10 Years After and Telecom Advertising in Greece

Of course, I mean "Ten Years After" i.e. Alvin Lee's super-group from the seventies. Their song, "I'd Like to Change the World", one of their most successful, from their (excellent) album "A Space In Time" has enjoyed a renewed success due to its selection as the title music for a major Greek mobile operator.
Said mobile operator probably did not check the song's lyrics -- or (more probably) their advertising agency does not speak English.

I like the song and the album, and actually have the album in both digital and analogue medium. I enjoy listening to TYA's music and sing along.I, along with very many English - speaking people, understand the lyrics.

Usually, the name of a song implies the colour of its lyrics. In this respect, I'D like to change the world" is superb and comes out nicely for a company touting a similar message in its own corner of the business universe.

Sometimes, however, the title hides the true portent of its lyrics... and the insinuations are legion. In this case, unintended, for sure.

I'll let you be the judge of whether the mobile operator is actually identifying with Alvin Lee's cynical approach to life. Here is the first stanza to the chorus:

"Everywhere is freaks and hairies,
Dykes and fairies, 
Tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
'Til there are no rich no more

I'd love to change the world,
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you"


What say you?

Is it "cowboy" taxes we get in Greece -- or just plain catastrophe?

Greece's minister of Labour suddenly decided to impose, what he probably considers, a teeny little one-off tax of  EURO 20/per employee.

Presumably, this one-off, teenie-weenie little tax doesn't really affect employers' financial fate and we all know that employers have money.
Presumably, it is Mr Vroutsis (such is the name of said minister of labour) understanding that most employers only have a 1-2 employees -- as in the bodega down the road or the Periptero up the road. All in all, they will pay 40 euro and be done with it.
Hmmmm!
What about the bank, in-between? How about 2,500 employees, i.e. a sudden tax of EURO 50,000?
Or 2,000 employees at the private employment agency, across from the bank: a teenie tax 40,000 euro.

In the old times and in another country, tiny little taxes similar to this one would be imposed by the people who were there to "protect you".
Said tiny little extraordinary contributions were "implemented" in order to, purportedly, help immigrants' children, or artistic development in the area, or revamp the "protection company's" headquarters...

Whatever the case, these one-off, happy, teenie-weenie taxes were never a suggestion -- they were always compulsory enforced in a variety of methods.

All of the above took place in another country, different times.

Indeed, the people who conceived and enforced those creative, teenie-weenie little taxes were not called "ministers" at all. At the time...

Scorpions & Friends "MTV Unplugged in Athens" concert: I went there with family

We were in Athens and on Saturday 14th the three of us (my daughter was preparing to move to London) went to see the Scorpions  concert up on the difficult-to-spell Lycabettus outdoor theatre. The venue is beautiful, on a high rock in the centre of Athens commanding a breathtaking (I don't use this word lightly) view of the city, down to the sea. The night was pleasantly cool, too.
The concert itself, as any Scorpions concert, was a pleasant, enjoyable event, more so for the mtv unplugged (i.e. acoustic) feature;

The Scorpions do have a knack of bringing families together to enjoy a good moment with cheerful, rhythmic, or nostalgic tunes. Heck, they've been around for a good 40 years (give or take) and their concerts are very much a family affair; the young fans of early years are parents themselves now -- some with grown up children! One of the advantages of being around long enough is that people of all ages know the lyrics to their songs...

What the Scorpions are not, is passionate, full of rogue, raw energy, ready to blow you away and the venue to smithereens. It's not Queen in their heyday, nor the young Who or the Stones (to name a few).

What the Scorpions ARE however is "middle" European. And their lyrics commemorate, sing, reflect and remind us of the times and events of continental Europe in the way no US or UK group has -- or can. The Scorpions sing for us, the unknown middle & East European: many of their lyrics strike a uniquely European chord. The Scorpions are part of this "old world". They capture the old world's rainy, overcast, small-time, stuffy and struggling Old World life; the quiet insufferable boredom behind closed doors; the sooty interiors hidden behind the luster of our purported artistic design, our supposed refinement, and our snobbishness; Europe is a plethora of tiny to medium-sized countries all packed together in a continent where 2 hrs plane ride will take you across 4 different national languages....

So when we see expansive cities, lit like Xmas trees, it is awesome. We may never admit it, but it is daunting .The "Big City Lights" captures that : the little European's awe at the Eastern light & technological structure extravaganza. I know, that: I have personal experience of these "big city lights".
It's not that we don't have big cities in Europe, it's just that for us, huge is about the size of an average apartment building on East 6th ave N Y. And the lights are usually low to save on energy. Oh yes: we are mostly in bed by ten on weekdays.

Take that same 2 hour plane ride a few years ago and you would have crossed 4 languages and 6 different political regimes... For continental Europeans, the long-forgotten "iron curtain" was part of everyday life.

For anyone who has lived in or experienced a Soviet country before the demise of that parody -- and I am one such person -- "The Wind of Change" lyrics speak to the heart.
It may not be Keats, but for us, the line "the children of tomorrow dream away / in the wind of change" is real: we have lived and breathed in that wind and we have met these children, now grown up. In fact we have breathed in previous winds as well, where "change" had been relegated to miracle territory.

For most of us it's the little things that count; that one little moment in time, that moment that will change everything.

Check out the Scorpions' lyrics: how many times Klaus & Co sing about "a moment (in time)", directly or indirectly?

Anyway, towards the end of the concert Klaus picked up a Greek flag, put it on his shoulder and, with Morten Harket, sang "Wind of Change". OK, so Greece is going through the toughest time in its modern history and the symbolic effect of singing the words "close like brothers" and "change (for the better)" is a winning PR gesture before the public of a debt-ridden country.

It's a small gesture so he didn't really have to do it -- but he did.

So I choose to believe that deep down, the Scorpions wanted to do it, PR or not.

Greece: Secures a Further 6.8 billion EURO of Bailout Money

6.8 billion: not bad for a Soviet democracy!

Greece is to receive yet another bail-out instalment; not bad!

The performance of successive Greek governments in recent years has been nothing short of text book best practise in do nothing and / or, otherwise put, preservation of the sub-species -- preserve own own. In four years of "reforms" not ONE job has been lost in the Public Sector & State-owned companies in Greece: clearly, the Greek governments are protecting their own -- the Greek public sector payroll.

At all cost.

The private sector is dessicated, but that does not seem to daunt Greek politicians at all; unemployment is hardly on the Parliamentary agenda even though, at ~37% of the private sector workforce it is well above anyone else's in the EU club.

Indeed, in the words of one Greek senior civil servant, Greece may be the only "western developed democracy to be under Soviet rule". Within the Ministry of Finance, private initiative is still seen as suspicious and, largely, fraudulent and exploitative and to be closely monitored at all times.

In Greece flexible employment schemes are suspicious and legally reprehensible (i.e. temporary employment is prohibited unless there are exceptional & transitory reasons).
Investment is not particularly welcome and therefore filtered VERY closely through a web of administrative hurdles & licenses -- the latter sometimes taking years (or greased palms). The gold-mines in Northern Greece are still lacking a few documents that would allow them to operate -- and employ people by the same token.

The list can go on, but the important point to make is that, contemporary Greece is a unique case study of paradox and exception to common sense of any kind.

And, maybe, as such, it has some educational value...

Alternatively, and if the Greek powers that be continue in doing nothing, there will come the moment when Greeks will have to pay breathing & living rent o foreign landlords.

It is difficult to understand why the politicians presently active in Greece fail to see what everyone else does see?

A German firm suggested that a private "experts task force", comprising top class experts, could  implement reforms in Greece much better than any government -- if only because politicians are beset by considerations which would be inapplicable in the case of private individuals.
Maybe.
IF the target is, to make Greece viable and still belonging to its indigenous population, then anything that can do the job goes.

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.