On taxes, ancient medicine and wrong mentalities

Greek bailout vote

I feel the Greeks are waking up much the way many in America and all over the world are waking up. We are learning how these bankster cartels are robbing us through the issuance of fiat and it’s gaining steam every day. I hope the good people of Greece have become as aware as I have that this international conspiracy must come to an end.

Corey Sturmer

United States

Mr Samaras, there is no more time left for easy political games

I’m a philhellene who has spent some two months a year for the last twenty years on Naxos in the Cyclades and I can’t get how political leaders who in fact are the real cause of the actual mess still find time to play political games just because they happen to be in the opposition.

They all seem caught by collective amnesia about the way Pasok as well as ND mismanaged this beatiful country, leading one out of three young women and men towards a frustrating, debilitating and jobless future.

Time has come to take harsh but inevitable decisions and lead this country out of the nepotistic political behavior and as a start reduce the number of political mandates together with the related advantages and privileges.

Time has come for real solidarity (not the romantic slogans) by collecting the due taxes from the due persons and the underground hidden economy thriving on illegal workers and black market principles.

Time has come to get rid of inefficient and customer-unaware staff in the public sector, if they don’t want to render the services they are paid for.

In a nutshell, time has come to change the «all is granted forever» mentality, and this calls for political attitude which goes far beyond the party boundaries, it calls for a minimum of unity on common grounds… for the sake of the community!

Borra Serge

Belgium

PAME takes message to Acropolis

Will PAME pay for the lost wages of the staff that I am forced to lay off due to the PAME industrial action?

If they damage tourism, our hotel will reduce staff. We have had 50 cancellations due to the announcement of the strike. I trust the civil servants who are responsible (particularly at IKA) will enjoy dealing with these people when they come to collect their unemployment monies.

When will the government legislate to make those responsible for the damage, to reimburse business that has incurred a loss due to their unlawful acts?

Nick Geronimos

Is there a way out?

Mr Kostandaras

I do believe there is a way out of the economic mess the long-lasting political system led us up to, provided the present politicians are all kicked out of Parliament, with a few exceptions of course. At the same time however, we the voters must detach ourselves from the political sentimentality, be aware that the ballot is stronger than the bullet, and vote for the capable. It appears that all those involved in politics for the last 37 years were not governing the country, but on the contrary, they were directing policies to suit and serve the needs of certain social groups.

Demetres Vlahos

Re: New politics

If there was a new politics in Greece then the ‘indignant’ would be inside the Parliament, identifying and creating an alternative form of government, not outside shouting ‘No’.

As it is, many protesters and strikers in Greece are much more concerned with keeping business as usual, or things as they were.

This cannot be.

What has happened over the last ten years has led Greece into debt, tax avoidance, economic decline.

There seems to be no understanding that for matters to continue as they are will lead to the collapse of Greek society. Given that most workers are in the civil services, they will have no jobs. There will be no health care, no schools, no transport. There will be no money to pay wages and facilities.

However, for things to change, then the Greek state will disappear. The banks will go out to Turkey or Macedonia or Albania. All facilities will be private.

On the other hand, perhaps the Greek state will be taken over by the military!

I suggest that the ‘indignant’ may be better occupied by finding out and publicising what is happening behind the scenes. What moves are being orchestrated by the USA, or the EU, or China to secure the viability of Greece.

If nothing else, Greece is the gateway to Europe for peoples from North Africa and the Middle East. It has significant strategic value, and will not be allowed to collapse… whatever the people want.

Kelvyn Richards

Trikala

Taxing elected officials

A one-off tax is another attempt at slapping the wrist of the corrupt elected officials who have put our country into its current economic crisis. If you want a catharsis, as is suggested in the article, then why not have an independent party investigate the financial and tax records of every elected official since 1974. I am sure we can find more than half of the deficit sitting in Switzerland, Lichtenstein, the Channel Islands, or a number of other offshore banks and companies. The middle class can no longer pay for the mistakes of the government nor should they be asked to. Those that have committed these acts of treason against the country should be punished severely enough to forever change the behavior of those who wish to serve in Parliament. Being elected should not be seen as a license to steal. And not prosecuting even one of the current or former members of Parliament has lead to a total lack of faith in the government and justice system of our country. All you need is one to talk and the rest will soon cave to the pressure. All their ill-begotten gains with interest should be returned to the state and the offending parties should be sent to prison like common criminals. That is the only elixir that will salve the pride of our citizens.

Jonathan Reynik

Summer jobs

Mrs. Abravanel’s article illustrates what is wrong with this country. Children are raised to believe that the world revolves around them. Their goals are to get jobs for life with no effort. This notion that summer jobs are demeaning is ludicrous. Only when you earn your own money do you have a chance to become a productive member of society rather than a parasite.

Renee Pappas

Strikes

Your article today about the PAME members blocking Piraeus port has only confirmed my decision not to visit Greece again until I can be sure that my visit will not be disrupted by strikes. It saddens me that I have been unable to visit the Methana area for over two years now, and that my previous happy and safe walks around Athens seem to be a thing of the past. If only I knew that my next visit would be as happy and peaceful as they have been in the past I would gladly inject my tourist contribution into the Greek economy.

Liz James

Hippocrates and ancient Indian medicine

It is not a mere coincidence that both the Greek and Indian approaches to medicine and art postulate that inner purification is the only way to health and well-being and that all suffering is caused by imbalance and that to harmonize is to really cure. Perhaps some exchanges between India and Greece may have taken place before the fifth century BC, though the history of these interchanges was either never documented or its evidence has perhaps not yet been unearthed. The fact, however, remains that not only the general approach to medicine, but the theoretical similarities between the Hippocratic theory and the Ayurveda, as demonstrated by J. Filliozat, are too many to be considered as developed independently. The Persian Empire was certainly the link in the field of medicine, as it is known that the Indian doctors served in the Persian Empire. The Indians seemed to have known the eastern Greeks, i.e., the Ionians very well as they used the term Yavana (derived from Ionia) for all Greeks. It is very likely that the main concepts of Ayurveda (which is derived from the Atharva Veda itself, a text believed to be extant well before the 12th century BC) traveled to eastern Greece through the Persians and Hippocrates coming from the island of Kos was able draw upon it. 

Prof Bharat Gupt,

Delhi University,

India

Dilemma

This is the other side of the equation.

Greeks are in a mess, partly their own fault and partly the outside agencies making profits on Greek bonds etc.

Perhaps now is the time for Greece to say ?enough!?

Guys! Default! Get back the drachma and revalue it or devalue it as necessary.

Be your own masters and pay your own way.

For those who say that this approach is the start for other EU unfortunates to down slide, perhaps not. It might encourage them to see their own problems more quickly and not fall into this impossible scenario for which there is no way out.

Good luck!

Larry Morrison