# Cmon Euros...isn't Greece done yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508 "2011-08-29T16:37:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smurfie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@Smurfie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smurfie)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/1 "2011-08-29T16:37:09Z")
Learn something from the United States already. You KNOW the powersthatbe/rich will not be taking a loss here. You KNOW that the grunt taxpayers of the EU will be picking up the tab. Why resist it? It will just go on and on with you all trying to get the ones responsible for investing the money to take the loss…dragging on the economies until the grunt taxpayers pick up the tab which THEY WILL DO EVENTUALLY. Just give the powersthat be their money - a large transfer of wealth from the lower to the upper class . Don’t give the money to Greece to pay off the powersthat be…just give it to them directly… and just let Greece hang. No, it won’t stop shit like this happening in the future…Yes it is extremely wrong and unfair…but the powersthatbe will always hang the consequences of large failures on the common grunts and there is nothing you can do about it. Fighting it just makes things worse cuz they have you by the shorthairs. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/2 "2011-08-29T16:52:44Z")
Yeah, and what’s up with grape leaves? Are they \*grapes \*or _leaves_? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/3 "2011-08-29T19:44:45Z")
Are the powersthatbe some kind of Greek cabal of captains of industry? I was never good at classical languages. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/4 "2011-08-29T19:54:59Z")
Is there a difference between the "powersthatbe " and the “powersthat be”? Thepowersthatare want to know. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/5 "2011-08-29T20:19:18Z")
Where’s Angel when you need him? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/6 "2011-08-29T22:46:24Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Yeah, and what’s up with grape leaves? Are they \*grapes \*or _leaves_? I don’t know, but I want to join the OP in his bacchanalia. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/7 "2011-08-29T22:56:00Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > I don’t know, but I want to join the OP in his bacchanalia. Over-rated. Now, MY parties… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/8 "2011-08-29T23:12:06Z")
> [@Smurfie](#): > > Learn something from the United States already. > > You KNOW the powersthatbe/rich will not be taking a loss here. You KNOW that the grunt taxpayers of the EU will be picking up the tab. Why resist it? It will just go on and on with you all trying to get the ones responsible for investing the money to take the loss…dragging on the economies until the grunt taxpayers pick up the tab which THEY WILL DO EVENTUALLY. > > Just give the powersthat be their money - a large transfer of wealth from the lower to the upper class . Don’t give the money to Greece to pay off the powersthat be…just give it to them directly… and just let Greece hang. > > No, it won’t stop shit like this happening in the future…Yes it is extremely wrong and unfair…but the powersthatbe will always hang the consequences of large failures on the common grunts and there is nothing you can do about it. Fighting it just makes things worse cuz they have you by the shorthairs. You’re confusing America with other countries. The population of most countries aren’t composed of wealth worshipers who respond to being reamed by the rich by screaming “Use me harder, Master!” ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/9 "2011-08-29T23:15:55Z")
I don’t think the rich have much to do with Greece’s problems… ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/10 "2011-08-29T23:15:44Z")
It’s lucky for you that straw is so cheap here, DT. Imagine if you had to build such large strawmen in some place where you couldn’t get it so cheaply! 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/11 "2011-08-29T23:31:23Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > You’re confusing America with other countries. The population of most countries aren’t composed of wealth worshipers who respond to being reamed by the rich by screaming “Use me harder, Master!” Excellent point. Only in America do people desire wealth, and only here is there class warfare and exploitation. Hell, we invented it! In any other county, one could toss a wad of the local currency into the air and the enlightened intellectuals and noble savages wouldn’t bat an eye. They’d simply continue writing their Nobel-prizewinning theses and playing their soulful, uplifting, not-at-all-commercialized folk music. Name any foreign destination and I’ll provide you a first class one-way ticket. I suspect the collection plate will soon be overflowing. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/12 "2011-08-29T23:36:24Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > I don’t think the rich have much to do with Greece’s problems… Doctors aren’t rich 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/13 "2011-08-29T23:51:44Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Excellent point. Only in America do people desire wealth, and only here is there class warfare and exploitation. I didn’t even imply that. I was pointing out that in America the vast majority of the non-wealthy are submissive grovelers to the wealthy, which is _not_ true in other countries. The wealthy can treat the common people here in ways that would set off riots or revolution elsewhere, and be admired for it. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/14 "2011-08-30T12:34:55Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I didn’t even imply that. I was pointing out that in America the vast majority of the non-wealthy are submissive grovelers to the wealthy, which is _not_ true in other countries. The wealthy can treat the common people here in ways that would set off riots or revolution elsewhere, and be admired for it. This is a prime example of your tendency to take an idea with a kernel of truth—that the Republican party platform (more so than the Democratic) traditionally supports fiscal policies that favor the wealthy, and that they have had success in convincing a segment of the population to vote against what are arguably their financial interests—and hyperbolizing it into nonsense. Were I to ask you for a cite for the outlandish claim that “the vast majority of non-wealthy are submissive grovelers to the wealthy,” I suspect you would (at best) link to something supporting what I just said (rather than your own cartoonish pronouncement), or even more likely, would simply declare that what you said is self-evident and skip along to your next little jeremiad. You should really stop doing that. It’s tiresome, irritating, and wholly unhelpful. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/15 "2011-08-30T13:09:30Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > I don’t think the rich have much to do with Greece’s problems… [That’d be wrong](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8585593/Greece-loses-15bn-a-year-to-tax-evasion.html) “Tax evasion is a way of life in an economy riddled with abuses, discrimination and corruption but changing habits and culture represents one of the biggest headaches for a beleaguered government trying to climb a financial Olympus in flip-flops. Reducing the estimated €15bn (£13.2bn) that slips through the tax collection net each year is one of the conditions tied to a bail-out. There have been some imaginative attempts to widen the collection pool. Helicopters have been hovering over plush suburbs in northern Athens in the search for swimming pools in the homes of professional people who claim they are living on only €35,000-€43,000 a year. Thousands have been identified but tax records show only 300 have been declared. The swimming pool fraternity are also responding by using nets to cover the pools to avoid detection. Cash provides a convenient escape route for lawyers, accountants and builders. The government has published the names of almost 70 doctors it says have cheated the taxman and some surgeons are said to be earning €900,000 a year and not declaring tax.” It’s no big surprise that a country will go bankrupt if no-one pays tax. And, of the people evading tax, the ones you need to be most concerned with are the rich (because poor people, obviously, aren’t a very good source of income) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/16 "2011-08-30T13:19:36Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Were I to ask you for a cite for the outlandish claim that “the vast majority of non-wealthy are submissive grovelers to the wealthy,” I suspect you would (at best) link to something supporting what I just said (rather than your own cartoonish pronouncement), or even more likely, would simply declare that what you said is self-evident and skip along to your next little jeremiad. My complaint is the _lack_ of reaction or resistance among the American public to how they are exploited and abused. Hard to cite an absence. But when I see people protesting and resisting their exploitation all over the world, everywhere but here; when I see that America has some of the lowest social mobility and greatest income inequality in the West, it’s hard to take seriously the claim that America isn’t sucking up to the wealthy. But the idea that Americans don’t fawn over and revere the wealthy (and loath the poor) is just ignoring realty; we hear a constant refrain about how America is some meritocracy and how wealth is a reflection of worth. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cmon-euros-isnt-greece-done-yet/594508/17 "2011-08-30T14:34:01Z")
**Vinyl Turnip** should move to Vegas with a mind-reading trick like that.