Greek Tragedy ( Capitalism in crisis....again! )

[reverendjeremiah]

You said above you had no problem with it above, now you're changing your mind? My numbers are really generous, I didn't account for a single beneficiary or healthcare cost even though all of them are in the social security pool that the people are expected to pay for.

Wait..are you cutting me down for actually admitting that I didnt have all the facts and in light of that your numbers convinced me? Looks to me like the employee needs to jack up his or her payment around an extra 7 percent or so..at least until the recession blows over.

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I had checked, obviously not enough there is a ton of contrary data, just like when I was digging up their employment data... good luck finding anything official. I had two other sources with the same figures as mine so assumed them safe though now looking I've found shit-loads of contrary information, two for the numbers you cited too, plus or minus some small differences and some that are different again and some about part way. I've found 3 other sources for VAT at 23% and wiki says 4% to 23% and less for goods, also there are sources for the income tax numbers that are different for 2008 on other websites. Another source has 13% for VAT... And different numbers for income.

I can't find anything resembling a report from the Greek treasury either,

Components of taxation > Corporate income tax 10.4%
Components of taxation > Goods and service tax 37.3%
Components of taxation > Personal income tax 14%
Components of taxation > Social security > Contribution by employer 15.5%
Components of taxation > Social security > Employees contribution 12.7%

http://www.nationmaster.com/red/country/...tion&all=1

Yeah..same here. It is rather frustrating as well. How can me and you (or anyone else on this topic) have a decent discussion about Greece without good numbers. If the group of numbers I pulled up are correct, then I would say that my original deduction (though admittedly simplistic for space reasons) is probably in the right direction. Your numbers, on the other hand, toss out my hypothesis and may very much support your hypothesis. I am willing to change my view, as I did for the early retirement, if I can see some solid realistic numbers for this situation.

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..and just for the record, I am not dodging your questions or posts. I have decided to suspend my judgement (past and present) in the light of conflicting facts and numbers. You may very well be correct and I may very well be incorrect...or vice versa.