The 1st Thread/The Read International #1 For 8/18/10: Austerity Really Isn't A Good Idea

Photo from DPA

It really isn't in already bad times, at all:

The austerity measures that were supposed to fix Greece's problems are dragging down the country's economy. Stores are closing, tax revenues are falling and unemployment has hit an unbelievable 70 percent in some places. Frustrated workers are threatening to strike back.

The feast of the Assumption of Mary on Aug. 15 is the high point of summer in the Greek Orthodox world. Here in one of the country's many churches, believers pray to the Virgin for mercy, with many of them falling to their knees.

As Atrios summed it up...."It really is depressing."

But making it more of an embarrassment is that the US seems very comfortable heading right in that direction.

Priorities!