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Living The Grecovery Dream: Two Jobless Parents, Two Kids, One Cat All Living In A Car

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Via KeepTalkingGreece blog,

Squeezed between steering wheel, handbrake, door and dashboard, Katerina reads in her history book, takes notes for school. Next to her, on the driver’s seat, cat Eddy stares right in the camera lens. It may look like a cute snapshot on a sunny day, if it wasn’t for a sad detail: a withering spring stuck in a roll of toilet paper.  A distinctive memory of a former normal life that turned into a grim reality for a family of four.

At night the seat where Katerina sits during the day turns into a bed for her sister Fay. Cat Eddy cuddles with Katerina on the back seat. Father Nikos and mother Maria sleep in shifts on the driver’s seat. When the one parent is in the car, the other spends the night on a bench of the park where the car has been parked, on a side road of Irakleio suburb of West Athens. “It’s dangerous when it gets dark,” Maria says “we have to watch out.”

With both parents without a job and all savings already spent, the family of four has been living in the uncomfortable environment of an old car for the last two weeks. They were evicted from the home they were renting due to a mountain of outstanding debts to the landlord and utility companies.

Nikos and Maria at their late 40′s, Fay and Katerina aged 16 and 14, packed a few things, took their pet in their arms and made their old car their new home.

“The girls started to cry when we told them that we’re going to live in the car,” Maria told the reporter of Sunday newspaper Proto Thema that revealed the story. “The first night in the car was the most difficult, psychologically,” Maria adds with a trembling voice.

“We had our decent home, our cooked food, we offered our kids what they needed. I could never think that I will end up like that at my 49. We knew that times are tough, but never thought that we will end up on the street,” Maria said.

 

It’s Greece’s new homeless: decent families who lost everything due to economic crisis and austerity measures and they live their own hell in social isolation in a collapsed welfare state.

Decent families who live from charity aid, food packages, soup kitchens or neighbors’ help.

Decent families who cannot even enjoy a warm bed and a proper shower,  a home-cooked meal, a flower in the vase.

 

The story of the family is common to many Greek households with no extraordinary means and salaries. Their economic decline started in 2012, when the bakery where Nikos was working closed down. Maria, who was working as a school traffic woman, was fired. The family managed to survive using the thin compensation Nikos received after being fired. Both parents tried to find new jobs but without result. Soon all the money available for the family was vanished.

In Greece of Samaras’ success story and IMF’s wrong calculations, there are hardly job vacancies available after four full years of recession.

According to official statistics, 27 percent, that is 1.3 million people are unemployed, the majority of them long-term jobless. These numbers refer only to employees and not to self-employed or free-lancers. Unemployment allowance is just 365 euro per month for the duration of total 12 months independently of the years of work life.

At the same time, more than 60% of the country’s population lives either in poverty or is at risk of poverty. According to State Budget Office of the Greek Parliament,  2.5 million Greeks live below the line of relative poverty and another 3.8 million people are at risk of poverty. “Relative poverty” is defined when a family of four has less than 908 euro per month.

Being one of the country’s 1.3m unemployed for more than three years, father Nikos managed to find a job at the kiosk. For 300 euro per month. The money maybe enough to feed the family or cover elementary needs but hardly rent and utility bills. Official statistics define as “Relative poverty” the monthly income of below €908 for a family of four.

Maria told the Proto Thema reporter that it was their pride that has hindered them so far from seeking charity aid and possible beds at the Homeless Shelter.

The story of the new-homeless family shocked the public opinion and mobilized a lot of Greeks who urged the media to open a bank account so that they could send donations. Many offered food and clothing and even work.

A man called at a TV-news magazine featuring the drama of the family and offered a home for the family to live in free of charge.

Deputy Labor Minister Vasilis Kerkeroglou intervened in one of the morning TV-news magazines  reporting on the fate of the family and said that there was a plan on the way to shelter 1,500 homeless and that “half of them could even find a job.”

When the plan will be implemented in real life, it is not known yet.

PS thank God, the government has plans for the poor, who turned poor after the government taxed also the poor, apart from destroyed any effort for growth and development…

 

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Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:26 | 5355619 trulz4lulz
trulz4lulz's picture

m-o-o-n! Thats how you speel consept!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:24 | 5356166 waterhorse
waterhorse's picture

Laws, yes!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:09 | 5355521 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

god spells that ...concept...thas all...

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:36 | 5355660 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

it's like that movie, Inseption. A shit-pile inside a septic tank carried on a garbage-shipping barge... and something's about to burst...

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:13 | 5355545 papaswamp
papaswamp's picture

... Concept ....

Edit ha someone beat me to it!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:13 | 5355548 Rockatanski
Rockatanski's picture

IMO, anyone that goes around spouting their IQ is a liar.

 

did you take that test on-line?

 

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:15 | 5355564 Freddie
Freddie's picture

God gave you that brain - why don't you use it?

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:20 | 5355581 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

IQ 165 & can't spell "consept" correctly? "S" is no where near "c" on the QWERTY.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:42 | 5355701 V in PA
V in PA's picture

'S' is no where near 'P' on the QWERTY, but it is actually kind of close to 'C'.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 16:14 | 5356195 Urban Redneck
Urban Redneck's picture

QWERTY... assumption... not good to do on an IQ test (if your goal is to score higher, rather than lower).

The keyboard I'm typing on right now is QWERTZ (specifically a Swiss-German QWERTZ), not even an AZERTY or (my personal favorite keyboard layout name) a bopoMOFO.

There are probably quite a few people with an IQ of 165 (or higher) that "apparently" can't spell on the internet. However, on the internet, what you are witnessing is not their spelling ability. Though this "guy" does not appear to be one those people.

(BTW- I am not typing this in English, I am typing this in raw HTML.)

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:36 | 5355659 Pareto
Pareto's picture

165........really.  Can't spell, can't write,....like wtf are you saying?  Here's the deal.  If you have an IQ of 100 or better, I will eat my hat.  Fucking dip shit.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:46 | 5355719 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

Kut hymn sum slak. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:50 | 5355735 More_sellers_th...
More_sellers_than_buyers's picture

A person with a 165 IQ would probably never type a comment.  They would either realize the answer to their situation or realize the futility of typing it out for people like me to read. Dumbass

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:57 | 5355762 espirit
espirit's picture

Rather than degrade a premier freshwater fighting fish, I would postulate the term 'Catfish' as being moar applicable.

Wed, 10/22/2014 - 13:05 | 5364047 gallistic
gallistic's picture

Nice!

+1

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 16:06 | 5356350 BandGap
BandGap's picture

No, I have two sons with IQs north of 150. They screw up the english all of the time.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:52 | 5355746 just-my-opinion
just-my-opinion's picture

Och....-30...that hurts

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:12 | 5356103 Blankenstein
Blankenstein's picture

He's also 6'3" 280.  See above


I'm 6foot 3 280lbs..

5355699just-my-opinion

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:30 | 5356187 css1971
css1971's picture

If you're smart you have to realise that telling people your IQ is an emotional crutch. If you were a well rounded adult you wouldn't need to. It just wouldn't matter.

I recommend some deep introspection.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:05 | 5355497 Uber Vandal
Uber Vandal's picture

One's work ethic and education may not prepare one for every contingency that life may throw one's way.

I distinctly recall being at an open job interview, and the applicants were sorted out with age 40 and up to the right, under age 40 to the left.

I will give one two guesses which group received most of the attention from the employers.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:11 | 5356092 The9thDoctor
The9thDoctor's picture

From the 20-something's perspective it was the 40+ crowd that got the most attention. lol

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 16:51 | 5356550 Uber Vandal
Uber Vandal's picture

Sadly, the no speako Englisho people got more attention than the 40 and over group did, and even the under 40 people who came in 15 minutes late got more attention.

When I did get to speak to the rep, turns out I was "over qualified", whatever that means.

My personal favorite job interview of all time was when I felt like a guppy in a Piranha tank for a logistics position.

Did my research on the company, thought I knew what I was walking into, I was very, very wrong.

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:23 | 5355599 Karlus
Karlus's picture

>> But for the grace of God go I...blessed to have a good job, a work ethic, and an education that will keep me in a job were this job to go...my story is likely the story of many ZHers.

 

Bigtime. You are only a heartbeat away from being done. As bad as it is for this family (and it is) you are not having to deal with something that just cuts off the clock.

 

As for the "edgy" guys on the board, its just whistling past the graveyard. Most here couldnt hack living in a car or worse. They would cry like a bitch.

 

Be grateful for what you have, what you have had, and who is in your life.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:32 | 5355642 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Did it myself for years. I'm hardened now & ready for any of this shit.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:37 | 5355671 just-my-opinion
just-my-opinion's picture

OK....not so much MillionDollarBonus.....He or she was a douch-bag...You are right.....Shit is comin

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:01 | 5356053 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

hm, yes, 3 of us all made copycat mockery accounts then the main one eventually... went away... so now us Million/meelion doller/dollar bogus accounts have no one left to mock... in name anyhow.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:50 | 5355737 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

Karlus, great post! 

Be grateful for what you have, what you have had, and who is in your life.

I wake up every day and look at my wife and kid safely in bed before I go down the stairs to peddle my crap. Without them, I would have gone off the grid years ago. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:19 | 5356132 PoliticalRefuge...
PoliticalRefugeefromCalif.'s picture

.."What about the main thing in life, all its riddles?
 If you want, I’ll spell it out for you right now.
Do not pursue what is illusionary -property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and is confiscated in one fell night.
 Live with a steady superiority over life -don’t be afraid of misfortune and do not yearn for happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last forever and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.
It is enough if you don’t freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don’t claw at your insides.
 If your back isn’t broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes can see, if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all.
Rub your eyes and purify your heart -and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well.
 Do not hurt them or scold them and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know: it may be your last act before your arrest, and that will be how you are imprinted on their memory"..

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist, historian, and survivor of the Soviet Gula

..he was no ivory tower theorist- he walked the walk.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:51 | 5355434 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

I saw this the other day in a small US city. Winning.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:17 | 5355569 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

This is very common in So. Cal., commercial properties are a hang out for the homeless. Unfortunately they end up hanging around till daytime, panhandling, giving the centers a down trotten look and feel. Hurts the ones who own businesses and their bottom lines. Parks need to be opened up to the homeless and serviced till they can get back on their feet. Pushing them on Landlords and tenants is not fair and will only make it worse for everyone.

 

I feel for them, but as a sub contracted maintenance mgr. I charge $19 to remove a homeless, truck, car, Van, RV, Bus, tractor trailer rig, unauthorized peeps. Beats $4k a month for night security and the landlord pays it happily. They are my new cash cow albiet some get smokes and few bucks now and then. Snap a photo, ask them to leave and they do.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:15 | 5355852 ersatz007
ersatz007's picture

parks for the homeless...can anyone say 'grapes of wrath'?  well, i guess it sounds better than FEMA camp.  

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 16:22 | 5356423 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

If Ebola sets in the homeless community we are screwed. As it is I charge $85 for your run of the mill hersey squirt, that can and does happen anywhere nowadays. With Ebola you are talking HazMat and landlords will be BK pretty quick. Keep em contained and monitored in parks with running water/toilets, hell they ruin most parks during the day as it is now. Well the middle class to lower end parks.

 

FEMA will come if this Ebola deal isn't contained here. Cities cannot afford Hazmat either.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:11 | 5355534 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

BS on the in any US metro area.  This family would qualify for a minimum of 2k if not more in handouts.  They would have an apartment and food on the table.  The only ones who dont are too lazy to fill out the paperwork, or to let a community organizer do it for them.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:17 | 5355860 plane jain
plane jain's picture

I think you are missing the point that not everyone is so ready to take a handout and that for those that are there isn't that much to go around. Long waiting lists for Section 8 housing.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:45 | 5355398 thatthingcanfly
thatthingcanfly's picture

I'm afraid we're going to see this start to become more "normal" on this side of the pond as well.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:44 | 5355399 Capitalist
Capitalist's picture

In a few more weeks that car will be ABS collateral owned by the ECB.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:20 | 5355587 ZeroPoint
ZeroPoint's picture

In America, the police would have already seized the car and the kids.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:11 | 5355821 chunga
chunga's picture

And we know that anyone deciding to help them runs the risk of getting fined or arrested.

 

"Feeding The Homeless" Is A Crime In Increasingly More US Cities

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:46 | 5355404 firstdivision
firstdivision's picture

These two parents need to see the informative

Speech--Chair Janet L. Yellen

The Importance of Asset Building for Low and Middle Income Households

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:56 | 5355454 Ruffmuff
Ruffmuff's picture

Did you mean AssHat building? That's all that ever made sense coming from the fed.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:57 | 5355461 Ms. Erable
Ms. Erable's picture

Let them eat catnip.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:47 | 5355407 Truther
Truther's picture

FUCK THE EU and FUCK THE IMF's LAGARDE..... THESE CENTARL BANK BITCHEZZ NEED TO HANG.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:32 | 5355643 PrDtR
PrDtR's picture

"Thou Shalt not Kill".. GOD 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:02 | 5355784 espirit
espirit's picture

Sooo... If they didn't learn to fly on the way down, are you really responsible for their hard landing?

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:57 | 5356028 Duffy
Duffy's picture

 

 

Hebrew Bible: Plagiarized Mythology and Defaced Monotheism

 

God contradicted himself....A LOT.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 16:49 | 5356545 sylviasays
sylviasays's picture

Koran (Qur'an): Plagiarized Mythology and Defaced Monotheism

 

 

Allah contradicted himself....A LOT.

 

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:56 | 5355760 cnmcdee
cnmcdee's picture

I know in the United States the shadow inventory of homes is about 40 million.  More than enough to house everybody.  But that is just it.  If you won't pay you won't play. And they will spend money making sure that nobody can 'get off' and escape a mortgage and bills.

Try living cost free it's been engineered to be just about impossible. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:49 | 5355992 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

About that "Try living cost free" thing: TANSTAAFL.

Someone always has to pay. Too many want it to be someone else.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:48 | 5355408 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

But at least they're still in the EZ.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:49 | 5355419 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

One would have hoped it would be a Porsche Cayenne given its popularity and ubiquity in Greece:

There are more Porsche Cayennes registered in Greece than taxpayers declaring an income of 50,000 euros (£43,800) or more

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:50 | 5355420 gswifty
gswifty's picture

Greece is fucked, they're just first.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:45 | 5355715 sandhillexit
sandhillexit's picture

Greece has as much claim to the natural gas in the Eastern Med as any country.  More actually.  Would solve a lot of the EU's cross border funding issues.  I am waiting for someone, somewhere in Europe to be a patriot, instead of a paid stooge.  

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:51 | 5355422 LostandFound
LostandFound's picture

Fucking sad story, being a father myself and not being able to support my family is the biggest fear i have, period. 

We have nothing to pass onto our younger generation, other than competition for cheap labour or automation and debt levels that will chain there own kids and grandkids to the tables.

Fucking amazing isnt it....  

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:01 | 5355486 chunga
chunga's picture

+1

It's pretty hard making jokes about people living in a car. I notice the plant on the dash. Probably the mother put it there to make everything seem better. If we were in that position my wife would do something like that, always look on the bright side to give hope to the others.

Maybe it's their fault and they should not have been bakers or crossing guards. Banker or politician would have been better, I'm sure.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:41 | 5355964 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

Anbody notice that the daughter is still highlighting a textbook?  If that were my kid I would throw away the fucking book and pen. 

Hey, kiddo, lets go take a walk and enjoy the day. I am not sure what the answer is..but I am pretty sure it is not in that book. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:30 | 5355629 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

There was a time when our long-ago ancestors has much less to rely upon.

We can still teach our children where clean food & water actually come from; and in the face of oppressors, how to put them in their place.

It's a long word but the first home-schooling spelling-bee should feature...

G U I L L O U T I N E

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:50 | 5355739 StandardDeviant
StandardDeviant's picture

Bzzzzzt!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:50 | 5355425 The Phallic Crusader
The Phallic Crusader's picture

Repudiate.

 

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:05 | 5355506 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen Crusader.

Austere!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:35 | 5355944 ersatz007
ersatz007's picture

LISTEN...to the flower people...

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:50 | 5355426 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

no seriously what sort of aid is there, rescue shelters, meals? in the US there are enough resources that only the deeply antisocial cases live on the street all the time.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:53 | 5355447 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

I don't know for sure, but at 26% unemployment, it's probably not enough.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:52 | 5355431 Ewtman
Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:57 | 5355443 tradingdaze
tradingdaze's picture

I'm going to buy a bigger car.

I'm going to start palladium hunts at night. 

It's exhausting work.

 

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:04 | 5355493 just-my-opinion
just-my-opinion's picture

Buy A big car .....that goes really fast

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:46 | 5355980 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

I never knew you were a black lesbian. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO9Qa7MpAvw

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:54 | 5355444 gdiamond22
gdiamond22's picture

All they have to do is BTFD and and start trading E-minis.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:54 | 5355451 The Phallic Crusader
The Phallic Crusader's picture

Meanwhile, Greece still has a good deal of immigration from Africa and the Middle East.

Those opposing this are described as "racist" and the immigration, legal and illegal, continues at a brisk pace, although no one in their right mind thinks it is "good for the Greeks."

 

Immigration Commissioner denounces 'Fortress Europe' at hearing

 

"reform" started meaning "ignoring the law" or "amnesty" a while ago, and not just in English.

 

 

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:58 | 5355456 franciscopendergrass
franciscopendergrass's picture

Only possible in the modern world with central banks and megabanks.  In the days of feudalism and monarchs, TPTB used to get their heads cutoff or have to flee in exile.  Now, they get secret service protection and 6-figure speaking engagements.

 

Fuck Governments and Banksters

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:55 | 5355458 himaroid
himaroid's picture

Most of the kids I knew toiled the tobacco fields when I was these kids age.
I worked alongside guys and gals who are now doctors, lawyers, accountants, military officers etc.
If you want/vote to live from borrowed money and the efforts of other people,
this is where it will take you.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:56 | 5355460 ForWhomTheTollBuilds
ForWhomTheTollBuilds's picture

Forget your armaggedeon fantasies about a sweeping romantic collapse of the political and banking systems followed quickly by a brand new Renessaince.  *This* is what the collapse will look like; what it already does already look like.

 

Long, slow, grinding, mostly unreported in the press and therefore utterly shameful for the ever growing throngs of people caught up in the collapse. 

 

These poor people don't even know who is murdering them.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:19 | 5355580 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Great News! Once they figure out they're near death from hunger they'll attack anyone who looks like food!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:45 | 5355710 walküre
walküre's picture

They may know but there's sweet fuck all they or anyone else can do about it.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 16:50 | 5356546 css1971
Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:58 | 5355463 BiteMeBO
BiteMeBO's picture

Don't look in rear view because what's coming up behind ain't pretty. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:40 | 5355680 Bam_Man
Bam_Man's picture

-- Satchel Paige

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:57 | 5355464 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

    I think we need to donate a couple of Pitchforks to that family.

   ~ You didn't build that ~

  Zero Soetoro -  July 13th, 2012

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:02 | 5355489 shanearthur
shanearthur's picture

I sure hope Greek folks start studying self sufficiency skills and avoid any consumerism that isn't ralated to basic survival needs. primitive skills [[dot]] com for any Greeks reading this.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:03 | 5355495 Pantalone
Pantalone's picture

That's the new kind of carplant. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:06 | 5355505 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

   I wonder what Jean-Claude Juncker could spin these images into?

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:05 | 5355508 centerline
centerline's picture

note to self:  big car is good.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:07 | 5355516 Smiley
Smiley's picture

"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything."

Soon they will just let go.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:08 | 5355517 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen.

All in all, they still appear well fed, like Americans but maybe 100 lbs lighter, give or take....

OH!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:10 | 5355518 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

The perfect Dickens "A Christmas Carol" moment!

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:10 | 5355528 limacon
limacon's picture

Funnily , at the moment France and Germany are leading the probability pack to EU disintegration .

There are major benefits for them :

See http://danielamerman.com/articles/Windfall.htm

Merkel nixed this , but there seems to be a new rapprochement between Russia and Germany .

France is getting deperate , and the temptation to jump the gun must be considerable.

 

See 

https://www.academia.edu/8816411/Rogue_Swan_EU_disintegration

See also https://www.academia.edu/7064849/Belarus_Dominoes_

and https://www.academia.edu/6432666/GINI_and_the_rubble_of_Empire

 

The mainstay of the poorer EU members is Tourism , and Ebola threatens to put a severe crimp into this when it spreads into EU .

 

The return of Nomads :

See http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2010/02/whatever-happened-to-nomads.html

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:11 | 5355529 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Sometimes when I’m cruising for hookers late at night I see families walking about.   

 

Can't save 'em all. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:11 | 5355530 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

if they had ebola too the elite would be happier

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:10 | 5355531 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

Get a van and park it down by the river.

 

 

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:13 | 5355550 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

With a couple of solar panels. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:23 | 5355592 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

Sustainability.

 

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:14 | 5355549 yogibear
yogibear's picture

It's what happens when the globalist banksters seize control of all assets. Coming to the US. See a few cars parked in the Wal-Mart lot nightly.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:15 | 5355556 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

moral...when shopping for a vehicle look for one with good MPG and sleeping layout first...color should be camo to blend into the urban environment...and...know your wifi hotspots. Usually a starbucks parking lot will work. I suggest no plumbing as it freezes in Winter so a bucket with cat litter is preferred.

Actually pretty sad. I'm sure the Greeks had all the same promises we here in the USA have now. Broken and forgotten as more important budgetary items took preference....like war!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:41 | 5355686 Magnum
Magnum's picture

At least it's warm in Greece, no brutal winters. Americans living in cars freeze their ass off, and the streets are meaner in USA. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:19 | 5355573 swass
swass's picture

Man, I'd hope either of the parents might have a relative they could put the kids with while they work out their finances here. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:19 | 5355576 corporatewhore
corporatewhore's picture

soon to be the 2015 version of Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath".

Seven year of Depression in our nation and no one still has any solutions.  We are led by toads.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:23 | 5355600 just-my-opinion
just-my-opinion's picture

Maybe frogs.....Depression...YES.....It will get worst before it gets better

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:25 | 5355604 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

All thanks to Central Banks and their Bankster masters.

When do we start the hangings and roll the guillotines?

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:29 | 5355625 xcehn
xcehn's picture

They won't have trouble filling those vacancies. It's a charitable cause.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:33 | 5355645 StupidEarthlings
StupidEarthlings's picture

Why are they sleeping with the light on?

Photo op?

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:33 | 5355646 Eyeroller
Eyeroller's picture

Despite Greece's economic woes, don't they still have a booming tourist industry?

If these poor, desperate parents speak English, would they have better luck finding a job as a tour guide -- bus driver, etc.. or have all those jobs been taken?

I'm asking this out of ignorance -- I don't know the state of the tourist industry in Greece, and my heart goes out to the plight of these people.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:44 | 5355707 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

Had Greece been allowed to remain a tourist economy, they would have been fine. But no...they HAD to go join the Euro, which put their little laid-back tourist economy on the same playing field as Germany, the economic powerhouse of Europe.

Throwing a five-year old into the ring with a 300-pound opponent makes for a very quick round, and it's probably a sure bet which will win. But it's not exactly very sporting, is it?
That's why they HAVE weight classes in boxing...even people who beat the crap out of each other for a living know there's a difference, and that you don't put grossly mis-matched candidates together in the same ring.
Think about that a minute...People who take regular blows to the head are smarter than the folks running Europe.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 17:34 | 5356699 TradingTroll
TradingTroll's picture

Get real.

 

You somehow think the Greek politicians asked this family to vote on joining the Euro? And were the politicians honest with their answers when asked whether Greece could still devalue in a recession so the tourists would come back?

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:34 | 5355649 Magnum
Magnum's picture

Is this some kind of joke? As if you need to visit Greece to find families living in an automobile.  This is probably MORE common in USA than Greece! Get with the program. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:44 | 5355704 steelrules
steelrules's picture

http://cflhomeless.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/florida-map.jpg

Brings back sad memories of the late 70's, homless families, pensioners having to eat dog food, only I think this time it's worse! and the MSM is doing a better job of hiding it.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:11 | 5355817 Leraconteur
Leraconteur's picture

What is that an image of? I backed out the link and could get no information. It has no scale, no header, no legend.

What are the precentages representing by state? Poverty level? Homeless percentage? People living in cars? People on welfare?

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 18:26 | 5356852 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture

I also think these people are turning to drugs for escape....  and the power that be are faciliting this...  go to CDC and look up the 30 historical data for drug overdose deaths in the area you live in....  it is an eye opener..

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:36 | 5355661 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

So, this family, with no one employed, and having spent down any savings they may have had, are now living in their car. Not allowed to earn a living, they obviously cannot afford to pay on their debt, and will join the ranks of those who default. They will be "punished" by being marginalized, and forced to depend on handouts, odd jobs, and eventually, on whatever they can steal to survive.

Wouldn't it have been better to write down some of their debt? Wouldn't it have been better if, instead of insisting on austerity for this suffering country, a REALISTIC plan for economic reform had been offered?
Would it have been THAT hard to insist that all those big "investors" take a haircut, considering the state of Greece's economy? Surely ONE of those big thinkers could have explained to the the hard-liners that destroying the country would hurt their bottom lines a lot more than restructuring those debts would.
A family living in a car can't contribute much to anything, and they don't have any assets worth seizing. A country full of such people have nothing to lose. Those people do not sit by quietly and watch their children starve.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:55 | 5355758 WhyWait
WhyWait's picture

The problem with writing down someone's debt is that each piece of it is someone else's property.  And property is sacred, remember?

And yes people do sit by quietly and watch their children starve - unless they have reason to hope, reason to believe their acting will make a difference.  It happens gradually, and gradually they grow weaker.  

It's a frog in hot water thing.  

The young non-college grads I know all believe we're headed to a revolution, but they imagine it as something that will happen when the system dies, some time in the future.  Most somehow don't see that this is what living inside a dying system looks like, or that what comes next has to start now.

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:12 | 5355828 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

"Property" is NOT sacred. You find that out when things get bad, and previously held notions change. And they change very quickly. If you could go back in time and interview wealthy persons, they'd tell you how ephemeral those 'property rights' can be under the right circumstances.
And holders of debt are not guaranteed repayment. That is the whole justification for charging interest, to cover the risk of default. If you, as a holder of someone's debt, can't afford to write it down if necessary, then you are NOT wealthy enough to be a creditor, and should get out of the business of loaning money.
The fact that the big banks have spread their risk to YOU, via your 401k's and other investments doesn't change anything as far as the debtors go...if they can't pay, they can't pay. That's it, game over.
You should have refused to allow the banks to do that. But, I guess they forgot to tell you that by investing with them for those big gains, you were also agreeing to socialize the losses too.
THEY can afford it. YOU cannot.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:35 | 5355665 DullKnife
DullKnife's picture

In the 1930's Great Depression of the USA (now the USSA), people suffered but much less so that would be the case now if we had similar.   Back then, much of America was rural and people survived ok by staying on the farm of similar and rasing animals and growing fruit and veggies, etc.  And hunting and fishing more than now as back then the USA was less populated and less urban.

Also, jobless people could stay in their own homes.

Now?

Jobless families get booted out of their homes and into the street, even if they own their own home free and clear, for non-payment of the Govt "property tax".   The current crop of barrel scrapings who occupy positions of power, when they have to decide between the kindness and greed, go for the greed.   And kick the aged, widowed grandma out of her home and seize the home if the "property tax" is not paid.  

 

DK

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:12 | 5355827 DadzMad
DadzMad's picture

My grandparents had a huge garden, canned and stored everything you could imagine, and were survivors.  I learned a lot of dying crafts from them such as caring for fruit trees, canning, how to store food in a root cellar, even making wine.  I was young and did it becasue my mom and dad dragged me a long and made me.  The grandparents lived through a depression and were always waiting for the next one, they were not educated people but had seen the fragility of the system first hand.  I'm eternally greatful for the lesson, even though it took me 30 years to understand it.

If something even close to the magnitude of the Great Depression came our way I fear our broken down morality would be worse than the lack of skill to deal with the circumstances.  I picture soup kitchens getting robbed by bands of thugs instead of people patiently waiting in line.  I want to believe people are generally good, but as I get older it gets harder.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:41 | 5355965 DullKnife
DullKnife's picture

Ferguson, MO proves that people here will always handle difficult times with maturity and civilized behavior.

For that reason, in event of calamity (i.e. free sh*t cut offs for the FSA of the big cities), we will see everyone coming together in cooperation and love.

 

DK

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 18:38 | 5356875 zaphod42
zaphod42's picture

Sale of property for taxes works like this:  a list of delinquent taxes is prepared.  Homeowner is notified.  County hires Linebarger, goggan, Blair & Sampson, LLP, law firm which sues, and puts property on the block for sale.  Then a corporation that specializes in such things comes in and buys the property for the taxes (plus Linebargers' fees and interest - there is bidding based on interest in some states, like Illinois, and the corporation that offers the highest interest on the overdue taxes gets it)  Tax buying Corporation, having purchased residence for a small fraction of its value, rents to low income people, investing little or nothing more into the property.  Investment is paid back in a matter of months, and profits are enormous.  Evventually corporation stops paying taxes and continues to collect rent.  In sufficient time the property falls apart from lack of maintenance.  The corporation is a sham, owned by a Limited Partnership, whose general partner is another corporation, and they all file Ch.-7 Bankruptcy, so the county ends up with the property, no taxes, and a huge expense to demolish the remains.  Then the real owners of the Corporation blame the vicitms, set up another sham LP, and go out and and buy some more homes.  See also:  Detroit. 

Just another day in the life of a Capitlist society.

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:39 | 5355681 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

They missed the lesson from Iceland:  default, start clean, put the banksters on trial.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:24 | 5356143 messystateofaffairs
messystateofaffairs's picture

There is no other way, system must undergo a reset.

How To Catch A Monkey: http://youtu.be/UTX7Cxq8aGc

When it comes to keeping their stolen wealth oligarchs are like the momkeys in the vid. The hang on to the wealth and the wealth destruction systems they created to steal it until everything crashes. Maybe they will get captured andguillotined but I doubt it.

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:44 | 5355693 WhyWait
WhyWait's picture

What the photos can't describe - the stench of poverty that must pervade their car and cling to these poor people - a warning sign to all who might be tempted to offer their homes or a job.  How the husband can hold a job anyway I don't know - he must have access to a shower and clean clothes to pull it off.

Another thing the article doesn't say - this is not just hardship, misery and hopelessness.  Living like this places life and health at grave peril.  

I believe our CDC is hiding the surge in early deaths that I believe I am seeing around me, that I am convinced is starting to sweep America. 

How bad can it be?  Look at Russia, 1990-2000, when poverty and despair compounded by alcohol swept away a whole generation (their "greatest generation"), cutting life expectancy by 4 years - 5 for men.

It can get worse than that. 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:55 | 5356014 Eyeroller
Eyeroller's picture

I don't believe ANYTHING the CDC or any government agency says.

I've only shifted to this way of thinking in the last 2-3 years.

I know this is not an ebola thread, but since the CDC was mentioned, here is what I can't understand:

How is it that the family of Paul Duncan have not caught ebola when they were all living in the same cramped apartment while he had a high fever and was vomitting etc., yet two nurses in hazmat gear were able to get it?  The answer offered up by the CDC was that the nurses somehow violated protocol and "touched" their faces or skin with an infected glove. 

THAT MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:55 | 5355757 besnook
besnook's picture

yea, but they still have free healthcare.......

havewn't thought about stanley the midget in a long time. it has been long enough now that the majority of the usa population doesn't remember when there were no homeless on the streets of the usa except a few really bad drunks. stanley the midget was one of these guys. the bars in town opened at 7am and closed at 4am(except sunday when they opened at noon).  stanley would stay in the bars all day and most of the night, sleeping in the park for the few hours the bars were closed. in the fall, when the nights started getting too cold, stanley would jump up on the bar one night and beat the crap out of some poor drunk with his cane. the bar owner, his friend, would call the cops who would arrest stanley for simple assault and throw him in jail. the judge would sentence him to spend the winter in jail. the good old days.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:57 | 5355761 LithiumWarsWAKEUP
LithiumWarsWAKEUP's picture

Judging by the size of Katerina's gut, it appears she is 'getting enough to eat'. Or did.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:22 | 5355884 DadzMad
DadzMad's picture

Many times that's a result of the poor quality of the food, not the quantity.

Food programs often show similar results.  The kids are malnourished and mom is looking obese but only taking in 500 calories a day.  They finally figured out a pile of white rice had nothing to offer nutritionally to the kids and the carb intake was driving insulin levels of the mothers off the charts, especially when that level of carbohydrate was foreign to them.

The girl probably used to live on fresh vegetables and good meat and dairy and now eats stale bread and Cheetos.  The garbage is always affordable, they make sure of that.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 16:20 | 5356413 flyingcaveman
flyingcaveman's picture

That cat looks like he's just about had enough ramen noodles though.  Its only a matter of time before he turns on her for something a little meatier.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 18:20 | 5356833 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture

Cheap calorie dense and nutrient poor food......  sadly shaking head at your comment....

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:59 | 5355774 Otto Zitte
Otto Zitte's picture

Americathon 1979

Inspired by Jimmy Carter

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:00 | 5355776 Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking's picture

Not newsworthy. That's why it's sad. Every city in usa.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:18 | 5355864 Joe A
Joe A's picture

At first I thought it was a story about a family in America.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:08 | 5355799 yogibear
yogibear's picture

America's version of the Great Society.

A Lyndon Baines Johnson production

Enjoy libtards! 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:07 | 5355800 Mike Masr
Mike Masr's picture

This is the beautiful life the boneheads in West Ukraine will experience. They deserve it!   

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:11 | 5355824 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

Why don't they say they're illegals?  Ok, I know they're White but still, they'd likely end up with free accommodation, healthcare and education.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:15 | 5355850 sidiji
sidiji's picture

16 is old enough for prostitution...get out there and work it

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:19 | 5355855 chasman
chasman's picture

Opps....coming to a country near you.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:21 | 5355880 earnulf
earnulf's picture

Since this is pretty far down, I don't have to worry about a lot of folks not "getting" it.

Poverty today, is hell.    Most folks live in the city, have no access to ground to grow plants or animals on.   Of the 3 basics, Food is processed and canned.    Shelter is your car or a friendly couch if you're neighborly or lucky, clothes are what you have on your back.

Not like it was.   "Normal" People don't wear the same clothes for a week anymore.    Cramped quarters make for rough relationships.    And gas for the car is what's in the tank, when it's gone, it's gone and you're just a piece of metal on the side of the road.    Saturday Night Baths don't exist, no access to clean water, same for washing those clothes.    People have gotten spoiled in the past 70 years, dumb too.    Most people have no idea how bread is made or where their nuggets come from.    No heart or understanding that meat has to be killed.   And we take water far too much for granted, until we don't have a faucet or sink to take it from.

Most don't know their neighbors, and for good reason.   Gone are the days when your neighbor watched your house for you, knew which animals were pets and which were strays, worked the same hours that you did and had 2.0 kids.   Today you have the drug dealer, the manufactuer, the two child molestors, the sexual probationer, the block drunk, the five broken families trying to survive, the two "normal" families, the immigrants and the college renters and if you could put a name to any of them, you're better than 40% of the population.

Because we are so judgemental, we don't want to "know" about how our neighbor is "different" from us.    Used to be the biggest scandal was the divorced couple, today it's trying to find a "normal" family that doesn't have sixteen skeltons in the closet.

And all that still goes out the window if you lose your home.   Now you have no land, no address, no castle.   No way to raise crops or livestock, no microwave to cook and open fires are a no-no at 5th and main.   No washer, no dryer, no bathroom and heaven help all of you if someone is medically dependent.

Be thankful for what you have, plan for what you can and be flexible to move should the need arise.   The days of extended family housing is coming back with a vegence, until the bankers sink thier claws into that.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:21 | 5355883 Joe A
Joe A's picture

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Greek government would come up with some tax for people living on the streets. After all, they are using public space. Cannot have that.

The Greek government is coming up with taxes left and right. Shame on you Greek government. And shame on you Germany for pushing austerity down people's throats causing 10's of thousands of businesses out of work.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 18:05 | 5356790 zaphod42
zaphod42's picture

It's way more complex than that.

 

Human inhumane nature and all that.

 

Craig

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:24 | 5355893 mrdenis
mrdenis's picture

Welcome to Chateau  Obamaville .....

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:48 | 5355990 DullKnife
DullKnife's picture

"Stench of poverty..."

Quite so, living in a car, clothes in cardboard boxes, in time comes mildew from dampness (on a cool night, one rolls up the windows to near shut and humidity rises in the car so things get damp)...and mildew, infrequently washed and aired-out clothes pick up a odor.   There there is the difficulty in keeping clean.  Years ago, when my Dad and I camped out up in the mountains (tents and sleeping bags), after about a week, we were pretty rank...despite washing with minimal water (high desert lacks abundant water).

 

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 18:15 | 5356823 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture

You know it's bad when you are hiking out and you can smell the soap and perfume on hikers before you can hear or see them.....   lololol   But that first shower feels sooooo goood!!!!!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:53 | 5356005 Hohum
Hohum's picture

No problem. Eliminate the minimum wage.  Then the breadwinner(s) will earn $4-5/hour (5-6 Euro).  Then maybe they can get a bigger car.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 18:03 | 5356781 zaphod42
zaphod42's picture

$4.00-$5.00 is 3.50-4.0 Euro

 

So far

 

Craig

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 18:33 | 5356884 Hohum
Hohum's picture

Thanks for the corrections: $1.25/1 Euro indeed.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 14:56 | 5356022 vegas
vegas's picture

Mario Draghi says, "It's all Bush's fault."

 

www.traderzoo.mobi

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:00 | 5356051 Infinite QE
Infinite QE's picture

Greeks need access to commandos and automatic weapons and drones to take down the planes of the zio-oligarchs destroying their land.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:14 | 5356110 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Hell why bother going to Greece?

Don't worry though......George Soros is concerned and Yellen questions if conditions like these go against our value.

Fucking morons.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:15 | 5356122 reader2010
reader2010's picture

so the lesson here is that you should buy a used RV from Craigslist while you still can because what they have been doing since late 70s is always to starve the needy and the poor for making the rich even much richer.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:28 | 5356179 Infinite QE
Infinite QE's picture

Global Gaza. That's the plan folk. Wake the F up.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:29 | 5356180 Lostinfortwalton
Lostinfortwalton's picture

For some reason I remember when Obama's kids went on a Caribbean spring break that morphed into a skiing holiday in Colorado as well.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:39 | 5356227 Statetheist
Statetheist's picture

What pathetic parents these two kids have.

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 15:56 | 5356247 Loup Kib
Loup Kib's picture

Ad lib.  The worst part :  Not a piece of land to grow food.  To move around.  Trapped like sardines.  From fiat-money stamps or coupons to food-stamps or coupons.  From same to worsening same.

The symbol of industrialised society so-called "freedom," the car, mutating into its opposite :  a concentration box-camp.  ( "Enantiodromia (Greekenantios, opposite, and dromos, running course) is a principle introduced by Carl Jung that the superabundance of any force inevitably produces its opposite.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enantiodromia  )

Just under the concentration box, just under the asphalt, just there : soil.  Often more fairly protected against pollution than many can think.  De-asphalting is certainly outlawed and would drive those people out or there, or in prison, etc.  Their fate is terrible and I pray for them.  Their fate is terrible and Kaczynski  was right  : 

“The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.”   

 

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