In yet another day marked by simply unbearable propaganda, about an hour ago an EU official pulled a Lanny Breuer and was quoted as saying that "things are going well" in Greece. Oh are they? Then perhaps the same official can explain why a clip of a scuffle breaking out at a free food handout in Greece, where one man was "trampled and injured", and where a "Reuters photographer was hit on the head with cauliflower heads" has been the most watched item on Greek TV in the past day?
From Reuters [4]:
Hundreds of Greeks scuffled for free vegetables handed out by farmers on Wednesday, leaving one man trampled and injured and prompting an outcry over the growing desperation created by economic crisis.
Startling images of Greeks struggling to seize bags of tomatoes and leeks thrown from a truck dominated Greek television, triggering a bout of soul-searching over the new depths of poverty in the debt-laden country.
One man was treated for injuries after being trampled when he fell to the ground in the commotion. A Reuters photographer at the scene was hit on the head with cauliflower heads.
The farmers said they gave away 50 metric tonnes (55.11 tons) of produce in under two hours
...
"These images make me angry. Angry for a proud people who have no food to eat, who can't afford to keep warm, who can't make ends meet," said Kostas Barkas, a lawmaker from the leftist Syriza party.
Other lawmakers from across the political spectrum decried the images "of people on the brink of despair" and the sense of "sadness for a proud people who have ended up like this".
"It's difficult. I never imagined that I would end up here," said Panagiota Petropoulos, 65, who struggles to get by on her 530-euro monthly pension while paying 300 euros in rent.
"I can't afford anything, not even at the fruit market. Everything is expensive, prices of everything are going up while our income is going down and there are no jobs."
Well, at least Greece has the Euro, as a result of which the only way to resolve the competitve imbalances is to continue with internal devaluation which means another 25% drop in Greek wages as shown previously [5]all else equal. Which means many more incidents of "trampling" to come.