Greeks face six months of cash controls

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17. but punishing the "evil doers" is not really possible.

first, the greek politicians who passed "irresponsible" budgets are mostly long gone, certainly mostly not in great power anymore.

second, the vast majority of the people who would be punished are ordinary greeks, the poor and the middle class. the least responsible for their situation.

third, the rich and powerful in greece and elsewhere, are mostly able to transfer or insure their wealth, so while they'll take a hit as part of greece's "punishment", they'll come out fine relative to the rest of greece.

fourth, the tax evasion canard is a tired morality play that makes the puritans look modern. every country, not least america, has tax loopholes and evasion. look at how the richest corporations pay little or no tax to the u.s. and how the richest people pay at a lower rate than their secretaries and tell me again how lax greece is in its tax enforcement. oh, and by the way, they're running a primary surplus these days. how is it that will all that tax evasion, they're still taking in more than they're spending (ignoring the interest on their staggering debt, anyway)?


at best, they're punishing those left holding the bag, not the "evil doers".