Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: mxlm on September 19, 2010, 07:56:04 am
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http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010?currentPage=all
As he finishes his story the finance minister stresses that this isn’t a simple matter of the government lying about its expenditures. “This wasn’t all due to misreporting,” he says. “In 2009, tax collection disintegrated, because it was an election year.”
“What?”
He smiles.
“The first thing a government does in an election year is to pull the tax collectors off the streets.”
“You’re kidding.”
Now he’s laughing at me. I’m clearly naïve.
Dude. Dude. I don't know what you can say about that.
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/me facepalm
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Makes sense. You don't want them to vote for the other guy so you collapse the government.
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Makes sense. You don't want them to vote for the other guy so you collapse the government.
Well to be honest its only a token gesture anyway, reading the article you come to find nobody pays their taxes in Greece anyway.
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That is a fantastic article, and I am STILL shaking my head at what I read. Holy ****. No wonder that country is such an economic disaster.
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That article is simply astounding. It feels like a miracle that the entire country didn't collapse into itself decades ago.
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Wow, excellent article, now I will find it nothing short of a miracle if there is a Greece left in the next months.
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What a horrible mess. I'm surprised they managed to last so long with all this cheating going on.
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I heard that the reason there are so many uncompleted buildings in Greece is to do with some kind of tax dodge?
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I'm disappointed... I thought this thread was about a cool holiday in Greece. :p
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Sigh
And I have to go there next week. I probably wont be taking anything valuable with me.
The matter of fact is, even if there is 25+ degrees compared to our 10- with rain,
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/01/article-1239945-07BD2906000005DC-667_468x398.jpg)
I don't want to go!
And I still need to resist for asking my money back from every local people I meet.
EDIT: Found even more accurate picture
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Come on, from a cultural standpoint Greece is an extraordinary place. Just ignore all economical issues when visiting that country (as long as it's possible, of course).
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Gotta agree with Mobius here, don't confuse Greece the country and people with Greece the Government, it's a lovely place to visit, with very nice people, and there's some of the finest historical buildings in Europe there, it's a lovely place to visit as a tourist, it's just living there in the current situation that I wouldn't advise ;)
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Come on, from a cultural standpoint Greece is an extraordinary place. Just ignore all economical issues when visiting that country (as long as it's possible, of course).
That wont take long if you take account my personality.
[Rant]
From a cultural standpoint China is also an extraordinary place. "Extraordinary", I like the cling of that, it is a really good word to use here. Also there are extraordinary people, and especially extraordinary governments.
After having been spoon-fed the extraordinary history of Greece in primary school - I still recall the difference between Ionian and Dorian pole styles, not that it ever helped me to do anything - and the rest of the extraordinarily fine culture of Central and Southern Europe, I simply can't avoid making extraordinary conclusions from the current extraordinary states of those extraordinary countries and my own.
I saw a lot of that "culture" stuff a lot of teachers taught us in the primary school, and can't help feeling cheated about the whole issue. The most culturized (they had it at least for two thousand years!) people you could expect in Europe need to be saved from financial trouble of their own making by the vulgar, crude, non-culturized ones. Personally I think they can keep whatever that is that they call "culture", I don't want any part of it any more.
As long as government is elected by the people I cannot separate government from people. That represents the majority.
[/Rant]
On individual level I still give everyone a chance.
But I really gotta find some fresh orange juice there, that would be nice for a chance.
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Gotta agree with Mobius here, don't confuse Greece the country and people with Greece the Government, it's a lovely place to visit, with very nice people, and there's some of the finest historical buildings in Europe there, it's a lovely place to visit as a tourist, it's just living there in the current situation that I wouldn't advise ;)
The problem here is that Greece the people seem to be the primary cause of their current situation. :p At least Greece the buildings are still worth seeing.
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Indeed. Greece is a Republic, the people have some real responsibility for what happens there.
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Well, not paying their taxes doesn't make them bad people, it just means they are screwing up the economy, but they do it in a friendly and good natured way most of the time :p
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Sigh
And I have to go there next week. I probably wont be taking anything valuable with me.
The matter of fact is, even if there is 25+ degrees compared to our 10- with rain,
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/01/article-1239945-07BD2906000005DC-667_468x398.jpg)
I don't want to go!
And I still need to resist for asking my money back from every local people I meet.
EDIT: Found even more accurate picture
Inappropriate image since Matt Smith is infinitely more awesome than Tennant could ever be.
Afterall... bowties are cool.
(http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01627/who_1627116c.jpg)
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[Rant]
From a cultural standpoint China is also an extraordinary place. "Extraordinary", I like the cling of that, it is a really good word to use here. Also there are extraordinary people, and especially extraordinary governments.
After having been spoon-fed the extraordinary history of Greece in primary school - I still recall the difference between Ionian and Dorian pole styles, not that it ever helped me to do anything - and the rest of the extraordinarily fine culture of Central and Southern Europe, I simply can't avoid making extraordinary conclusions from the current extraordinary states of those extraordinary countries and my own.
I saw a lot of that "culture" stuff a lot of teachers taught us in the primary school, and can't help feeling cheated about the whole issue. The most culturized (they had it at least for two thousand years!) people you could expect in Europe need to be saved from financial trouble of their own making by the vulgar, crude, non-culturized ones. Personally I think they can keep whatever that is that they call "culture", I don't want any part of it any more.
As long as government is elected by the people I cannot separate government from people. That represents the majority.
[/Rant]
Say whatever you want, Greece still rocks. :p
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Well, not paying their taxes doesn't make them bad people, it just means they are screwing up the economy, but they do it in a friendly and good natured way most of the time
I wouldn't care had it stayed inside Greece. But the problem is, we also need to pay them for the things they knowingly and intentionally did, well understanding the consequences. This makes them thieves in my book and robbery is robbery, no matter how nice the thief is.
Oh great, now it's riots in Athens. Hopefully the airport remains open. And that neither of those ****ing volcanos blow-up like last time in Brussels. So that fresh orange juice better be extraordinarily good.
Regarding Doctor Who, there isn't an episode with Smith saying "I don't want to go" yet.
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Inappropriate image since Matt Smith is infinitely more awesome than Tennant could ever be.
Afterall... bowties are cool.
Ask yourself, do you really want to go down this path? You're playing with fire, son.
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Eccleston.
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This has gotta be some sort of record now; changing topic from economical situation in Greece to an argument which Doctor was the best? And I unintentionally started that all?
Madness? No, this is H-L-P!
(http://i39.tinypic.com/23m7tjd.jpg)
EDIT: You know, it really wasn't Leonidas that I wanted to put there in the first place. Link now fix'd.
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King Leonidas finds your lack of bandwidth disturbing.
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You fool! You could have had all the bandwidth you wanted if you would just kneel!
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Just that you know, I returned from Santorini, and everything went pretty much smoothly. 10 minute delays with airlines, but nothing show-stopping.
Overall, I felt like this guy here:
(http://www.morethantechnical.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/desert_bear.png)
Lazy, slow and overheated that is.
Did you know Greeks' have a collection of assorted chocolates that is called Leonidas? I failed to acquire one from the airplane, that with a bottle of Ouzo would have made an awesome gift to my friend with a theme of
(http://sharemyguitar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/SMG_King_Leonidas.jpg)
TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!
On a serious note, Santorini people were actually nice and didn't seem to cheat that much. At least not that much that I would call it unfair.
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On a serious note, Santorini people were actually nice and didn't seem to cheat that much. At least not that much that I would call it unfair.
Just out of curiosity, exactly what amount of cheating would you call fair? :P
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Did you know Greeks' have a collection of assorted chocolates that is called Leonidas?
That's actually Belgian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_%28chocolate_maker%29). The Greeks know nothing about chocolate :P