Posted on 08/02/2010 4:16:37 PM PDT by SkyPilot
Greece’s olive-clad hillsides and turquoise sea gleam as enticingly as ever under the hot August sun.
But the country’s image as a relaxed Mediterranean destination has been taking a beating.
Thousands of tourists were stuck beside the hotel pool last week because of a truckers’ strike that shut down petrol stations across the country.
The strikes also triggered a wave of last-minute cancellations by Greeks in advance of the August break – the busiest period of the tourist season.
“The strike’s been suspended – but the cancellations still stand. It’s turning out to be a very difficult season,” said Yannis Economou, a hotelier on the island of Crete.
Repeated strikes, including action by merchant marine engineers that spread to tourist ferries in June, anti-austerity riots and a negative press in Germany – the main feeder market for Greek tourism, along with the UK – have dealt a blow to the country’s biggest industry at a time when its contribution to the economy is more important than ever.
Greece normally attracts about 14m tourists annually, with one-third coming from Germany and the UK. But this year visitor numbers are projected to fall by about 3.5 per cent and revenues by 10 per cent, according to tour operators and hoteliers.
As Greece’s fiscal crisis deepened, Germany’s tabloid press pilloried Greeks as lazy ouzo-drinkers seeking financial aid from hard-working north European partners in order to stave off bankruptcy.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Ouch! That's gotta leave a mark.
As someone who lived in Germany for over 4 years, and spent some time in Crete, I have to say there is a lot of truth to what the German tabloid press said, and everyone in Europe knows it. I guess it is just sort of leaking out into the open.
Not every German, Dane, or Norwegian is hard working, and not every Greek is lazy, but the cultural divide between northern Europe and Club-Med is pretty substantial. If you haven't seen it first hand, it is incredible.
>> Germany’s tabloid press pilloried Greeks as lazy ouzo-drinkers
I MUST SPEAK OUT AGAINST THIS SLANDEROUS FALSEHOOD!
They ALSO drink retsina.
In fact, probably more retsina than ouzo.
The hangovers come complete with vicious headache — which makes you grumpy the next morning at your union/government job.
And don’t even get me started on the Cretans and their raki...
(the lazy part of the rip is pretty accurate though)
What they don’t mention is that throughout the 80’s, and 90’s (don’t know about the ‘00’s) Germany made heavy use og Greek guest worker programs.
It is nice you show pictures of old men from an era that is dying out.
Make no mistake I am not excusing the mess of the Greeks own creation. The corrupt government cronyism. The insane social programs. Hyper taxation which forces people to shelter income via bribes etc. TWO illegal alien amnesties. The list goes on.
Somebody made money on those bonds and it certainly was not the Greeks...
Greeks at their place of employment
**Just kidding, but you know what I mean :^>
Their unions invented the month long vacation and other assorted silliness. They imported millions of foreign workers to work in their factories without planning for their assimilation. They are prone to forcefully colonizing other nations to do their work when it suits them.
At some point we will just have to kick their lazy asses again into the ground once more.
Well...
Some people just exist as if they will live forever.
I LIVE as though I will die any minute
ZORBA
You sound very insecure. Posting photos that are senseless proves it.
Here are some young ones in action then.
I really don't get your argument though. Is it that Germans, through their own financial risk and financing, gave other Europeans jobs and paychecks?
So, they money on bonds. The EU taxed the crap out of the profit from those bonds. The Greeks got paid, the Germans made money. It is very capitalistic.
Again, I don't see the problem there. But, you are right about the out of control Greek social net. The Germans, to be fair, are not far behind - and that is the really scary part that no one is talking about.
The guest worker programs started up in the 50s—you are a bit off.
The rest of it is close to the mark so to speak.
The man who wrote zorba the greek was a communist. literally.
Read a label of “itallian” olive oil you will see it comes from greek olives. The worker and the dancers could easily have been both Greek.
If there is a lesson in this article it is very simple. Don’t trust unions. Obama worships at the alter of unions.
Opa!!
Those are pictures from anarchists. They are the same scum that protest all the G-X summits and the WTO summits.
They are the unemployed who are on strike.
in the glory days of the cold war the kgb paid them to cause trouble.
The american reporters stay in the Gran Britan videoing from the balcony ordering room service. Keeping the mcdonalds and everest and nine-west outlets out of camera shot. When the go out in the morning the american reporters buy a starbucks from around the corner. all out of video shot. (BTW you can still buy a fried apple pie at the mcdonalds in Greece)
(you do realize the picture on the bottom left has the letters backward...)
They spent billions of their own Euros on defense for 2009, and even more in 2010 (16.33 Billion Euros, which amounts to 21.5 Billion Dollars). In fact, their defense budget is so large (5.5% of their GDP) that it exceeds the 3 percent that is the cap by the European Union. Moreover, Germany contributed troops to Afghanistan, and even increased it by 850 more soldiers when Obama announced his support of the Gen McChrystal surge.
You must be very insecure to have to post made-up inaccuracies and your own "facts."
So, where were we.....oh yes. The Germans are lazy, loud, arrogant A-Holes, who "don't spend a dime on defense".....and what else?
My experience working with German companies is that the senior managers organize and engineer the heck out of the work. The union laborers don’t have to think a lot. They just follow the plan. With a good plan, even the lazy ones can be productive.
Something Beck Mentioned tonight.
>>Greece will be a war zone, Sect of Revolutionaries warns touristsSecurity forces fear wave of terror as austerity programme provokes strikes, protests, violence – and assassination<<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/greece-war-zone-revolutionaries-tourists
I did some further digging on my own and didn’t find a direct connection between the sect or revolutionaries and the Kasama project but they do look to the sect of revolutionaries as the model they should follow.
The Kasama project is a communist revolutionary group operating in our colleges. They hold joint marches with the SDS and SEIU.
How do you know? Did you get their "anarchist" business card at the scene when they took the photo?
I mean, I don't totally know who these people are......but I think it is safe to say they are protesting policies the Greeks were forced to take after they had to cut back (and just a little, given the entire magnitude of what they are dealing with) on the socialistic give away programs.
These guys were listed as "Greek farmers," so you tell me.
But, per your photo.....yup.............that was pretty much about it.
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