What exactly the Bank of Greece strike does to the country

The wildcat strike by the Bank of Greece employees is affecting Greece in dire economic ways, aside from Hellas becoming a laughingstock around the world for having succeeded in taking herself off the map of global economic and financial business. The strike:

Has shut down the domestic bank transfer system; banks cannot send money to each other with the result of payments of all types not being processed, credit cards hanging in limbo, loans  not being serviced, and customers not being able to do business;

has yanked the plug off the wall for the entire system of global transactions, i.e. banks can’t send or receive money from abroad; can’t transact with foreign institutions thus shutting down, among others, the market for Greek government bonds; and can’t service the Athens stock exchange that has been put on hold;

by bringing banks to a standstill, has also completely cut off the inflow of EU support funds and done the same with large payrolls receiving their monies from abroad;

has interrupted payments to Greek exporters and denied Greek importers meeting obligations for sensitive imports, thus costing everybody millions of euros or dollars in one brief round.

This particular strike, staged by a few hundred “workers,” is costing the country hundreds of millions in lost business daily and constitutes a direct threat to the country’s well being and stability. Mr. Karamanlis should think urgently how to break the strike and, hopefully, land its chief perpetrators in civil court to be tried for the damages incurred to the economy and the business community (imagine getting convicted and sentenced to a €120 million fine! … although this may be too much to ask from the Greek system of ‘justice’).

PS: The strikers have flagrantly broken the law and their own signature by not providing skeleton staff for the operation of the national clearing center as it has been agreed between their union and the government.

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