did the whole community dressed in black – in mourning – including the village’s children that were not sent to orphanages abroad.
+12 Revenge: Women standing In the graveyard of Distomo, Greece, where victims of a 1944 Nazi massacre are buried. The attack was punishment for an attack by partisans The sound of laughter was not heard in the village for seven years, one survivor has claimed. Axis power Italy invaded Greece in October 1940 but Greek forces held back their advance and pushed them back into neighbouring Albania against over-whelming odds. However Germany pushed through Greek defences in April 1941 and had occupied the country three months later. The Nazis imposed a collaborationist government although Greek partisans continued to take on German forces across the country’s mainland and many islands, particularly Crete. A huge number of civilians died from starvation during the German occupation, an estimated 40,000 in Athens alone. Tens of thousands of others were executed by the Nazis in reprisals against attacks by Greek partisans. German forces finally fled Greece in October 1944 as the Third Reich began to collapse, following the Normandy landings in France and the fall of Stalingrad, in Russia. In the 1960s the German government paid for residents of Distomo to learn professional trades in Germany in an act of goodwill. But the attempts by village residents to sue the German state for war reparations have failed, with Berlin saying the issue was settled in a 1961 deal in which it paid the equivalent of €25million (£18 million) to Athens. Prime Minister Tsipras, of the hard-left Syriza party, has been outspoken about the debt that Germany owed Greece, not the other way round. He spoke to a captive audience when he called for Germany to pay back more than €160 billion (£112billion) in Second World War reparations. This included a €11 billion loan Greece was forced to give the Nazis during the occupation. Mr Tsipras told the Greek parliament in March: 'The government will work in order to honour fully its obligations. But at the same time, it will work so that all of the unfulfilled obligations to Greece and the Greek people are met.' In a symbolic first act as Prime Minister he visited a memorial to 200 Greek resistance fighters executed by the Nazis in May 1944. Christos Papanikolaou, curator of the Distomo Victims museum, added: 'Germany has not fulfilled its obligations to Greece for what happened during World War II.' The Nazi war machine subdued Greek resistance in a matter of weeks in 1941 after the country had defiantly held out against Mussolini's invading Italian army for months. It isn't lost on observers of the current crisis that Greeks celebrate the day they said No to Mussolini every year on October 28. It is called Oxi Day, or No Day. Oxi was plastered all over posters in the run up to the recent referendum and would have evoked memories of World War Two. But more than 160,000 Greek civilians were killed during World War II, and tens of thousands more died of starvation during the 1941-1944 German occupation.
+12 Struggle: Argyris Sfountouris, 75, told MailOnline that the "no" vote 'felt like a continuation the Greek resistance fight against the German occupation.' He was just four when his parents were butchered A proud nation which remembers heroes from ancient times like distant cousins, modern day Greece dates back to the early 1800s when the first nationalists rose up against their Ottoman rulers. This 200-year-old struggle for self-determination, in which hundreds of thousands died in their battle against 'slavery', has shaped the Greek pride in being defiant against hopeless odds, whatever the consequences. A traditional Greek ballad, sung during the country's two national holidays which celebrate liberation from the Ottoman Turks and liberation from the German occupation, evokes the spirit of defiance and freedom. The lyrics say: 'Greece never dies, no bullying or threats will intimidate us. We may be halted but after a rest we will regain our strength and march on to glory!'
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After years of building up more than $400 billion in debt, Greece was devastated by the recent global economic crisis. Fearing the fallout from a Greek bankruptcy, fellow Eurozone members provided aid packages -- under strict conditions, including the adoption of severe austerity measures. Greece is entering a fifth straight year of recession, its economy poised to shrink another 5 percent in 2012. Average unemployment is at a record 21.8 percent -- with youth unemployment (under 25) at 51 percent. Years of increasingly difficult conditions have hit the citizens of Greece hard, and the uncertainty and frustration have led some to flee, a few to take their own lives. Collected here are images from a nation in the midst of a deepening crisis. Dimitris Stamatakos, 36, sits in a field on land he is renting near his home in the village of Krokeae in the Peloponesse area of Greece, on March 18, 2012. Before the crisis Stamatakos was able to make a living by selling olives that he farmed on the land he owns, now he is forced to work for neighboring farms and do odd jobs to earn his living. (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton)
The setting sun illuminates buildings in Athens, Greece, on March 15, 2012. (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
Aris Christodoulou, 39, a martial arts instructor, poses for a picture in his gymnasium in Athens, on March 28, 2012. When asked how he had been affected by the economic crisis, Christodoulou replied, "My clients cannot meet the subscription fees and me and my partners aren't taking a wage". (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
Members of the Greek Communist Party shout slogans during a rally against the austerity measures in Athens, on March 20, 2012.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) #
A padlock on the entrance of an abandoned factory in the industrial area at Komotini town in northern Greece, on March 3, 2012. After more than 30 years as a factory worker, Dimitris Manikas a former employee of a trash can company based in the same area, was dreaming of retirement and plans to get married for the third time when a redundancy notice blew his hopes away. Laid off from his job, the 52-year-old father of two called off his wedding -- even though he had bought the wedding bands. Without any income, he feared his house would be next to go. Driven to despair, Manikas on Thursday barged into the factory whose name he had tattoed on his forearm, to turn a hunting rifle on his former boss and another worker, injuring them both. He then held three people hostage, surrendering only after 11 hours of negotiations with police. (Reuters/Grigoris Siamidis) #
Phoevos Doudonis, 37, an actor/singer, poses for a picture in front of the Acropolis in Athens March 28, 2012. When asked how he had been affected by the economic crisis, Duodonis replied, "up to April 2011 I was making a good living as an actor and singer but I have been finding it difficult since then to find any work. Fees have been cut by 70-80% and some theatres don't pay at all.(Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
Afghan immigrants jump from an abandoned rail car to catch the train for Athens in Orestiada, on April 9, 2012. Human rights groups have heavily criticized Greece over the the building of a six-mile-long fence topped with razor wire, and for plans to intern illegal immigrants in former military bases pending deportation. The debt-crippled country is the European Union's main entry point for illegal immigrants, mostly from Asia and Africa. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) #
Protesters run from police after hurling petrol bombs during violent anti-austerity demonstration in central Athens, on February 12, 2012. Historic cinemas, cafes and shops went up in flames in central Athens as black-masked protesters fought Greek police outside parliament, while inside lawmakers endorsed a new EU/IMF austerity deal. (Reuters/Yannis Behrakis) #
Nick Boudas, 54, a bread delivery man, poses for a picture near the village of Filiatra, on March 23, 2012. When asked how he had been affected by the economic crisis, Boudas replied, "I lost my job, I lost everything." (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
The sun sets behind volcanic islands seen from the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea, on March 14, 2012. Greek tourism revenues could drop by up to 5 percent in 2012 due to a fall in pre-bookings from Germany, an industry official told Reuters, denting hopes the key sector will help pull the country out of the financial crisis. Greece has been hoping that tourism, which accounts for about 15 percent of GDP and employs roughly a fifth of the country's 4 million workforce, will boost its bleak economic prospects.(Reuters/Yannis Behrakis) #
A woman places a candle at the site where 77-year-old retired pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas fatally shot himself at Athens' main Syntagma square, on April 4, 2012. The Greek pensioner picked the busiest public area in Athens to commit suicide on Wednesday, leaving a note which police said linked his suicide with the country's acute financial woes. Notes pinned to the tree read: "Austerity kills," "Government of murderers," and "Enough." (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) #
Mourners chant slogans in front of the coffin containing the body of Dimitris Christoulas, in Athens, on April 7, 2012, who committed suicide in a central Athens square Wednesday. In a suicide note, he claimed the economic crisis affecting Greece had "destroyed" him. Hundreds attended the ceremony at an Athens cemetery. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) #
Passers-by cast shadows on pavement near a pool of blood following an attack on a policeman by protesters in Athens' main Syntagma Square, on April 7 2012. A protest march that followed a memorial service for Dimitris Christoulas turned violent with marchers beating a policeman and stealing his uniform, bulletproof vest, handcuffs and radio. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis) #
Christina Tchatchou, 30, an actress/singer, poses for a picture in her bedroom in Athens, on March 27, 2012. When asked how she had been affected by the economic crisis, Tchatchou replied, "I haven't been that affected as I didn't get paid that much before anyway. However I get less work than I did." (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
A hammer thrower leaves a training area at the Agios Cosmas sports facilities in southern Athens, on April 3, 2012. The head of Greece's athletics federation said that the body is considering suspending its operations due to deep cuts in state funding over the past two years.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) #
A man walks by a wall adorned with graffiti in Athens, on march 8, 2012. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) #
Dimitris Kazakos, 31, a waiter, poses in the Placa area of Athens, on March 28, 2012. When asked how he had been affected by the economic crisis, Kazakos replied, "It's dramatically changed my life. People think twice about eating out and leaving a tip."(Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
Natassa Papakonstantinou, 43, calls a recruitment agency from her apartment in Kifisia, a suburb of Athens, on March 14, 2012. Natassa lost her telecom services job of 12 years in August of 2011, and was not paid for the last six months. She is now living off her savings and 461 euros ($611) from the government per month. When her savings run out in August she must leave her flat. She spends several hours a day searching and applying for jobs on the internet but still has not found any. Natassa is unable to afford to socialize much and has no family so she spends long periods of time alone. She says "I don't even listen to music much now. I used to love it but in the bad times of your life you forget about your hobbies." (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
A visitor looks at antiquities at the National Archeological museum in Athens, on March 18, 2012. Faced with massive public debt as it moves into a fifth year of recession, Greece is finding that its fabled antiquity heritage is proving a growing burden. "Greece's historic remains have become our curse," whispered an archaeologist worried about budgets that are nonexistent or badly stretched.(Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) #
Leonidas Polymenokos, 40, stands near a production bay in his family's olive oil factory near the village of Lagio in the Peloponesse area of Greece, on March 21, 2012. The factory which he runs with his three brothers first started production in 2000. Business is going well and they would like to expand. However this is proving difficult as they are finding it hard to get the necessary loans from the banks. When asked about the economic crisis in Greece he says, "we are all boiling in the same pot". (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
Customers crowd a truck to buy cheap sacks of potatoes sold directly by farmers at cost price in the northern Greek town of Thessaloniki, on March 2, 2012. Farmers in northern Greece have joined forces with local residents to provide cheap produce to the people, who make orders by email, and also to help producers who say they are being squeezed by middlemen. Similar "solidarity" actions have started to be organized in other Greek cities. (Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP/Getty Images) #
George Andrianakis, 56, stands on the back of his pickup truck with one of his goats in the yard of his farm in the village of Stafania, Greece, on March 21, 2012. Andrianakis lives with his wife Athina, 48, and sons Dimitris, 24, and Panagiotis, 21. They all help with the milking of the goats and sheep as well as the harvesting of orange and olive trees, but his profit margins are down by almost 50 percent with production costs rising by almost 30 percent. He says: "I am surviving rather than living". (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
A drug addict lays on the ground in central Athens. Addicts have been a presence in Athens city center for more than 20 years, but with the recent crisis, things are getting worse for them, according to Philippos Dragoumis, president of a municipal center for prevention.(Iakovos Chatzistavrou/AFP/Getty Images) #
People make their way around the coastal town of Patra in the Peloponnese area of Greece, on March 25, 2012.(Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
Pauline Delli, 32, a psychiatric nurse, poses in the street outside her place of work in Athens, on March 27, 2012. When asked how she had been affected by the economic crisis, Delli replied, "I am just living day to day and not thinking about the future."(Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
Sostis, a 60 year-old former sailor and the only human inhabitant of the volcanic islet of Palaia Kameni located in the caldera of Santorini, enters the Saint Nicolas church, on March 17, 2012. Initial data shows pre-bookings for the high summer season from Germany, which accounts for about 14 percent of Greece's total number of visitors, are down 20-30 percent. (Reuters/Yannis Behrakis) #
Dasalakis Theodoros, 60, a taxi driver, poses for a picture in front of his taxi at the port in Athens, on March 28, 2012. When asked how he had been affected by the economic crisis, Theodoros replied, "I share the taxi with my son so we can work 24 hours a day between us to make things work." (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
An employee at the state-run Workers' Housing Organization (OEK) crouches on a ledge while threatening to jump as a colleague speaks to her, in central Athens, Wednesday, February 15, 2012. The woman was fired as the agency was due to be shut as part of sweeping new austerity measures demanded by Greece's EU-IMF rescue creditors. After hours of negotiations, the woman was brought to safety as she came in from the balcony. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) #
A woman receives a free meal during a soup kitchen organized by a Greek humanitarian group in Athens' main Syntagma square, on April 1 2012. Greece's austerity cutbacks have deepened the economic recession, and torn holes in the country's social fabric. Unemployment has hit a record high of 21 percent, and thousands of Greeks depend on church and municipal soup kitchens for sustenance.(AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis) #
Christos Vassiliou, 79, retired sausage maker, poses for a picture in a shopping center in central Athens, on March 28, 2012. When asked how he had been affected by the economic crisis, Vassiliou replied, "my pension has been cut by 250 euros ($334) a month. If it continues like this I will be thrown out of my house because I can't afford my rent." (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
A stray dog barks at riot police during a high school students' anti-austerity protest in Athens, on February 17, 2012.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) #
A man drinks coffee in front of a mural near the coastal town of Kalamatta in the Messinia area of Greece, on March 23, 2012.(Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
George Kanlopoulos, 55, a guide, mechanic and hotelier, poses for a picture in his garage at the town of Sparta, in the Peloponnese area of Greece, on March 20, 2012. When asked how he had been affected by the economic crisis, Kanlopoulos replied, "I haven't been affected as much as others because I am a mountain guide as well as a mechanic and hotel owner. This means I have more options."(Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
A disused basketball court in a field on the Greek - Turkish border outside Orestiada, northern Greece, on April 09, 2012.(Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) #
Voula Stamatakos, 72, a housewife, poses for a picture in her home in the village of Krokeae, Greece, on March 18, 2012. When asked how she had been affected by the economic crisis, Stamatakos replied, "My pension has been cut but I try to stay positive."(Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
Dimitris Stamatakos, 36, is pictured with his wife Voula, 32, and son Elias, 1, in the living room of their home in the village of Krokeae, on March 18, 2012. Before the crisis Stamatakos was able to make a living by selling olives that he farmed on the land he owns, now he is forced to work for neighboring farms and do odd jobs to earn his living. The crisis is also putting a strain on his marriage to his wife Voula, 32. He says, "I fight with my wife a lot about money. She thinks I should be doing more. What more can I do? I'm just getting by."(Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) #
A blind protester shouts against anti-austerity measures during a protest near the Prime Ministers office in Athens, on February 21, 2012.(AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis) #
Asimina, a 70-year-old pensioner, gathers laundry on the terrace of her home with the ancient Acropolis seen in the background in Athens, on March 2, 2012. Asimina, who identified herself only by her first name, said she lives with her husband on a combined monthly income of 600 euros ($793) from a state pension, and says a series of emergency taxes imposed by the crisis-hit country's government have made daily life difficult. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) #
A man takes the stairs of the empty Athens metro station during a 4-hour strike on March 28, 2012 in protest of the austerity measures aiming at streamlining public transportation. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) #
(1 of 4) George Kapetanios (right) poses for a photograph with his wife Katarina Germanou (center) and their daughter Paraskevi Kapetanios in Potters Bar, on the outskirts of London, England, on March 5, 2012. Put out of business in Greece by a shrinking economy that has been crushed by the eurozone crisis, unable to find work at home and desperate to stay afloat financially, Kapetanios, his wife and daughter moved to London months ago so the parents could find work. Now they are hoping for a brief taste of their former family life when stepson Thanos Kehagias, who remained in Greece to finish his university studies, comes for a visit. (Reuters/Paul Hackett) #
(2 of 4) George Kapetanios in the kitchen of Ta Dilina Greek restaurant in north London where he works as a chef, on February 29, 2012.(Reuters/Paul Hackett) #
(3 of 4) Paraskevi Kapetanios poses for a photograph at a coffee shop in Potters Bar, on the outskirts of London, on March 5, 2012. Unable to find work at home in Greece, Paraskevi's parents moved to London months ago so they could find work.(Reuters/Paul Hackett) #
(4 of 4) 23-year-old Thanos Kehagias holds his mother's dog Vagos as he poses for a picture outside his student flat close to the university where he is studying mechanical engineering in the Greek city of Patra, on March 26, 2012. Thanos Kehagias said he has made peace with his parents' decision to take his sister and leave him behind while they made a new start in London. He said he lives on just over 6 euros ($7.87) per day and can only afford one daily meal at the cheap university restaurant. (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton) |
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The clock is ticking. Every second, it seems, someone in the world takes on more debt. The idea of a debt clock for an individual nation is familiar to anyone who has been to Times Square in New York, where the American public shortfall is revealed. Our clock shows the global figure for all (or almost all) government debts in dollar terms. Does it matter? After all, world governments owe the money to their own citizens, not to the Martians. But the rising total is important for two reasons. First, when debt rises faster than economic output (as it has been doing in recent years), higher government debt implies more state interference in the economy and higher taxes in the future. Second, debt must be rolled over at regular intervals.
4 Children gathering potatoes on a large farm. Vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 5 Trucks outside of a starch factory. Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 6 Headlines posted in street-corner window of newspaper office (Brockton Enterprise). Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 7 Children in the tenement district. Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
16 Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 17 The Faro Caudill family eating dinner in their dugout. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
19 Homesteader and his children eating barbeque at the New Mexico Fair. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 20 School children singing. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
23 Distributing surplus commodities. St. Johns, Arizona, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 24 Hauling crates of peaches from the orchard to the shipping shed. Delta County, Colorado, September 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 25 Hay stack and automobile of peach pickers. Delta County, Colorado, 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 26 On main street of Cascade. Cascade, Idaho, July 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 27 Road cut into the barren hills which lead into Emmett. Emmett, Idaho, July 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 28 Shasta dam under construction. California, June 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
30 Grand Grocery Company. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
32 Wisdom, Montana, April 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 33 A Fourth of July celebration. St. Helena Island, South Carolina, 1939. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 34 Planting corn along a river. Northeastern Tennessee, May 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 35 African Americans fishing in creek near cotton plantations. Belzoni, Mississippi, October 1939. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 36 Bayou Bourbeau plantation, a Farm Security Administration cooperative. Vicinity of Natchitoches, Louisiana, August 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 37 African American's tenant's home beside the Mississippi River levee. Near Lake Providence, Louisiana, June 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 38 A crossroads store, bar, "juke joint," and gas station in the cotton plantation area. Melrose, Louisiana, June 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 39 Boys fishing in a bayou. Schriever, Louisiana, June 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 40 A store with live fish for sale. Vicinity of Natchitoches, Louisiana, July 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 41 African American migratory workers by a "juke joint". Belle Glade, Florida, February 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 42 Children aiming sticks as guns, lined up against a brick building. Washington, D.C.(?), between 1941 and 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photographer Unknown. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 43 Shulman's market, on N at Union Street S.W. Washington, D.C., between 1941 and 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Louise Rosskam. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 44 House. Washington, D.C.(?), between 1941 and 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Louise Rosskam. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 45 Chapel, Vadito. Near Penasco, New Mexico, Spring 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Collier. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 46 A welder who works in the round-house at the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company's Proviso yard. Chicago, Illinois, December 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 47 View in a departure yard at Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company's Proviso yard at twilight. Chicago, Illinois, December 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 48 Switchman throwing a switch at Chicago and Northwest Railway Company's Proviso yard. Chicago, Illinois, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 49 Mike Evans, a welder, at the rip tracks at Proviso yard of the Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Chicago, Illinois, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 50 Putting the finishing touches on a rebuilt caboose at the rip tracks at Proviso yard. Chicago, Illinois, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 51 Switch engine in yard near Calumet Park stockyards, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. Calumet City, Illinois, January 1943. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 52 General view of part of the South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad Chicago, Illinois, May 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 53 Mrs. Viola Sievers, one of the wipers at the roundhouse giving a giant "H" class locomotive a bath of live steam. Clinton, Iowa, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 54 Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room, Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Clinton, Iowa, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 55 Children stage a patriotic demonstration. Southington, Connecticut, May 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Fenno Jacobs. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 56 At Beecher Street School. Southington, Connecticut, May 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Fenno Jacobs. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 57 Street corner. Dillon, Montana, August 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
62 Welder making boilers for a ship, Combustion Engineering Company. Chattanooga, Tennessee, June 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 63 Construction work at the TVA's Douglas Dam. Tennessee, June 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
66 Woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber Tennessee, February 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 67 Hanna furnaces of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation, stock pile of coal and iron ore. Detroit, Michigan, November 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Arthur Siegel. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 68 Rural school children. San Augustine County, Texas, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 69 Rural school children. San Augustine County, Texas, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress 70 Worker at carbon black plant. Sunray, Texas, 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Worker at carbon black plant John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress |
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