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“The morality tale Ms Lagarde sets out is not a new one: feckless southern Europeans ran riot for the euro's first decade and now have to be bailed out from their mess”

“Not only should Christine Lagarde know better, she does know better. When the head of the IMF agreed in this paper on Saturday that the crisis across southern Europe was "payback time", she contravened both common sense and her own arguments. Imprudent borrowers require foolhardy lenders, and in Greece and elsewhere that role has often been played by northern European banks. In summer 2010, just as the eurozone crisis kicked off, the country whose banks were most exposed to Greece was France. Similarly, French banks were only just behind German institutions in their loans to Spain. By easing these huge flows of hundreds of billions across borders, the single currency played a material role in causing the continent's crisis.

Ms Lagarde knows all this. Indeed, as France's finance minister at the tail end of the boom, she must be held partly responsible.”… Editorial, The Guardian, 27 May 2012

It is in this spirit that I am most pleased that on Friday 25 May 2012, I had written the following Bolg:

The Moral Blindness of Northern Europe

Corruption, Tax avoidance and “Jobs for the Boys”: Only in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal? Oh No!!

“As the euro and financial crises have deepened and worsened, Northern Europe has- shamelessly and arrogantly- linked mainly corruption, including tax avoidance and evasion, in Southern Europe as the pivotal reason for Europe’s economic crises. True or not true, this, cannot be the end of the story, as it gives rise to a false belief that Northern Europe is honest, ethical and not corrupt.

What we should remember is the fact that in Northern Europe they deviously manage to hide their corruption, misdeeds, and “jobs for the boys”, for example, by wrapping them in the mumbo jumbo of the efficient market economy, the need for deregulation and private sector is good, etc, etc.”…

Eurozone crisis: Ms Lagarde's morality tale

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/27/eurozone-crisis-christine-lagarde-morality-tale/print

The Moral Blindness of Northern Europe

http://gcgi.info/kamrans-blog/178-the-moral-blindness-of-northern-europe

And now please see below!

Christine Lagarde, scourge of tax evaders, pays no tax

IMF boss who caused international outrage when she suggested that Greeks should pay their taxes earns a tax-free salary

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/29/christine-lagarde-pays-no-tax