The Greek tragedy: no money, no hope

We would like to see the politicians executed, "says Maria, not smiling as she delivers the joke." Most people are saying this: politicians deserve capital punishment – at the Greek equivalent of Traitors 'Gate. It would be a nice time for politicians to be heroes, to stand up and defend the people. But they 're not. "" We can ' t watch the television news any more, "says Dmitris, shaking his head." If you watch it, with the constant uncertainty, it can make your psychology very low. It 's like a nightmare we can ' t wake up from. Perhaps it 's fortunate that we ' ve had to cancel our cable TV subscription. I don 't trust the media any more: I get all my news from the internet. "Across Europe, governments are reining in public spending to prevent the markets ' confidence in their finances ebbing. Ireland and Portugal have made sweeping cuts; Italy and Spain are under intense pressure to perform better. But it is the 11 million Greeks who are feeling it most acutely as their government struggles to head off default – or worse. If Greek public sector workers at all levels have been hit by pay and pension cuts, for the middle class – people like the Andreous, both of whom are self-employed – it is tax that is the problem. Tax rises, a property downturn and the collapse of business income has halved their spending power, and that 's before the next round of austerity measures, due to be voted on in parliament on Tuesday, begin. In Greece the debt crisis – which has spiralled out of control in 2011 – means that cutting public sector jobs and services is not enough. The pensions, savings and incomes of the middle-class are being raided too. (Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk …