An Englishman's Home Is His Castle -- Not So for the Greek?

In no uncertain terms, the same applies to the Frenchman's house or the Spaniard's.
It usually means that the government is there to provide and uphold a sense of security for its citizens.

Unfortunately, this does not apply to the Greek's house.

Over the years, and more so recently, successive governments in Greece have shown that they are in charge...and that the rules of the game can be and are, changed at any moment.

So, if you are planning your life on what applies today you may be surprised or dismayed to discover it no longer applies tomorrow...

A few examples:
* It was announced that hybrid cars were exempt from road tax. One year later, the government revised this decision: now they, too, pay road tax.
* The income tax of last year no longer applies this year. Chances are, next year's will not be identical to this years, either. So if you are budgeting your family income -- or the corporate Human Resources budget -- you are probably in for a surprise.
* If you had planned on retiring on a specific pension, such as stipulated on your Social Security plan, and have contributed for upwards of 45 years to that effect, you are in for an unpleasant surprise: the amount you get is less that 60% of what was officially promised!
* If you purchased your house and paid all taxes and thought you were thereby free of all obligations, you are mistaken. Recently, the Greek government decided you will continue to pay taxes, additionally in solidarity or otherwise.
* If you had agreed last year to invest in Greece in, say, mineral quarries, you should not be surprised by now to discover today that today your investment is no longer welcome in the community in which you have unwittingly established your company...

There are ample examples...

Given the Greek experience thus far, we can only expect these inconsistencies to proliferate.


If ever there was an exception to the rule "people get the politicians they deserve" it would be present day Greeks; the political world in Greece seems to be populated by authoritarian, largely ignorant, inefficiant and self-serving nepotists.

What a mess.

World premiere: Greece legalises bribery. Henceforth, kick-backs R OK, corruption is dead, everyone is happy!

The Greek parliament voted yesterday in favour of a text, hidden within a bill, which effectively legalises "presents given in appreciation of (services rendered)".


Greek MPs, in a show of solidarity to their most staunch supporters and loyal alleged clients, the civil servants, voted with overwhelming majority to put an end to investigations in alleged corruption -- simply by legalising kick-backs.

In doing so, Greece has now eradicated corruption in one easy move: by legalising the means to corruption, corruption is no more. All those reading news about Greece have been made painfully aware of how fast  appreciation escalates, from a bunch of rare bonzai to a padded bank account in eastern Switzerland.


The good news is, now that it is legal, the "fee" should go down.

The bad thing is that in any dealings with Greek administration will require that which in other countries still, but in Greece no longer, is called, a "bribe".

Greek Government Technology Rises to New Heights

We are all used to the often comical and sometimes tragical and most always catastrophic bloopers successive Greek governments of the past 4 recessions years have been making.
There is great material here: "invest in Greece" only to find that the tax burden you used in your business plan no longer applies; Greece relies heavily on tourism and the VAT for Food & Bev services triples (from 8% to 23%).

There is no lack of misconduct, incompetence and, sometimes, just sheer idiocy to satisfy the most demanding of comedians worldwide.

But this one is a really good one, it stands out above the rest: original, unique, and going against anything anyone can fathom, including logic and its corollaries; it is unique in the recorded history of mankind. These people surpassed themselves...

Read on:
Recently, the Greek administration (laughter) implemented a new, on-line system to follow and control employment in the private sector. What was a half filled "EDP" hard copy form from the '80s now is 6 ASP and the central system of course crashes as it does not (yet) has the bandwidth to repsond to employers' efforts. But that neither here nor there: in Greece no one expects a Public Sector system to work. Ever.

The great, beautiful and unique aspect of this new data-gloat system is: it will not recognize youth employment!
That's right.
IN GREECE YOU CANNOT OFFICIALLY REPORT (i.e. RECRUIT) PERSONS FIRST ENTERING THE JOB MARKET! DO SO AND YOU RISK A HEFTY FINE! *

 I leave it up to you to choose your response between the two pics.






(* Ministry of Labour official declared (10 days ago): "we'll fix this in no time. Meanwhile, relax -- just don't recruit new market entries...")

Horsemeat and Bullschitt

There is a lot of hullabaloo raised about horsemeat found in what should have been beef ~burgers, ~mousaka, ~lasagna, etc. Rumour has it, there are traces of said meat even in high street branded frozen meals -- let alone distributors' own labels.
A French company, Spanghero, suspected of providing said incorrectly labeled products has seen its operation suspended.

The matter raises fundamental ethical issues -- i.e., do we know what we are eating, and, isn't anyone reliable anymore? -- and could also shed light on business practice -- distributors' low price pressure is strangling manufacturers' margins and stretches their ethics.
More than that, I think it has provided a much needed cause for Eurocrats to assemble, get together, bandy chaff and generally take a break from the daily highly paid Euro-tedium.

It is said (taking it from the BBC) that European agri-ministers will get together to discuss the subject. In other words, let's all have a quick get-together, drink some drinks, exchange information and discuss Easter & summer hols.

Some of these ministers are surely very well read in matters of agriculture; others may be less so. The one from Greece believed until recently that some fish look like sticks.

All in all, horse meat is not only a matter of mis-labelled products and another thorn in the flailing trustworthiness of institutions and commerce alike; it is also a welcome opportunity for Euro-crats of all types to show their concern (and temprarily abandon their usual physical inertia) and produce some new horse-schitt.

If you'll allow the exression!

Greece is privatising -- Invest in Greece (190th episode)

A recent article in the NYT entitled, quite aptly one may add, 
"Privatizing Greece, Slowly but Not Surely"

"But with Greece’s economy headed into its sixth year of recession, and unemployment at 25 percent, the nation’s immediate goal is to lure any investment it can through long-term leases on state properties to create jobs and get money flowing into depleted public coffers. 

“This could put the economy back in motion,” says Andreas Taprantzis, the executive director of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, a new agency set up to hasten privatization."

Amen. And amen. 

Now and forever, Amen!

What this A Mr Tapratzis, executive director of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund seems to have forgotten is that, outside the Public Sector, there is very little "economy"in Greece to put into any kind of motion. (The Public Sector alone accounted for 71% of all spending in the services sector still five years ago.) 

So, selling off assets hoping to kick-start "the economy" is like trading your only house for a bucket to save a sinking boat -- rather than to plug the leaking hole.

Question: how many of us would sink any money we may have into any of the offerings?

Note 1: In the three years of what the BBC calls "the deepest recession in recorded history" Greece's various political leaders have done precious little to plug the hole that is sinking their country's economy. Other than distribute misery, that is: the bloated Public Administration is still there, the State "mis-run" hospitals are still state misrun; labour law is still restrictive and archaic; taxes are still rising on all fronts. Instead, income has dropped, pensions have been slashed, VAT and income taxes have risen 36%, spending has dried out & real estate is down by 85% vs 2009; ands yet, the Greek political system will insist on talking about growth rather than focusing on how to save the boat.

So, on the one hand, devastatingly low salaries and high employment costs, high start-up costs, high investment cost, soviet-type bureaucracy, and high & unpredictable income taxes, begs the question, why on earth would anyone in their right mind invest money in Greece? 

Maybe, in order to buy a house?

On the other hand, Greece is indeed a beautiful country, where not only is the climate temperate most of the year, but also a 30min trip out of the capital can take you to a different world altogether – a mountain or the sea! 

Of course, you don’t need to purchase a stake in the country's PPC, DEH, where a hotel room will do splendidly. Or you can rent a place and thereby help the local economy and enjoy the "parea" of the indigenous population – i.e. the conviviality. Parea, in conjunction with the right surroundings, can be magic…and it does not require a major stake in any Greek state asset.

Note 2, for those with more money than brains:

a) money travels, companies don’t. If you buy something you're stuck with it; 

b) you don’t make the law in Greece, people like a politician named Tsipras, who condones nationalizing at whim and taxing company turn-over make them; 

c) labour law in Greece officially forbids, or makes inoperable, temporary employment, double employment, flexible working hours…; 

d) In October 2012 figures corruption is officially estimated at 33% by the cronies of the Greek Minister of Finance (i.e. for example, in any given investment, there is an estimated average 33% added administrative cost due to state bureaucratic inefficiency – or simply to get your job done on time), unemployment is 26%, undeclared labour is 36%, the Public Sector employs 26% of the total workforce; that leaves ~850,000 persons legally employed, some of them yours if you invest, to produce the requisite added value to keep the country afloat;

e) statutory industrial safety regulations are contradictory, so much so that the labour inspectors can fine anyone for anything and be pretty sure there is some statutory support for their case – ex: the paths to & from a production plant must be signaled in easily washable, hard-surfaced shiny paint, with footprints drawn onto them; Slippery floors are forbidden. It is too bad that it is impossible to fully conform to both requirements. So, a fine is the way to go, later on annulled by court -- 6-10 years later.

f) the Greek state officially refuses to pay any indemnity ever awarded by any court. 

g) Greek administration and Greek law both, eye private initiative and business with suspicion: business is tolerated in Greece but not encouraged; hence the narrow straits and the bewildering bureaucracy through which business has to tread in order to operate. Greece is a western type Soviet country.  

On the other hand, Greeks are no different than other western Europeans. They are certainly no lazier if at all, nor are they especially moronic or corrupt; in a strange way, their country is not a true reflection of what the Greek population is really like, as is the case with many authoritarian countries. Indeed, being in the recruiting business I can attest to no pronounced “Greek” negative characteristics, if anything the opposite!

 

It seems that Greece's leaders, well-meaning though they may be (and that is debatable) are not up to the job at hand and that is self-evident.. Or, not to put a too fine point on it, they have displayed neither the skills-set nor the experience to pull off any restructuring -- be it a kiosk -- let alone a country at large.

So, instead of sinking money into the Greek State run country, is anyone out there willing to come and help put this joint n the right track?

Breaking news: Greece is so lucky, God may be Greek!

Apart from enjoying a superlatively temperate climate, Greece is also a beautiful country.

But those are not the reasons I am thinking of. Mine are operational.


I will give you three good reasons.

1) Greece's unemployment benefits are a ridiculous 360 Euro, and offered for one year only. Hell of a deal considering that other countries index these same benefits on the last salary...
As an extra bonus, unemployed have no medical cover after the first year in unemployment -- this is offered as a bonus.

2) Social security contributions and retirement benefits. This is beautiful: SS contributions are indexed to the salary and run at around 45% total for medical & retirement.
But the pension you actually get has a ceiling which is conveniently low (i.e. below the average salary in  2010).
This one is difficult to match!


3) The Public Sector in Greece pays less than half the SS contributions as compared to the private sector.
Forget about matching that!


So, Greece is a cheap country to run... where else do you get these bonuses and more: the lowest education expenditure in the EU, poor medical services, and no complaints and most turn to private schooling & medicare.

So, Greece should be a cheap country to run....if it were not for the immoderate, frenetic public spending, the alleged corruption , and the dogged refusal of politicians to reduce the largest collection of administrative civil servants

In the words of a Turkish diplomat in Budapest Hungary many years ago, 
"Greece is a country with a population of intelligent people set back by 100,000 idiotic politicians and their friends who are ruling. Turkey is the opposite, and that is why, in the end, Turkey will go forward."

He was right.

The German Chancellor in Athens amidst demonstrations: a charade?

 So Athens hits the headlines, yesterday!

The Prime Minister ("Chancellor") of Germany, Ms Angela Merkel, visited Athens as the first stop of her rould of struggling euro-economies.


The lady affirmed her personal and official support for all Greece's efforts and offered kudos to the government for its efforts (she meant future efforts, no doubt; nothing has been done yet). So, why visit Athens? Probably to make a PR point to the other europartners and the world at large.

Of course there were demonstrations: the usual ubiquitous and vociferous civil servants' union (adedy) and the national laborers union (gsee) flexing their muscles. All of a few hundred people gathered to protest.

Merkel left, as requested, but the debt remains.

Of course the media and union noises and good at focusing the Public's attention to the bad German woman rather than the the good fellas running the country for the past 30 years.

The good fellas are all Greek.
Merkel is German, and a bad German makes better copy.
The Germans are also not known for their sense of humor making them excellent fall guys too. As a British comedian once said (paraphrasing), "Iran has one comedian -- that's 3 more than in Germany!".

The rest of the population seethed quietly and tried to go on with their lives as best they could. Which was not very good as security measures bordered on the ridiculous in Athens (main streets cut off to all traffic including pedestrians, police flown in from other cities to guard the lady, etc)


Germany, that foots the largest part of Greece's bail-out bill, is the country responsible for the second world war and a number of other things that include Porsche and Mercedes autos particularly popular in Greece of late. It is also seen as the reason behind the austerity measures imposed on everyone. So Germany is a good scapegoat.
Germany also owes Greece a loan, contracted (by force) during the occupation in 1943. That should cover part of the country's debt, were the country's politicians to ask for it. Amazingly, no one has.
But then, Greece's politicians are known to sign documents in the name of their country, without even reading said documents.

The absurd issue ion all of this shenanigan  is that Greece contracted and created its debt all by itself. Of course its erstwhile, now dead, socialist politician Mr A. Papandreou helped increase debt by allegedly  bestowing loan money to his cronies and by increasing Greece's overall Public Sector payroll, by a factor of 2. Aslo EU support funds went, purportedly, to cover deficits and party needs. For sure, little money went to infrastructure; and much -- i.e. the majority it is said -- was spent on private construction and consumer products and services.

So it's not really the Germans' fault that Greece still has not balanced its budget imbalances -- even after all the money and the austerity.

Greek governments doggedly insist on keeping their huge contingent of administrators intact (twice the percentage of the EU average which includes Greece).
The Greek parliamentarians have two highly paid consultants, eac bringing the de facto Parliamentto 900 people.

Not even the US President has it so good!

Greece is easy to save: simply ignore unions and politicians

If that could be done, then the representatives of Greece's bail-out coalition commonly called "the Troika" (there are three) could have already achieved what three successive governments still have not... All the Greek governments have definitively achieved in this time is to lower the pensions and base salaries in the public sector (but there is overtime to make up for lost income). "This time" is, three years down the line and some euro 150 billion down the drain: the Greek governments have next to zero to show for it.


* Liberate closed professions: some talk, no action.

* Reduce civil service payroll: nothing. If anything there have been a few new hires of cronies. Thankfully, only a few.

* Clamp down on tax evasion: nothing.

* Clamp down on corruption: nothing

* Free access to amployment: nothing -- if anything more restrictive

* Allow Private Agency employment: on the contrary, it has been restricted.

On the other hand,
 Accumulated debt to the private sector has topped Euro 7.0 billion.



Greece in labor ball park figures (source Ministry of Labour, Hellenic Statistics):
Total employable     4.80 mill


Total unemployed    1.25 mil
Total black
employment             1.63 mil
Total Public Sector
& nationalized corps1.21 mil

Total above              4.09 mil, i.e. in Greece there are officially just under one million people legally employed in the private sector. These people are called upon to create wealth and contribute to welfare funds & taxes.
As an American youth would put it, "yeah right".

Gentlemen, it's not worth it.Either pack it in or take over. The guys in power can't do it.
Now we're wasting everybody's money.

Greece, the bailout, reforms, the troika... ad nauseam!

Here we go again. Media fed discussion upon discussion, peril of default, no money, hard austerity plans, etc.

The latest in a series of mediatised discussions between the Troika and the Greek government, the "bad" troika insist on longer working week and flexible shifts, etc.

In doing so, if they are actually doing so, they prove themselves to be depressingly off the mark. What they seem to need desperately is inside information...

In Greece, you do not have to allow a longer working day -- just get rid of restrictive labour legislation and the benefits will not be long in coming....   

Greece's unemployment problem is, in part, legal. Employers in Greece face restrictive labour legislation which is supported by steep fines and uber-powered Labour Inspection; not recruiting, even if it means a compromise or two, is a better option than having to battle with often contradictory legal requirements. And the fines that come with them. Fancy trying to explain away how you came to be fined 30,000 euro after having assured your bosses abroad that everything is above board in Greece...

You can't turn to Agency employment either! Temporary employment (as it is called in Greece) is allowed only in cases of transitory needs and never allowed for blue-collar positions...
Holding two jobs is practically out of the question. Part-time jobs with a rolling shift are difficult for employers as any change in the actual shift is practically forbidden: if the person planned is absent and a replacement takes his place, the labour inspection can fine the employer for incorrect declaration....
Six (6) forms have to be filed for each recruitment; a book with personnel holidays has to be kept. these same holidays have to be filed on-line as well...
We could go on, but this will quickly get very tedious. The message is, Greek labour legislation is out to impose fines (presumably on the imaginary bad guys) -- not to promote "reasonable jobs".

Similarly, investment in Greece is a conceptual contradiction. No one in their right mind would willfully face the vagaries of Greek law the backlogged legal system and the fiscal complexity, the taxes, and the fines that come with it.

So, it should come as no surprise that the Germans and the Dutch are vociferous about the Greek government still receiving money despite "little" progress after nearly three (3) years of support..


Indeed, in their support, if  you live & work in Greece what you see is -- no progress whatsoever.

Apart from its criminally restrictive labour legislation, there is the same number of civil servants, now more disgruntled than ever; The same number of state owned companies; the same cronyism, the same politicians bandying inane platitudes at amazingly idiotic TV shows.
These same politicians who voted for an MOU on austerity measures which, by the admission of quite a few of them, they never read!



So, "who is minding the shop if all the Greek politicos are on Greek telly?" Probably only Greece's current PM, Antonis Samaras. He seems very alone, trying to run the shop doubling up as the sales assistant as well. Lately he has been trying to reassure the EU's central bankers that he (at least) believes in the feasibility of reform. His cabinet spends more time talking and running behind televised events, than in doing.

Caught between their -- less than stellar -- politicians, the self-serving labour unions, profiteering political parties bent on cronyism and a rigid and corrupt bureaucracy fiercely protected by law, Greek citizens have no-one to turn to effectively. No one in the EU sympathizes, probably because no-one knows what is really going on. 

To all intents and purposes, Greeks are now cornered in their own country.

 Maybe the solution is for Greeks to pack their bags and go elsewhere. Will anyone welcome them?

London (is still) calling! And the memories will remain...

When all is said and done -- and it isn't, not yet -- the London Olympics & para Olympics will move into the past, but certain memories will linger.

One expects a lot from the Brits, although no-one will admit as much.
In my opinion and in these here Olympics, the Brits obliged.

These were (and still are for a few more days) landmark Olympics for a number of reasons. Just like the opening ceremony at the Athens games.

Here are my landmarks for the 2012 summer Olympics & paraOlympics:

• The Olympics Games ending ceremony
• The ParaOlympic games opening ceremony
• The groundbreaking attendance, at all times, throughout the games. The people in those stadiums, is what spectacular means.
• The warm and energetic support of the people at all times and for all the athletes; that is what sportsmanship and having a good time all together means.

GM Team's performance was also spectacular -- but that is performance related.

And the show goes on...it's a great show!

Greece today: the unbridled pursuit of self-interest...

... this seemed to be the national sport in Greece, ever since an erstwhile prime minister called Andreas Papandreou had, purportedly, made short work of a matter of misappropriation of public money saying "only a few hunderd thousand... (euro) Not much of a scandal!"

Apparently, many people profited... we do not know how many but reportedly many politicians and their cronies are in the know.
For those who managed to put aside their individual spoils of plunder and have moved their money out of the country (apparently still around euro ~100 billion), life can be cool; Greece is beautiful, the food is good, prices are going down slowly. It is hot this time of the year -- but, hey, it's summer after all!

For all the others who have to foot a large part of the bill of the formers' pursuit of private interest, life is less cool. Take a look at what's happening back at the ranch, Greece:

• Total workforce: 4.83 mill
• Unemployed: 1.37 mill
• Undeclared labour: 1.54 mill these are persons who do not pay tax and do not pay social security contributions either...

• ...which leaves us with 1.92 mill active persons in Greece to keep the country ticking and, hopefully, to help it grow with their value creating labour efforts.
• Out of these, any number between 900,000 - 1,170,000 are civil servants (no-one seems to know the exact number).
  According to the OECD, Greece's civil servants are the Western world's least productive coming in at 70th position. Unfortunately they are also costly, comparable to Italy's -- who however are rated much higher for efficiency, and much unlike Germany's who are both cheaper and much more efficient.
  So, persons of high cost & low productivity (efficiency) cannot be expected to produce much of the country's wealth.

 This in turn leaves us with 1.0 mill or less legally declared persons to do the business of leading Greece out of the perennial financial tunnel!

This could mean either that Greece is a huge investment opportunity, or that it is a dangerous place to keep your money.

The Greek state is loosing around euro ~33 mill per day.

Invest or pull your money out?
You choose.

Summer Olympics 2012. Calling London...

Had it been elegant, cultured, human, humane, techie, simple, it would have been British.
Had it been kitsch, it would have been memorable...

The opening ceremony of the 30th modern Olympic Games was none of the above. It was simply a mess.

One person kindly proposed that it was "chaotic". Ηardly.
There is charm iν Chaos. The opening of London's opening ceremony had none.

The ceremony was purportedly conceived by Director Danny Boyle, whose more memorable creations include "Slumdog Millionaire", a successful film. He should have remained in film rather than mess up London's Olympic show.


The mess was saved somewhat, at the end, by the boring, wooden voice of Dr Rogge, the Olympic boss, reading an unnecessarily long-winded platitudes, which put the preceding mess in better light after all. The camera showed people giving this speech its rightful attention: looking at and making faces to, said camera.

The arrival of the Olympic flame was beautiful, elegant, and, as one person observed, "this, indeed, is what I expect from Great Britain".

The show ended as a gig with Sir Paul (McCartney) in concert.We all enjoy a concert and the camera made a point of showing participants chanting and swaying to "Hey Jude" (a British song).

--------- ?????????????????????????

Purportedly, the show (for that's what it was) wished to show the world snippets of Britain's history and show the world the illustrious men & women who were or are, British. What Britain's all about, really. The result is lame.

According to this show, Britain is all about one or two successful TV shows & movies, and about football and about a couple of hit singers & composers.
Oh yes, so we all know the internet -- do we know who's behind it so to speak...? Sir Timothy (Tim Berners-Lee) who invented the internet. He's British too. Fortunately someone, bless him, remembered Tim Berners-Lee and he was there, at the show. Kudos!

In more detail, the history lesson went on to teach us that Mr Beckham, a football player, is British and so is James Bond (who does not actually exist).
And that rap is black and British and so is Mr Bean. And that a dark looking W. Churchill was also British (although you had to know it's he -- not obvious). Oh yes, Harry Potter is also a Brit -- at least his creator is. (The above are mostly English by the way, but that's neither here nor there.)


All of the above is good to know. Beckham, J Bond, etc, and people like them are illustrious Britons.


So what does that make Sir Isaac Newton? Where is he from? Or, Adam or Locke, or (what's his name?) William Shakespeare? Oscar Wilde? The Who, Pink Floyd, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir John Elgar, Agatha Christie, B Russell, Sir Alec Guinness, AC/DC, Clash, and what about "The Stones", and I can go on and on and on, and I am not even British!


Because that's what it looks like: someone has to remember an illustrious Briton or two -- as an afterthought perhaps? It is good to be "today" as long as you know how you got there: via yesterday.


I admit my weakness: I expected better. Frankly, I think Britain deserves better.