Greek Economy, Old and New vs American Economy Now

The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece
Where burning Sappho loved and sung,
Where grew the arts of war and peace,
Where Delos rose and Phoebus sprung
Eternal summer gilds them yet
But all, except their sun, is set.

Lord Byron

Archaic Greek Economy

Dark Ages

• Greece went through a Dark Age before the Archaic Age, about which we know little. The Dark Age followed shortly after the Trojan War and ended in the 8th century B.C., followed by the Archaic Age.
  

  Archaic Age

  Apollo playing lyre

  • The word Archaic is from the Greek word arche which means "the beginning."
  •  The Archaic Age was a time when the Hellenic state expanded. Greeks from the mainland sailed to settle the Ionian coast, and had contact with new ideas from Asia Minor.
     
  • The first philosophers sprang up from colonists who began to question the world around them and life or the cosmos. 
  
  
  • Cities had marketplaces and trade took place, but profit and trade were considered corrupting. Slaves did the work that was considered demeaning for a citizen. 
    
  
  
  • New art forms emerged in Greece, such as the music of the 7-stringed lyre and lyric verses, and statuary based on Egyptian models.
     
  • Coinage began toward the end of the Archaic Age, although there was resistance, and the development of coins helped promote trade.

  Current Greek Economy

  • Fast forward to 2013, when the debt-stricken country is selling off state owned property in an attempt to privatize much of the bloated Greek infrastructure.
  • Leftist politics collide and create opportunities for neo-Nazis such as Golden Dawn.
  • There's an "unprecedented humanitarian crisis" and the Euro is in danger of collapsing, as well as the rest of the European economies.
     
  • Hundreds of thousands of families are without a breadwinner.
  
  

   

  
  

  This has been compared and paralleled to the current economy in the United States.

  • What do you think about comparing the Greek economy to that of the United States?

  • Is there any going back to a milder, gentler, more idyllic, isolationist, and innocent time?

  • Do we want to do that or should we soldier on and try to shore up the failing economies with modern economic knowledge and belt tightening?

  • Have our banks and governments failed?

  Reality Report. Do you agree and what should we do about it? Has President Obama failed? Did the Republicans plunge America into a foreign war that drained the country's resources and manpower, and destroyed the economy?

  What is the answer?