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A Letter from Germany to Greece
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I found this amusing… a letter from the editors of Bild, a German newspaper, to the prime minister of Greece regarding their financial difficulties:
Dear prime minister,
If you’re reading this, you’ve entered a country different from yours. You’re in Germany.
Here, people work until they are 67 and there is no 14th-month salary for civil servants. Here, nobody needs to pay a €1,000 bribe to get a hospital bed in time.
Our petrol stations have cash registers, taxi drivers give receipts and farmers don’t swindle EU subsidies with millions of non-existent olive trees.
Germany also has high debts but we can settle them. That’s because we get up early and work all day.
We want to be friends with the Greeks. That’s why since joining the euro, Germany has given your country €50bn.
The Germans are not totally off base in their assessments. Bild also reports in another story:
Corruption is an everyday part of life in Greece – so much so that an average Greek pays €1,355 in bribes each year!
The German newspaper ‘Die Welt’ published the TI study, which reveals that on average every Greek paid €1,355 in bribes in 2009 and €1,374 in 2008.
Corruption also exists in the private sector. Greeks pay on average €1,671 in bribes to lawyers, doctors or banks, which are usually given as cash in hand. The Greeks paid €1,575 on average in 2008.
Clearly, Germany is going to oppose any more handouts to Greece until they reform themselves, first.
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10:35
Considering Greece and Germany’s relations in the last 70 yrs, that might not go over well
Matthew´s last blog ..Yikes: Ben Roethlisberger Accused of Sexual Assault
11:02
we pay bribes here too, but we call them taxes, tee heee
12:06
Goes to show you that Socialism leads to more government control and that leads to even greater corruption.
Take a look around D.C. at the growing number of Wahingtards and the growing level of corruption. I’m not saying that there wan’t corruption before but it’s on the rise for sure.
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14:25
LOL!! Great article! Traveling through Greece long ago, I was often met with rudeness and unpleasant attitudes…they didn’t care for Americans; probably due to the whole Cyprus thing. Turks on the other hand were super nice.
It’s interesting that many of us conservatives in the U.S. feel that Germany has a far too large welfare state while the Germans think the same of the Greeks. I guess that it’s a matter of degrees, eh?
vulcanhammer´s last blog ..Coming soon: The spin on raising taxes
12:29
Great post Harrison, I read Bild and Die Welt and they have some interesting articles. I agree with VH’s statement regarding the positional view of conservatism between our respective countries. My email penpals in Germany feel that you can have entitlement programs and still maintain a fiscally responsible government. Although I disagree with that premise, our conversations remain civil and pleasant.
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