Marshall Auerback: Greece and the Eurozone on the Road to Hell

Sunday's elections in Greece brought victory to the center-right New Democracy, which has favored a bank-friendly bailout of the economy, over the leftist Syriza party. The middle class, it seems, got scared of losing everything and looked to the conservatives for protection. So what will the New Democracy party do with the harsh austerity package Greece has been handed? Will it even be able to form a government? Will Greece get any real relief? And what does it all mean to you and me? For the short term, it appears we won't have a "Grexit" a Greek exit from the Euro, which has led many commentators to suggest that a crisis has been averted. A typical Bloomberg article takes that line: "Greece avoids chaos: Big Hurdles Loom." But how, exactly, is the acceptance of an ill-advised austerity program, even if cosmetic adjustments are made, going to help hospitals get access to essential medical supplies? If the Greek government is made to enforce a program that is killing its private sector by cutting spending and not paying legitimate bills, and the unemployment rate creeps towards 25 percent in general and 50 percent for youth, you can be sure that the social fabric in Greece will continue to fray. To paraphrase Pete Townsend, meet the new chaos, same as the old chaos. Greece and the entire euro-zone are continuing down the road to hell, where financiers are highway robbers and ordinary people are attacked at every step!