The Greek plight: Sympathy rapidly eroding

After reading this article reporting on the culture of tax evasion within Greece, I have little sympathy for a nation where corruption within the government appears to be so widespread.

This adds to the "bite the hand that feeds me" attitude of the Government employees union protesting any sort of measures to rein in the obscene employment benefits reaped by Government workers who are helping send the country broke.

My real sympathy lies with the nations who carry solid balance sheets but are infected by Greece and Portugal's monstrous debt dragging them down into the same mire of incompetent monetary policy.

If Greece were still on the Drachma the Government could inflate away the problem, but by being in the bathtub with the other European countries, when Greece takes a dump, Germany, France, and the other members all have to bathe in shitty water.

I do not know how difficult it is to de-couple a country from the Euro currency but it's certainly worth investigating for the fringe nations who are still plagued with Government corruption or an inability to spend less than they earn (or both). It would make sense to only permit membership to the EU after auditing a nation's monetary policy and government corruption, as well as subjecting all member nations to ongoing audits to ensure that nobody spoils it for all the others.