Americans were justifiably enraged by the luxury holidays taken by AIG managers, paid for from company coffers on the pretext that it was an “executive meeting.” Europeans are also justifiably up in arms by the expensive dinners of Fortis executives in Monaco, because both these companies were rescued from collapse at the last minute with taxpayers’ money.

At such a time of financial uncertainty, when taxpayers are being asked to dig deep, squandering money for the purposes of “public relations” is truly infuriating. The examples of the two companies and the reaction from ordinary people should serve as a lesson to the Greek government, because the state lives off taxpayers’ money. Even without the international credit crunch, demands on taxpayers are constantly rising and such squandering of money becomes unacceptable. It makes people angry, and rightly so.

The financial crisis is spreading across the world and in an economy that is already dangerously in debt, every euro saved counts. This is why all government officials need to be extra careful when it comes to approving expenditures and they must cut back on needless spending that can provoke the public.