The Body Economic (33 page)

4
. Embassy Athens, 2006. “2006 Investment Climate Statement Greece.” Available at:
http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06ATHENS131
; A. Carassava, “In Athens, Museum Is an Olympian Feat,”
New York Times
, June 20, 2009. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/arts/design/20acropolis.html?_r=0
. The marbles were stolen from the Athens Acropolis by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century and put on display in the British Museum in London. Greek diplomats and historians have wanted them back ever since.

5
. D. Decloet, “As Greece Has Found, Foreign Investors Are No Cure,”
Global and Mail
, Sept 6, 2012. Available at:
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/as-greece-has-found-foreign-investors-are-no-cure/article4318255/?service=mobile

6
. On May 2, 2008, the Athens Stock Exchange was at 4,214, falling to 1,507 on March 3, 2009. Bloomberg. Athens Stock Exchange General Index. Available at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ASE:IND/chart/

7
. See B. Rauch, et al. 2011. “Fact and Fiction in EU-Governmental Economic Data,”
German Economic Review
v12(3): 243–55.

8
. In January 2013, Greek prosecutors launched an investigation into whether the Greek deficit numbers were artificially inflated by vested interests in order to provoke austerity measures. N. Kitsantonis, “Prosecutors Call for Investigation on Greek Deficit,”
New York Times,
Jan 22, 2013. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/world/europe/greek-prosecutors-seek-inquiry-over-deficit-claims.html?src=recg

9
. “Greek Bonds Rated ‘Junk' by Standard & Poor's,” BBC, April 27, 2010. Available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8647441.stm.

10
. M. Boesler, “The Controversial ‘Lagarde List' Has Leaked, and It's Bad News for the Greek Prime Minister,”
Business Insider,
Oct 27, 2012. Available at:
http://www.businessinsider.com/lagarde-list-of-swiss-bank-accounts-leaked-2012-10

11
. Proposals were made to forgive Greece's debt, since it accounted for only 4 percent percent of all debt held in Europe, as well as to create a “Eurobond” to help finance
Greece's obligations. But these compassionate solutions were outside of the Greek government's control; the country's destiny was in the hand of Europe and the international financial community, which were not sympathetic to Greece's plight.

12
. H. Smith, “Greece's George Papandreou Announced €140bn Bailout Deal,” The
Guardian
, May 2, 2010. Available at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/02/greece-economy-bailout-euro-eu-imf

13
. G. Thesing and F. Krause-Jackson, “Greece Gets $146 Billion Rescue in EU, IMF Package,” Bloomberg, 2010. Available at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2065100&sid=aqUKEXajkSzk
. Amnesty International filed reports about police brutality, citing the alleged use of cancer-causing chemicals and excessive tear gas. See N. Kosmatopoulos, “Europe's Last Sick Man. Greek Austerity Measures Result in Cuts of Public Sectors services with One Exception—The Police Force,”
Al Jazeera
, 2011. Available at:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/09/20119269954438617.html
. Interviewed on PBS News Hour in December 2012, an American poet, Alicia Stallings, living in her adopted country of Greece, read from a poem: “Weep, Pericles, or maybe just get drunk. / We will hawk the Parthenon to buy our bread. / If you believe the headlines, then we're sunk, / Greece downgraded deeper into junk.”

At the Venice Biennale, the Greek artist Diohandi showed an exhibit entitled “The Ephemeral Is Eternal: Beyond Reform.” Visitors to the Greek Pavilion found themselves confused by walking into a room that was empty except for pools of water on the floor. The art critic Maria Marangou wrote of the work for the Greek Ministry of Tourism and Culture: “The installation at the Greek pavilion in a way reflects, with Diohandi's specific work, the current political state of Europe and of the world at large. It is at the same time, obviously, a comment on the contemporary Greek experience of economic recession and IMF tutelage: a place of light thrown into darkness and decline, holding on, almost willy-nilly it seems, to hopes of spiritual and socio-political reconstruction; in other words, to a vision of light that should bring along clarity of mind, as if the ultimate catharsis.” “Greek Pavilion at the Venice Biennale,” Greek Ministry of Tourism and Culture, June 2, 2011.
http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/greek-pavilion-at-the-54th-venice-biennale/

14
. L. Alderman, “Greek Unemployed Cut Off from Medical Treatment,”
New York Times
, Oct 24, 2012. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/world/europe/greek-unemployed-cut-off-from-medical-treatment.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

15
. E. Mossialos. 1997. “Citizens' Views on Health Care Systems in the 15 Member States of the European Union,”
Health Econ
v6:109–16.

16
. C. Boyle, “What's the Solution to Chronic Greek Corruption?” CNBC, June 16, 2012. Available at:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47830137/Whatrsquos_the_Solution_to_Chronic_ Greek_Corruption

17
. “Insulin Giant Pulls Medicine from Greece Over Price Cut,” BBC, May 29, 2010. Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10189367
. Watching these frightening
trends develop, we pleaded with the National School of Public Health in Greece to carry out a rapid assessment and to propose a strategy to avoid medical disasters. We hoped to identify vulnerable groups and direct healthcare funds to those most at-risk. The School initially expressed interest, even developing a list of data from surveys we would analyze together, but after our exchange with the Greek Department of Health in the
Lancet
, our international team's emails went unanswered. It became clear that they would never deliver. We then asked the Nobel Peace Prize–winning organization Doctors Without Borders, to look into the issue. Their response in 2010 was that Greece had the capacity, if not the willpower, to deal with its own health problems. Pharmaceutical companies have withdrawn more than 200 medical products because of falling prices and payments. “Over 200 Medicines Taken Off Greek Market Because of Low Prices,”
Ekathimerini
, March 8, 2013. Available at:
http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_07/03/2013_486155

18
. Surveys of over 10,000 Greeks were taken in 2007 and 2009: EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions.

19
. In 2010 Greece had one of the highest shares of out-of-pocket payments for healthcare (38 percent): OECD Health at a Glance in Europe 2012, OECD. Available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/health/reports/docs/health_glance_2012_en.pdf
. As reports from Russia had taught us, “a hungry doctor can be bad for your health.”

20
. World Health Organization, European Health for All Database, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012.

21
. S. Bonovas and G. Nikolopoulos. 2012. “High-Burden Epidemics in Greece in the Era of Economic Crisis. Early Signs of a Public Health Tragedy,”
J Prev Med Hyg
v53:169–71.

P. Andriopoulos, A. Economopoulou, G. Spanakos, G. Assimakopoulos. 2012. “A Local Outbreak of Autochthonous Plasmodium Vivax Malaria in Laconia, Greece—A Re-Emerging Infection in the Southern Borders of Europe?”
Int J Infect Dis
v17(2): e125–28.

22
. Romania was the only other European country found to suffer a rise in HIV. The increase was attributed to injection drug use and withdrawal of HIV treatment.

23
. Two epidemiologists called for “urgent public health action.” D. Paraskevis and A. Hatzakis, “An Ongoing HIV Outbreak Among Intravenous Drug Users in Greece: Preliminary Summary of Surveillance and Molecular Epidemiology Data.” EMCDDA Early Warning System, 2011. See also D. Paraskevis, G. Nikolopoulos, C. Tsiara, et al. 2011. “HIV- 1 Outbreak Among Injecting Drug Users in Greece, 2011: A Preliminary Report,”
EuroSurveillance
16:19962; A. Fotiou, et al.,
HIV Outbreak Among Injecting Drug Users in Greece: An Updated Report for the EMCDDA on the Recent Outbreak of HIV Infections Among Drug Injectors in Greece
(Athens: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2012).

24
. CDC Fact Sheets. 2005.
Syringe Exchange Programs.
Available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/idu/facts/aed_idu_syr.pdf
; UCSF Fact Sheet. 1998. “Does HIV Needle Exchange
Work?” Available at:
http://caps.ucsf.edu/factsheets/needle-exchange-programs-nep/EKTEPN
. Annual Report on the State of the Drugs and Alcohol Problem. Athens: Greek Documentation and Monitoring Centre for Drugs, 2010.

25
. Kentikelenis, et al., “Health Effects of Financial Crisis: Omens of a Greek Tragedy.”

26
. Amidst all these signs of suffering, Greece's economy continued to sink. GDP fell further 6.9 percent in 2011, as youth unemployment broke the 50 percent mark. Commentators have pointed out, however, that Papandreou's popularity had been falling in Greece and that, irrespective of the proposed austerity referendum, he may have been likely to have been forced out of office under escalating public protests.

27
. See full report in N. Polyzos. 2012. “Health and the Financial Crisis in Greece,” The
Lancet
v379(9820): 1000. A group of independent Greek psychiatrists and social scientists at the University of Athens conducted a nationwide survey and screening examination for mental health. They had been performing ongoing surveys of 2,820 people representative of the Greek population and were able to compare before and after the recession. They found that the prevalence of major depression rose from 3 percent before the recession to 8 percent in 2011. Those who suffered the most were, predictably, those facing the greatest economic hardship, and having the least access to social support.

28
. L. Liaropoulos. 2012. “Greek Economic Crisis: Not a Tragedy for Health,”
British Medical Journal
v345:e7988.

29
. K. Kelland, “Basic Hygiene at Risk in Debt-Stricken Greek Hospitals,” Reuters, Dec 4, 2012. Available at:
http://newsle.com/article/0/48972507/
; K. Kelland, “Health officials Tell Greece to Act Fast to Control HIV,” Reuters, Nov 29, 2012. Available at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/29/greece-health-hiv-idUSL5E8MT71H20121129

30
. Polyzos, “Health and the Financial Crisis in Greece.”

31
. “Health Scourge Hits Greece: Malaria, Once Mostly Eradicated, Returns as Crisis Erodes Government Safety Net,”
Wall Street Journal
, Nov 14, 2012. Available at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204789304578089463387817162.html

32
. Ibid. This was consistent with expert Greek epidemiologists' indication: “An additional factor the committee believed worth considering is the well-founded suspicion that some problem users are intentionally infected with HIV, because of the benefit they are entitled to (approximately €1,400 every two months), and also because they are granted “exceptional admission” to the Substitution Programme. It is well-known that the Substitution Programme has a long waiting list and that the waiting time can be over 3–4 years.” I. Gregoriadi, et al. Report of the ad hoc expert group of the Greek focal point on the outbreak of HIV/AIDS in 2011. University Mental Health Research Institute. Available at:
http://ewsd.wiv-isp.be/Rapid%20communications%20%20extra%20information/Report%20of%20the%20Greek%20FP%20expert%20group%20-%20AIDS.pdf

The BBC World service reported in January 2012: “One morning a few weeks before Christmas a kindergarten teacher in Athens found a note about one of her four-year-old pupils.” It read: “I will not be coming to pick up Anna today because I cannot afford to look after her. Please take good care of her. Sorry. Her mother.” C. Hadjimatheou, “The Greek Parents Too Poor to Care for Their Children,” BBC, Jan 10, 2012.

“Shocking Rise in HIV Infections, Health Ministry Reports,”
Athens News
, Nov 21, 2011. Available at:
http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/9/50680

33
. “Shocking Rise in HIV Infections.”

IMF,
IMF Staff Country Report. Greece: Fourth Review Under the Stand-by Arrangement and Request for Modification and Waiver of Applicability of Performance Criteria
(Washington, DC, July 2011). Available at:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2011/cr11175.pdf
; Andrew Jack and Kerin Hope, “Greek Crisis Gets Under Skin of Vulnerable,”
Financial Times,
May 12, 2012. Available at:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d1cc3256-78c3-11e1-9f49- 00144feab49a.html#axzz2KBJ3FFxp

34
. H. Smith, “IMF Official Admits Austerity Is Harming Greece,” The
Guardian
, Feb 1, 2012. Available at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/feb/01/imf-austerity-harming-greeve

O. Blanchard, and D. Leigh, “Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers.” Available at:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=40200.0
. See also B. Scoble, “The IMF Admits That Austerity Was a Miscalculation,”
L'Humanité
, Jan 11, 2013. Available at:
http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/spip.php?article2212

35
. This was puzzling logic; the “let them fail” argument was one that Iceland had applied to its bankers, not its people. BBC. “Eurozone Approves Massive Greece Bailout,” 2010. Available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8656649.stm