Griekenland heeft enkele maanden geleden draconische maatregelen moeten aankondigen om in aanmerking te komen voor het riante steunpakket van ECB en IMF. Minder dan een week geleden gaf een commissie van EU, ECB en IMF nog een pluim aan het land voor de inspanningen om het land economisch gezond te maken. Waarmee de weg vrij is gemaakt voor de volgende donatie van ons belastinggeld.

Maar gisteren rapporteerde The Guardian dat het BBP over het 2e kwartaal van 2010 met 3,5% is gekrompen ten opzichte van het 2e kwartaal van 2009. En dat terwijl de Griekse overheid en de Europese Commissie voor heel 2010 een BBP krimp van slechts 0,3% hebben aangenomen. Iets klopt hier niet. Waarbij moet worden aangetekend dat Griekenland natuurlijk niet het enige Eurozone land is dat er slecht voor staat. De zogenaamde Club Med landen of PIIGS zijn landen waar het antoonbaar slecht gaat. Dat zijn naast Griekenland: Portugal, Italie, Ierland en Spanje.

Greece has had to announce draconian measures a few months ago to qualify for the generous aid package of the ECB and IMF. Less than one week ago, a committee of the EU, ECB and IMF still gave a compliment to the country for their efforts to make the country economically healthy. Which opened up the way for the next donation of our tax money.

But yesterday the Guardian reported that the GDP for the second quarter of 2010 shrank by 3.5% compared to the second quarter of 2009. This, while for the entirety of 2010, the Greek government and the European Commission have adopted a GDP decrease of only 0.3%. Something’s not right here. It should be noted that Greece is of course not the only eurozone country that has bad weather ahead. The so-called Club Med or PIIGS countries are countries where it is verifiably just as bad. In addition to Greece, these are: Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

Now that the holidays are almost over, the problems in the Eurozone are seeming to return as well. Of course, they never went away but maybe all these economically hard-working journalists have taken a leave in the past period. Whatever the cause; the monetary crisis in the eurozone is not yet over. On the contrary, the crisis itself, even though virtually invisible (thanks to the same journalists), is deepening.

The rays of sun which continue to be magnified in the traditional media, in many cases, turn out to be nothing more than mirages. Based on forecasts like we are used to from our own national gambling institute CPB, we get their predictions about the evolution of unemployment. Forecasts that frequently prove to be less than worthless; as with, once again, Greece.

The monetary crisis in the eurozone will play tricks on our economy. As on the economies of all other Eurocountries and European countries outside the Eurozone. Were this the only problem, it would still be somewhat clear. But there is more. America has finally accepted the inevitable fact that the country is not climbing out of the economical crater, but is on the contrary, falling further back. China and Australia are on the eve of the bursting of their own housing bubbles. For those with only a short memory; it was the housing bubble in the U.S. which created the recent financial crisis.

In other words; it is an economic mess on all continents of the world. In the coming quarters, the inevitable negative trends are going to be increasingly evident in forecasts and especially in real numbers. That means a larger number of poorer than expected results, including figures on the labor market. For anyone who had the illusion that we could look up again, this might be a bitter pill. But they have not looked around lately. Because everywhere, the signs have of course, already been visible for a long time. If only they had taken off their rose colored glasses. (meer…)