- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 3002
Dear Ms. Lagarde,
Recently you registered your utmost anger and frustration with the tax-dodgers in Greece. I say good for you. Everybody should pay their taxes. Those who dodge are the scum of the earth.
Please allow me to remind you of the gist of your remarks from the interview you gave to the Guardian on Friday 25 May 2012.
You blamed the Greeks collectively for causing their financial peril by dodging their tax bills. You stated that, "As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax".
You then remarked that, you “had more sympathy for poor African children with little education than for jobless people complaining about austerity measures in Greece”.
Before I put my questions to you, I wish to note that, while no one would deny that tax-dodging in Greece is a very serious problem, nonetheless you failed to make a distinction between those who pay their dues, the less well-off wage earners; the working class, who stand in contradistinction to the super rich who find legal and illegal means, to avoid paying their taxes. Therefore, I am sure you will agree with me that any attempt- perceived or otherwise- to stereotype any people, civilisation, or culture, is deplorable and should be avoided at all costs.
There are also those who are angered by your failure to mention the catastrophic shortcomings of those economic fools in Europe as a whole who kept silent, whilst the going was good and said nothing about the prevailing neo-liberalism, crony capitalism, debt-financed expansionism and more. They turned Greece into an ideal laboratory for the most brutal neo-liberal experiment, for which they, too, must be held accountable. To pretend otherwise and blame it all on the tax-dodgers alone is nothing but an affront to humanity and justice.
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 3464
Can it be possible: Can there be sustainable development?
As it has been noticed “it is difficult to envisage a world in which nine billion people prosper if we continue to extract resources from the natural world with little consideration for their true value. With increasingly unsustainable use of resources and the effects of climate change and environmental degradation being felt across the planet, the need for decisive actionis more pressing than ever.”
These calls have been made before, so what needs to happen to see real progress? Are there any positive and inspiring examples of successful attempts in sustainable development? The answer is yes. See below for how it can be done:
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 3550
“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
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
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