Market watch: amid fears of Greek troubles, a dramatic drop at home

The Greek Parliament this Thursday passed austerity measures required as part of international bailout of their struggling economy. The strict measures include raising taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, cutting salaries and pensions for people working in the public sector, and raising the retirement age. The measures, necessary in order for Greece to receive aid from the IMF and euro-zone, have sparked massive street protests. Severe as the cuts are, they may not be enough to control the crisis ? or to curb fears that Greek instability will spread to other European countries in similar financial trouble.

It got us thinking: What could the U.S. government do that would make you get up and protest in the streets? Leave your comment below.

While the protests continued, the U.S. stock markets took a harrowing fall Thursday afternoon, with the Dow Jones dropping almost 1000 points in less than an hour. It was the worst single-day drop since 1987; while concerns about Greece are very real, initial reports say the drop may have actually been caused by a human trading error unrelated to international jitters.

Charles Herman, WNYC’s Business and Economic Editor, joins the show to help us make sense of the markets’ ups and downs. International business reporter for the BBC, Theo Legget, describes the European perspective and tells us what it’s been like in Greece.