Tilted, man I thought you were better informed than this. I agree with you on the course of action they should have taken, and with how the international community and the banks should deal with Greece, but you don't have to resort to rampant hyperbole to get the point across.
First, Greeks work longer hours than most (possibly all) other European nations. They are much less productive (GDP wise) because a great deal of the work is busy-work or related to civil/social services (police and fire being big), but they aren't working only 15 hours a week.
Second, their average retirement age is 61.7. Higher than those supposedly model economies they keep being compared to, Germany and France. They have a lower minimum retirement age of 53, but almost no one makes use of that retirement age because the pension received is a pittance.
And they actually have quite high taxes, they just allow rampant tax evasion and cheating to occur.
The real answer is for them to fix the issues with their taxes (actually collect the damn money owed), and to try and reduce the amount of redundant civil work while investing in actual productive activities.
Of course I was using hyperbole, I was intentionally making my hyperbole so hyperbolic that there'd be no doubt that that was what I was doing. Also, that so much of what they do is make-work - or busy-work as you might call it - is one of the points I've been making. And one of the big problems is that so little of the population does work, and of those that do work too high a portion of them work for the government. The bottom line is that, collectively, they aren't as productive as they need to be to support the collective lifestyle they want. So that lifestyle is financed by others. That's the point I've made over and over, sometimes quite flippantly, yes. I. If that's somehow wrong, I'm sorry.
They are unable to pay back money that they owe. That's their issue, not a problem made by others. So whatever they have to do to pay that money back - or to get others to agree to give them more time to pay it back, and further aid in the meantime - they should do. That means being collectively more productive - more people working, working to later ages, working more hours, less of them doing make-work - and collectively enjoying a lesser lifestyle. Being indignant about being asked to do such things makes them, collectively, an ass. Sure, the austerity they are being asked to implement will further hurt their economy, and make it weaker well into the future. But that's the bed they made for themselves. They danced the tune now they should pay the piper. If they don't like the terms they're being offered, then okay - just pay the money they owe. But they can't, so any help they are offered - any adjustments to the terms of their debts - should be gratefully welcomed. Or they can just screw themselves even worse like they have, with their only hope now being for the rest of Europe to cave to their ingratitude.
I hope you don't think I really thought - or meant to assert - that the typical Greek worker (that actually does work) works only 15 hours a week. Or that there were only 155 people working in the whole country? Like I said, I made sure that it was clear I was being hyperbolic.
As for pension payments, they represent the biggest part of Greece's economy other than tourism - something like 20% of it. (I can try to find a more precise portion for you if you'd like it, but that's close enough for my point). So a fair number of Greeks are collecting pensions, are retired.
