I thought this was kind of funny. First I thought it was a joke (read it on Facebook), but it's actually a real survey. http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/05/29/european-unity-on-the-rocks/ Greeks and Germans at Polar Opposites European Unity on the Rocks OVERVIEW In Europe, what started out four years ago as a sovereign debt crisis, morphed into a euro currency crisis and led to the fall of several European governments, has now triggered a full-blown crisis of public confidence: in the economy, in the future, in the benefits of European economic integration, in membership in the European Union, in the euro and in the free market system. The public is very worried about joblessness, inflation and public debt, and those fears are fueling much of this uncertainty and negativity. Europeans largely oppose further fiscal austerity to deal with the crisis. They are divided on bailing out indebted nations. They oppose Brussels’ impending oversight of national budgets. At the same time, Europeans who now use the euro have no desire to abandon it and return to their former currency. And anti-German sentiment is largely contained to Greece, at least for the moment. The crisis has exposed sharp differences between some Europeans. Germany is the most admired nation in the EU and its leader the most respected. The Germans are judged to be Europe’s most hardworking people. And the Germans are the strongest supporters of both European economic integration and the European Union. Greece is the polar opposite. None of its fellow EU members surveyed see it in a positive light. In turn, Greeks are among the most disparaging of European economic integration and the harshest critics of the European Union. And they see themselves as Europe’s most hardworking people. (I LOLed) These are among the key findings from a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, conducted in eight EU nations and the United States among 9,108 respondents from March 17 to April 16. (...)
That's actually pretty sad though. While the Greek government clearly screwed up, the idea that they are lazy just isn't true. In fact unlike a lot of other EU countries, most Greeks work for small businesses or are self-employed. As a result, they tend to work far more hours than most other countries. (small business owners and the self-employed tend to put in far more hours than the average employee at a company) The Germans are where they are because they are far far more efficient and productive but people confuse that with working hard.
Funny that the Greeks think of themselves as the most hard-working but also the most corrupt. Looking at the detailed Pew survey, it's also interesting that Germans are the only ones who think the EU actually helped their economy - which is probably true given that they are getting an artificially low currency while most of the other countries are getting an artificially strong currency making them all less competitive in the world.
Having worked with several airlines in various European countries, I can verify that the Germans are very, very hard working. It's kind of freaky, sometimes. They do get a lot of vacation though, which makes me jealous. But when they work, THEY WORK. The Greek response is funny.
Hey the Germans are very hardworking for sure. WRT to corruption there are different levels. to the extent that the German bankers were in on the phony bookeeping with Goldman and gang to keep people investing in Greek bonds and the real estate bubble, they were very corrupt, just as corrupt as a Greek small businessman slipping a bribe to someone not to collect taxes or whatever.
Greece's "most hardworking" vote is like the one rookie of the year vote for Ricky Rubio by a Spanish reporter.
I suspect that the Germans, meticulous and hard working as they are, are the ones who compiled the numbers. The rest of the Europeans were either on holiday, on strike, or too lazy to check for accuracy .
LOL, the french and italians are on break at the local espresso shop and the irish, at home with a hangover.
Americans would be much more productive if they received the vacation time and benefits that Germans do.
Since we're stereotyping: If you yell orders at a German, things get done mach schnell without question. Right?
White Collar Corruption is not seen the same as blue collar corruption It is more invisible and/or 'so complicated' that is it considered or confused with just doing good business Rocket River
They aren't. What is interesting is that the bailouts for Greece also partially bail out Germany too. Their banks were stupid enough to lend to Greece but as part of the bailouts to Greece, they're the beneficiaries of all of this. Greece is getting wrecked by austerity but European banks that were stupid enough to give money to Greece all of these years aren't really paying the price. Now granted this is an American banking style dilemma. (bailout the banks or punish them and let them take losses with tons of collateral damage to the rest of the economy) Germany in effect is protecting its economy by having the Greeks take the brunt of the punishment instead of the German banks (and by extension Germany since the German economy would take a nosedive in this scenario)
Seems like this would affect French banks a lot more. For example, Greece owes French banks 41.4bn euros, German banks 15.9bn euros, UK banks 9.4bn euros and US banks 6.2bn euros. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/business-13798000 I'm struggling with your logic, though. So you are saying banks in other European countries should never have given Greece any money to begin with? Would Greece be better off then? Also, were the banks really "stupid" if they were defrauded?
