German vacation home?
The debt issue is rarely laid out in any fashion that a regular person can understand.
Greece had no vast income going on prior to the 1960s, and did OK with that type of situation. When tourism arrived in the 1960s and they realized the impact....they geared the economy, the taxation rules, and spending toward a growing tourism trend.
More tax revenue? More spending on the public. Already by the 1980s....they had issues because they were promising fantastic ‘free’ healthcare, increased pay for teachers and professors, higher pay for cops, and road/bridge infrastructure money. They were now borrowing more money from the banks to cover cost, as they were waiting each quarter for tax-revenue to come in.
Oddly, for well over 3,000 years....Greeks have been anti-taxation and fought with every trick possible to prevent accurate tax collection. Even today....if you own dozens of business operations...at best, the government is only collecting half the rightful (tax-code) taxes. A good Greek manager will hide significant profits.
The Olympic Games? They decided they’d rebuild the national airport and build a four-star subway into the city. If you go to Athens today.....you will admit it’s one of the best airports in Europe from the appearance. The subway is clean and absolutely four-star in nature. Probably a quarter of their current debt was triggered by these projects.
When Europe says an austerity period is necessary....we aren’t talking three or four years. And I don’t think you can even suggest a full decade of austerity. You could be suggesting twenty years of austerity....an entire generation under some hefty pain.
As much as they’d like to pretend they are ‘first-world’ status and equals of Italy or Spain...they simply aren’t and it’s costing them tons of money to pretend to be at that level.
“We’re at $18 trillion now. We’re soon going to be at $20 trillion.”
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But that’s just the tip of our financial burden. On top of that pile of debt sits another $94 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities. In case you’re wondering, that alone is a whopping $818,000 liability for EACH taxpayer!
Sounds like the Parethenon and Acropolis are going up for sale. It will be a good investment for the Germans...