The Gathering

^ Thanks .

Interesting, I didn't know about that. I read in Wikipedia (not the best source I know) that right now there is a northern part still controlled by Turkey, the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," yet it's only recognised by Turkey.

Can you write about that? How's the situation? They have military, so is there bound to be another dispute there? Are the people who live there called "Turks" or "Cypriots"?

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it depends. after the occupation in 1974 the turkish army displaced most of the cypriots from the north, and the turkish people were displaced from the southern part of cypria. thats what i know. For centuries, cypriots and turks were lived in cypria shoulder to shoulder.

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yes, that's true. The UN doesn't recognize it, as a country
now if Ι want to visit the place where I hail from i have to pay about 20 euros

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Look at me...There were more to see, there were more to be proud of….

The french translation has 2 grammatical mistakes... The English one is also wrong... I could make pictures & film :p

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the german translation is also wrong. They forgot an "O" in "Photo"

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Ah ok, so no definite answer on that?



Cypriots/Turks don't know a language besides theirs .

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this is a Turkish sign!they supposed to write something in Greek as well, but for many many many years Cypriots were not allowed to go there so...

(btw Cypriots are speaking English fluently (in the level of mother tongue)due to the fact that the island was UK-occupied for many years. Cypriots have much in common with (the culture of) British, they drive on the left just as the British do for instance )

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Look at me...There were more to see, there were more to be proud of….

^ Interesting .

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three people have been killed in Αthens as protesters set fire to a bank during a general strike over planned austerity measures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjTyVqLy ... _embedded#

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Who is on strike and what do they demontrate against?
Don't they realize that greek social benefits are incredible, unsustainable ?

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They demonstrate against the Greek government, because the Greek government has to lessen some expenses. Greece has got a terrible amount of debts to other countries, they are nearly bankrupt, and the European Union wants to help them out, but only under a few very strict rules. One of them being the Greek government has to lessen expenses. This is mainly in the salary of people who work for the government (there will be a word for that in English, but I don't know it). These people aren't very rich, so they feel like the rich people won't have to suffer under it at all, and they have to pay everything, although the Greek government has already said that the rich will feel the consequences of it, as well.

But how is the situation in Greece at the moment? And is everyone allright?

Thanks for your post.

So the problem is that these people don't want to give up their 15th salary, huge compensation money, old-age pension in 53... because they envy some rich greeks who will be still rich even thought government realize necessary reforms
I wonder what demonstrants suggest? Keep crazy social policy and increase taxation of rich people and companies?

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---
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(I'm from Holland, I'm not Greek or something, so the only things I mention are things I heard in the news. Some things I say won't be completely correct).

Well, I think that is partly the problem. In Greece, there's much corruption, and people often get some extra money and stuff (here on the news was a man who said: 'with the birth of my first child I went to the doctor and gave him 1000 euros, with my second child I gave him 1200). If I have understood well (but I'm not completely sure about this), the salaries of Greek people have grown over the last few years. (However, I think that would be strange, because the economy usually grows when people earn more money. If people really earned more money, the problem will most likely be that the government has imported much more then they exported, or something, in which case it would really be grave injustice to give the population the consequences of this).
Can you still follow it a little bit?

I think the big problem is that the Greek see that only the 'poor' people feel the consequences. Not the rich.
And, actually I don't really know what demonstrants want. That hasn't been on the news over here. As a matter of fact, I wonder what would really be a good solution for the problem without giving the Greek even bigger problems than they already have... Maybe that would be a good question to my Economy teacher after my holidays!

What the Greek people express is very understandable... There are some people or company who got richer in the last 2 years while a majority had to face more or less harsh conditions...
In France you hva e the example of Total (oil company) which made billions of benefits... and those billions arent redistributed to many....

We'd need some kind of robin hood... cause politics nowadays will never dare to tax the very rich to feed the poor...

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Maybe i'm paranoid, yeah that's my problem
You almost have to be when you look like me

That's all folks!!!

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Top Artists this Week

1. Public sector wages and pensions will be cut,
2. early retirement which can start at age 52 will be eliminated,
3.the fixed retirement age will be raised to 63,
4.the top tax rate will be increased to 40%,
5.all sorts of excise taxes on substances like tobacco and liquor will be raised
6. and a clamp-down on tax cheating is being promised. (this is REALLY difficult with the sneaky Greeks)

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Look at me...There were more to see, there were more to be proud of….

And how are those things now? What were the fixed retirement age and the top tax rate?
But, I have to say, it looks to me like the Greek have got nothing to complain about. Here in Holland we had the so-called 'babyboom' after World War II, so at this moment, 65 years after that, very many people reach the retirement age (which is 65 here already for a long time). So we have the discussion here if we should raise that to 67 years. And of course there are many people who disagree with that, but the Dutch just put some 'angry' signs in the air, and that's that.

The top tax rate here is, I thought, 52%, so that's a lot higher than in Greece, as well.

And the taxes on cigarettes are increased often here as well. I don't smoke myself, but I recall 24 cigarettes cost €5,50 at the moment here...

Again, the Greek haven't got so many things to complain about, compared to other (EU) countries, I think...

have in mind that the basic salary here is 671e

All tax on an individual's income in Greece is progressive.(an individual is taxed at a rate of 15% - 40%) The standard rate of corporate tax in is 25% and for partnerships the tax rate is 20%.

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Look at me...There were more to see, there were more to be proud of….

Hmm, okay. That puts things in a little bit different perspective...
(I can pretend like I'm really wise and stuff, but I'm not... (A) )

But how is the situation there now? Still a lot of demonstrations, wounded and killed?
Yesterday's strike is over now, isn't it?

yeah the strike is over.

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Look at me...There were more to see, there were more to be proud of….