The most interesting part of the passage in my opinion was, "The Greek people never learned to pay their taxes .... because no one is ever punished. It’s like a gentleman not opening a door for a lady”. I found this to be the most interesting because it is a very simple way of explaining a rather complicated situation and is also something that everyone can relate to. Not only can it be applied to this economic situation, but it is applied in the daily lives of practically every human being. If someone is not forced to own up to their mistakes then the problem will never cease to exist and progress cannot be made. It also can lead to the problem becoming larger and larger until it is out of control, which is apparent in the Greece situation.
The situation in Greece is a problem for the European Union because in order to become a part of the EEU Greece had to demonstrate that it was qualified to be there. These same standards demanded by the EEU also led investors to believe that Greece was a safe, and reliable area to invest in, but through backhanded accounting techniques Greece was able to manipulate these numbers into something that the EEU considered acceptable. So, through this crisis the EEU lost some of its credibility considering that the actions Greece took now have came to light, and this lack of credibility paired with a decrease in overall investment in the Euro (also attributable to this situation) have led to the ultimate decrease in the value of the Euro as a whole.
National Income is equivalent to GDP= G + I + C + NE. An increase in taxes would result in lower consumer spending also paired with a decrease in G overall leads to a decrease in national income which is where the opposition comes from. Not only does this decrease in GDP look bad to the public but the public is also very unreceptive to the idea of paying additional taxes. These two combine factors help to explain the opposition.
No comments:
Post a Comment