Protests erupt as Greeks crushed by austerity

And yet again, protesters in Greece have taken to the streets to express anger and frustration over the next round of government cutbacks and austerity.

ATHENS, GREECE (Catholic Online) - On Wednesday evening, the Greek Parliament voted to approve new austerity measures required to guarantee the payment of bailout funds for the financially troubled country.

The demonstrations were some of the most broadly supported protests to date. While the demonstrations were organized by labor unions, sources say that everyone from day laborers, to teachers, to retired military officers, and even lawyers and judges, walked off the job to protest a new round of wage cuts and tax increases that are squeezing even the middle-class into poverty.

The people are complaining that they are being crushed. Chronic unemployment, reduced social services, and higher taxes are making everyday life difficult for the people of Greece. Even conservative supporters of the government are beginning to complain that the austerity measures are going too far.

On Wednesday evening, as protesters lit fires and chanted outside the parliament building, the new package of austerity measures was approved by 154 of Greece's 300 legislators. The new bill includes further cuts in wages and pensions, thousands of layoffs in the public sector, and changes collective-bargaining rules to make it easier to hire and fire workers. The changes will not go into law until a second vote is taken on Thursday, however they easily are expected to pass.

The other nations of the European union are demanding that the Greek government take these measures as a precondition of an $11 billion installment of aid to the troubled country. That installment is part of the $150 billion bailout package that was cobbled together last year to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debts.

Experts have warned for a long time that if the Greek government should default on its sovereign debt, it would be a crisis for the entire euro zone, which could spread to the rest of the world.

European banks which are holding the largest amount of Greek debt, would certainly collapse, leading to a deep worldwide recession that could be the most severe the world has seen since the 1920s and 30s.

Recently, European leaders and finance ministers have pledged to make funds available to banks holding Greek sovereign debt. In the event of a Greek default, the banks would be bailed out in the hopes that such a move would prevent the Greek debt crisis from rippling through the world economy.

While this may be good news to investors, the people of Greece have only bad news to look forward to for some time to come.

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