Bullshit talks, money walks: Greece's socialist government

The Greek minister of "competitiveness", could aptly change his name from Goldson to Behappy-son: he announced an expected free fall in the country's inflation from near 6% today to around 2,5% tomorrow. He "sees" this coming.
Wow, isn't that good to know! Although actual inflation is rising, we can all smile and pretend it isn't!

On the other hand, what can you do when you're given the job of "Minister of competitiveness" -- in Greece, of all places. The only communist paradise on earth and, more specifically, a country where competitive, profit, are bad words in the ears of the powers that be. Poor man!

Meanwhile, the Germans are pissed at the Greek Premier's poetic scolding of German euro-politics, while Austrians are miffed at Greece's not reaching (not even close) the agreed financial targets.

Meanwhile again, the Greek Finance Minister hailed Eurostat's downwards review of Greek sovereign debt by +2 extra points as "this confirms what I've been saying all along".
This is outstanding communication tactics -- not because of the originality involved, the Soviets used the same tactics in the 60s -- because of the incredible credulity of the Greek people. Either it is credulity or it is indifference.

The only hope for this country is that a new generation of Greeks breaks away from the reign of the usual oligarchy with its supporting administration, and stops voting for the pompous, expensive, asses that are most Greek politicians. Then things can start to move to a kind of normality, where ministries and gov agencies are really operating...

It doesn't seem likely, unfortunately: the administrative system has collapsed -- or so it seems to those (like myself) who have no notion of how it used to be, say, 25 years ago, when the going was good and things were simpler. When the going gets tough, the difficulties show....
One ministry (finance) cannot come across or get a reply from another (competitiveness). Most of the cross-functional talk is done in corridors, but only ministers (i.e. politicians) walk the corridors, and they know little about their respective ministerial function: in Greece, ministers and their deputies (i.e. cronies) change all the time. Most ministries have no idea what the others are up to. The prime minister is away most of the time, and his deputy doesn't want to delve in details.
Most Greek politicians have never held a job, anyway, they do not know what it is to live in that daily professional routine. Nor do they know what it is to actually achieve something, and how to go about "achieving".

The bottom line may be, although we certainly hope it is not, that it is still business as usual: an expat friend is owed 4k euro as a tax return. His local tax people intimated in so many words that he could receive same, cash in hand, by simply visiting them with advance warning; cost of this service, 400euro.