If banks benefit from permanent state protection against collapse, then perhaps we need to make explicit that there is a contract between banks and state that they should never ever take steps to reducetheir tax burden.
The Republicans would appear far more credible in their attempts to reduce the economy-sapping burden that is government if they revealed a greater willingness to greatly cut military costs.
Even if that is avoided, Greece's rescuers may have to shoulder more of the financing burden than we have estimated, should private investors reducetheir exposure to Greece.
Any significant change in the agricultural or financial sectors is bound to upset large numbers of people whether they are civil servants in the countryside, laid off to reduce the tax burden on peasants, or factory workers unemployed because their inefficient enterprises are no longer kept afloat by indiscriminate bank loans.