As well as the internal mismanagement of the economy, Greece along with the rest of the advanced capitalist world has been negatively affected by the phenomena of globalisation of labour and markets. The consequence of this is that many domestic and foreign businesses have relocated their more labour intensive sectors to countries where the cost of labour is minimal and the existence of trade unions is either banned or negligible. Ironically however, the average wage in Greece remains one of the lowest in Western Europe. Nevertheless, the vastly populated, non-unionised countries of the Asian continent and the Balkans have spawned a multitude of workshops and factories with employees working under sweatshop conditions. For example, many Greek businessmen created factories in the Balkan countries and thousands of local businesses in Greece closed. The Greek shipping lines and the merchant fleet, that was once the most important industry of Greece, today flies under the so-called "cheap flags' with 90% of the crew consisting of foreigners mainly from Asian countries.
English: View of the Vatopedi monastery in Mount A...
English: Orthodox monk in the Vatopedi monastery, ...
Balloons falling at the Athens 2004 Olympics Closi...Although still the largest shipping industry in the world, much of the financial benefits of such an industry do not end up in Greece. A final factor to consider is the influx of illegal (and legal) economic immigrants over the last twenty years or so. Unlike the factors above which have been considered as influential to the current economic crisis, the existence of immigration into Greece, it can be argued has had a positive impact and not, as claimed by the media and sections of the right-wing, a negative one.http://www.in2greece.com/blog/causes-of-the-financial-crisis-in-greece/
So how did it find itself becoming so much in debt that it is on the verge of bankruptcy and has to be bailed out by the European Union and the IMF? One factor that began the downward slide was due to the...