“That’s exactly what they were creating with their punishing austerity measures expecting the poor and working classes to sacrifice all so they could protect the rich from paying for ANYTHING.”
France’s top income brackets are 75%. Doesn’t sound like paying nothing to me. The link I attached is a listing of EU tax rates for various countries. When you add the income tax rate plus the VAT rate it’s pushing 60% and above in many places. Somehow I wouldn’t consider that a welcoming environment to do business, as has turned out to be the case for those promoting “recovery through growth.” They are still mired in recession and don’t show any great signs of change for the better.
Really? Did you really read the article?You must have missed this, “40% of Greece’s GDP comes from the public sector – this includes government jobs, entitlements, as well as government contracts Greece businesses have relied on. Austerity has mandated that Greece pays outside creditors first. When the largest revenue generator does not/cannot pay their bills to private business, business fails, banks fail, and citizens become outraged as they continue to struggle to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.”When 40% of your GDP comes from the Government, you are bound to fail. The government creates very little to nothing of inherent value. It employs people, pays out entitlements and builds/maintains infrastructure. You can’t sell government services, there is no profit, no reinvestment, just take from here, spend it there.It was the government’s fault, by association the people who elected the charismatic leaders instead of true management leaders. It was the corruption that has been rampant in the country for centuries and not a recent phenomenon.The ignorance of trying to place blame at the feet of a policy that attempts to enforce some form of responsible management of the government’s treasury is, well, just ignorant. You can’t spend your way out of debt, you have to economize. Not rocket science, but fact. If you have no money, you can’t spend more. Unless, of course, you are the government which, in Greece in the past as here, has had no problem reaching into the back pockets of the people to keep playing it’s stupid game. Eventually you have to pay the piper.
“If you have no money, you can’t spend more”Ha! Tell that to my Congressman! We’ve spent more money than we have every year for the past several decades! Kiss the almighty dollar goodbye!
First of all, the cartoon is about Cyprus, not Greece. Yes, there are Greek bank branches in Cyprus, but these are not one and the same country.*Second, I read the following from a financial blogger earlier today:Cyprus has a population of 1.1 millionThere are 370,000 bank accountsOf those, 360,000 have less 100,000 Euro, the limit on deposit insurance.The 370,000 bank accounts have total deposits of 68 billion Euros.The 10,000 with more than 100,000 Euros make up 55% of the deposits, or 38 of the 68 billion.Many of those 10,000 accounts are held by Russians or other non-Cypriots that are seeking tax shelters.*So maybe it’s not such a bad outcome for those 10,000 account holders to pay for the banks’ losses.
Regarding Greece, they have (or had) retirement at 57 with full salary for life. It is no surprise that this, plus so much of the economy based on public sector, wasn’t sustainable. They also have few exports other than food items. And when the rest of the world economy is weak, their resort business was bound to suffer.*But the US situation is far from that, and moving in the opposite direction, so the parallels to Greece are highly flawed.
avarner about 11 years ago
Coming soon – to a financial institution near you…
dpbriley about 11 years ago
You have no idea what you are talking about . . .
dpbriley about 11 years ago
Shot in the dark, doubt you will read it and accept it, you’re to busy playing the demagogue.5 Reasons Why Austerity Failed in Greece
Mickey 13 about 11 years ago
“That’s exactly what they were creating with their punishing austerity measures expecting the poor and working classes to sacrifice all so they could protect the rich from paying for ANYTHING.”
France’s top income brackets are 75%. Doesn’t sound like paying nothing to me. The link I attached is a listing of EU tax rates for various countries. When you add the income tax rate plus the VAT rate it’s pushing 60% and above in many places. Somehow I wouldn’t consider that a welcoming environment to do business, as has turned out to be the case for those promoting “recovery through growth.” They are still mired in recession and don’t show any great signs of change for the better.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_of_Europe
dpbriley about 11 years ago
Really? Did you really read the article?You must have missed this, “40% of Greece’s GDP comes from the public sector – this includes government jobs, entitlements, as well as government contracts Greece businesses have relied on. Austerity has mandated that Greece pays outside creditors first. When the largest revenue generator does not/cannot pay their bills to private business, business fails, banks fail, and citizens become outraged as they continue to struggle to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.”When 40% of your GDP comes from the Government, you are bound to fail. The government creates very little to nothing of inherent value. It employs people, pays out entitlements and builds/maintains infrastructure. You can’t sell government services, there is no profit, no reinvestment, just take from here, spend it there.It was the government’s fault, by association the people who elected the charismatic leaders instead of true management leaders. It was the corruption that has been rampant in the country for centuries and not a recent phenomenon.The ignorance of trying to place blame at the feet of a policy that attempts to enforce some form of responsible management of the government’s treasury is, well, just ignorant. You can’t spend your way out of debt, you have to economize. Not rocket science, but fact. If you have no money, you can’t spend more. Unless, of course, you are the government which, in Greece in the past as here, has had no problem reaching into the back pockets of the people to keep playing it’s stupid game. Eventually you have to pay the piper.
hanmari about 11 years ago
“If you have no money, you can’t spend more”Ha! Tell that to my Congressman! We’ve spent more money than we have every year for the past several decades! Kiss the almighty dollar goodbye!
DavidGBA about 11 years ago
http://www.businessinsider.com/moodys-cyprus-could-still-default-and-leave-the-euro-2013-3
Marty Z about 11 years ago
First of all, the cartoon is about Cyprus, not Greece. Yes, there are Greek bank branches in Cyprus, but these are not one and the same country.*Second, I read the following from a financial blogger earlier today:Cyprus has a population of 1.1 millionThere are 370,000 bank accountsOf those, 360,000 have less 100,000 Euro, the limit on deposit insurance.The 370,000 bank accounts have total deposits of 68 billion Euros.The 10,000 with more than 100,000 Euros make up 55% of the deposits, or 38 of the 68 billion.Many of those 10,000 accounts are held by Russians or other non-Cypriots that are seeking tax shelters.*So maybe it’s not such a bad outcome for those 10,000 account holders to pay for the banks’ losses.
Marty Z about 11 years ago
Regarding Greece, they have (or had) retirement at 57 with full salary for life. It is no surprise that this, plus so much of the economy based on public sector, wasn’t sustainable. They also have few exports other than food items. And when the rest of the world economy is weak, their resort business was bound to suffer.*But the US situation is far from that, and moving in the opposite direction, so the parallels to Greece are highly flawed.