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Manolara

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Everything posted by Manolara

  1. WW3 incoming? U.S have done nothing about their rabid dog. What's going to happen to their military bases and nukes aimed at Russia? Putin making moves to make himself and his oligarch buddies wealthier. #Putinistheleaderofpeace #Orthodoxbrotherhood+IslamofascistErdogan
  2. Calling out Red Sheriff and other "Greeks should pay", "it's all Greece's fault" supporters. I'm surprised this hasn't been posted in here yet... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/07/28/imf-admits-disastrous-love-affair-with-euro-apologises-for-the-i/
  3. You do realize that being in the Eurozone, Greece can't print any of it's own money, correct? So how did Greece get more money without increasing productivity or revenue? How did Spain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal? How did all these countries, at the same time, all see increases in their property market and stockmarket and all crash at the same time? Then your rationalization as to why a bankrupt, nepotistic, corrupt, dysfunctional state should receive loans to the tune of 100% of GDP to pay off debt of 160% of GDP, is what exactly? The political and wealthy class have no incentive to change the country and have information before anyone else, giving them time to position themselves, and their wealth, to be clear from the austerity measures. And the IMF+ECB are giving Greece loans out of the goodness of their hearts? Either way your conclusion is that the EU, IMF, ECB are all naive. Greece is too rigid in it's socio-economic ideology that it will never change to a modern, westernized, capitalistic utopia. Yet it was allowed in the EU, and plenty of loans are given to Greece to change/pay off debt. So all of you that criticise Greece knew better than the EU when it allowed Greece in the EU and again when they voted to force Greece to take on loans. Yet none of you can accept that they all knew exactly what they where doing, and they didn't care. Most of the debt Greece owed was to private institutions, which lent out willy nilly, much like what happened in the American financial crisis in 2007, to countries all over Europe. Greece was in the worst position due to it's political corruption, inefficiency and poor governance over the years that emptied state coffers. The private debt was then offloaded into public institutions around Europe but Greece got the blame to cover up for Deutsche Bank and the rest. The Irish government had enough room to take on the bad debts, same with Spain, Italy and the rest. Yet was the banks reckless spending ever questioned and blamed? Were the policies of the European Union blamed for allowing such poorly run nations into the Union? Were political parties blamed? Was anyone put in jail? No. It's ALL Greece's fault. The majority of Greeks who did the right thing have to pay for the corruption of the political and wealthy classes and you're all here saying "they deserve it". They protested all the time! Every political party is no different from the other! Xrysi Avgi is different from the norm yet there's still criticism for Greeks choosing them when they have no other options? Then you make jokes when I mention revolution? We've had Syriza, N.D, PASOK in power and they've done F*** all. Yet Greeks are still blamed for voting them in... :S It's easy to criticise and "know better" living abroad watching ERT and MEGA, thinking you're better than the Greeks in Greece because you live in Australia, USA, U.K, and that somehow makes you better. But you all come of as narcissistic, arrogant pricks.
  4. This is the Greek League. Speculation/reality are pretty much the same. I don't see Meli putting any of his own hard earned cash into the team. Fixing the Levadiakos game to make money to invest for next year is no big deal really. We lose 1 game, and don't have a chance to make CL groups so... The Greek League is a house of cards and needs to take the weight of another fat ass selfish drug mule/heroin pig. Why would anyone invest their own money in this shithole? At least Vaggelara can watch his team in the CL and be content with seeing success on the stingy investment he makes.
  5. The Euro's would send billions of... euros to Greece and every other country that requested them. What a magical organisation the EU is. You want money? You want money? You got it. WHO ELSE WANTS MONEY?!?!?! Of course German and French banks wanting a higher rate of return on idle capital didn't add fuel to the fire by buying bonds in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain which fuelled asset bubbles in real estate and the stockmarket right? They can never be accused of wrongdoing. As our other friend tells us: It's Greece's own fault! I love this line. Investment bankers gamble on gambles and insure those gambled gambles to make big money but when they lost, the blame fell on the home owners who where approved multiple loans with no means testing, fraudulent loan application approvals, and NINJA loans. At the end of the day it's their own fault for being approved homes they couldn't afford and putting themselves in that position to begin with! And at the end of the day who are we referring to when we say "it's Greece's own fault"? Do the yiayiades and papoudes in the xoria understand Credit Default Swaps? Do they know who JP Morgan is? Maybe he's Taso and Maria's son from Vouliagmeni. Do they understand how a national economy works? Maybe we're referring to the youth, 1 in 2 of which is unemployed and probably 1 in 3 of those employed are owed months of backpay. Is that the Greece who is at fault? The moral righteousness reigns supreme when poor people can be used as an excuse because Greece is free, and people have the freedom to make choices. Make a bad choice and it's your own fault. The complexities of suburban and urban life don't matter. GDP per capita don't matter. Education don't matter. Health don't matter. Nor do political influences. When the wealthy, powerful, make a mistake we turn a blind eye and passively aggressively shove that bit of reality so far down our mind that we barely notice the difference. When world leaders do nothing about the offshore tax havens and the trillions in untaxed wealth, we just pretend like it isn't happening and all is well, just like when one of our friends yells or physically assaults their spouse at a bbq. It's best not to get involved and the problem will be solved somehow. But how dare those poor, powerless people be poor an destroy national and world economies! They're the world movers and shakers that we should go after! While one hand is scolding Greece's poor, the other hand funnels money out of the country into said tax havens, further worsening the crisis for those who have nothing else left to give but the blood their ancestors fought for against the Italo-fascists, Nazi's, Communists, Junta, and Turks. Bravo.
  6. Would anyone care if this guy set up the 3-0 against Levadiakos and made 20mil euro and invested it in the club? I wouldn't.
  7. If the stations are in financial trouble then this makes sense. Whether he does or doesn't give them a licence it will look suspicious.
  8. I'm still not buying it because of what I mentioned above. Turkey might be growing but "per capita" Greece supposedly has twice the living standards than both Russia and Turkey. The same red tape bureaucracy, tight media control, basically, the same problems that we have, Turkey and Russia have. Their bourgeois might be smarter in protecting themselves, their assets and, in essence, their country, but the regular citizens are the same. The Turks have a pseudo-dictator running the state, just like Russians have a oligopoly/dictatorship. Both nations have tight media control, censorship, assassinations, control of dissent, the eradication of opponents, and a burgeoning corporatocracy made with their friends in the government. Greece isn't that extreme. Regular Greek, Russian, Turkish citizens have no say in what happens in government. Much labour is undertaken to cover up what is actually happening but some people are trying to stand up and make a difference in all countries. Mind you it is much harder in Russia than Turkey or Greece but this "Ottoman" mentality, I don't think exists. I had similar theories of my own but I was wrong. @Red Sheriff There's a consistent pattern in GSL teams where random "presidents" and investors come in, the club goes bankrupt "from within" and only Olympiakos is financially sound. As the organisers and those responsible for the Greek Soccer League, why haven't EPO or the Footballing body done anything about weeding out corruption, shifty owners, etc? They are in charge of the league aren't they? You keep saying that 'cute' this and 'cute' that yet in a cesspool of corruption, bribery and scandal only one club is ever clean. Surely you're not that naive. Here the top WORLD footballing body was corrupt and everyone knew for ages yet Olympiakos has a stadium built for them in record time, no debt, constant league title wins which get the CL group stages, and you see no problems here? Beos and Marinakis being voted into political positions of power? Makaros, Melissanidis being allowed to own a club? The guy owns OPAP! How is there no conflict of interest here? The Turkish league is no different, although all that money at least makes competition better with all the "superstars" they bring in. Yet both national teams are garbage, one (Greece 0-1 Faroe Islands) worse than the other. Still no problem? That's cute. Greece has had ND/PASOK all these years and the country was no different. Pseudo socialist/communist where voted in and nothing changed. Even if Theodore Roosevelt came back from the dead, he still wouldn't change anything. Ideologically? Realistically, the economy is hanging by a thread. What is anyone going to do? Force more austerity onto people when youth unemployment "officially" sits at 50%, unemployment "officially" sits at 25%, the economy is still shrinking from the 25% it already has, pensions are feeding extended families and we are part of a monetary union that doesn't give a F*** about Greece? Are we going to inflate our way out of it? We can't. We can't even get ourselves out of it with austerity either because eventually, there will be nothing left. Cut government spending on pensions, welfare, etc and you will see a reduction in aggregate demand, increase in bankruptcies, meaning less income from tax and more strain on welfare. Privatise and you cut your nose to spite your face. What's going to happen when the government fires employees? More unemployed. Privatises public assets and it can continue paying it's debts in the short term while screwing itself over in the long term. Syriza at least gave the people a democratic choice with the referendum. They weren't allowed to uphold it by Europe. Blame Syriza all you want but y'all can't see the forest for the trees.
  9. Greece has a "bloated" public sector: Figure 21.1 Employment in general government as a percentage of the labour force (2000 and 2008) Figure 21.2 Employment in general government and public corporations as a percentage of the labour force (2000 and 2008) In other words, Greece has public assets, that are making a profit, which would sell cheap during a financial crisis to "pay off external debts" which can't be forgiven. Yet selling a revenue making asset for short term gains, which is what Varoufakis and other notable economists bring up, is cutting our nose to spite our face. It makes no sense. Source. http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/gov_glance-2011-en/05/01/index.html?itemId=/content/chapter/gov_glance-2011-27-en Was the U.S happy with the system they created leading up to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis? Was Portugal? Was Ireland? Was Iceland? Was Spain? Was Italy? Did they all know best too? World debt has doubled since 2008. It is currently twice the value of the world's total economic output. Is the World naively in it's happy days or will that crash will be Greece's fault as well? Is Japan? Only Greece has tax cheats. Only Greece has a "bloated public sector". Only Greek has red tape. Only Greece this that and the other. Meanwhile, JP Morgan's asset sheet is bigger than France's GDP (6th biggest economy in the world) and the shareholder's equity is as big as Greece's GDP.
  10. I'm not only anti-osfp I'm also anti-GSL. Every year I follow it less and less. I don't see how my analogy is "cute". All the clubs in the Greek League, in order to be successful in the past 20 years, depended upon ONE sole sugar daddy. If you think United, you think Ferguson. If you think Arsenal, you think Wenger. If you think Bundesliga, you think fan ownership. If you think Barca, you think tiki-taqua/Messi. You think Real, you think wealth/Royal's club/bla bla bla. What's happened in the League all these years? Clubs have received less and less revenue. Aris, Paok, Pao, everyone. A lot have gone bankrupt. A lot are full of corruption. Yet the fans still kept going. You bring up that AEK+Paok are financially healthier because they have a backing of a sugar daddy. Demi wanted to set up Aek to be financially sound. He was the only president, that I can think of, who was ousted from the club for doing so. Beos was a crook yet he was still at the club. No problems until Koriopolis. Marinakis is implicated in a 2 tonne heroin smuggling operation in Piraeus, also involving an ex-olympiakos board member. Nothing. Makaros at Aek? Left on his own accord. Yet only Nikolaidis was forced out. Which other president has gone forth offering progressive reforms and passed them? Every other Aek president we had between Demi and Melisanidi I had no idea who the F*** these people where and why the media kept hyping them up. Clearly, things where happening behind the scenes. Nikolaidis was ostracized out of the country while Marinakis was voted a Piraeus city council member and Beos was voted as a mayor. How is my analogy flawed, I still don't understand? Greek League is producing nothing. Most clubs are deep in debt. Only one is fine and supported by the League. The rest are left to rot which is clearly, and i repeat CLEARLY, Greece 0-1 Faroe Islands, affecting the National Team. If this was France I would already be suffering an "Arab Backlash" and the exodus of the Jewish community because of it.
  11. I'm not quite convinced because if you look at Turkey and Russia, they're similar in their autocratic style of rule under Putin and Erdogan. Both heads of their nations, (Erdogan for 11 years, Putin for 17 years), both have subdued and silenced their opponents, both have censored their media, both have used the state to make themselves and their friends rich, both have subverted the law, both limit the internet, both control state media, etc, etc. Some similar muddled s%$#! has occurred in Greece too. See the thing with the sanctions on Russia, imposed by the EU-US, only affected your average Russian citizen. The oligarchs with their multi-million dollar Manhattan apartments, English football clubs and other foreign assets in "allied" nations, was untouched. Yet the EU/US wanted to send a message? Putin could just blame the EU/US, ridding himself of the blame while being a bit annoyed. His wealthy friends were mostly fine. Erdogan is doing similar s%$#!. Using public funds to give favorable contracts to his mates. Saying that, they have similar problems to Greece: Source: The economist Politics vs Turkey? s%$#!. Spending on military? Both high. Economy? In some aspects similar. We have double their gdp per capita, they have a larger gdp. We have more debt, their debt's are rated as junk by Moody's. Bureaucracy? Similar. The only thing I can say that Turkey is a winner in, compared to us, is diplomacy. That said, both countries have people who stand up for what is right, for justice, for freedom, etc. The problem is Turkish and Greek "revolutionaries" coming together for peace and prosperity is dangerous and damages the status quo. Even independently, they're still dangerous. Point I'm making is that the "big guys" are always untouched and the socio-political environment is the one where it is easiest to control the proles. Greeks are slightly smarter so more political parties and media outlets confuse them. Turks rally around Islam. Russians can't tell the difference between a dictator and socialism. Then again, either can yanks!
  12. Sad... hasn't had a club for a few months. Practically finished at 30.
  13. If the acronyms mean nothing that who is behind these political groups? The ideology is all the same. You give the idea of true representative democracy too much credit. What Syriza said before they gained power was completely different to what Syriza are doing. Yet the people voted in Syriza before they promised one thing and did another. Twice. You think Europe wasn't sweating under Varoufakis' speeches and intentions? As soon as they pushed favourable changes for themselves in Greece, Varoufakis was left with nothing, and quit. There's nothing wrong with agitation, especially when you're not making outrageous demands. The EU made the same mistakes as they did post ww1, except the difference was that PIGS where no military powerhouses. The extremists and fascist groups have popped up though. All those who wanted to change the system, from one side of the spectrum to the other, have been shut down to preserve the status quo. Look at Greek soccer for example. A competitor of Aek could easily infiltrate the fan clubs, the presidency and shareholder decisions. The benefit in crippling your opponent outweighs the cost because the benefits occur with easier access to the CL group stages. Fans run riot, cause violence, club gets fined. Repeat ad nauseum. Shareholders make poor decision after poor decision. Spending money on players all the time. Everyone makes a cut at the clubs expense. Nikolaidis wanted to change all that. He wanted to get rid of the violence, handle the board and build a stadium. What happened? His own fans turned on him and kicked him out. How was this even possible? Behind the scenes dealings and media propaganda. Have these positive measures been implemented? No. Why? They made sense didn't they? Why has no one else stood in and said "we need to improve the game"? 12 years later the club either have to get through too much red tape or media propaganda is going on about the stadium is "going to be built". In those 12 years what has happened? The league as a whole has gotten weaker and those in charge have been asleep at the wheel. Or have they? Volos, Aris, Aek, Hraklis, etc, etc have all had financial problems. Corruption has been rife. Competition has gotten weak. The game is a joke. Yet only one club is squeaky clean with a new stadium. That makes no sense. Either Olympiakos can somehow overcome all these obstacles within the club, and in the league OR, they are the status quo, and the league caters to them. The SL+EPO have sat back and done nothing. Just like the government caters to the wealthy while the media covers everything up. The big pay off is the CL groups/government contracts. Those who want complete destruction of the system or vast improvements are ostracized. The fans/people have no clue what's going on. The media keeps everyone confused and distracted. The wheels keep spinning. What happened to the Lagarde list? Average Greeks don't pay taxes. I'm not saying it's not a problem but it's not THE problem. Yet it's the main one being focused on. Even here in Australia. Gina Rinehart is protected from showing her taxes because she might be "kidnapped" but we'll demonize welfare recipients for a few million to show we're doing something. The few multinationals that "legally" pay zero net tax could raise billions yet welfare cheats are the problem they focus on.
  14. *Insert example of a private lawyer poorly representing their client* One example does not represent the whole.
  15. That is a weird definition. You could say that modern Greece was founded by terrorism since the Ottomans never authorized the upheaval. Then again if you argue that revolutions aren't terrorism then what's to say that any actions of a terrorist aren't revolutionary?
  16. How is all this Syriza's fault? How is it ND's fault? How is it Pasok's fault? How are the successful Greek businesses run so successfully? Why is there so much red tape for everyone else? Who told the middle and working classes to pump money into Athex? Who lost the most with the financial crisis? The biggest company in Greece is the Coca Cola Hellas Bottling Company at a market cap of 6.8 billion euro. Second is Hellenic Tellecom at 3.9 billion. Third is Alpha Bank at 2.8 billion. Fourth is National Bank of Greece at 2.2 billion euro. Fifth is OPAP. The top 115 Greek companies have a market cap higher than 1 million euro. The Top 200 Australian companies have a market cap higher than 240 million AUD. The Athex is 17% of GDP while the ASX 200 is roughly 100% of GDP. As I mentioned, the wealthy control politics. Barely anyone new enters the market or at least challenges market leaders in Greece. When the big dogs want things done, they get things done. If Voula wants to open a hair salon, she first has to compete with the state and its red tape. If she can survive that she will need 3 accountants to manoeuvre around Greece's tax code or, she can avoid paying tax but still contribute to the economy by hiring workers, buying groceries, hair gel, etc. Remember Dominic Strauss Kahn? He wanted progressive reform as opposed to austerity, saying in a meeting: "Ultimately, employment and equity are building blocks of economic stability and prosperity, of political stability and peace. This goes to the heart of the IMF's mandate. It must be placed at the heart of the policy agenda". What happened next? Oh, apparently he sexually assaulted a woman and had to step down as managing director of the IMF. Julian Assange spreads diplomatic cables and other information exposing this that and the other? Apparently he raped a woman in Sweden. Everyone in Italy knew Berlusconi was a crook. Yet as soon as he needs to do something important, but doesn't, bang! tax evasion conviction. Then Monti was forcefully appointed Prime Minister in a democratic nation, as was Papademos 5 days earlier. Coincidence? As I said before, you think any of these wealthy people are clean? They all have dirt on each other and as long as they play by the rules they're fine. As soon as they stop playing by the rules, a sexual assault occurs, tax evasion, corruption, insider trading, murder, bla, bla, bla. Hell the U.S supported Francisco Franco for claiming in public to be anticommunist and was asked to join the United Nations. FRANCO! The guy who set up concentration camps and purged his own countrymen for being socialist, communist, anarchist, republican, intellectual, Catalan, etc, etc. How are you not sure how the example of Putin factors into Greece? Everyone knows the government is the moneymaker. No different in Greece. Favourable contracts worth billions of taxpayer monies, government assets sold at below market value, etc. Australia a functional society? Subjectively, every society is a functional society, depends who you ask. Do you think that private energy companies gold plating poles and building excess infrastructure, without governmental oversight, and charging it to the taxpayers and the bill payers and the media playing it down, is functional? Do you think that pseudo-educational institutions popping up after the government deregulated the educational sector and government educational standards oversight committees where private entities are popping up charging tens of thousands for useless education certificates, paid for with government subsidies/the taxpayer, is functional? Do you think the constant barrage of attacks on the less well off while discounting ^^these and other problems is a part of a functional society? Eeeeeeh, mining boom, tax cuts, Private debt 180% of gdp (one of the highest in the world), house prices soaring, wages remaining flat, public healthcare being gutted, social services being gutted, tax laws altered to suit the oligarchs and wealthy because they might be "kidnapped", low inflation rates, and so on, are part of a functional society? The only difference between you and me and the versions of you and me in Greece is that we live in a "young" society unchanged by constant wars, that has grown by investing in proper avenues by decent leaders. And even then, those came at the expense of something that made us worse off *cough* negative gearing *cough*.
  17. Come on man, at least address the issue, use the facts I posted. If you work for the state, you get paid crap. To get paid well you either get promoted by doing your job well or you do your job well and move into private practice. If you represent clients and get the worst outcomes for them, who would let you work? Besides, the defendant can request another attorney.
  18. This is exploitation, pure and simple. You cannot justify for-profit bail bondsmen and for-profit prison systems. From Buzzfeed:http://www.buzzfeed.com/nicolasmedinamora/meet-the-bail-bond-queen#.jl9JpJJLn
  19. Let me get this straight now... for decades Greece was paying 15%+ of revenue on interest payments. In 1995, Greece was spending 25% of revenue on interest payments. In 2000, they got it down to 16%. From 1995 onwards, our debt to gdp ratio was always above 100%. Between 95 and mid 08, Ireland's was always below 60%, reaching as low as 28%. Greece has had the highest ratio of revenue to gdp in comparison to Ireland and Germany starting at 31%, 15% and 8% respectively, in 1995. Iceland, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, U.S, Spain, Italy, and the rest of the world had financial problems, at the same time, with Iceland's banks having borrowed 10x their national gdp, Ireland had a housing bubble, U.S banks intertwining to create a financial bubble, and your view, after all this info, is that 50 year old retired hairdresser Voula is responsible for the Greek financial crisis. Not only that, but Syriza, who have been in power for one year and a couple of days, is the problem. Harshest austerity imposed, pensions feeding entire families, welfare cuts, tax hikes, workers haven't been paid in months, and yet, Syriza who tried to stand up to the EU and IMF where wrong to do that. Is Syriza to blame for the EU considering removing Greece from the Schengen area to stem refugees from entering Europe? A nation suffering all these years not only has to deal with the influx of Muslim refugees but the EU's plan of blocking the borders for Greece, keeping millions of refugees in an already strained, dilapidated nation while giving gifts to the tune of 3 billion euro to Turkey. Great "help" there from the EU. After all, they did handle the Greek bailout so well. Wake the F up. Bonus points! It's weird how when Socratis Kokkalis wants a 4 star Uefa rated stadium, it's built in "record" time. Maybe the red tape machine stopped working those 14 months and the government workers where on holidays. It's also weird how interconnected all our proud billionaires are with the political class. Being involved with government projects and assets. Also weird how Oligarchs popped up in Russia when Putin took over and privatized some assets and made sweet deals for his buddies who went on to make billions at the expense of the public. But I guess Russia = communists, so they're evil, while U.S.A keeps mentioning "freedom" so they're good guys, and Greece is just lazy and mooching off the system. There's no pattern here or anywhere else on earth where wealthy and well connected people use their influence to change laws or purchase public assets on the cheap, that favors them to make billions of dollars. No where. Microsoft, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Gazprom, Itracom, Aegean Marine Petroleum, Apple, Samsung, Siemens, HSBC, GE, etc. It's all that bitch Voula's fault.
  20. Vice have become a joke these past few months, or more. But sometimes, they release some good videos. I don't understand how people care so much about who the next president is when you have politicians being legally bribed to change laws that take advantage of underprivileged and poor people for a buck. Highest prison population in the world = Not pseudo-commo/capitalist China, not North Korea but the U.S. Nations with capital punishment = Saudi Arabia, North Korea, U.S. uwotm8
  21. Greece's GDP in 2000 was $130 billion. In 2004 it was $240 billion. In 2008 it reached $354 billion. In 2012 it went down to $245 billion. As soon as we entered the Eurozone with it's golden ticket, the euro, our GDP grew 272% in 8 years. In the same time, Belgium's GDP grew 218%. Ireland's grew 276%. Lithuania's grew 427%. Spain's grew 268%. How is this possible? Add in the factors of a stronger unified currency, the actual performance of the economy, and inlfux of cheap debt maybe? Taxes are a problem, no one pays taxes! In 2000: 22% of government revenues where from income tax, profits and capital gains compared to 17% for Germany. 28% of revenue was from taxes on goods and services compared to Germany's 20%. Taxes on international trade are non-existant for Greece or Germany. 4.34% of revenue was from other revenues, Germany's was 0%. Greece has 29% of revenue as social contributions compared to Germany's 58%. Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP, Greece's was 22% while Germany's was 11%. Total revenue as a percentage of GDP was 40% for Greece and 30% for Germany. In 2000: Germany's expenses on employee's was 5% of total expenses compared to Greece's 21%. 7% of expenses for Germany where on interest payments compared to 16% for Greece. 80% was for subsidies and other transfers compared to Greece's 38%. Germany spent 3.7% on goods and services compared to Greece's 13%. It is clear we had and still have a bloated public sector and lots of interest payments but, why does no one want to explain why Greece's gross external debt went from 181 billion euro in 2003 to 317 billion euro currently, when we where given 240 billion euro's in loans? From the first tranche of bailout money "we" received, most of it went to foreign banks. The troika didn't even ask for systemic changes in the way the government does business. They didn't force government efficiency. They didn't offer adequate debt relief. They asked for cuts in military spending (one of the highest by % of GDP, in EU) and the government cut soldier's wages instead of procurement of armaments. Along with the billions spent on dud submarines from the Germans the rest of the equipment is mostly useless since maintenance costs where also cut. We have twice as many tanks as the U.K. They asked for cuts in government expenses on social services, firesale of government assets and a haircut on deposits. I don't understand how any of you can see from these facts that Greeks don't pay their fair share of taxes. Shipping companies which are a large portion of our GDP provide near 0% taxes through various exemptions. The movement of wealthy people's funds in offshore accounts is what exactly? The corporate tax rate dropped from 40% in 2000 to 20% in 2010. The lowest VAT is 6.5% on newspapers and magazines. There's 20 billion euro in offshore funds held by Greeks. Around 15,000 individuals and companies owe the taxman 37 billion euros, according to Venizelos. What happened to the Lagarde List? Oh that's right, Voula the hairdresser had the journalist, who published the names, arrested for breach of privacy. It's all Voula the hairdressers fault and her 15,000 friends. No other country on earth has people who cheat the tax system. I said it before, Syriza had meetings with wealthy and powerful people, agreed to take the brunt of hate and not change laws that affect the wealthy in exchange for being kept in power. The same thing will happen to N.D, PASOK, KKE, Bernie Sanders or anyone else wanting to lead the country. No way, no how, the country will be lead by idealists with proper reform. The poor will always take the brunt. The British and Danes did the same when a list of tax evaders was given to their authorities. In November 2012 the UK tax authority declined to prosecute those named on the list. This s%$#! happens all over the world, how can any of you believe what is presented in the media when the facts speak for themselves?
  22. Messi+Ronaldo go all out play like 10 games a day, get trashed by defenders and are barely injured compared to others. Iniesta, Xavi, Giggs, Scholes, where similar.
  23. Too many injuries, stalled his progress. Not sure if genetics, diet, poor maintenance or a mix of these.
  24. Varoufakis held the world economy hostage. All he wanted was better terms on the bailouts. When the U.S was the domino that started the crisees in Europe, no one said anything. No one could do anything. Not even the U.S government did anything against those responsible. Many years later, what has changed? Greece/Syriza capitulated to the troika and we have the same amount of debt from the start of the crisis while receiving as much bailout money as our entire GDP. Pension funds where wiped out, savings, welfare cut, government services cut, government spending cut, economy still in tatters. All that happened was that private debt to external banks was paid by the troika/European taxpayer. Our economy is still F***ed and those responsible got away with it. All the bailouts did was shift the burden onto European and Greek taxpayers. The ones blamed where Greek taxpayers. Can't anyone see that if Syriza didn't change its tune the political power brokers in the EU would have implicated high profile oligarchs and politicians in this mess, throwing them under the bus instead of the taxpayers? Why else would Syriza change tunes so quickly? Either do as your told and accept the bailout, OR, we will lay the blame on you and gut you. Syriza went back home, the oligarchs and wealthy told them to cover them and they'll reciprocate by covering them in the media. Syriza held a referendum and still went against it. And people voted them back in! What does that tell you? That doesn't absolve Syriza of their actions of course. They still capitulated and threw the taxpayers under the bus to hold onto their power and wealth. What happens behind the scenes is the real politics. What happens in the media isn't politics. How can people still believe the media narrative?
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