Sad truths about fraud
Ongoing revelations about rampant fraud and corruption in Greece — including bogus pensions, undeserved benefits and other illegal perks — are extremely frustrating.
At the same time, however, they indicate that there is a lot of fat that can easily be trimmed from the state, which would also help to avoid more brutal cuts to pensions and salaries.
That said, it is unacceptable that Greece had to go bankrupt before foreign inspectors from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union forced the country?s politicians and authorities here to do their job and establish the fact that some people were in fact squandering the money of Greek taxpayers.
Fighting widespread corruption and cleaning up the mess will require a fair share of political courage.
And one last thing: The ongoing disclosures unfortunately indicate that it was not just politicians and state officials who stole money from the state coffers at the expense of everyone else, but ordinary citizens as well.
