How, exactly, was austerity "working"?
The Greek economy has shrunk hugely in size and it's debt-to-GDP ratio has grown. Its national assets have been sold off at bargain basement prices and its healthcare system has collapsed to the point that people are dying from lack of drugs. Incomes have been slashed and pensions cut. Unemployment has soared to levels higher than those of the US during the Great Depression and youth unemployment has hit 60%.
How, exactly, is this austerity "working"? What does austerity not working look like if you're chalking this up as austerity "working"?
The problem is, and Greece was nver going to do it, people in Greece need to start paying taxes to their government.
did you know only 5% of doctors in Greece earn over 12,000 euros and pay tax? Clearly many of them do earn over 12,000 euros.
The unions for years got more and more workers reclassified as heavy manual work so they could draw pension 40. This was introduced so help miners who do have a hard life and a much short expected life expectancy not waiters which got added to the category along with train drivers
The abuse of self employed status and 12,000 euro tax free. People earn way over this but have their land split into every family member so their income falls below.
Massive cash culture - tax evasion. My in laws live in Greece and their landlord owns 12 houses which he rents out as well as farming hundreds of acres of olive trees. Rent has two prices - through the books or cash. All 12 people choose to pay cash. He land is split up and supposedly "owned" by 29 family members so each don't incur tax. He buys a new car every year and and a new boat yet has a taxable income below 12,000 euros.
The vast majority of all the country's tax revenue comes from civil servants, police, train drivers etc. As these are employed by the government they are taxed properly through PAYE. Hardly anybody else in Greece apparently earns over the 12,000 euro tax free amount
Train drivers get paid £60,000 per annum and still complain its not enough. The whole rail system is a joke. They take £80m per year and ticket sales and pay £500m a year in wages to the staff never mind running costs. I think somebody once worked out it would be cheaper to pay for a taxi for every passenger who uses the trains.
Abuse of tax laws - like the stupid one you dont pay their equivalent of "council tax" unless the house is finished. Hence if you leave the next floor unbuilt with the metal supports sticking up, you never finish the house and never are subject to tax. Same with road fund./car tax. This is only payable or enforced when you sell your car. You are meant to go to the local mayors office and pay all the years car tax before its tranfered over to the next owner. This never happens. Cars either get sold for money but ownership never changes especially in extended families or eventually the 20 or 30 years car tax is so much that your pay a guy with a jcb 50 euros and he buries the car. You wont believe how many buried cars there are in Greece.
Corruption is rife. My father in law got a speeding ticket. They actually told him at the local council office that he should wait until he was out of the country before submitting his licence and for a "fee" of 60 euros they would accept any licence for the endorsement to go on.
After decades of people not paying taxes the Greek people would never vote in a government which would do so.
Personally i think Greece never should have been allowed in. Wasn't it shown that their initial financial statement was all lies and they were basically bankrupt when they joined?
And as for government owned assets, they hardly have any left or cant be trusted to "sell" them. Some of the best and most valuable assets was swapped for 45 acres of worthless land with a monastary in 2008. That alone gave £100m of property away back in 2008.
So basically we have a country in which the majority of people never pay tax but those that do demand huge wages (eg train drivers) and almost everybody expects the state to pay them a pension from 40.
And people wonder why they are in a mess?
