Merry Xmas!!! (From The Country That Doesn't Give A Damn)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Greece's MPs voted today (those of them that were awake and lucid) for a second time in the presidential election.

168 voted in favour, not enough to elect the new president.

As usual and expected, the stock exchange plummeted.

As expected, the politicians continue their bickering, indifferent to the havoc they are creating.

Unfortunately, they don't give a damn. Or they don't know worth a damn. Mostly, both. Greek MPs are notorious for not reading the texts they are discussing. Rumour has it and internal Parliamentary sources seem to confirm the rumour that more than 60% of the MP in the Greek Voule who voted in favour or against the loan agreement and the attached memorandum had not actually read the text they voting.

 Greece may be in dire straits, but the political catchphrase in Athens remains: what? Me worry???? (Never!)

Why worry: politicians have amassed their wealth, they are set for life (or think they are), they have nothing to fear.  If it all fails, there is always Switzerland...

Presidential Elections in Greece:the triumph of personal expediency!

SO, what else is new? 

Greece's parliament (300 strong, for a population of ~10 million... not bad) voted 160 in favour of the presidential nominee. Not enough to instate a President.
Ridiculous people playing dangerous games: if Greece does NOT elect a President, general elections must be held.

All of this comes at a moment where the country is struggling to exit recession and move onto the tenuous path of recovery. Yet, Greece's members of Parliament and their entourage (media, advisers, cronies and the like) spend their time analysing and speculating -- not one giving paying attention or, at least, mentioning what would be good for the country for once.


Yet, when viewed from the point of view of Greek politicians', this lighthearted approach is understandable:
Greece's politicians and their cronies are well fed. Reportedly, many have amassed wealth and connections that guarantee further affluence. Most have no clue of how the world around them operates, what the market is and how business is conducted. Most have never held a proper job.

So, when a crisis like the present one hits them, they are blissfully unaware of the dangers or the repercussions of their actions; why should they, after all? They are comfortably off, their monetary needs are taken care of, they get a decent pension (better than decent: around  7k / month + extras) and... who cares if the Athens Stock Exchange dropped by 28% in just three days? They are not exposed and they do not understand what it is to be captive -- so they cannot feel it. They have no idea.

Their world is a theoretical world, or conceptual for those who have the gift to conceptualize, and nothing more; reality has to do with their home, their friends, their constituents and the favours they owe others...

Except for the actual wealth, the affluence: no theory here, that is one is for real. All public money.


Greece's politicians and their cronies: Never have so few owed so much to so many.

Emotions run rampant: Greek politicians bickering with nary a care for their country. Yet again...

It is well known that Greece has been in 6years recession  and is, on paper atleast, exiting the recession as of the 3rd quarter 2014. While "the end of recession" is not something to take to the bank, the general business atmosphere is much better than it was two years ago.

Greece's coalition government was scheduled to nominate a candidate for the presidency at the end of the 1st quarter of 2015. Instead, in a sudden move, mostly incomprehensible or as the Economist notes, a "gamble", Greece's Prime Minister, A Samaras, moved the election 3 months forward to this week.
The Eurozone granted a 2 months extension to the loan programme which was normally due 31st December.

Greece's PM, A Samaras, exiting. Fortunately for Greece, it is not the Eurozone he is leaving, just the Greek Voule -- temporarily

In Greece, the President is voted into office indirectly through the Voule (parliament). The office has few executive powers, so the President is seen as a figure of unity and of course, the ultimate representative of the country worldwide. In this respect and with a single exception (a nonentity named Sartzetakis), all of Greece's  Presidents had done their best to forget political hue and focus on the nation.
So it is not the President but the procedure of instating which the point of contention between political parties. To be instated at the first vote, the nominee has to reach a 2/3 majority or 180 out 350 MPs. If that fails, the country can be led to elections. In Greece no single party has enjoyed such luxurious majority, so the choice of President has always been a matter for bargaining, bartering and petty bickering.

And bickering is where it's at now even though the dire financial situation does not allow for political instability.

But who cares? Obviously not Greece's elected representatives.

The main opposition, Syriza, your usual '60s type "down with everything and everybody else" self-proclaimed left-wing party, had intimated that it will block the vote. The party contends that it is making a point: not to support the "people who brought the country into this mess". Considering that most of its supporters come from Pasok, an erstwhile ruling "socialist" party, this puts them in the same basket. (This same party has declared that it is other peoples fault the country is indebted, that it will raise taxes, lower taxes, review the civil service, re-instate the civil servants' lost income...)
 
The left-wing Dimar has openly declared it will not support the nomination. Likewise for the right wing Golden Dawn. Both of these parties are blocking the vote as a matter of political principle rather than rational rationale.


Independent MP's are being flirted with to cast their vote, one way or another.


The candidate is a man called Stavros Dimas, European commissioner for the Environment and Minister for Foreign Affairs (briefly), a lawyer by trade. At the onset, an OK candidate, good personality, has impact and some work experience. BUT, let not the quality of the candidate for the job influence the vote!


So here we are, waiting for the 17th when the first vote will take place...
And yet, by all standards, Greece is bafflingly lucky. As Stephen Pope put it in a recent contribution to Forbes magazine, commenting on the Eurozone's decision to extend the programme by two months to accommodate the latest news from Greece,
"Once again to those outside of the Eurozone, it is baffling how a sovereign nation that should never have been allowed into the Euro in the first place…which should have left the Euro in 2010…has again been rewarded for failing to deliver its side of the bailout bargain by being allowed more time to comply."

Quite so.
Especially for a country whose inhabitants have seen their taxes grow by 35% in 6 years,  the disposable income fall by 47% and private sector unemployment soar to 25.7 - 26.4% (the ministry of labour is not sure which of the two applies).

So, the good part is that Greece and its presidential election are in the news-- and publicity is always good it is said.

The bad part is, it's all for the wrong reasons.


Again, Greece's inhabitants deserve better than their politicians.

"Help, I feel I'm sinking..."

I was speaking to a friend this W-E aboutwhat I think is the rise of loneliness in the world, despite (or in spite of) ll the communication devices we have at our disposal.

HE was much more positive. "You have access to so many people on line. Even the words of a perfect stranger could provide enough comfort. Even if words alone don't mean much, the fact that someone takes the trouble to write them proves we are not alone."

I would like it to be so, but I'm not so sure. I googled the phrase and not much came up in way of support; of course, much of the correspondance will have been done through private messaging I expect.

However, back to the brass tacks: "sinking" usually means something went wrong beforehand.

A stranger can hardly put right whatever went wrong. Often, the only person who right the wrong is the sufferer; I think this is because many of the wrongs are either a matter of perception, or matters that require personal presence and action.



Of course, it would be nice to have someone take the matter in their hands and tell us that it's going to be OK. And regress to childhood....





Which may be better than resorting to temporary chemical relief from the problem -- which does not solve the problem per se.

Don't let the flame go out