I’ve stopped reading Spiegel.de. It has become too painful. The articles are very shallow and the titles have become very click-baity
End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
81–90 of 117 posts
Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#82> She wants to abolish Greek clientelism. Although every politician has promised this since taking office, none has succeeded. For centuries, the Greek administration was little more than an excuse for legal nepotism. Clientelism was the functional principle of society. Its roots reach into the Ottoman era, when clan leaders represented the Greeks to the Ottoman authorities, and they have continued to this day. Jobs…
I'm not sure that's radically different from many other places. In Spain you have the common practice "enchufes" (plugged-in - somebody put in place by connections rather than ability), Italy too. Even supposedly enlightened Anglo-saxon economies have their old boys networks (especially board rooms), and everywhere they exhort the idea that networking is the way to get ahead (over say, education and objective blind i…
> In Spain you have the common practice "enchufes" (plugged-in - somebody put in place by connections rather than ability), Italy too.
Uhljeb in Croatian.
Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#83> "In the past decades, the governments have so overwhelmingly failed that Greeks blame everything that goes wrong on the state,"
This hypocrisy makes me angry. Those governments were not forced on poor Greek people by bad Jews or lizards from the space. Greek voters had a choice and they repeatedly refused a wide range of responsible trustworthy politicians that were telling the uncomfortable truth and repeatedly elected whoever would promise them the biggest free lunch.
Of course, such hypocrisy is not limited to Greece, it is rather ubiquitous in modern democracies.
Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's neoliberal propaganda. 1. Greece did not live above it means. It did not have more debts than other countries in the EU zone, countries that did not crash 2. Greece would have been fine it it had not been forced to destroy its economy with an austerity program > They lived way above their means You probably are german, because that is a BILD/CDU slogan. It's very hard to qualify what that is supposed to mean.…
Hilarious, is this what Greeks think? Its not the size of the debt or the deficit that matters but what its spent on. Take a look at pre-2009 retirement ages, number of employees in the public sector and the wages in the public sector.
All those numbers are lower or comparable to other EU countries. The public sector was not much bigger than that of e.g. Germany. The difference was its effectiveness and productivity.
Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#85> turned Greece into a different country. They turned themselves into a different country by borrowing Euros at German market interest rates while their previous interest rates for borrowing were at 16% before they joined the Eurozone. They lived way above their means for more than 10 years, what did they expect for a country that has virtually no industry?
That's neoliberal propaganda. 1. Greece did not live above it means. It did not have more debts than other countries in the EU zone, countries that did not crash 2. Greece would have been fine it it had not been forced to destroy its economy with an austerity program > They lived way above their means You probably are german, because that is a BILD/CDU slogan. It's very hard to qualify what that is supposed to mean.…
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Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's neoliberal propaganda. 1. Greece did not live above it means. It did not have more debts than other countries in the EU zone, countries that did not crash 2. Greece would have been fine it it had not been forced to destroy its economy with an austerity program > They lived way above their means You probably are german, because that is a BILD/CDU slogan. It's very hard to qualify what that is supposed to mean.…
Then your propaganda must be neo-communist. Take a look at this graph (and read the article it comes from): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_government-debt_crisis#/... 1. After Greece entered Eurozone in 2001, their already large debt exploded. They had 4-14% yearly deficit - they clearly "lived way above their means". 2. In 2011 Greece themselves declared that they can no longer service their debt, e.g. they def…
>The leftist agenda has been to portray Greece as a victim of capitalism and/or neoliberalism. This was mostly dispelled by facts, and I rarely see this kind of propaganda in 2018.
It was both capitalist governments that created the crisis and capitalist governments that tried to remedy it (no government has moved away from a market economy and privatizations since the late 80ies, including SYRIZA). We Greeks are 100% absolutely right to blame capitalism and/or neoliberalism. It was a capitalist/neoliberal system that created the crisis and a capitalist/neoliberal idea (austerity) that utterly failed to remedy it (it has been almost 20 years since the crisis and there is not an end in sight).
Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's neoliberal propaganda. 1. Greece did not live above it means. It did not have more debts than other countries in the EU zone, countries that did not crash 2. Greece would have been fine it it had not been forced to destroy its economy with an austerity program > They lived way above their means You probably are german, because that is a BILD/CDU slogan. It's very hard to qualify what that is supposed to mean.…
Actually you are correct - Greece's debt load is one of the lowest in Europe. The reason it looks high is propaganda; they are using an obsolete accounting method. The modern standard is IPSAS or equivalents which consider what matters - the market value of the debt. https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2016/06/09/2161851/what-if-greec... http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=2321087
Err...so the debt is "low" because we are assuming it won't be repaid. Hmm...
Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#88Eh, I might be off topic, but to me Greece seems helpless and beyond saving.
Here is a personal anecdote. Before finishing university, I got a job offer by a very prestigious international company. I accepted, and decided to register myself as a freelancer so that I pay my respective taxes.
But... they would not let me do that. The person at the freelancer (TEVE) office, explained to me, that since I did not finish my university I was not allowed to perform that work, remotely, for a foreign company. Doing so, would mean that I am stealing job opportunities from people like his son (yup), who finished a similar school and now are unemployed.
I went again, and again, and I was shooed away with a similar excuses. Even though according to government websites my case was legit, and there was a special clause for people working for foreign companies. But apparently something written online at a .gov website doesn't account to anything - the people at the kiosks know better. Finally, months later, I decided to hire an accountant.
It so just happened that they knew her personally. I got my license less than a week later. After 4 months of stress, being told to my face I am breaking the law and I am stealing their sons jobs, I finally had my own freelancer company registered to my name. I joked that I should register as a heart surgeon instead, it seemed that with knowing the right people it was definitely possible.
....
When I was leaving the country to come to the states, I went to the same office to de-register. Apparently the phone lines where down, but the person there wrote down my name and swore they would de-register me. Three and a half months later, and while I already had moved to the states, a letter that fined me for not paying taxes and for not paying my company fees for the last 3 months, was delivered to my parents house. Apparently I was still registered as a company owner. Oops. My dad for some reason paid that fine and didn't tell me until months later, to not "stress me".
Fucking hell Greece. I could go on and on....
Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention they literally asked Goldman-Sachs to help cook the books so they could qualify for joining the EU. I don't understand why people keep perpetuating this 'poor Greece is so innocent' myth. There was rabid government overspending, they literally defrauded the EU and they still got saved!
EU was not defrauded, since they admitted they knew how the books where altered. On the other hand, do you know who didn't know nothing about it? Greek people, particularly young people who are now in their 20s and 30s, and can't find a job to live as proper human beings (>30% youth unemployment). Yet, you look like you enjoy this. I, just, wish you will never face something like that in your future.
> do you know who didn't know nothing about it?
They can blame their parents and grandparents who voted for stupid and corrupt politicians. You don't need to look very far.
Re: End of Greek Aid Package as Country Faces Demographic Crisis
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then your propaganda must be neo-communist. Take a look at this graph (and read the article it comes from): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_government-debt_crisis#/... 1. After Greece entered Eurozone in 2001, their already large debt exploded. They had 4-14% yearly deficit - they clearly "lived way above their means". 2. In 2011 Greece themselves declared that they can no longer service their debt, e.g. they def…
>The leftist agenda has been to portray Greece as a victim of capitalism and/or neoliberalism. This was mostly dispelled by facts, and I rarely see this kind of propaganda in 2018. It was both capitalist governments that created the crisis and capitalist governments that tried to remedy it (no government has moved away from a market economy and privatizations since the late 80ies, including SYRIZA). We Greeks are 100…
> It was a capitalist/neoliberal system that created the crisis
You don't seem to realize there is such thing as "personal responsibility". Nobody forced the Greeks to borrow way more money than they could ever hope to repay. The Greek government created its own problem and hoped to get away with it. There's no world where you can make it the fault of someone else.