George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, is actually fulfilling one of his campaign promises, that of green development. A recently enacted real estate tax to be collected via electricity bills has sent those Greeks with some money left to protect scrambling to install rooftop photovoltaics and wind power generators in an effort to wean themselves from the state-owned power company (which already collects municipal taxes and the state television fee which together comprise about half the quarterly bill). The new tax will add several hundred euros to the average annual power bill and because it is part of the bill the usual Greek response of simply not paying will not work, unless they no longer need power from the mains.
This information is admittedly anecdotal, that is the local installer of such systems telling us that he's never had anywhere near this much work but it rings true. I probably don't know the real situation in Greece any better than you just because I'm in it (I may be missing the forest for the trees) but I can tell you that it is not good.
Landfills are blockaded by strikers so garbage is collecting into sizable hills on city corners. With recent storms soaking these hills and washing stuff away, it is turning from an eyesore into a public health hazard. Mass transit is subject to near daily strikes and tomorrow (for instance) the taxis will also strike. Getting around the city is going to be a nightmare. Customs officials have declared a ten day strike that will affect all imported goods. At the beginning of the week, petroleum distillery workers went on strike and caused lines miles long to form at gas stations.
The government is less popular than Dick Chaney at the end of W's term and have managed to put the opposition New Democracy party, responsible for the immediate mess, and its Amherst educated leader Antonis Samaras (regarded by many as a turncoat for actions in the '90s) eleven points ahead, still however short of an absolute majority if elections were held today. (Though comfortably forming a government with a splinter further right party, LaOS -Popular Orthodox Alarm- which is almost as scary as it sounds)
The headlines talk of civil war within the government and while I don't know whether that is true I can tell you that they do seem to have lost control of society. A prominent backbencher in parliament, facing criticism responded by saying: the country is now run by the troika, take your complaints there (paraphrase of Vaso Papandreou's statements, she is not related to the PM).
Crime and especially violent crime is sky-rocketing. A gang armed with AK-47s recently held up a supermarket on a Saturday in an affluent neighborhood and some cheered, not realizing that the really affluent do not shop there and that on Saturday, shopping is a family affair. Until recently, violent crime was virtually unknown in most parts of Greece. Now murders are no longer front page material. Robberies are getting more sophisticated too. People are being gassed in their flats, which takes care of dogs too.
The feeling I get from the papers (there are a LOT of fnords) is that Greece is already finished and all that remains is to see who else comes down. Vultures are wheeling around to pick up the pieces. What I actually see is lots of shops closed in both fashionable and unfashionable areas, people combing through the mountains of refuse and more potholes in the roads. I also hear people (some near and dear to me who are beyond reproach) telling me that their pensions (which they paid into religiously) are being slashed (for me, this is theft) and that their salaries are being cut by the month. We are talking about losses of 30 and 50 percent for people whose pensions or salaries were not above 3,000 or 1,600 euros respectively.
There are also people still able to afford 100,000 euro weddings, such as one I attended recently (and bless them, they give work to the caterers and valet parkers) and those wondering whether to buy a pied a terre in London or in Paris (overheard in the airport) but even they are pissed off at the government for not handling the crisis better.
So, Greece is probably going under in the next few weeks or months. Will this produce a domino effect? Who will be part of it? And, can there be a silver lining to such dramatic events? Can we reboot capitalism or replace it with something else, hopefully better? Those will be the subjects of the poll. I'll be around for an hour or so to answer questions and provide details.