Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts

Australian Immigrants Retiring to Home Countries

There was a joke going around in Adelaide in the 1960s when I lived there - all these Wogs will probably go home and live off of the Australian pension. Wog was a common term then. It referred to southern Mediterraneans, Greeks and Italians for example. English people were called Poms when immigrants were flooding in.

How a joke can become truth. People who have moved to Australia and indeed spent most of their lives here are going back to their home countries because of favorable exchange rates. Not so much the English. They seem to be staying here.

Between 2007 and 2012 the number of Australians living overseas and drawing the Aussie pension increased by 30 per cent. In the same period the overall number of Australian pensioners went up only 17 per cent. Recent changes in the budget will not affect those currently on the pension. Most will not be here when the pension age goes up to 70 years in 2035.

Most expatriates by far return to Italy and Greece in their twilight years. While the majority of citizens in Greece are doing it tough now, those on Australian pensions have guaranteed income. Others go to Spain and oddly, the Netherlands - there must be something tempting to move to a cold wet country from a hot dry one.

This group of baby boomers, however, will probably be the last ones to enjoy such a bonus. As people retire who have paid superannuation all their working lives it is inevitable that state funded pensions will be phased out. This is seldom admitted but it is the truth. Changes are being made now by government to ultimately benefit government.
Society by Ty Buchanan
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World Will Lose Greek Heritage

The culture of Greece is at risk and this is where democracy was born, Surely, funding can be found from other countries. National cuts have reduced the archaelogical workforce to a dangerous low level. Up to 50 per cent of workers in total will be dismissed, Just maintaining ancient structures is expensive.

Of more immediate threat are museum pieces, not fixed ancient buildings though illegal diggings are threatening these. museum security guards have been laid off. Armed robberies are increasing. Offical research projects funded from other countries are continuing. but all local digs have ceased as the money is stopped.

Work on ancient walls built in the time of Pericles located under the metro rail line, no longer takes place. The dig is important to understand how the access way from Athens to the sea affected the way the fleet of ships was used during the Peloponnesian War.

There will be a real loss of experienced specialists as they take early retirement. Those left spend all their time in the office as work planning stops. Important scientific papers are not being written, so the world scientific community loses.
People are digging holes all over the country to find small antiquities to sell for anything they can get. Income is falling for everyone and a few extra Euros feeds the family. Greek auction houses are getting a lot of the unprovenanced stock which they sell as no "genuine" artifacts are on the market.
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Archaeology

Europe Will Bring the World into Depression

The European economic situation is becoming a world problem. There seems to be no way the Euro can be saved. There will definitely be a flow-on effect to the world economy. Despite the new agreement, without the UK, nothing has really changed. The regulation and punishment for spending too much is too late for Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. When these countries ultimately default, and they will, France and Germany will be drawn into Depression with them because their banks have continued to lend to these deficit countries.

There will be another problem in Europe that no one has highlighted. When unemployment gets too high in the struggling countries life will be unbearable. Labor is free to move across borders in the EC. Workers will move to where the work this. That is Germany and to a lesser extent France. Economic refugees will flood across the borders. The UK will not be exempt from this. For centuries England, Scotland and Wales have been destinations for workers from Ireland leaving due to lack and work and political problems. When Ireland defaults hundreds of thousands will move out.

Welfare systems in these "target" countries will be burdened to the extreme. Unemployment benefits will have to be reduced, per person, to cope. Lack of demand in Europe means lower production in the US and Asia. The future also looks bleak for Australia, the main provider of basic resources to China.

Going for a budget surplus in 2012 may be politically justified and the Australian Government may just make it in time for the next election with tough cutbacks. However, no matter which political party wins government it will have to go straight back to spending to keep the Australian economy moving with the sharp cutbacks forced on China by the failing world economy.
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Politics