The continuing saga of Greece's plight, its governments' aversion to any and all reforms and the lenders' insistence on some reform, are the founding bricks of the now eight (8) year saga of Greece, grexit, heroic resistance to pressure, etc, (yawn).
The truth of the matter is, Greece desperately needs the lenders' presence to curb - at least somewhat - her governments' long and trusty history of cronyism, catering to self-serving unions (de facto 30 hr week at government owned entities anyone?), and generally preserving the status quo by using cooked statistics to allay lenders' inquisitiveness.
Lately, in an effort to show an over target positive balance of payments, the Greek government put a hold on all internal payments (running an overdue bill to the tune of euro ¬3.6 bill) and EU sponsored programmes. Of course, the money in pocket also serves as a fall-back plan B just in case the discussions with the lenders droned beyond July when a multi billion repayment tranche is due. "bargaining chip"
It would be horrifying to think of Greece without the reform pressure of its lenders; while self-serving in of itself, this pressure for reform has brought about some flexibility in labour law, flexibility in opening hours for commercial entities, and some small improvement in the state corruption level. In many ways, media reported comments by IMF's regional chief P Thomsen are more favourable to Greece, the country, than most of its own government's prionunciamentos.
In exchange, the current government has made real estate acquisition a bureaucratic nightmare (the best must be the notarized declaration from the buyer that they are not owners of the real estate they wish to acquire and hence have never declared it!!!), business operation is a hazard for fines (how about 10k euro because there is an unemployed person at your office when labour inspectors visit...). It has also slashed pensions across the board, which means that granddad trying to survive on 600 euro a month can no longer, while state owned PPC execs with monthly payments of 6000 euro can probably still survive on 4800.
Also, there has been no curtailing of the Public Sector at large in Greece; attrition helped bu the present government filled the gap with new recruits of what it hopes are its (syriza) voters.
In all fairness, Greece's present authoritarian government has passed some useful changes that other governments could not do, mostly because this government's quasi-terrorist cohorts would have created havoc, and have done so in the past.
So, for that, one cheer for Greece's governing Goebbels' in a Stalinist dress!
Showing posts with label goebbels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goebbels. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Thursday, 9 March 2017
Present Day Use of Nazi Era Communication Tactics
The population of Greece has been systematically mislead to believe that the austerity measures under which it has been suffering for well nigh 8 years is the direct result of strict and forbidding creditors, a hostile IMF, and inflexible Germans, all hell-bent on punishing spendthrift Greeks.
The media report on pressure for more austerity (the contrary is true)and whenever agreement is close, politicians never fail to propagate their personal success and the end of austerity.
In the wake of fresh austerity and danger of Grexit, for example, the present Prime Minister messages: "the spring of growth is here, our efforts are now rewarded". A few days later, pensions are cut and employers cost increases sending a new wave of people to unemployment.
Remind of you of Dr Goebbels?
The difference with Goebbels is not in the language but in the morass of financial support; Goebbels and his pack of merry cutthroats didn't have the euro-backing.
On the other hand, Goebbels and his pack used laws, regulations, and the courts to expropriate money from chosen parts of the population.
This is another lesson the Greek government seems to have assimilated. The present Greek government is doing likewise: high taxes as of middle incomes ("our voters don't earn that much"), tripling of medical costs for contractors, freezing bank accounts at whim, fines imposed with lip service paid to due course... administrative courts rulings miraculously in favour of the Greek state in 97.5% of cases!
So, misinformation is rampant and it has been around for so long that people, naturally, believe it. It is the others who are hell-bent on eradicating us from the planet! It is, a plot!
Presently, this same siren song is being touted as the Greek government negotiates with reps from the creditors (known as "troika" or "institutions") on how FEW reforms it can get away with this time, before the creditors release another dose of cash. All will be well when the greenbacks hit the deep pockets of the Greek governmental money-eating abyss.
And then, things will be OK for a while, until the next episode of series 8 of "Greece Crisis".
Coming 馃敎
Greece is lucky in a way; the creditors are pressing for reform which means that their agenda happily coincides with the country's collective well-being to a certain extent.
Greece is unlucky in that its governments prefer to impose heavy austerity and avoid reforming the Public Sector, monopolies, the dysfunctional justice system; or to improve the educational system - just to cite one example.
The creditors press for labour law reform, allowing more flexibility in recruiting and redundancies; the creditors suggest lowering taxes levels for a more just distribution.
The Greek government responds with increased taxes, a cut in pensions, lowering medical cover for its citizens.
Inhabitants of Greece are unlucky, in that Greece's governments have proven impervious to pressure to help their country as a whole. Instead Greece's governments prefer to focus on protecting pressure group interests; their voters' vested interests, cronies, party friends and, presumably, in prolonging as much as possible their stay in power and their hands in the till.
For example, Greek governments are ferociously opposed to savings by reducing the Public Sector and public spending; instead, they have created savings by increasing the tax burden to the extent that they have crippled the economy. Inequality rises high in Greece: 10% of taxpayers in Greece account for 65% of total.
It is a pity that no-one seems capable of explaining this to the people. 馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬
The media report on pressure for more austerity (the contrary is true)and whenever agreement is close, politicians never fail to propagate their personal success and the end of austerity.
In the wake of fresh austerity and danger of Grexit, for example, the present Prime Minister messages: "the spring of growth is here, our efforts are now rewarded". A few days later, pensions are cut and employers cost increases sending a new wave of people to unemployment.
Remind of you of Dr Goebbels?
The difference with Goebbels is not in the language but in the morass of financial support; Goebbels and his pack of merry cutthroats didn't have the euro-backing.
On the other hand, Goebbels and his pack used laws, regulations, and the courts to expropriate money from chosen parts of the population.
This is another lesson the Greek government seems to have assimilated. The present Greek government is doing likewise: high taxes as of middle incomes ("our voters don't earn that much"), tripling of medical costs for contractors, freezing bank accounts at whim, fines imposed with lip service paid to due course... administrative courts rulings miraculously in favour of the Greek state in 97.5% of cases!
So, misinformation is rampant and it has been around for so long that people, naturally, believe it. It is the others who are hell-bent on eradicating us from the planet! It is, a plot!
Presently, this same siren song is being touted as the Greek government negotiates with reps from the creditors (known as "troika" or "institutions") on how FEW reforms it can get away with this time, before the creditors release another dose of cash. All will be well when the greenbacks hit the deep pockets of the Greek governmental money-eating abyss.
And then, things will be OK for a while, until the next episode of series 8 of "Greece Crisis".
Coming 馃敎
Greece is lucky in a way; the creditors are pressing for reform which means that their agenda happily coincides with the country's collective well-being to a certain extent.
Greece is unlucky in that its governments prefer to impose heavy austerity and avoid reforming the Public Sector, monopolies, the dysfunctional justice system; or to improve the educational system - just to cite one example.
The creditors press for labour law reform, allowing more flexibility in recruiting and redundancies; the creditors suggest lowering taxes levels for a more just distribution.
The Greek government responds with increased taxes, a cut in pensions, lowering medical cover for its citizens.
Inhabitants of Greece are unlucky, in that Greece's governments have proven impervious to pressure to help their country as a whole. Instead Greece's governments prefer to focus on protecting pressure group interests; their voters' vested interests, cronies, party friends and, presumably, in prolonging as much as possible their stay in power and their hands in the till.
For example, Greek governments are ferociously opposed to savings by reducing the Public Sector and public spending; instead, they have created savings by increasing the tax burden to the extent that they have crippled the economy. Inequality rises high in Greece: 10% of taxpayers in Greece account for 65% of total.
It is a pity that no-one seems capable of explaining this to the people. 馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬馃挬
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