A little more time, you say?

[htpcl]

Geia sou, filoi mou! Cheers, my comrades! Now... as tradition says, set this song to play in a different tab/browser (you know, just for atmosphere), and imagine the following situation. Keramoti, Northern Greece. It's the small town just opposite the Thasos island, where most Bulgarians like to spend their holidays whenever they head into Greece.

Comments

[nairiporter]

That picture. Is that... a woman just before she jumps from the window? :-O

[htpcl]

Sadly, there have been an increasing number of cases like this.

[luvdovz]

I'm thinking that no extensions and no extra time would help them. It seems Greece will have to pass through the purgatory that is defaulting, to shake off everything old and useless and dogmatic in their mentality, and start anew. Only then the industrious and resourceful young people would be allowed to make a difference.

Unfortunately the Greeks refuse to realize that the system they have created is based on perpetual crises of their state, and with time they've created a knee-jerk reflex to always blame external factors for all their problems.

[sophia_sadek]

This reminds me of two very different experiences. One of them is the delicious flavor of Greek food that I experienced while working in Germany. I even acquired a taste for Ouzo. There was also an undercurrent of resentment for the Greek gast arbeiter subverting the place of native labor. The other experience is Monty Python's spoof on British travel:

Note the way that Watney's Red Barrel stands in for Paulaner Pils.

[devil_ad_vocate]

I tried Ouzo, but then I went back to kerosene.

[htpcl]

The drinking connoisseur in me would like to agree with you.

[sophia_sadek]

Have you ever tried retsina? It took me quite a while to acquire a taste for this fine turpentine wine.

[fizzyland]

German beer is fantastic though - I don't understand that attitude.

[kayjayuu]

"If I sell a box of these for 100 bucks for instance, and then pay all the taxes and excises, I'd probably get about 5 bucks at the end of it. All the rest would go who-knows-where. Our system is broken, young lad. It's a system that doesn't work, never has. So why should I pour my tax money into this broken bucket!?" A compelling argument, I'll give you that. If you disregard all the stuff the government has built for you, nameless Greek guy, so you could run your business. But who am I to argue?

Just to clarify -- a five percent gross profit after the government costs? Or was he being facetious and that's net profit?

And your take on that five percent sounds like it's fine?

[htpcl]

He was being completely off the mark, but I see the point he was trying to make.