Comments for The Post Doesn't Like the Greek Welfare State at http://www.cepr.net , comment 1 to 11 out of 11 comments http://www.cepr.net Thu, 23 May 2013 15:42:26 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-374 Dean, I generally agree with you but "a retirement age of 60 is hard to support..." If someone who has saved enough to retire at 60 or 62, is that supportable or reasonable? If not, how old do you plan to work till? 72 and have a Yellow Smiley on your chest to be a greeter? - James Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:51:51 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-358 the center-left government must take measures that the public perceives as legitimate. Going after high-earning tax evaders and foreign bank accounts is certainly part of that. Making the public sector more transparent and efficient is another, and not one that can be accomplished by cutting salaries and pensions and so on. Providing services without excessive red-tape, without bribes and without needing someone on the "inside" would go a long way to reducing the resentment towards the public sector workers (although this resentment is probably easier to find in the US and European press than in Greece). This all becomes more difficult when the IMF and Eurogroup are requiring very ambitious deficit targets that are almost certain to fail (unless higher unemployment and a sharp recession are the success criteria. - osfp Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:02:25 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-348 Why is a retirement age of 60 hard to support in a modern economy? The retirement age in the US is 65 years old for men, why is a 5-year difference considered such a big deal??? - James Fri, 30 Apr 2010 02:44:27 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-343 Why is a retirement age of 60 'hard to support in modern economy' ? The point of technology is to improve quality of life. If capitalism can't support a declining retirement age even with its pace technological innovation, then there are some flaws in the model. - purple Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:06:48 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-342 @floccina Keep in mind that technically it's not possible for everyone to dodge taxes. When you're on a salary, tax is deducted off your monthly pay so you're paying it in advance. It's not fair to say that everyone dodges their taxes. As for the "culture" thing, think of it in game theory terms: the plumber tells you "I'll charge you x euros if I give you a receipt (which means he'll have to pay tax for the transaction) and x minus 20% if I don't". What will you do? The morally right thing to do is to ask for the receipt but, unless there's a way to make other people do the same the rational thing to do is to get the discount. The greek government is trying to stop this practice by connecting low income tax deductions with receipts, which means that people will have to ask for a receipt if they want to get tax deductions at the end of the year. Up to now it's working reasonably well. - kyriakos Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:38:50 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-339 Some hours of work more hours of leisure - Scott ffolliott Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:13:37 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-337 It isn't just the rich. Southern Italians and Greeks dodge taxes whenever they can. They assumes everyone else is. It is part of the culture. Time may cure it but in the next 10 years it won't happen. It would take gestapo tactics which you could not get Southern Italians and Greeks to be gestapo. You would need to bring in Germans to collect the taxes. - floccina Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:10:24 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-336 Dean: Might "It also points to the fact that many wealthy people are likely paying the taxes that they legally owe." read better as: "It also points to the fact that many wealthy people are likely [b]not[/b] paying the taxes that they legally owe." --ml - Martin Langeland / Dum Luks Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:11:19 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-335 Dean gets it right, again. According to polls, greeks feel that the austerity measures are necessary but unfair because the do not target the usual suspects of tax evasion (wealthy self employed professionals like doctors, lawyers and construction engineers and large companies who consinstently fail to meet their obligations and later negotiate deals with the government to delay or reduce their debt payments) but focus on regressive consumption taxes and reductions in public sector wages. Queen of Sheeba In fact Trichet (head of the ECB), who is willing to accept greek junk (according to S&P) bonds as collateral for loans to greek commercial banks, recently visited Berlin in a near desperate attempt to convince Merkel on the necessity of a bail-out. You're dead wrong, at least in that respect. - kyriakos Thu, 29 Apr 2010 06:32:51 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-329 Poor Greece. With the help of Goldman Sachs they misrepresented their balance sheets in order to join the EU, and now their shenanigans have been uncovered. This has sufficiently outraged the boys in the European Central Bank that they are resisting bailing out the failing country. Greece has spent the last ten years hiring government workers to relieve the pressure on the private sector, and now the population is panicking and conducting a run on the country's banks. It's a bleak day in Europe now, as other EU countries' economies are being dragged down at the same time, even if not for the same reasons. - Queen of Sheba Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:31:41 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/the-post-doesnt-like-the-greek-welfare-state/#comment-321 OK Bubba, we got Chickens for Check-Ups all set up as a barter operation to avoid taxes in Nevada. What say we expand it to Dialing for Guns and Gold in Vegas then launder the take back into dollars under a front company named Ron and Rand Paul, Ltd. - izzatzo Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:09:49 +0100