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There is some degree of hostility towards Greece in this thread (albeit mostly from 2 people, one of whom joined HN 30 minutes ago). It seems appropriate to po
by Gatsky 12y ago
There is some degree of hostility towards Greece in this thread (albeit mostly from 2 people, one of whom joined HN 30 minutes ago).
It seems appropriate to point out that it is public knowledge that the EU was/is irrationally hostile towards Greece during the Eurozone crisis.[0]
Now they have to play high stakes fiscal politics with a very clever bunch of largely unrestrained leftists. Frankly, they can't blame anyone else for this problem.
[0] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11226828/Tim-Geithner-reveals-in-the-raw-how-Europes-leaders-tried-to-commit-financial-suicide.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11226828/Tim-Ge...
- makeitsuckless 12y ago"irrationally hostile" Yes, very "irrational", after discovering that Greece had blatantly lied about pretty much everything relevant to the Eurozone. Wars have been fought over a lot less.
- youngtaff 12y agoYes, Greece isn't blameless but Let's not forget the Germany and France were the first to break the Euro's rules and the rule were changed so they weren't fined. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16761087 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16761087
- gawa 12y agoWhen you let anger and resentment dictate your policy, yes you're being irrational, by definition. It was like 7 years ago. Now there's a difficult situation (a debt realistically impossible to pay) and different people in charge (not thieves and Goldman Sachs anymore [1]). Let's focus on viable solutions. [1] http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-debt-crisis-how-goldman-sachs-helped-greece-to-mask-its-true-debt-a-676634.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-debt-crisis...
- Gatsky 12y agoDon't get me wrong, the EU had every right to be angry, it's just preferable that the people in charge of billions of euros and the well being of millions don't pursue tacit vendettas in lieu of good fiscal policy, which is the point made in the referenced article.
- euccastro 12y agoNothing was "discovered"; the rest of the Eurozone knew it all along that Greek figures were fantasy since the very moment they entered the EU.
- ptaipale 12y agoGreece actually didn't enter EU; they joined EEC in 1981 and EEC then transformed into EC and EU.
- r3m6 12y agoThe quoted article is one point of view. As with all current events, only history will tell who is wrong or right. Another viewpoint is: It is "public knowledge" that the same "bitter EU medicine" worked well for Ireland, Portugal and Spain. So from the "Pigs" countries - only the "g" refuses to take it. That is their right. But then don't blame/insult the doctor.
- youngtaff 12y agoI think there are plenty of people in Ireland, Portugal and Spain who would argue that the 'bitter EU medicine' worked for them. Spain has an unemployment rate of 23% for starters. We should also take a look at Iceland, where going a different route to the EU medicine worked well for them.
- pfortuny 12y agoThat is so true... Few people "working well" in Spain. But TAXES.
- ptaipale 12y agoTaxes are not particularly high in Spain. They are below OECD average, not to mention below EU or Eurozone average. http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=REV http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=REV In 2013, Spain's tax revenue was 32.6 % of GDP. Compare that to Germany 36.7 %, Netherlands 36.3 % and Finland 44.0 %. Also consider that these as proportion of tax revenue to official GDP, and it's pretty safe to assume that Spain has more in grey economy (not in official statistics) than northern Euro countries.
- appleflaxen 12y agoDoes your first sentence have a typo? It seems to be in tension with your second.
- youngtaff 12y agoYes, it could do with a with as in "would argue with that"