The Greek economy has shrank 25% since 2008, significantly more than any other European country (Italy is the closest at -10%). The only precedent for this in developed countries would be during the Great Depression and during WW1 and WW2. Even in those instances though, recovery was very far along 7 years later, due to massive stimulus spending (look at the amount of cash the Americans poured into Europe after WW2, and to the cunts that started the war in particular). Austerity is the opposite of what should be done to try and stimulate an economy that has been destroyed, it’s like trying to squeezing blood from a stone. Although all periphery countries have been impacted by austerity, Greece is by far the worst impacted as they have effectively no competitive advantage to rebuild their economy, unlike Ireland for example.
take that to the IT Professionals thread ffs sake
Doesn’t answer my question though. What did the blow the cash on in the first place? This is where the bailout money went. What about the original debts?
Sorry never read your post properly in th first place, just recalled seeing this article. They had massive debts even before joining the euro, which as commented at the time, they were never in a fiscal position to join.
The expansion of Greece’s huge government sector took decades to create, but its growth in recent years has been particularly striking. Public employment grew by fivefold from 1970 through 2009 — at an annual growth rate of 4 percent, according to a recent academic study by Zafiris Tzannatos and Iannis Monogios… Over the same four decades, employment in the private sector increased by only 27 percent — an annual rate of less than 1 percent.
From 2011
Greece has one of the lowest rates of public employment among
OECD countries, with general government employing just 7.9% of the
total labour force in 2008. This is a slight increase from 2000, when
the rate was 6.8%. Across the OECD area, the share of government
employment ranges from 6.7% to 29.3%, with an average of 15%.
The Greek government has plans to further decrease this share, by
replacing only 20% of staff leaving on retirement. Public employment
is also highly centralised in Greece, with over 80% of staff working at
the central government level.
Source: International Labour Organisation.
Tell us all how they got into the Euro then and where these original debts came from.
In most OECD member countries, employment in public corporations constitutes a minor part of the labour force. However, in certain countries (e.g. Greece and Poland), public corporations employ more workers than the general government.
Greece had 13% employed in public corporations on top of the 8% by general government so figures are skewed.
The fucking cheek of Sean Kelly MEP lecturing Tsipras in the European Parliament today on showing real leadership and not just courting media interviews. That fucking jumped up rent a quote charlatan having the audacity to call someone else out. What an unmitigated full on wanker he is.
He opened up Croke Park to foreign games …
That gives him the right to lecture all around him for ever …
They got into the Euro because Goldman Sachs helped them tweak 
the books (perfectly legally of course and for a hefty commission) using derivative swaps and fictional exchange rates to make their debt appear much less than it was. Italy did the same thing, neither would have met the Maastricht requirements on government debt a percentage of GDP. As always everything comes back to the banks.
Yep, it can all be linked back to the vampire squid and its buddies in the banking world
So the fuckers lied their way in.
Nah, they were honest. Vampire squid did the lying
What have I asked you about fucking off?
Eventually, it became clear that the Greek numbers did not quite add up. Eurostat, the European statistics agency, has complained about “widespread misreporting of deficit and debt data” from the Greek authorities. In 2006, eyebrows were raised when Greece’s GDP jumped 25 per cent overnight thanks to a statistical revision that sought to incorporate prostitution and money laundering, among other industries. In late 2009, the incoming prime minister announced that the deficit was more like 12.5 per cent of GDP than 3.7 per cent.
Austerity isn’t the only reason the Greek economy “shrank”. They were coming back to reality.
Answer the question next time you prick instead of hiding from it.