now the serious stuff starts, page-42

No problem.Greece has always been an economic backwater. this benefitted close proximity tourism. they also produce olives...that was it. The drachma made greece an appealing place for euros to visit, but obviously was worth nothing. It never really mattered as the average greeks lifestyle was pretty good, social, sunny and surrounded by friends and family. No drachma....lower tourism.
Very few greeks shift around the EU for financial reasons, they stay at home, unlike the eastern european exoduses into the west.Yes there has LONG been a culture of poor compliance to income tax and early retirement by western standards in greece............long before the euro, this became telling with the advent of the euro. there was failure integrating greece economically from the start.......you cant make germans out of greeks. The standard of living did rise under the eu banner but this turned out to be driven by falsity as we are seeing now.
Why were they part of the EU at all? Greece has through history been a geopolitical hotspot, the western arm of the isthmus of east and west, its the birthplace of democracy. Perhaps this is why it seemed to fit. It definitely doesnt seem to fit economically. IMO The whole idea of the EU revolves around rich countries bonding with poor for various economic reasons(IMO to benefit the rich ones). Blame the EU, and yes Im quite happy to brand the spineless government as hand washing jerks.....this is not a problem requiring a vote by the people.

No winners here...except me...buying more pek shares;)
back to pek, too many black russians this evening.