goinggreek.info
The Agora => Greek News => Greek History & Culture => Topic started by: Maik on Saturday, 08 August, 2015 @ 10:00:50
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Tax evasion at Knossos ancient site
Inspectors of the Ministry of Finance audited the souvenir shop at the Archeological Site of Knossos on the isle of Crete. The tax inspectors arrived after a visitor claimed he didn’t get a receipt for the items he purchased. Posing as customers, tax inspectors found that over the course of several hours, none of the eight shop employees issued receipts for sales. Instead, they recorded sales on a ledger. All up, there were 534 tax violations recorded in just one day.
When questioned, they first said that they were too busy to ring up sales. Later, they said that the cash register was out of order though tax officials found this not to be the case. Furthermore, the cash register was not registered.
http://en.protothema.gr/tax-evasion-at-knossos-ancient-site/
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Amazing story! Hugely embarrassing to Greece.
:rant:
Tony
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Why should it be embarrassing? Everyone knows that the Greeks are all thieving dogs who should be put down. Ask the Fourth Reich's ruler Angela Hitler. Shouldn't criticise Hitler: at least he was open about wanting to conquer Europe (and zen ze vorld!).
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The article can also be read as rather belated efforts by the Greek government to clean up its own act but overall its rather sombre, factual tone reads more like disbelief.
This well sourced, careful piece was from a Greek not a German site, though it can clearly be used by those who may wish to see Greeks as lazy, tax avoiders etc. etc. Unfortunately Germany is not alone in having people who see it that way and Greece does not always help its own case. We all now know that Germans are particularly averse to public and personal debt as a result of 1930s hyperinflation - even to the extent that the majority of housing tenure is is rented rather than owner-occupied. There are many things that Germany has done wrong in relation to Greece. Being part of lending them so much was certainly an aspect of it but mostly Greek indebtedness up to the first bail-out was to private banks and institutions (inc €10 billion to British banks) and as we also found out to our cost banks in the "noughties" banks were profligate in lending without proper assessment of risk. They have been hawkish to put it mildly in insisting on deflationary austerity measures as the remedy for what is now also public Greek debt when it is increasingly obvious - even to the IMF who championed such an approach for decades - that cutting GDP so drastically will reduce the government's tax take and therefore its ability to repay loans still further.
Comparing Merkel to Hitler although widespread in Greece and elsewhere is a mistaken view. Merkel should be (strongly) criticised for supporting an out of date neo-liberal economic policy towards Greek debt which is both self-defeating and socially catastrophic. Far from there being evidence that she wishes to "rule the world" by economic force (or worse!) the reverse is the case. In Germany she is criticised for indecision and reliance on consensus to resolve particularly European issues. Granted this might be exercise of "soft power" but that is no different to most other EU countries and something which our very own David Cameron has begun to realise is the only way to make progress with a British renegotiation of a its basis for EU membership. That is not to say of course that Germany does not pursue its own political and economic interests as does any other nation.
Making comparisons with Nazis when debates become heated on any topic although common on forums and elsewhere is lazy non-thinking. It's easy to do with Germany but no other nation has done more to counteract militarism, nationalism and what used to be called imperialism than Germany. From its post-war constitution to the present day Germany has sought to regain the best of its liberal, enlightenment past and to accept war and holocaust guilt. Perhaps reading Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alone-Berlin-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/014118938X/) written in 1946 might change peoples' perspective.
Tony
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I compare Merkel to Hitler and am happy to be mistaken......
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Interesting. I do wonder if Germany has the idea that it must atone for its inhumane actions of the past by leading Europe to a better future. Pity it can't recognise that many Europeans are very wary of being led anywhere by Germany.
Maybe JMO but I think comparing Merkel and Schauble to Hitler is somewhat insulting to those who suffered terribly under the Nazis. But I can see why people make the comparison and, like I said, maybe JMO.
PS I don't seriously think Ari was labelling all Greeks as thieving dogs who should be put down ... he probably wouldn't be a long-time contributor to the Greek economy if he thought that way.
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PS I don't seriously think Ari was labelling all Greeks as thieving dogs who should be put down ... he probably wouldn't be a long-time contributor to the Greek economy if he thought that way.
Quite! :lol:
I reckon Ari was was setting up a straw man of those who might see Greeks that way in order to criticise them.
Tony
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I compare Merkel to Hitler and am happy to be mistaken......
There is an outside chance you're mistaken there HiFi. Bearing in mind I am very strongly opposed to Germany's position on Greece let us consider some of the key points of Hitler's policies:
- On election in 1933 Hitler banned all other political parties except the NSDAP and cancelled all further elections.
- Instituted the Fuhrer principle subjugating all political decisions and processes to his own will.
- Created a unified fascist state in which all organisations were subject to the control of the Nazi party, including all businesses, employers and workers bodies, the courts etc.
- Upheld the superiority of Aryan people and in particular the German nation as a master race over all other "inferior" races.
- Declared "international Jewry" as the source of all economic problems and implemented a programme of stripping Jews of all employment, housing, social and legal rights leading to a "final solution" in which 6 million Jews, men, women and children were transported from their homes and were either summarily killed by gassing or firing squad or worked to death.
- In addition killed over 2 million others: mentally retarded and physically handicapped, gypsies, gays, Jehovah's Witnesses, evangelical Christians, Communists and political opponents of even the mildest sort.
- Militarised the state by conscription and militaristic youth organisations and created a system of social control by secret police and and civilian informers.
- Annexed Austria and invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland, creating an unwinnable and catastrophic European war on two fronts.
- Perpetrated unspeakable genocide and war crimes in all countries he invaded - including Greece.
- Attacked Britain and implemented a programme of intense bombing against British civilians.
- Attacked the USSR and besieged cities including Stalingrad causing numbers of casualties including civilians never before or since experienced in human history.
- Got the trains to run on time (allegedly).
- Etc.
As far as I am aware Angela Merkel has not yet, at least, implemented any of the above. So I find all comparisons with Hitler unconvincing to say the least, and certainly lacking in historical judgement.
Tony
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That could be why I failed history O level........
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Blimey, Tony: Much more of that and the Krauts will expect to be allowed back into the human race.
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That reads like Blair's "To Do" list...