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Panorama: Greece
HAMISH_MCTAVISH
Posts: 28,592 Forumite
On now BBC 1, or iplayer.
Well worth watching.
Well worth watching.
“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”
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Comments
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HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »On now BBC 1, or iplayer.
Well worth watching.
Could you give a brief synopsis?0 -
It is a birds eye view as to why excessive debt & tax avoidance cause real problems.0
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Just stating the bleeding obvious then?0
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Just stating the bleeding obvious then?
Its the human cost really (which is pretty awful) but of course the BBC with its socialist spin only mentions in passing that Greece cannot collect tax. No mention that 10-15% of GDP is lost in tax avoidance every year or that the Greece lied about its debt to gain entry to the Euro.0 -
I do have trouble understanding how the people that are suffering (and in many cases were part of the problem) did not expect it all to go wrong.0
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Its the human cost really (which is pretty awful) but of course the BBC with its socialist spin only mentions in passing that Greece cannot collect tax. No mention that 10-15% of GDP is lost in tax avoidance every year or that the Greece lied about its debt to gain entry to the Euro.
Only to the extent of including a discussion with some professor hired by the Greek state who concluded and pressed for the scrapping of the existing tax collection authority and the setting up of a new one. Apparently the Tax Collectors' unions fought this in court because they like the current system involving corruption and backhanders for their staff - this was in the programme too.0 -
I do have trouble understanding how the people that are suffering (and in many cases were part of the problem) did not expect it all to go wrong.
There was another program on BBC Three earlier in the week, where a reporter visited different parts of Greece to look at the social impact.
She visited a shipping port where the unemployment rate was 80% !
At that sort of level of unemployment, you could be skilled and exercise sobriety and still find yourself out of work.
The people interviewed did seem honest enough, and genuinely embarrassed about having to receive food parcels. They didn't want to rely on handouts.
The reporter also interviewed a wealthy rich Greek guy, at a shooting range (well...where else?!).
His defense was, shall we say unusual. He said that EVERYBODY avoided paying taxes, rich and poor alike. But it was ok, because from NOW ON, the spirit to contribute would be there. Basically, a tax debt amnesty then.
Hmm, that's not much of a consolation to a Greek government so short of working funds it is running month to month on empty.0 -
It must get quite annoying for that guy who has been clapped everywhere he goes for the past 60+ years
'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher0 -
Funded by German tax payers, who work till the age of 67.
I wander why they are losing patience.
Or funded by German exports that wouldn't exist but for the undervalued [STRIKE]DM[/STRIKE] sorry I meant Euro
'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher0
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