There
was the lake named “Copais” in western north Athens of Greece. In the
1950s, the government of Greece decided to drain off water to the sea
and construct a road. In the year of 1957, the construction finished and
the lake in Greek mythology disappeared. By the way, the organization
which the government establishs to monitor the construction work remains
until now. More than 30 public servants occupy
the space but no one knows what they do at the work.
The
reason this thing happens is that lifetime employment was guaranteed
through constitutional reform in 1911. They can get much salary than
people
in private corporations and have good welfare benefit. In addition, they
have no restriction when they fiddle around doing nothing.
Greece
looks like a heaven for public officers. The bigger the government is,
the bigger various evil of bureaucracy is. If you want to start a
business of Greece,
you might have to pay a huge bribe to public servants.
Main culprit of the Greek financial failure
is evading taxes. “Kifisia” is the region the upper class mainly lives.
Many people lived there who represent Greece economy including owners of
the shipping industry, politicians, doctors, lawyers etc. However, the
considerable number of the residents of the
region is the poor strata. The rich are not paying appropriate taxes by
giving a bribe to the public officers.
The
European media are often sarcastic that “Greece is the poor country
overflowing with the rich”. Millionaires of shipping industry are
usually
receiving a tax exemption by the reason that they have contributed to
the Greece’s economy so far. I think this case is very ridiculous. It is
natural that the national economy ends in failure because government is
providing the opportunity for the rich to
get out of paying taxes.
I
think politicians have ignored the reality of national economy and were
blinded by political considerations to win an election. Establishment
does not face up to the reality under these trying circumstances. What
was worse, the public officers are holding their opinion. They insist
that they can not lose their power. In addition to that, they are under
the general strike to resist to welfare reduction.
I believe that ultimately, corruption and immorality are the main cause
of a Greek tragedy.
-Hye Jung
There is a huge problem in Greece right now and it is affecting all of Europe. I do not see why our government does not step in at all to help with this tragedy. The fact that Greece is failing is causing a lot of problems in Europe. As we get closer and closer to the economic collapse in Europe, we are also getting closer to the idea of a one world currency. At first, this doesn't seem like a bad idea. If you think about it, It spells disaster for the United States. This one world currency would cause our nation to lose the currency that is currently used to trade many goods. This would cause an increase in prices. People only see the problems that could arise in Europe, but problems will also arise right here in our home soil. Greece needs to be given some time to figure out this problem on their own, but if they don't get their crap together, America needs to be willing to help.
ReplyDeleteThe problems with Greece are truly affecting all of Europe and it won't be long until the United States begins to feel these affects. While reading about some of the big problems with Greece, I am shocked to see some of the same problems here in America. This scares me because it seems like all the problems in Greece started with a lack of morale in some people. Guaranteeing life long jobs is an obvious mistake which the people are taking advantage of. Not paying taxes is a huge problem and the lack of tax money makes it hard for any country to improve. Yet these two problems can be seen in America. The Welfare which people are taking advantage of in Greece is almost equivalent to the Welfare people are taking advantage of in America. When people do not work for what they receive from the government, it lowers morale and hurts the economy. In America there is a large amount of people who do not pay taxes. Even though it isn't as severe as Greece, it is still a problem and affects the economy. America needs to take a close look at Greece and try to change things about our Welfare and tax system so the greatest country on earth does not fall into the same demise as Greece is.
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