Greece was occupied during WW2 by Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria

[steve2470]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_occupation_of_Greece

and



I'd say they might have a word with the Italians and Bulgarians, also. Does anyone have further facts to add to this ?

[onehandle]

1. Somewhere in those islands Belloq opened the Ark Of The Covenant for the Nazis.

Talk about an 'occupation.'

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[DavidDvorkin]

2. And the ancient Greeks occupied quite a few countries

What does this have to do with anything?

[brooklynite]

3. I think the gist is "it's all Germany's fault"...

...apparently the current German Govt is responsible for the actions of it's predecessors, but the current Greek Govt is not responsible for actions of IT'S predecessors.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. I guess so.

[ljm2002]

6. Not exactly...

...the point being, there are inconsistencies in how the actions / obligations of one government are handled, vs. those of another government. In the case of Germany, it was invasion and occupation, and subsequent forgiveness by Greece of at least part of the debts incurred when Germany lost WWII; whereas in the case of Greece, it is fiscal mismanagement (engineered by Goldman Sachs along with a corrupt Greek government), and subsequent ongoing punitive measures imposed by Germany et al and the IMF for a so-called "bailout" -- the vast majority of which went immediately to the big banks, BTW.

And of course, in all cases, Germany, Greece, whoever -- the monied elites do not pay the price; only the powerless proles are made to suffer.

It's ridiculous to cast this as irrelevant, and to claim the OP's intent is to argue that "it's all Germany's fault". It is not irrelevant to point out inconsistencies in how things have been handled over the last 75 years. We're not talking ancient history here.

Anyway, economists have been pointing out for some time that Greece CANNOT repay the debt as currently structured. In spite of years of austerity (or maybe because of it), and with unemployment at 25% (which detracts from the tax rolls) and in spite of the fact that Greece has made much progress in collecting taxes (unlike when they first borrowed the money) -- in spite of all these things, the debt is greater than when the money was first borrowed. The old saying, "When you're in a hole, the first rule is: stop digging" applies here. Further austerity measures will not solve the problem. Time to try something else. Debt forgiveness, in whole or in part is done all the time, between businesses and between governments.

[steve2470]

8. The Greeks are demanding reparations from the Germans, as you know

I was adding those facts to the discussion. I'd like to know more about how they feel about the Italians and Bulgarians.

[Nye Bevan]

4. Did the Italians ever pay reparations for the Holy Roman Empire?

How much would that come to, with compound interest?

[brooklynite]

7. Don't they have to pay first for the Roman Empire (the first one) invading the entire mediterranean?