waffledave
waffledave, from hf
I am Greek.
There are a lot of issues that stem from both social and political problems. Greeks are entitled, and for too long the way of life there has been way too relaxed. Nobody likes to work, and people retire and live off their pensions way too early. Sometimes entire families live off the pensions of the grandparents. That or they work government jobs and get paid for doing nothing (similar to here in Quebec where government jobs are basically work-for-welfare). They get by because they hire immigrants and pay them basically slave wages, and then turn around and complain that immigrants steal all the jobs.
Politically, the system is extremely corrupt. It's pretty much as corrupt as can be. People stopped paying taxes because of all the BS so the government has no money. Everything can be accomplished under the table, from building permits to skipping duties on imports. It's all done with bribes. For too long the EU has been propping Greece up when they never should have been in the EU in the first place. All their infrastructure was built by other countries, so they have shiny new toys and everyone figures they are well off.
Honestly I don't know how they are going to fix this. The government has been cutting spending because they have no money, the people complain because it means they can't live off handouts anymore. Everyone's become too lazy and undisciplined to actually work because they haven't had to do it for too long. And worst of all, they don't feel they have to. Because of course, Greece has done soooo much for the world, we invented ****ing everything, you guys should pay our way forever and be grateful for all we've done.
It won't happen. They will continue to get bailed out by the EU because it'll cost less than the hit the Euro will take if Greece leaves.
