Greek Economic Disaster

Landon Thomas reports on the sad state of Greece, where the government is expected to run out of money in June unless it can make a new deal with its creditors:

At the University of Athens, the country’s largest educational institution and home to about 125,000 students, the annual operating budget has fallen to €10 million from about €40 million before the crisis. ...

Theodoros Giannaros, the head of Elpis Hospital in Athens, chain-smoked cigarettes.... Since he started work at the hospital in 2010, Mr. Giannaros has seen his salary shrink to €1,200 a month, from €7,400. His annual budget, once €20 million, is now €6 million....

Mr. Giannaros, who is 58, says he recently suffered a heart attack from the constant stress. ... His 26-year-old son, Patrick, committed suicide by jumping in front of an Athens subway train.

“There was just an emptiness in front of him,” Mr. Giannaros said between wrenching sobs in a brief telephone conversation. ... His son had finished university studies and, unable to find work in a country where more than half the young are jobless, was helping Mr. Giannaros at the hospital.

- With Money Drying Up, Greece Is All but Bankrupt, LANDON THOMAS Jr., MAY 25, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/business/dealbook/with-money-drying-up-greece-is-all-but-bankrupt.html?ref=world&_r=0