Reference to the chants here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/athens-greece-protest-strike
Sure what are they complaining about? Dem's peanuts.It's the fault of capitalists like the bankers, who got bailed out by the [previous] conservative government to the tune of €28m
Funny chant. Lets see if they are still chanting that when the Germans take over...
Would you blame cigarette companies for cigarette deaths?Blaming the banks for our woes is like people blaming McDonalds for making them fat.
Would you blame cigarette companies for cigarette deaths?
Says it all really..NAMA banks and developers let of the hook while the sychophant confused public work for years later than planned to help pay back the gombeen man culture
Even though the cigarette companies knew for years that cigarettes were harmful, didn't tell their customers, and also did huge advertising campaigns. They often marketed cigarettes to the young.
With these facts in mind, you do not believe cigarettes companies are to blame for cigarette deaths? Even partly?
The title of this thread says it all; "Greeks - We're not Ireland the Rich should pay". Why should the rich pay? What about the people who got rich by making stuff and exporting it? What about the people who got rich starting up software companies? What about the people who got rich starting up medical device companies? Did they cause the problem? The reality is that the average plumber/carpenter/ bricklayer/ plasterer/ electrician did more to cause the problem than "the rich" I have listed above.
If the Greeks are a bunch of begrudging jealous fools then that's a pity but it's no reason for us to follow suit.
Greece has a taxation system that works well in the PAYE sector - so all the salaried employees, public and private, get tax deducted at source. All good and fair, as we would all agree. However, only a very small proportion of self employed people pay their tax due. The typical attitude is to declare a small income and take all other payments in cash, which is wy Greece is a nation of poor people living rich lives! This includes almost all doctors, hospital consultants who get top ups in cash, etc. These are the rich that the demonstrators are complaining about. Not simply because they are rich but because there are plenty of people with income of hundreds of thousands who declare 20K for tax purposes. This level of tax evasion does not happen in Ireland (although clearly there are people here who avoid tax), but of course the Greek middle income earners are now pretty sore about paying for this mess while the tax evaders continue to demand their cash payments.
The cigarette companies didn't break any laws either.What's your point? If the banks broke the law then those involved should go to prison.
So who do we blame for the bubble?
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