Greece's tolerant population

In a country where every new day brings a new tax (or tariff, or whatever instrument payable by the population at large), a relatively small political elite still drives around in high-end state funded Lexus & Mercedes Benz Hybrids, keeps its reasonably good and usefully tax free salaries, and lives in & owns impressive real estate.

The fact that such politicians exist in what is termed a first-world country is worthy of repeated head-scratching.

The fact that many are ostentatious about it would be amazingly sci-fi if it weren't for the apathy of the Greek population around them.

Arguably, in any country of the first world, these people would have been the subject of various ignominies -- simplest of which is, they simply wouldn't be there!

Not in Greece.

In the 18 months since Greece signed the EU-IMF bail-out plan, the ruling Socialist government has succeeded two things:
1) To increase sovereign debt by 33%
2) To save ALL government employees jobs.


Incredible!

Which begs the politically sociological question:
What is better?
a) "Eliminate" such politicians -- as in Romania's final dealings with ex president Ceausescu;
b) Be tolerant and await for the emigration permit from Australian authorities'.

Greece in 2011 in the fall...

Greece in "free fall" would be a more apt title.

I just returned from a business trip in Germany and, while most all of my colleagues were sincerely sympathetic of Greece's plight, they asked the obvious question:
"what the *$* wrong with your government -- why don't they do something?"

The answer to this question probably lies in a number of reasons.
One of these reasons is the cretins that compose Greece's present Socialist government: these are people trained to be PR con-men. Not administrators, planners, decision-makers... let alone being adept at crisis management.

Another is the sedentary civil servants & unions mafia that resists any change as far as possible; for them, the Euro & the EU membership are no longer important issues as they have already capitalised upon them through the Development and solidarity programmes of the past. No surprise, Greece's infrastructure is not far from what it was 30 years ago; likened to Africa relief funds -- had these funds been invested in the country, Greece would boast highways, rail, airports, administrative efficiency, & operational renewable energy sources.

The most important of all these reasons, I think, is Greece's Feudal type of government: over centralisation and an overpopulated Public Sector are, both, the hallmarks of a the typical feudal state where the leader held all the privileges, and bestowed them sparingly according to his most devoted subjects.
Accordingly, in Greece, closed professional, exclusive importers, exclusive suppliers... all are still carefully guarded.
The voting troops get positions for life within the civil service in exchange for unfailing devotion during elections.

In Greece every four years, the people vote the Lord into Parliament. The question is still out which form of government is better for the country: traditional hereditary or global suffrage?

Greece's debt crisis, Greece's sovereignty , and the demonstrations

While many people are worried about many matters arising from or surrounding Greece's sovereign debt problem (which is indeed a handful), and the effectiveness or otherwise of the country's Socialist government's austerity measures, Greeks continue to gather and peacefully demonstrate.

Despite the media propagated and supported viewpoint whereby Greeks in Greece rise against the "bad IMF", the "Eurogroup rodents", since "Greece belongs to Greeks" and similar sentimental slogans, most Greeks loyal to their afternoon meetings at Syntagma, a large central square in Athens, flanked on one side by the Boule (house of parliament) have been consistently voicing one, at least, matter: their parliamentarians' -- "corrupt", "arrogant", "unethical", "insensitive", "ruffians", "thieves", "curs", "bastards"...

There is more, but this is indicative.

There are 300 members of parliament in Greece, quite a few it must be said for such a small country. Most of them, unfortunately, do not shine in their public life (or personal life for that matter) giving credence to the descriptive chaff hurled at them.

Not unlike their kith & kin in other countries, Greek politicians have not put in a day's work in their lives. While this is neither here not there, here, in Greece, given the untenable situation, some work experience in the real work would have come in handy...


Unfortunately for Greece, the people customarily bestowed with power have definitively shown they are impotent & incapable of dealing with the situation -- or any situation for that matter.

More unfortunately, the Eurogroup & IMF seem incapable of getting their act together in the case of Greece. Both organisations have sent a small rep team who have not yet, in more than one year, been received by the Prime minister of the country -- or any minister for that matter!

Even more unfortunately, the austerity measures implemented are designed to put a definitive lid on value-adding activity and initiative in the country.

The rantings and ravings of S&P (a company belonging to pulp & educational publisher mcgraw hill), are unlikely to help: neither S&P nor probably McGraw Hill knows the whereabouts of Greece in the first place.


Ultimately Greeks can only hope for God-sent salvation.

Greek Socialist Politicians are Above Investors & the Law

One of our Clients has been considering an expansion of the company's operation in Greece. Most unusually in this dire era, they were considering direct & indirect investment. This investment entails recruitment, so the whole scheme was looked upon in a very positive light by all and sundry -- not least by us, players in the operations and recruiting industry.
Unfortunately, the corporate powers that be froze any and all "Greece growth" action. Given the country's present volatility and unstable, unpredictable politics, freezing investment in Greece does not come as a surprise; the actual reason given, however, was a surprise.

"I cannot even begin to consider any kind of involvement in a country where my corporate and personal equity could very well end up being used by its government for political expediency"

In other words, the person speaking is adamant that any investment interest candid or implied is likely to be aired by Greece's present government as indication of investor confidence in the country.

While this seems too arcane to be true, so many unexpected things happen in Greece at the present time that this indifference could be seen as just another expression of political arrogance Greece's politicians are known for.

Whatever the case may actually be, whether or not the speaker is suffering delusions or not -- the investment will be abandoned. Definitively. Unfortunately.

The following message, received today from a very structured and self-composed friend of mine does not help the delusions solution above.


Quote:
Let me share with you the following excerpt from a recent e-mail by a friend. It speaks for itself.

"I was boarding a flight yesterday and triggered the alarm as I went through the metal detector. Naturally enough I was frisked and waved through. The alarm was also triggered by the man behind me who refused to be frisked. I turned around to see what the fuss was all about and it was the parliamentary speaker Mr. Petsalnikos (note: Mr PetsAlnikos is a member of Greece's ruling Socialist party, which may contribute to the arrogance).

Presumably irritated by the fact that security hadn't recognised him, he went on and on about his position, his privileges and refused to be subjected to a body search. I tried biting my tongue but failed and asked him why he felt he was above the law and shouldn't be subjected to the same search any another passenger would be subjected to before boarding a flight.

The arrogant bastard went on and on about his privileges as speaker. His lack of sensitivity given the present circumstances was unbelievable It was so typical of an attitude by our politicians that they are somehow above the law. The same attitude that makes them so corrupt and that has lead to their total and absolute rejection."

Now spread the good word. The man deserves to have his arrogance made known to all.

As you witnessed, he had no reservation letting anyone near him know who he is. Therefore, he will not mind a little extra publicity.
UNquote.

Right.
Those of us still in Greece: let's hope that arrogance does not contribute to unemployment Greece.
(Unemployment: 17% private sector exclusively; private sector accounts for 60% of active population.)

Greeks Rise Against the Parliamentary Junta. The first step?

Consider the following wisdom snippets:
There's a 1st for everything,
Better late than never;

Well, Greeks finally got together to remonstrate and demonstrate against the parliamentary junta and the censorship, both of which have been tightened in the past 18 months.

For the first time since the tightening of the screw and the control over media by Greece's socialist government, over 120.000 persons gathered at Syntagma square, outside the house of parliament (Boule) at the centre of Athens -- likewise in other cities -- to express their discontent with widespread corruption, mismanagement & misappropriation of public funds, and control of the media, all of which helped lead the country, literally, beyond the brink of bankruptcy.

Also for the first time, the gatherings were organised in a very novel manner: quite simply through facebook.

The slogans were less original:
"Thieves", "cronies", "traitors", "criminals", "journalists, snitches, liars", "pathetic oafs", and other similarly descriptive expletives.

None of this reached the air in Greece's major channels.But then, who needs television when we've got the internet.
Right?

Putting your money where your Greek mouth is...

The Greek socialist government failed to deliver on its various promises and faces the obligation to actually implement some reform in its back yard. Back yard being, the country's Public and semi-public sectors, encompassing an incredible number of agencies (531), publicly funded organisations (+13000), and the mainstay of civil servants whose number increased by 6,460 in the year since May 2010. Or, paid more than lip service to the amazingly loss-making National Train Organisation, OSE, whose secondary crossings masters have salaries ranging from € 4.5-5.2k and the corporation manages to lose more than its turn-over.

Promises abound.
Among other things, the present Greek government will crack down on tax evasion... as will the previous one and scores of Greek governments before that.

They all will crack down on tax evasion... The present finance minister alleges that he has already cracked down on evasion, and will do more...

(One Greek prime minister has gone down in history as the I/we/he/she "will" man: Mr Andreas Papandreou, father of Geoff, the present prime minister. Thus, tax evasion Will be controlled... in the future.)

Unfortunately for Greece, just as its politicians in power repeatedly fail to deliver on promise, thus they also seem to fail to practise what they preach...


What you see in the picture above is the Socialist government's Finance minister's holiday home on Serifos, an island in the Aegean off the coast of Central Greece. The man's name is George Papaconstantinou.

Swimming pool, nice view, large stone house, newly built, unsurprisingly called "the stone house". Not bad for a guy who never actually held a steady job until recently...

The best part is, you can rent it direct from Elysian Holidays.

You do have to pay a rent for it (scroll down on the same page).

Be advised that your landlord, the finance minister, has never declared the rent in the past. Chances are he won't in the future, either.
So, don't bother asking for a receipt. You'll only embarrass the minster and his wife.


Generally speaking, it seems that in Greece the rules apply to others, not to the vociferous few promulgating them.

Privatisation -- Greek style

Or, how to raise money even when the crisis is hitting you hard and you have no money: recruit a crony as a contractor to make sure the money does not go astray!
God forbid that we waste money on education, pensions, improving public facilities, or public health...

Incredulous?
See below:

The Greek Socialist government has announced its decision to embark upon an extensive privatisation and assets sell-out programme, expected (by said government) to raise Euro: 50 billion by 2015. The figure was revised to "between 15-50" billion later.

Two ministries (Finance & Commerce) contracted out this job to NBG Group and CC&C advisors.
While NBG is Greece's largest banking concern and has been around for a while, CC&C advisors has the obvious advantage of not having been around for any while; it is a 1 GBP, same day on-line formation, company formed 14th December 2010. CC&C does not exist in fact.

CC&C is a 1 pound company formed by one Christopher Uregian, researcher at the World Bank. Chris exists, of course! Presumably one of the Cs in CC&C is for Christopher; the jury is still out on the remaining two.
This is a relatively recent photo of Chris:
Christopher has 4 years working experience. Christopher entered a quickie company in London and signed on with the Greek State as a contractor.
He will receive Euro 50k as consieration for his services, as well as a "bonus" from any success based on his services... not bad for a young researcher at the World Bank.
One of Campion's more successful graduates, to be sure!

Of course, it is useful if your family lives in Greece and owns an investment and estate development firm, ARIS UREGIAN... and a financial broker's license.

The point ιs, of course, that Chris is NOT at fault in any way. On the contrary he has an excellent assignment to show on his resume, following which he may negoatiate a better position at WB or back home.

The same cannot be said of the inane dignitaries that plague the country.-


This is a photo of Christopher's firm's (CC&C) declared headquarters in London England:Of course, no company of that name is known to inhabitants of that building -- let alone the first floor of that building where the company offices are declared to be.

Leather Lane, a well-known and busy business abode is seen below:
Just the place to set up office if you are to consult a country on privatising its assets.
Obviously, Christopher, entered a quickie company in London and signed on with the Greek State as a contractor.

Isn't it good to know that Greek politics have turned over... the same leaf!

Many Greeks deserve better -- not Greece...

Most, in fact.

Until recently, Greece was a country that was doing OK on borrowed money and little real income. A pretend country, Greece operated as a facsimile of a real country -- i.e. as if it actually had infrastructure, national consensus, a sense of national identity, communal values, etc...

Greece was very much a large corporation with its major shareholders (a score of business families) & Board (politicians and sundry, around 10,000 strong) which played at being a country...

Then the going got tough and the Greek government and Administration fell apart -- because it never was there for tough times in the first place. It was never, nor was intended ever to be, tough "enough".

The crisis blew the pretence sky-high.

The crisis also left 9.5 million odd Greeks in the middle of a wasteland.
These are the normal people, little people, who thought they lived in a normal country, who had their doubts, aspirations, hopes, etc...

• who saw their property prices rise and smiled at the easy way they made money out of gran's old piece of in the village;
• who did their best to avoid tax;
• some of whom also evaded tax (apart from the country's quasi owners: lawyers and doctors).

Now, the burden of paying for other peoples' money has fallen on those Greeks who cannot -- or know not how to avoid tax. So they pay more. Even retirees saw their pensions cut.

Greek politicians increased their income.

Really Greeks deserve better -- even if their official State does not.

Thems Greeks must be crazy!

Greece's present socialist government never ceases to surprise:
instead of clamping down on corruption or, at least, focusing on tax EVASION, it continues to attack the disposable income of those people who are taxed -- i.e. people who actually declare their income!
In other words, Greece's socialists are sinking the socialist state's hand deeper into the same pockets and not at all in any other pockets!

I don't get it: why don't they ask Greece's rich to contribute -- rather than bandy hooh-ha and hot air about getting "the bad guys", which they never will. There are probably only a few really bad guys in Greece... i.e. open, large-scale tax evaders. Excepting (allegedly) corrupt civil servants and Greek politicians of course.

In its latest recipe geared at pouring income into the state coffers, further taxation is planned for people earning over Euro 60k...
...Which means that people actually declare their earnings are called upon to carry more weight!

With less disposable money,and in many cases lower salaries, it should come as no surprise to Greece's Socialists that state income from indirect taxation, consumer spending, as well as direct taxes is going downhill: 22% lower in 2011 than the same period in 2010.

So what is the savings recipe for executives?

Simple:
a) make sure your declared income falls below 60k -- it makes no sense to waste corporate added-value (i.e. money your sorp will give you to hand over to Greek authorities) on Greek socialists playing at statesmen;
b) pack your bags, leave family in Greece for the time being and get a job less than 2hrs plane ride away (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Turkey, Albania, MEast),
c) pack your family bags and move your family to a normal country.

Here is a link to an on-line ticket office to reserve your aeroplane seats: aeroplanes

Modern Greece: the big heist!

Let's simplify, curt many corners, and reach an immediate conclusion: modern Greece seems very much like a country set up as a vehicle for making money for nothing. There is a song money for nothing -- but I do not think its composer was thinking of Greece.
However, as there is no free lunch, the unsuspecting inhabitants of the country are the ones to foot the bill.

Consider the following:
* out of of the very first two loans subscribed in the name of the new State, less than 10% actually reached the country coffers and this was spent on rifles and ammunition. The rest was siphoned away at the source and neighbouring pockets.

* Since the beginning, the country always lived on loans that overwhelm its capability to service them; indeed the actual terms of the loans up until the late '70s are so injurious they seem to have been generally indifferent to the receivers. As if the objective was, get the money and run!
Or, just as credibly, "who cares, we're not going to pay it back anyway!".

This plan seems to have counted on the indigenous population's having an infinite capacity for paying back loans. Not very kind to the people who actually justified the declaration of modern Greece as an independent state -- and made the heist possible.
The people have not had an infinite capacity for apying back loans and the country has been bankrupt 5 times (including the present grey bankruptcy). Greece has declared bankruptcy 4 times in the past. As a result, the inhabitants of Greece have been impoverished by loans servicing for most of their history since the creation of modern Greek state following the revolution of 1821.

No surprise, there is not much of a middle class to speak of in Greece. Greece is a neo-feudal society.

Following a short honeymoon, the result of Greece's joining the EU, the country is now facing a major crisis again. Politicians are openly ridiculed, yet they all stick to their guns. Moral fibre is very weak. Corruption is rampant and the gross indifference of Public administration to anyone and everything is overwhelmingly obvious whenever you speak to any Greek civil servant.

In a similar vein: public services operate at scientific minima.

This is a pity. Europeans and, to an extent, many Americans, heralded the return of Greece to independence. Lots of money and even lives were lost to the cause of Greek independence.

Yet, still now, the heist lives on.
At the wake of raising an alleged Euro 50 bill through the sale of State owned property, a man named K. Nikolopoulos and his Lamda SA, are the primary consulting contractors. He has been around since the late '80s, just as active during the summer Olympics (2004) as during the negotiations and the construction of Athens new airport.

What a coincidence: The man is member of the Sultan's privy council! Only that in Greece, there are 2-3 Sultans who alternate in power. Let's make the above statement: the "Sultans' privy council".

Of course, the object of his trade -- real estate -- is what warrants his choice; R-E is the only real value in Greece and lots of money can be made while Publicly owned property changes hands...
The man is a very respectable executive and, of course, he is not alone in this story.

If only Dashiel Hammett were here to provide us with a happy ending!

Greece's CFO changes

There is to be a replacement, it seems.
This is the current Minister of Finance, and this is the replacement.

Alleged replacement.

"Not that it will make any difference", claimed a top executive at the Greek ministry of finance, yesterday.
"Just that George (the current) is presentable while the other makes you cringe -- the way he acts & the things he says".
He added, "It's time I pull out my other passport!"

The alleged replacement is credited with having discredited Greece's national security service, "EYP", when he was interior minister, to a US ambassador in Athens:
“Chrysochoidis said bluntly, “EYP is nothing.” It does not serve its mission of protecting Greece and in fact is dangerous to national security because of its many shortcomings, not the least of which is a unionize d labor force. As a result, Chrysochoidis declared, he intends to “collapse and rebuild it” via a draft law that is in the process of being drawn up.”

The draft law is still in the works.

What Chryso probably meant and means by "shortcomings" is that many EYP employees do not vote for the Greek Socialist party.

Ultimately, the top functionary's idea to use his other passport may be very wise!

Japan, off the north-east coast, 5.46 a.m. 11th March 2011

This is Sendai airport, 11th March 2011, at 5.45 am:And this is Sendai airport, 11th March 2011, a short tsunami later:Many thanks to ABC Australia for the images.

Just one moment in the life of....