Déjà Blue

Déjà Blue
For the third time this year the popular opinion of the Greek electorate is being sought. Why? Nobody is listening. The most interesting aspect of today's election will be how many people actually turn out to vote.

It is not a rarity in Greece for people to have more than one job and neither is it a rarity for some of those jobs to be black-market cash-in-hand affairs. The lovely young woman who has been cleaning the villa we maintain also has a shop in the village. Because of the economic crisis her shop is not operating at a profit, and as I have mentioned in a previous blip, losses are taxed more heavily than profits. So the extra money she has been earning to make ends meet is going to pay her tax bill. Therefore she is better off closing the shop and taking on significant-time employment. She will become legitimate on-the-cards waiting staff at a local eatery and will no longer have time enough to clean the villa as well. The closing of her very specific and individual shop will be a tremendous loss to the village.