Why we say: 'We are all Greeks!'

Before you repeat these popular misconceptions, peddled by the bankers and their hacks, you should check the facts and get the history right. The blame lies with the big capitalist banks and the capitalist governments (including PASOK) which did their bidding. I suggest you read these for a start: "Greece: ‘We won't pay for their crisis’ " by Stuart Munckton http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/44061 "Greece: Public suicide sparks fresh protests against murderous cuts" by Afrodity Giannakis http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/50636 "The Greek cauldron" by Stathis Kouvelakis http://www.newleftreview.org/?view=2924 More articles on Greece here: http://www.greenleft.org.au/taxonomy/term/154 "Seven Myths about the Greek Debt Crisis" by Stergios Skaperdas, Department of Economics, University of California, Irvine http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~sskaperd/SkaperdasMythsWP1011.pdf

This is from an article by Marshall Auerback, a portfolio strategist and hedge fund manager, and Rob Parenteau, CFA, sole proprietor of MacroStrategy Edge and a research associate of The Levy Economics Institute: "Historically, Greeks have been very good at constructing myths. The rest of the world? Not so great, if the current burst of commentary on the country is anything to go by. Reading the press, one gets the impression of a bunch of lazy Mediterranean scroungers, enjoying one of the highest standards of living in Europe while making the frugal Germans pick up the tab. This is a nonsensical propaganda. As if Greece is the only country ever to cook its books in the European Union! Rather, the heart of the problem is in the antiquated revenue system that supports that state, which results in a budget shortfall consistently about 10% of GDP. The top 20% of the income distribution in Greece pay virtually no taxes at all, the product of a corrupt bargain reached during the days of the junta between the military and Greece’s wealthiest plutocrats. No wonder there is a fiscal crisis! "So it’s not a problem of Greek profligates, or an overly generous welfare state, both of which suggest that the standard IMF style remedies being proposed here are bound to fail, as they are doing right now. In fact, given the non-stop austerity being imposed on Athens (which simply has the effect of deflating the economy further and thereby reducing the ability of the Greeks to hit the fiscal targets imposed on them), the Greeks really are getting close to the point where they may well default and shift the problem back to those imposing the austerity. This surely can’t be much worse than the slow execution they are facing today. "In reality, the Greeks have one of the lowest per capita incomes in Europe (€21,100), much lower than the Eurozone 12 (€27,600) or the German level (€29,400). Further, the Greek social safety nets might seem very generous by US standards but are truly modest compared to the rest of the Europe. On average, for 1998-2007 Greece spent only €3530.47 per capita on social protection benefits–slightly less than Spain’s spending and about €700 more than Portugal’s, which has one of the lowest levels in all of the Eurozone. By contrast, Germany and France spent more than double the Greek level, while the original Eurozone 12 level averaged €6251.78. Even Ireland, which has one of the most neoliberal economies in the euro area, spent more on social protection than the supposedly profligate Greeks. "One would think that if the Greek welfare system was as generous and inefficient as it is usually described, then administrative costs would be higher than that of more disciplined governments such as the German and French. But this is obviously not the case, as Professors Dimitri Papadimitriou, Randy Wray and Yeva Nersisyan illustrate. Even spending on pensions, which is the main target of the neoliberals, is lower than in other European countries. " More: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/marshall-auerback-and-rob-parenteau-the-myth-of-greek-profligacy-the-faith-based-economics-of-the-%E2%80%98troika%E2%80%99.html