Greek crisis affecting some Montrealers
The economic crisis in Greece is affecting some folks who live in Montreal as they have to decide whether they can afford to maintain family properties there now that the country has imposed new property taxes as part of its austerity measures. (Same story in French.)
Spock 12:36 on 2012/05/14 Permalink
Greece used to be such a nice place… :(
Fred 13:08 on 2012/05/14 Permalink
A bit off topic: honestly, it’s little wonder that they can’t set their economy straight. Just before the crisis hit I was checking out short-term rentals in Athens – the prices were stratospheric. Everything was just SO expensive in Greece. That didn’t make any sense – a warm mediterranean country that used to be so affordable had become an “advanced” economy with prices far exceeding those of Germany and France. What exactly did they think was going to happen?
The best thing for them to do right now is get out of that stupid currency union. There will be some short-term pain, but in a couple of years the country become affordable again and will attract legions of tourists. There will be growth and they’ll get things figured out and eventually pay off their remaining debts. What’s happening right now is not a solution, it’s collapse.
Spock 20:05 on 2012/05/14 Permalink
The dumb currency union really messed up that little country… It was so much better under the Drachma.
Kate 21:41 on 2012/05/14 Permalink
I actually don’t know the rights and wrongs of the situation but the European Union does sometimes seem to be forcing countries of very different scale and economy to behave the same way, which can’t possibly always make sense.
Raoul 06:55 on 2012/05/15 Permalink
Well if wallstreet didn’t learn its lesson and kept getting bailouts, why should the greeks be made to suffer more for the same kind of antics? The leftists in greece are quite right in that, the country which benefits the most from the currency union is germany, and pretty soon theyll be begging the greeks to take their money, regardless of austerity.
Spock 08:37 on 2012/05/15 Permalink
The Greek issue isn’t the same as the US with bailouts. There are other issues like a bloated civil service (like Quebec), pension fraud (like in Quebec), corruption (Quebec again) and a small percentage of the population paying taxes in comparison to the overall tax base (ditto for Quebec)…
Quebec = Canada’s Greece. Yes we are in Canada!!! :)
qatzelok 08:44 on 2012/05/15 Permalink
“Forgive us our trespasses” used to be translated as “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive others’ debts,” but this was changed to make bankers happy. Our morality is a cut-and-paste job because banker needs have changed over time.