Greece Elections

[Stretch]

Was like giving a credit card with an outrageous limit to a newly turned 18 year old..

UK was brought up on if you can't afford it you can't have it until very recently... credit is a thing we've had a long time learning/ dealing with.

Was always going to be a disaster for the Greeks.

Really. We have some of the worse consumer debt figures in the world.

 

[balky12]

Really. We have some of the worse consumer debt figures in the world.

Maybe so, but that's a pretty recent trend, also it is still under control...

What Greece has managed to do since joining the Euro is nothing short of impressive... (not in a good way)

 

[Iraklis F.C.]

well you're free to leave the EU and implement some novel monetary system if you think fiat currency is somehow an issue here



sorry but the Greeks only have themselves to blame (collectively)

self employment and small businesses dominate the private sector - only 5% of your workforce works for companies of over 250 employees - you can't just blame big business or shipping tycoons or politicians... if you've got problems with tax evasion it is also with all those small business owners, ordinary citizens too... it is a much deeper issue than just a few rich people

the electorate was responsible for the current bunch of clowns you've got in government and the electorate is going to be responsible for your next move

i have never blamed someone else than greeks for this mess. But after 5 years of austerity, 25% loss of gdp, 27% unemployment, poverty skyrocketing, no funding for a year and a half the recipe troika introduced failed 100%, this i blame it on the troika 100%. Even straus khan admitted it was a faulty programme.

Now default or debt wasteland, at least it will be a very cheap holiday. Some optimism right there

 

[ColdAsIce]

Now default or debt wasteland, at least it will be a very cheap holiday. Some optimism right there

Some very cheap holidays into a crime wave. You watch as tourists get targeted big time as unemployment grows.

 

[Iraklis F.C.]

Your wrong, chavs is a british tradition, no chavs here nor will they pop up if unemployment rises.

IF unemployment rises we will walk our way outta here, it will be quiet

 

[Sankari]

IF unemployment rises we will walk our way outta here, it will be quiet

Mate it's already up to 26%, how long are you gonna wait?

 

[Greebo]

Greebo, the greek crisis started 5 years ago, following the lehman brothers and iceland defaults. There are people who retired before 61 before the crisis, what do you suggest, bring them back to work?
They have retired before this period and those who did during the crisis have legally done so, its done! Now these pensioners lost 40% of their pensions, and those who didnt will have to work 6-10 years more.
Blame Greeks day in day out, i'm telling ya even if nobody received anything the debt will be there.

You are looking at the tree and miss the forest, 1500 airforce pilots and 3000 hairidressers dont default a country, tax evasion on a massive corporate scale and corrupt politicians does and nobody talks about it even in the EU!

Now youre choking a country because it was irresponsible in the past, ok thats fine but you will kill it and then forget your debts. Greece is being used as an example for anyone else, please stop accusing hairdressers as an excuse.


And on top of all this, the EU favors the politicians who actually brought us here!i mean ...i am speechless

I read some comments on the Guardian webpage, i was shocked at those. Greek is the new Jew, gah what ordinary people have done to you anyway? Those with the least responsibility bear the burden and are being told names on top of this.

No im not saying bring them back to work but at least do soemthing about it!

Having the current government up the age to 67 but still leave 11 pages of opt outs so people can still retire younger than that and much younger on average than any other eu country when you have a massive problem paying for your current pensions just seems daft.

To vote in a government who made an election promise that all pensioners will get two chrostmas pension bonuses this year is also daft.

Equally before the **** hit the fan in Greece, giving your pensioners 4% annual increase year on year doesnt look good either. But then when they are the biggest voting group, thats what you have to do to win the election.

but im not saying its all down to pensioners, thats just one example of how what very little money Greece did have has been thown away.

Giving 100m of assets away for nothing to dodgy monastaries probably in exchange for bribes.

Vast corruption at all levels, refusal to do anything about tax evasion (take the swimming pool tax). There was only 324 registered people as having a swimming pool in Athens - 324? really? pmsl When Greece finally did something about it by using a helicopter they found 16,974. So that was 16,650 who had avoided paying tax on them.

And since doctors are self employed status, does anybody honestly believe that only 5% of doctors earn over 13,000 euros per annum so 95% never pay any tax? “Only the stupid pay tax,” one eye surgeon told a Greek state radio. The fact that unless it has changed recently, if caught doing tax evasion you only had to pay 20% of the tax you owed is hardly an incentive to be honest and pay the correct amount of tax. In the uk it would be 100% plus probably another 50% as a fine.

In the trendy Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki, where Prada and Chanel stores can be found, they found may houseowners with a 2nd holiday cottage and two cars all claimed less than 13,000 euros per year income even when rents in that area are more than double that per year.

Bowing down to trade union pressures (i mean the average annual salary of the train employees is £60k per annum - thats average so from the top right down to the cleaner). In a country where the cost of living used to be cheap vs the rest of europe, that seems like excessive wages.

So yes, its a lot of factors and has taken a few decades to get to where they are today and will be decades before they recover.

Greece seems to be a country now where people are used to paying no tax but expect a good pension.

 

[dowie]

i have never blamed someone else than greeks for this mess. But after 5 years of austerity, 25% loss of gdp, 27% unemployment, poverty skyrocketing, no funding for a year and a half the recipe troika introduced failed 100%, this i blame it on the troika 100%. Even straus khan admitted it was a faulty programme.

Greece could have defaulted back then left the euro and gone for it with their own currency, tis silly to blame others for the mess.

 

[Outcast]

What's the Capital of Greece ? .......

Spoiler

About 50 Euros and a few goats

 

[Uther]

And yet many people on this very forum advocate legal tax avoidance and paying as little as they can get away with...

 

[Sankari]

Greece: 'Hey EU, can I borrow some money? I really need it!'

EU: 'Sure, here you go.'

Greece: 'Thanks, bye!'


***repeat once a week for 5 years***


Greece: 'Hey EU, can I borrow some money?'

EU: 'MORE money? I've given you billions, what have you been spending it on all this time?'

Greece: 'I ****** it up the wall.'

EU: 'WHAT?! You told me you really needed it!'

Greece: 'Yeah because otherwise you wouldn't have lent it to me.'

EU: 'Where has it all gone?!'

Greece: 'Ouzo. So you could say I have literally been ******* your money up the wall. Hahah, see what I did there?'

EU: 'Get the **** out of the Eurozone.'

Greece: 'Can you lend me enough for a bus ticket?'

 

[jimjamuk]

And yet many people on this very forum advocate legal tax avoidance and paying as little as they can get away with...

Somehow I don't think the scale we are talking about here are the same - yes claim expenses here and there - that's tax avoidance.

after seeing some of the stats in this thread - that's tax evasion.

for a few to be doing it is bad enough but it sound like to me that everyone (bar public sector) was giving evasion a go and getting away with it

 

[thep02]

...with the full complicity of the Greek government. There's no escaping responsibility, and Greece must own up to her share of it.

The onus is always on the paid professional.

 

[arknor]

Was like giving a credit card with an outrageous limit to a newly turned 18 year old..

UK was brought up on if you can't afford it you can't have it until very recently... credit is a thing we've had a long time learning/ dealing with.

Was always going to be a disaster for the Greeks.

credit is indeed crap ruining so many lives just for greed of a few at the top creaming all the interest payments.
most people will get a credit card and be paying it off for years
finally cancelled 2 of mine this year after deciding to start making an effort and getting them paid off.

got one left that's paid off buy I'll keep for emergencies , never again will I fall into a credit trap

late 90s and early 00's was crazy you could be on the dole and still walk into a shop and get electronic goods on credit

I guess it's good for capitalism and the economy as it creates spending but it's not really a benefit for the people using credit at all

 

[Mr Jack]

<snip complete nonsense parody of the Greek situation>

Try a bit more like this:

Greece: Argh! This global financial crisis has caused a massive downturn in our income, the banks have cranked up the rates they want and we can't deal with the problem in any of traditional ways because we joined the Euro. Don't worry our buddies who have done really, really well out of the Euro will surely help out.

Germany: Oh, well, gosh. Here you can borrow this money to give to our banks so we don't have a big ol' crisis.

Greece: Well, that's all okay I guess but unless we can do something about our economy we're going to be in a right old pickle.

Germany/ECB/IMF: Right, we don't like your government. Best get rid of it and employ these chaps who have the best interest of our banks at heart.

Greece: But all these things you want us to do are going to stuff our economy and make it harder to pay back the money to your banks?

Germany/ECB/IMF: Do we look like we care?

Repeat for five years as the Greek people get more and more stuffed but, hey, the German banks are looking a lot healthier!

Greece: Right, we've had enough of this rubbish let's elect a government which might actually try and make things better!

Germany/ECB/IMF: What? Have some sovereignty of your own and point out how indescribably stupid all that austerity we've been shoving down everyone's throat is?! No way! We won't give you a thing!

Greece: Hey, we've come up with this whole other set of ideas about how we might balance the books which doesn't involve stuffing the poorest people in our society so much and might give us a spot of growth. How about that?

Germany/ECB/IMF: No! You can't do it that way you must have MOAR AUSTERITY...

IMF: <quietly publishes report showing that the plans they're forcing on Greece are actively counterproductive>

Germany/ECB/IMF: Shhh! They must have MOAR AUSTERITY!!

Greece: ...

 

[dowie]

well maybe they will break away from the euro and we'll have to wait and see how that works out... tis a lot of uncertainty about how that would play - it isn't necessarily obvious that it is a better option than the austerity path

 

[ubersonic]

Try a bit more like this:

Nope, his was much more accurate.

 

[Sankari]

Mr Jack you conveniently omit any reference to the decades of chronic government corruption and tax evasion that even Greece herself admits is mostly responsible for her problems.

 

[Greebo]

Mr Jack you conveniently omit any reference to the decades of chronic government corruption and tax evasion that even Greece herself admits is mostly responsible for her problems.

Exactly, Greece was in the mire before they even joined the euro, it was only a matter of time before it blew up.

 

[The Funktopus]

So, considering present circumstances, now might be the time to make a cash offer to put the issue of the Elgin Marbles to bed?

'Oi, Greece, can you break a £10 note?,'