Destroying Greece to Save ItStephen Lendman The more Athens borrows, the greater its debt burden, the harder it is to get out from under. Greece is dying. Its practically a corpse already. Only its obituary remains to be written. Official unemployment tops 27%. Its likely higher. Youth unemployment approaches 65%. An entire generations lost. Its being systematically destroyed. Its dying on the alter of pay bankers first. Whatever they want they get. Greeces New Democracy/PASOK coalition plans thousands more layoffs by yearend. On July 17, it enacted its seventh austerity package since 2010. It calls for firing 15,000 state workers. About 25,000 will be gone by yearend. Up to 150,000 will be sacked by year end 2014. Troika scoundrels demand their pound of flesh. They insist in return for emergency loans. They reflect loan shark economics writ large. Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis calls Bankruptocracy in the Greek Sector of Bailoutistan destructive. Its progressing in leaps and bounds. Its doing so with European taxpayers loan guarantees providing the capital and a bonfire of the Greek peoples hopes for the future supplying the energy. Greece is a black hole of inequity. Its burning. Its a model of self-destruction. Its birthrates in decline. Stillbirths rose 20% since 2008. Around 40% of households lack healthcare. A late MarchLancet study said Europes financial crisis poses major threats to health. Greece is hardest hit of all. So are Spain, Portugal and Italy. Suicides and infectious disease outbreaks are becoming more common in these countries, and budget cuts have restricted access to health care. Public healths in crisis. Policy makers are largely silent. Theyre dismissive. Theyre indifferent to human need. John Pilger calls willfully destroying social justice the Age of Regression. Police state harshness enforces it. Its vicious. Its the new normal. It reflects nations gone mad. Potemkin societies replace real ones. Black hole harshness reflects them. Greece is prologue for whats deepening. Its spreading across Europe. Its hammering Americans. It affects Canadians. Its coming to a community near you. Imagine unaffordable basic services. Imagine unavailable healthcare when ill. On April 20, the TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) IP Policy Committee addressed Greeces healthcare crisis. It did so by open letter to coalition officials, saying: This letter is an attempt by Greek scholars and physicians from diverse academic areas of specialization to raise our concerns regarding the current, dire, state of Health Care services in Greece. Our country has fallen into a dismal state, and it is constantly challenged by extrinsic and intrinsic pressures, while the economic and social climate deteriorates further each day. The Greek government, in total obedience to the irrational demands of the Troika, focuses on the obligations of the citizens towards the state, and seems to forget or ignore its own obligations towards its citizens. The Government has imposed a brutal and self-defeating fiscal austerity; in a confiscatory manner, it tries to collect extra revenue from an already impoverished and afflicted populace, while it neglects its main role, as specified by the Constitution: The Protection of the Rights and the Welfare of the Citizen Body. Greeces black hole deepens. Coalition partners shrank GDP by 25%. Doing sos a shocking indictment of corrupt mismanagement. Public healths in disarray. Its collapsing on all fronts. The health of an entire population is seriously undermine(d). Mortality and morbidity are increasing. Troika subservience demands vital service cuts. Medical staff numbers are reduced. Essential equipment deteriorates. Everythings in short supply. Patients now have to pay for consumables, for medical tests, and for surgeries. This is all on top of what they already paid through their insurance funds. Those who suffer from chronic diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, are forced to pay a 25% deductible for the cost of their medication, while prior to the crisis this deductible stood at 5%. Cancer and kidney failure patients suffer not only due to the increased costs of specialized treatments, but also the general rundown of these facilities, loss of key personnel and dramatic shortages in medications. Unable to receive treatment at home anymore, they have to travel far away for dear life, and wait in endless queues in the corridors of bureaucratic health-insurance offices and/or hospital clinics. Mental health services are greatly diminished. Psychiatric hospitals in Greece can no longer perform at the level required to provide even basic treatment to patients diagnosed with serious mental illnesses. Standard (surgery) rates force patients to pay about 20% in advance for materials and services. Doing so makes both emergency and elective surgeries virtually unapproachable for a broad segment of the population. Millions of unemployed and underemployed Greeks have inadequate resources for expensive treatment. Many cant afford rent, utilities, enough nourishing food, other basics, and other living expenses easily affordable years earlier. Greeces poor, unemployed and retired have no choice but to forego basic, life-saving drugs and healthcare monitoring. They do it to afford minimal sustenance. Thousand of medical and other professionals emigrated. Prior to crisis conditions, Greeces National Health System (ESY) provided exceptional services. It now lacks basic resources. It has too few trained professionals. Its besieged at every level. Its plundered with your consent. Its dying a slow death. So is Greece. Its beholden to foreign bankers. Its not a government of Greeks for Greeks. The disastrous policies that undermine even the basic health of the Greek population must come to an end. Greece represents the worst of neoliberal harshness. Social services across the board are disintegrating. Theyre in disarray. Theyre disappearing in plain sight. In 2013, martial law was imposed three times. Coalition gangsters wage war on their own people. Central Athens demonstrations are banned. Police state harshness targets nonbelievers. Courageous people initiate change, said Pilger. Theres no other way. Theyre responsible for taking back their own lives against (long) odds. Civil disobedience is a noble tradition. Pilger says read Percy Shelley. Ye are many; they are few. Victor Hugo said nothings stronger than an idea whose time has come. Seize it. (D)o it, said Pilger. The alternative is deepening dystopian harshness. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/ linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 