Rick Steves' Greece: Athens & the Peloponnese amazon.com
Bust: Greece, the Euro and the Sovereign Debt Crisis - By Matthew Lynn amazon.com
Greece's 'Odious' Debt: The Looting of the Hellenic Republic by the Euro, the Political Elite and the Investment Community - By Jason Manolopoulos amazon.com
Understanding the Crisis in Greece: From Boom to Bust - By Theodore Pelagidis amazon.com
The Imminent Crisis: Greek Debt and the Collapse of the European Monetary Union amazon.com
Eyewitness Greece - Athens and the Mainland - 352 Pages
Financial markets and economic growth in Greece, 1986-1999 [An article from: Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money]
Athens Demographics:
The population count for Athens was 10,964,020 in 2001. According to eurostat, in 2008 Greece had a total estimated population of 11,262,000. Of this, some 695,979 are estimated to be non-Greek.
June 27, 2010
IMF: Greek Austerity plan will succeed
AFP news report via Yahoo.com continues the regular drumbeat of official supportive comments from the IMF and the European banking system.
"Greece will overcome its huge debt crisis with its austerity plan, an IMF official said Sunday as a poll showed a majority of Greeks fear that unpopular pension reforms will be in vain.
Poul Thomsen, the head of the International Monetary Fund mission dealing with Greece, told To Vima daily that Athens is making progress on its "ambitious" programme of cuts.
The cutbacks have caused labour turmoil and a series of protests across Greece, with a new general strike, the fifth since February, due to be held on Tuesday.
"Such an adjustment is not easy and often causes discontent," Thomsen said. "This is understandable as people see things getting worse before they improve."
But he added: "The effort has begun vigorously and I firmly believe that Greece will succeed."
Thomsen also applauded the Greek government's decision not to restructure its debt as this "which would entail a huge cost."
The spokesman makes an important point: the reaction in Athens among pensioners and public union members if their sacrifices are in vain could make the protests of this past spring seem small.
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