Dimitris Christoulas, at 9am took his own life in the middle of Athens

shedweller

Samich wrote: »

Seaneh wrote: »

What a ****ing idiotic, myopic, misinformed view on how economies work.

Hmmm maybe not. Money just doesn't disappear. Someone has the money.

I used to think that too. But now i'm thinking that it was just zeroes disappearing off a screen and we are working the rest of our lives to put those zeroes back on the screen.

Same as it ever was.

K-9

Noreen1 wrote: »

Where is the proof that this gentleman was guilty of tax evasion, though?

Never said he was.

Where, for that matter, is the proof that the majority of Greeks were guilty of tax evasion?

I never said the majority were guilty.

Its been widely reported that it is a serious problem in Greece and unless you've read nothing about Greece's problems I don't understand how you wouldn't be aware of it. Is it a majority? Well that's a question I doubt anybody knows as well, its hard to collect stats on the black economy, but it is estimated 1/3 of the economy is the black market:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/8714615/Greece-Its-the-corruption-stupid.html

In a country were corruption, the black economy and tax evasion is endemic, it's very hard to solve:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2011/07/11/110711ta_talk_surowiecki

Would it not make sense to strip the assets of those who were guilty of tax evasion, rather than embark on austerity measures that condemn old men to rummaging in rubbish bins for food, or having to sell vegetables at the side of the road to pay for medicine?

Well 4,152 cases with bills of nearly €15 Billion is a start, bills in the millions:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/24/greece-tax-dodging-crackdown

It makes 80's Ireland look tax compliant!

What about the children who are fainting in school, because they haven't enough food?

Are they guilty of tax evasion, too?

Well put it this way and ignoring the emotions, if everything was solved tomorrow in Greece, they'd still need to tackle tax evasion.

shedweller

All this talk is just noise. We have forgotten (already) about what the overall problem is. Yes, a person can be the ultimate expert on all things financial. But at the end of the day the taxpayer foots the bill.
All the talking just distracts us from that fact.

So spare me the details and arguments. The banks made obscene money (on a computer screen) and then lost it all. Not too dissimilar to playing a computer game really. But now we have to actually use up whatever life we have left in our bodies to pay back that virtual money!

Remember how much we bitched about the port tunnel? We need another "hoover dam"
Look up the reasons why that was built; it was to generate jobs, ergo tax.

We are idiots for tolerating this. They are laughing at us. Cu**s.

Manic Moran

My mother is 100% Greek born and bred, she has absolutely no sympathy. Much though she's like Gus in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (The Greeks invented everything as far as she's concerned) she has nothing but scorn for the sense of entitlement that the Greeks as a general rule have, and their willingness to let the good times roll to their own detrement.

Its been widely reported that it is a serious problem in Greece and unless you've read nothing about Greece's problems I don't understand how you wouldn't be aware of it

This statement is accurate. Prosecutions for tax evasion, on the rare occasions that they even bother, tend to take eight or nine years to process, so it's just not worth it for the State to deal with. With the result that it's not particularly unusual for people to evade their taxes: They know it's not worth it for the investigators to bother investigating the average individual family.

NTM

turbobaby

Agreed, the sense of entitlement that has populated the West in modern times had led to the problems we see today.

Everyone wants something for free now, but what they don't realise is that nothing is free. The government needs to take it from somebody else (tax) or borrow it in order to give it to the voters for free.

In Greece's case, the government borrowed in order to please the masses with early retirement, low taxes etc. They are now suffering as a result, as the bill needs to be paid.

Of course, they should just tell the lenders to f*** off, and start again with a sustainable economy with a massively devalued Drachma.

This poor man was a victim of others' greed and entitlement, mainly the poor in fact.

Coming to a town near you.

previous user

I think in this country they're still drip feeding people hope on the dole because they're afraid that if they completely take away peoples hope,
what will they have to lose? and instead of harming themselves they'll turn on the people who created this mess and continue to perpetuate it.

thecommietommy

Earlier today, we remarked on the story of a 77-year old Greek, now identified as Dimitris Christoulas, who at around 9 am took his life in the middle of Athens' central Syntagma Square with a bullet to his head. His full suicide note has been released. The note, presented below, ends in a solemn call to arms to "hang the traitors of this country."

Terrible. As someone once said on I think it was UTV, the thing about the collapse of the banks is that the only ones not hurt were the super rich bankers.

thecommietommy

previous user wrote: »

I think in this country they're still drip feeding people hope on the dole because they're afraid that if they completely take away peoples hope,
what will they have to lose? and instead of harming themselves they'll turn on the people who created this mess and continue to perpetuate it.

As the someone once said, unemployment assitance is for the protection of the rich, not the poor. Think about it.