SJS4- "The Catastrophic Greek Crisis"

Source: Matsaganis, Manos. "The Catastrophic Greek Crisis." Current History Mar. 2014: 110-16. Print.

Author Credentials: Manos Matsaganis is an Associate Professor of European Social and Employment Policies at Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB). He is also the Coordinator of the Policy Analysis Research Unit at AUEB. He has served as Special Advisor to the Greek government’s Office of the Prime Minister and the Office of the Finance Minister.

Summary: In this article, the author argues that the outrage and crisis in Greece were caused by corrupt government officials and deep recession. To begin, Greece has a corrupt judicial system that lacks integrity to Greek citizens. In a recent ruling, the Judicial Pay Court decided on salary cuts for nearly all government professions except for themselves, ruling that pay cuts on the judicial system is unconstitutional. Another recent case violated Greece's interpretation of freedom of speech by ruling a 10-month sentence on a blogger who voiced his opinion on Greece's government. Also, more public outrage resulted from corrupt government officials. The former Transport Minister was caught using European Union structural funds (meant to build up Greece's tourism industry) for personal use. The minister of defense was sentenced for money laundering and a former mayor was given a life sentence for embezzlement. Furthermore, public outrage resulted from the rapid increase in Greece's financial deficit and the deep recession that resulted. In 2009, the PASOK government announced that the budget deficit was 15.6% as apposed to the 3.7% recorded earlier. In conclusion, the outrage and backlash in Greece are results from government corruption and deep financial recession.

Analysis: After reading this article, I feel that the author strongly supported his thesis of the outrage and crisis in Greece being caused by corrupt government officials and deep recession. Matsaganis uses several strong details and examples to support each of his statements. His details are slightly biased towards the side of the public; however, he uses strong evidence, including facts and statistics, to support his points. He also presents a variety of informative details (ranging from economical to political and social), allowing the reader to gain a well-rounded understanding of the topic. After analyzing this article and informing myself of the author's credentials, I can confidently conclude that this is a reliable source.