Notes on Greece

"The World Bank ranks Greece 135th in the world (186 countries ranked) in ease of starting a business."

"More than 100% of the self-reported income of Greece’s professional classes is going toward paying off consumer debts."

“There’s a real issue of moral hazard . . . Around 70 per cent of restructured mortgage loans aren’t being serviced because people think foreclosures will only be applied to big villa owners.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/9268507/Greece-on-brink-of-collapse.html

"A reluctance to pay taxes was much criticised by Greece’s creditors as one reason why the country needed a big international bailout. Now many Greeks are again avoiding the taxman as they bet the radical left Syriza party will quickly loosen fiscal policy if it comes to power in Sunday’s general election. A finance ministry official confirmed on Friday that state revenues had collapsed this month. “It’s normal for the tax take to decline during an election campaign but this time it’s more noticeable,” the official said, avoiding any specific figures on the projected shortfall. However, two private sector economists forecast the shortfall could exceed €1.5bn, or more than 40 per cent of projected revenues for January."

"In 1971 — when the North Sea oil was just beginning to flow — the average Norwegian was about as poor as the average Greek…"

Those were compiled by MarginalRevolution. Here's some interesting perspective on Germany giving sanctimonious lectures to other countries about being debt-bilking deadbeats (hat tip Mike Lofgren):

"The Treaty of Versailles and the 1921 London Schedule of Payments required Germany to pay 132 billion gold marks (US$33 billion) in reparations to cover civilian damage caused during the war. . . . With the collapse of the German economy in 1931, reparations weresuspended for a year and in 1932 during the Lausanne Conference they were cancelledaltogether. Between 1919 and 1932, Germany paid less than 21 billion marks in reparations."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_reparations

"In 1942, the Greek Central Bank was forced by the occupying Nazi regime to loan 476 million Reichsmarks at 0% interest to Nazi Germany. In 1960, Greece accepted 115 million Marks as compensation for Nazi crimes. Nevertheless, past Greek governments have insisted that this was only a down-payment, not complete reparations. . . . Since that time, Germany has insisted that all matters concerning World War II, including further reparations to Greece, are closed because Germany officially surrendered to the Allies and to no other parties, including Greece."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reparations_for_World_War_II

(Notwithstanding, Greece is normally counted as an ally during the war.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II