The Washington Post masterfully used the example of the “liquid god,” which is no other than the Greek olive oil, in an attempt to explain – in simple terms – the Greek financial crisis to its readers.
The article revealed what really happens in Greece with Greek olive oil exports: “After much of the oil is pressed in Greek processing facilities, tanker trucks come to take it straight to the sea. In 2012, 60% of Greece’s olive oil output was shipped to Italy. There, it is packaged in Italian bottles with Italian labels, and then sent across the world. And most of the profits go back to Italy… Italy captures an extra 50% premium on the price of Greek oil.”
According to the article, Greek entrepreneurs face great difficulty while trying to export their country’s olive oil. First of all, they cannot find anybody in Greece that can produce bottles, forcing them to seek help from nearby Italian manufacturers. In order to pay for the bottles, they have to get loans while facing a mountain of associated taxes that render their product prohibitive for exportation. The article also mentioned the fact that the crisis-stricken Greek government asked businesses to estimate and pay the taxes they would own in 2016 ahead of time.
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