Brklyngrk

I have lost all respect for Tsipras and his government (not that I had that much before hand). If you wanted the people to decide, you should have let them decide BEFORE the June 30th deadline. You know, right before the tourist season (Greece's #1 revenue producer!!!!) This shows his inexperience of negotiating at the international level. All he did was antagonize the EU and everyone else who was working on the negotiations. I do not think he is wrong on some of his points however the harsh reality is that if Greece votes NO, Greece is out of the Euro. People will suffer a lot worse than they will under the current program. Greece receives/received a lot of EU subsidies which will now come to an end. He went all in holding a pair of deuces.

The biggest issue in Greece is the lack of jobs and the hurdles that are in place for job creation. Greece is its own worst enemy. The laws in place do not lend to entrepreneurs which is ironic, due to the fact that every Greek I know in the states has some sort of business. Most have done relatively well for themselves. Greece has a highly educated population who is pretty internet savvy (I remember reading a survey that stated that Greece had one of the highest internet usage in Europe per person). Why not give them the tools to move forward?

The thing is Syriza is not totally wrong on some of their action points. The way they went about negotiations with no real, substantive reforms is what has led us to today. The way they lied to the public on promising them no austerity, no debt, etc...was wrong. Anybody can see that in order for Greece to be a sustainable country, reform is necessary. We can no longer fight it however they need to be implemented in a manner that would hurt those in need the least. I am afraid that Syriza's approach has alienated even our closest friends and now we are left on an island by ourselves.

His selection to the national team was based on merit. He could have turned the national team down and went to play for Albania, it was his choice. He's allowed to acknowledge his Albanian decent. Now if he could only play better.....

The flip side to all this and what makes us appreciate Greece are the everyday people who are very helpful and quite nice. I have had the cab driver who for some bizarre reason, did not want to do multiple drop offs for each passenger in the taxi even though he was being paid for the service (something about not being a bus driver). But the good far outweighs the bad. Red Sheriff is correct, the prices that are charged in Greece are far cheaper than the rest of western europe.

The ripping off of tourists is not just a phenomenon found in Greece. These types of things happen all over the world. In NYC, taxi cabs would routinely overcharge tourists especially from the airports. That is why they were forced to adopt fixed pricing. There was an article in the paper how some food vendors charged tourists $30 for a hotdog and coke. These things happen everywhere. I was in Rome talking to the owner of this boutique hotel I had stayed at. The minute it was time to leave, he said that he would hail me a cab (of course he couldn't help me with my bags because he has a bad back but that's another story). As I was walking to the cab, I heard him go up to the taxi driver and tell him we were Americans for no reason. There are always going to be those who look at tourists as easy pickings.

Rumored to be going to Roma.... http://www.sport24.gr/football/omades/Roma/pairnei-karnezh-h-roma.3469674.html

We play Scotland on Sunday and France on Wednesday.