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greece economy
The Greek failure to successfully address tax evasion should prove instructive to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who in 2014 pledged to crack down on tax cheats. Greek measures to tackle evasion with enforcement have resulted in only small improvements. An enforcement only strategy should not be the model Ontario follows for tackling the underground economy. Relying on enforcement and punishment squeezes legitimate businesses who are already faced with high compliance costs and tax and regulatory burdens.
It's time for an enormous dose of tough love, so we can finally turn the most beautiful country in the world into a viable, democratic, modern society.
When I recently returned to my incredibly beautiful and incredibly troubled birth country to launch the translated edition of my memoir, some expressed concern that my candid descriptions of the intolerant society I had fled a generation earlier could potentially touch some very raw local nerves.
Let 'em go. Let 'em make their own way until they change their minds and rejoin the club and adhere to existing rules. If that means another recession, or even a depression, better now than at some time in the future when damage will be even greater.
Do we understand exactly what has historically earned us top marks in the world's balanced scorecard -- and are we doing everything we can to maintain that wonderful distinction, primarily on behalf of those who will inherit this beautiful country from us?
There is no rescuing Greece. If the country will not submit to regulations that people like Mark Carney would probably endorse, better that it not be propped up. Let it abandon the euro and revert to the drachma, until it comes to terms with itself.
It wasn't just a domestic credit crisis that brought that country to its knees -- it was a much more serious case of social corruption and mistrust, an ailment so deeply entrenched in their national psyche that it could only be wiped out with the help of a deep and painful crisis.
The popular discontent of the last few months is certainly understandable. What is less understandable is what seems to be a widespread belief among Greeks that the citizens are neither responsible nor have any obligation to bear the consequences for their government's overspending.
