Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Greeks ain't got it...

I.e.
1) they don't get it
2) their reps ain't got the credentials to do the job.

Let's start with 2 first:
Greece Inc is being kept alive through transfusions and the blood is running out. 35 years ago, when Chrysler was down the drain, a savvy CEO saved the day. Examples of turnarounds abound, I just thought of that one randomly.
Greece is down the drain and what do the well intentioned (no doubt) newly elected Greeks do?
They send a near-defunct president and a few nobodies with no human interaction skills, even less work experience, and "no-plans-yet", to negotiate change in the reform memorandum.

The "I have no clue" team will meet with Brussels officials to negotiate.

Now, how cool is that?
Whaddya think they will talk about?
Methinks the discussion will go something like: "you know, we have already put (a) heavy burden(s) and we face social unrest"
"But you haven't implemented anything -- you only raised taxes! Of course, I can't tell you how to do what you want to do... What do you propose instead?"
"We would like an extension."
"But how will the extension make things better? What will you gain from the extension? What can you do later that you cannot do earlier?"
"These things take time"
"When will you reduce public spending?"
"We have already..."
"No, no, now you are simply NOT paying suppliers and debts, and there is a backlog of billions to be spent in the future. We mean, when will you slash the public sector"
"It is difficult..."
(Mental response)"For goodness sake, we're wasting our time here".

The guys just can't do the job.
They don't have the skills-set, nor the competencies for the job.

The people Greeks vote into their Parliament are clueless when it comes to actually doing something concrete; like boiling an egg, for example.

1) They don't get it.

The country is in deep trouble and has been kept alive by other peoples' borrowed money. This may not last.

Other peoples' money has been poured into Greece, bit by bit. Until now, all Greek politicians did was to keep creditors happy so that the money batches came in. I.e. promise anything, throw in a few austerity killers for good measure (as in, never give VAT returns, but bring forward by one month all VAT payments TO the state regardless of whether the invoice has been paid; impose additional income tax for past years;) and pocket the latest batch, pay the payroll and survive until the next go.

Once the money hit the State coffers, Greek politicians return to their internal squabbling for a while -- until the money runs out again.
No structural change -- let alone reform -- has taken place in the near-three years since Greece went on the bailout bandwagon.

Greeks don't get it: they have to get rid of these people.

When people default they risk losing their house.
Greeks risk losing their land.
They just don't get it.

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