"We have met the enemy and he is us"

-Walt Kelly, a famous American cartoonist who penned a strip entitled "Pogo"

The poor put upon Greek citizens being bullied by those nasty Germans -je suis désolée, pas des sympathies.

Let us visit two topics commentators such as Professor Eichengreen neglect to mention in their articles excoriating the 'harsh' terms imposed upon Greece by Europe (read, Germany):

Tax evasion and capital flight.

Tax evasion in Greece is rampant and pervasive, the Greeks do not merely evade taxes; they do not pay them, period. And it is not merely the 2,000 or so names of the wealthy on the 'Lagarde List' which then Greek finance minister George Papakonstantinou promptly buried in his desk drawer upon receipt thereof (after it is alleged he removed some the names therefrom) that are the prime offenders. It is everyone. The most egregious offenders on income taxes are the Greek professional class, lawyers, physicians and accountants. Then there are the small businesses of the Greek middle class, restaurants, local convenience stores that will offer the discount if one forgoes the receipt (no receipt issued, none the revenue to report and none the VAT collected need be remitted) –and many eagerly agree making them complicit. And as the last example illustrates it is not only income tax but also the VAT –telling remark from Varoufakis in the negotiations concerning the VAT: ‘doesn’t matter what the percentage is, we cannot collect it’. We will not even begin to discuss the large untaxed underground economy or the only world-class highly profitable industry Greece has namely shipping which has highly favored tax status enshrined in the Greek Constitution. At the end of 2014 tax arrears in Greece were in the neighborhood of 70 Billion Euros (the latest bailout numbers are what -85 Billion?). In Syrizia’s election campaign they stated they would attempt to collect back taxes by offering the 50% reduction in the delinquent amount as the incentive to settle with the government thus, none the surprise that as soon as Syrizia took office current tax revenue plummeted.

Since the Greek ‘financial crises’ commenced over $100 Billion Euros have been transferred out of Greek banks, half of that since Syrizia took office –so much for Greek solidarity and patriotism –ha!

Point is if the Greeks will not pay their legally required taxes (rates of which are in line with the rest of Europe) necessary to fund their own government and will not leave their capital in Greece to be invested therein, why should the rest of the Eurozone taxpayers have to cover that shortfall? A very valid question, yes? Reason Schauble wants Greece out of the common currency; personally I understand his point being that inasmuch as the Greeks apparently could care less about their own country given they do not pay their taxes and send their capital out of the country they should thus suffer the consequences thereof all by themselves and not visit such consequences on the rest of Europe giving Europe none the option other than to subsidize Greek aberrant behavior -who is blackmailing who here?