Should Germany pay Greece reparations for World War II?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Spending like there's no tomorrow objectively doesn't work either.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Spending like there's no tomorrow objectively doesn't work either.

False dichotomy.

Is there anything to suggest Greece would change course from what they've been doing if they were given money with no strings attached to cover their debts?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

You can't have a currency union without transfers to the poorer parts of the union– it's baked into the very definition of the thing.

I don't understand where you get this idea. A currency union is in essence a matter of facilitating trade by having the same currency for the purpose of a common market.  There's no definitional reason why it must involve wealth transfers from one political unit to another.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Not spoken like a true Republican, but more like someone with common sense. If you want to live your life like the Greeks, go ahead. And end up broke and a financial slave to others. But that's not what I want to do. Saving is awesome and that's how I managed my money since forever and now have a good surplus. If I managed it like the Greeks, I'd live under a bridge now. And btw, this policy is not really exclusively "Republican". Even Green parties, like the Baden-Württemberg ones, are in favor of fiscal conservatism.

See Branson, there's no doubt about the incompetence of the previous Greek governments (PASOK and ND) but this comment is really insulting for those Greek citizens suffering the consequences of their bad management and the criminal (there's no other word to describe it) diktat from Germany and the Troika. At this point, it doesn't surprise me the terrible lack of empathy of well-meaning fiscal conservatives like you. Probably you are only a product of the environment, a victim of indoctrination. However, calm down.

It was not meant as an insult or as a comparison with the people of Greece who have fallen into actual poverty, but more as an attack on the way the previous governments handled fiscal matters that eventually led to their doom (like you said). The poor people now are only insofar to blame as they tolerated and repeatedly elected these incompetent crooks, while blaming and hating on the Germans, instead of embracing the things that the Germans (and Swiss and Swedes and Danes etc. etc.) did right when it comes to economic/fiscal policies.

The problem is that Germans and other Europeans haven't pressured Greek governments to enact policies similar to theirs. Quite the opposite. These countries were successful, not because of austerity, but because they made the investments in the infrastructure and social welfare necessary to sustain the economy. And have efficient tax systems. The former requires time and money, and the latter is much more likely with a Syriza government than it was with the "fiscal conservatives" previously in power.

What is Syriza's proposal for an efficient tax system?