Names of Major Tax Evaders to Be Published

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With efforts to turn around the uneven economic situation in Greece continuing with the gathering of taxes, the country’s Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, is pursuing his struggle against tax evaders.
Venizelos announced in Parliament that three lists carrying the names of tax evaders will soon be published.
The first list, which will be published tomorrow, Tuesday, features the names of those who owe the state amounts upwards of one million euros. In the next few days, meanwhile, lists will be published naming those who owe more than 150,000 euros, and a further list identifying people who deposited capital in excess of 150,000 euros in foreign bank accounts in 2009, sums that cannot be justified as income.

Xenophon Calls to Officially Recognize Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides

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Nick Xenophon

Greek – Australian Senator Nick Xenophon reaffirmed the historical reality of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides, paving the way for the Upper House to officially recognize these crimes against humanity.
Speaking in the Senate on October 12 Xenophon declared: “From 1915 to 1923, the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian people were the victims of one of the first modern genocides. The exact figures are not known, but it is estimated that over 3.5 million people died as a result of deliberate, systematic actions by the Ottoman Empire.”

According to him, the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian communities in Australia and around the world deserve to have these past atrocities acknowledged as what they were: genocide, armenia.com.au website reported.
The Senator also paid tribute to the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) and the Australian Hellenic Council (AHC) for their efforts at raising awareness of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides.

“In the coming months I will be working with the Armenian National Committee and the Australian Hellenic Council to formulate a motion to put to the Senate, and I will encourage all of my colleagues to support it,” he added.

Xenophon recalled that Australia had not formally acknowledged this genocide because of our diplomatic relationship with Turkey.
“If we do not acknowledge this history for fear of offending another country, where do we draw the line? When is an event or issue serious enough for us to take the risk? It is time for Australia to choose a position. Either we acknowledge these genocides, or we refuse to. If we do not take a stand on this issue, we need to consider what it says about our country,” emphasized the Senator.

Why Greek-Style Strikes Can’t Happen in America

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If you awoke today in Athens – and before you went to bed last night – one of your first duties would be to check the Strike Report so you’d know who’s working and who’s not, what’s open and what’s not. There are so many work stoppages that most TV stations have taken to listing the daily strikes. At one time or another, growing numbers of Greeks angry at austerity measures they say have hit workers and left politicians, tax evaders and the country’s rich elite alone have walked off their jobs – to no avail.

Prime Minister George Papandreou, following the orders of the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank which is loaning the country $152 billion in rescue loans to stave off bankruptcy, has repeatedly cut the pay of workers, raised taxes for everyone (except tax evaders who don’t pay any) slashed pensions, and – after constant denials he would never do so, has begun the layoff and eventual firing of as many as 120,000 municipal employees.

It was a brewing cauldron of volatile elements. A new wave of tax hikes and pay cuts, bringing the pay of teachers with 30 years tenure below $20,000, has fomented social unrest, demonstrations, protests, and riots, all of which have failed, so desperate workers worried about their jobs and futures have been striking across most sectors. That’s included tax inspectors, taxi drivers, customs officers, air traffic controllers, civil servants, lawyers, pharmacists, transportation workers (closing the Metro, buses, trams, trolleys and trains) hospital workers, prison guards, teachers, garbage collectors and self-employed professionals, making life difficult for everyone as there was no way to get around the city as rubbish piled up. Coupled with news that the poor, those making $6,700 a year will be taxed and the minimum wage of $700 a month net will be scrapped, it was too much for the workers to take. It was all they could stands and they couldn’t stands no more,  so they took a stand.

They are getting little sympathy though because of their reputation as lazy, inefficient lifers in decent-paying no-heavy lifting jobs stamping papers and waiting for an early retirement, but the fat in Greece is marbled in, not layered, so the many decent, hard working civil employees are first in line to be laid off unless they have political backing. Working against everyone is the math: Greece has been spending more than it takes in and the bill has come due for packing payrolls with patronage hires for generations: someone has to go and everyone’s pay had to be cut – unless Greece collected the $40 billion a year it cedes to tax evaders. That won’t happen because they include most Members of Parliament and politicians so they aren’t going to prosecute themselves nor pay up, even while they make everyone else do so and beat their jingoistic breasts.

The best among the strikers say what they want is justice and fairness and are willing to sacrifice for the common good, but are not willing to give their lives, jobs and money to people who abscond with all of it and, as the saying goes, drink wine from their skulls. Their chief enemies are the Troika who control Greece, and Papandreou, who they believe has dismantled the principles of his PASOK Socialist party, although the Prime Minister’s retort is that he is saving Greece from them and for them. But the new focal point of anger is Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who has become Papandreou’s pit bull in administering the Draconian measures (why are they never Solonian measures?) In the country which created democracy, built on the right to dissent, Venizelos wants none of that and has attacked the strikers as unpatriotic and undemocratic.

“The picture we have seen over recent days is one of lawlessness,” Venizelos told lawmakers in Parliament in Athens, in comments televised live on state-run Vouli TV. “Some believe that occupations, strikes, blackmail, pressure can lead to the satisfaction of vested interests to the detriment of the national interest.” The problem with that is that Venizelos and his cohorts ARE the vested interests, and the strikers believe what they’re doing is in their best interest, although many among them just want to keep their sinecures, including some very highly paid positions indeed, such as railway and petroleum workers making five to six times the salaries of most municipal employees because they are employed in state-run entities. But with nearly a million public workers in a country of 11 million people, something had to give. Even workers at the Finance Ministry walked out – and then promptly walked back in and occupied the building in protest.

Could this happen in the United States? What would life be like if it did? Because Greece is a small country in population and geographical size, the laws of the land spread fast and wide, as does lawlessness, so it’s unlikely you’d get transportation workers in 50 states in the U.S. to strike no matter how angry they were because there’s no central authority affecting all their pay simultaneously. There is one example though of when it did. In 1981, air traffic controllers at Washington Dulles airport called an illegal strike and were joined by 11,000 others around the country. President Ronald Reagan, who had been in office less than a year – and who had been endorsed by the controllers’ union – fired all of them after getting the sympathy of Americans.

There are no real parallels for nationwide strikes in the U.S. as in Greece, and you won’t see air traffic controllers going on strike again in America. Ditto for customs inspectors and airport security workers who’d be fired in an eye blink if they stopped working. Likewise, it’s inconceivable that all of the country’s pharmacists would strike at the same time and there’s just too many franchises and chain stores to imagine that happening. Taxis are regulated by every separate city and town in which they are located and, unlike Greece, which sets conditions and even fee schedules for closed professions such as lawyers, architects, pharmacists and engineers, guaranteeing them a big profit margin and no competition in the monopolies they enjoy, American professionals set their own fees and services.

Each state has its own version of Civil Service requirements dictating standards for who will be hired, unlike Greece where a phone call from a politician or influential banker or business executive gets someone a job. Amtrak, the national railway system, last year carried more than 30 million people, a record, but Americans can drive, fly or take buses and could get alone just fine if there were a railway strike. Likewise, teachers get no respect in America nor in Greece, but try standing on your feet six hours a day trying to educate students who often are out of reach, do lesson plans, grade papers and prepare classes and see how long you’d last. Still, when American teachers strike, their students parents usually side with management and the teachers know it so they’re unlikely to walk off the job, especially after last year’s experience in Central Falls, R.I. when all the high school’s striking teachers were fired.

In Greece, strikers may or may not be paid under a whimsical system, although teachers always have their pay docked. Other striking workers were getting paid under a loophole that allowed it if they declared their strike a “symbolic protest.” Why didn’t American workers think of that? It’s one Greek export that would be sure to sell.

Roubini Says Greece's Default May Trigger Lehman's Magnitude Shock

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A Greek default could trigger a global economic shock on the scale of that suffered after Lehman Brother Holdings Inc.’s 2008 failure, said Nouriel Roubini, chairman and co-founder of Roubini Global Economics LLC.
Roubini stated that default from a Eurozone member or an exit from the Eurozone could cause a shock “that would reverberate through the global economy”. The “problems of the Eurozone are chronic , won’t go away” he added.
Europe’s failure to rein in its debt crisis means the probability of a recession spreading through the region is now greater than 50 percent, according to Roubini.
Policy makers are running out of time to ring-fence Greece’s fiscal hemorrhaging, and the risk of a “self-fulfilling run” by debt investors on Italy and Spain is growing, he concluded, adding both countries are already viewed by markets as “insolvent”.

German Unrest Over Free French Frigates Delivered to Greece

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According to Spiegel, an armoury deal between France and Greece could have a severe impact on the German arms industry. The article claims that the French government will deliver two to four new frigates to the Hellenic Navy.
Because of Greece’s recession-hit economy, the French government has offered to leave the frigates for five years free of charge. By the end of that period, the Greek government will have to pay for the frigates at a discount of €100 million or otherwise the stealth ships will be acquired by the French Navy.
All sides are now awaiting the next EU Summit in order for the Troika to provide clarifications on the matter.

Greece's Scholarships Foundation to Offer Greek Language Courses

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State Scholarships Doundation of Greece IKY organizes seminars and courses of Greek language and culture which will be held on January 9 until June 8, 2012 in one of the Universities of Greece.
The participants should not be over 40 years  of age and should know the language, according to the Education and Science Ministry.
The scholarship covers part of the expenses and provides 200 euros for the preliminary expenses and 150 euros each month.

PM to Meet with ND Leader on Tuesday

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Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras and Prime Minister George Papandreou will meet on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the premier’s Maximos Mansion office.
George Papandreou underlined that there is a need of hard work in order to promote developmental policies.
The meeting will focus on the crucial 2011 draft budget, the spending cuts in public sector enterprises and labour market reforms.
Finally, meetings with other opposition leaders are scheduled to take place shortly.

MP Robopoulos Quits Over Austerity

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Thomas Robopoulos

A socialist lawmaker quit his seat in protest against austerity on Monday, shaking the government ahead of a crucial vote in parliament but not affecting its majority.
Thomas Robopoulos will be replaced by another ruling socialist parliament member, meaning the government keeps its majority of 154 seats in the 300-strong assembly.

Despite Debt Crisis Greece Excels in Art

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While Greece is further reaching a financial dead end, its art is steadily gaining ground, points out an extensive New York Times article on Greek art.
The Greek debt crisis has unexpectedly boosted artistic expression all over Greece and especially in Athens. In this way, Greek artists respond to their national identity crisis, says NY Times reporter Rachel Donadio.
“Art galleries are thriving. Street artists paint tiny gems amid the growing downtown squalor. A new generation of filmmakers has captured the air of uncertainty by making the familiar strange” adds the New York Times reporter.
According to Times, the financial crisis has become a Muse for Greeks artists, who are once again revealing their endless charisma through movies (like Dogtooth and Attenberg), exhibitions in numerous neighborhoods of Athens and smart street art.

Army to Help Clear Trash from Streets of Athens

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Greece’s army was to assist Monday with the huge task of clearing away thousands of tons of garbage which has been festering on the streets of Athens for weeks due to a garbage collectors strike.
Some 170 army drivers were set to be mobilized to help clear uncollected rubbish from the streets of the capital, but no soldiers would participate in the campaign, radio reports said.
The announcement was made after Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis described the army as ‘the only solution left’ to the ongoing waste problem.
(source: DPA)