Monday 29 June 2015

Brother, can you spare a dime?

I love the Greeks. I always have done.

They have - up until now - been proud, independent and virtually self-sufficient.

They created philosophy and the concept of social harmony and cohesion, even before the Romans.

The Nazis fucked them over in WW2, and so did us Brits. They have always been at the arse-end of Europe - at least Turkey were our traditional enemies.

What has happened to them? The same as happened to the rest of the world.

Some bastards lent them money in the full knowledge that they would be incapable of paying it back should anything go wrong, and it has gone wrong. This unscrupulous financial practice is identical to what has caused the other, main crash in the rest of Europe.

Ok, the more successful amongst them have not been too keen on paying taxes, but how do they compare with all those U.S. and other multi-national corporations who do the same but milk the system?

Their only hope is that - with the collapse of the Greek Euro - the stock markets around the world will take a hit they cannot afford to take as well.

Shame, shame, shame.

10 comments:

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    1. I used to like Retsina - Can't think why.

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    2. I used to look retsina, too, but I think the reason why was because I was with someone I adored when I drank it the first time, and that memory trumped my taste buds for quite some time.

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  2. Tom, you have explained in simple terms the crux of the matter and the austerity that is now prevalent in europe and these islands.

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    1. Well that's reassuring to hear, even coming from you. Maybe I haven't gone so way off the mark after all.

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  3. ALL politicians (especially Greek) should be forced to study the words of that fine economist Wilkins Micawber. Annual Income £20, annual expenditure £19. 19. 6d; result happiness. Annual income £20, annual expenditure £20. 0. 6d; result misery.

    It really ain't that difficult.

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  4. I love Cro's quote - useful for private people too - and when I look around I see a lot who are not able to get the meaning of it. (I wrote in my book about that topic, and the Swiss liked that so much they bought 6000 books to offer them to young people for free)
    Buying as the highest form of entertainment - as long as people believe that and throw away useable things for new ones, invent things that 'die' at a special date,as long as we do that our planet earth will suffer.

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    1. I hate that quote, mainly because I am so lazy that I have been living beyond my means for most of my life, without the comforting knowledge that I will be bailed-out as soon as my parents die.

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  5. Doesn't nearly the whole of the modern age live on credit? Nowadays are there any Bank Managers? If so it is a long time since I saw one in our area. And I can just go and take a whole wodge of money from the hole in the wall - just like that. There was a letter in the Times the other week from someone who overdrew by £2 one week in the 60's and was summoned to meet his Bank Manager who told him he feared he was living above his income.

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    1. All horribly true, Weave. My clients accountants forgot to pay me two months ago, and I overdrew by £1.90 on my overdraft. They charged me £5 per day on that.

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