Yep, I know... I opened up this blogpost rather fiercely and with a lot of cynicism. There's a reason for that though. I went ballistic at the reading of this posting. You don't need to speak Greek to understand... I'll explain. The man in the picture is Evangellos Venizelos, the current minister of Finance in the Greek Cabinet; the one and only, who's been recently talking to the troika to secure payment of €8B that the Greek State desperately needs by mid October. Yep, that's the man!
Well, the news goes that since Venizelos has recently assumed a second role, that of Vice PM (or was it Vice President of the Republic? Either way, it's a useless function), he took advantage of the 'system' and created a cabinet for that position too, on top of his own Economic Affairs ministerial cabinet. The structure will cost the Greek State the best part of a cool million euros. Say what?!?!? Yes sir, if the news is right, the man needs a budget of close to a million to feed about 20 more civil servant souls (his personal friends, I guess, or other PASOK party Nepos nieces and nephews; see in Greece for top paying Public Service jobs like that it's not what you know, it's who you know!). These folks are supposed to work at his new VP role office. Doing what? I mean, such ceremonial (Biden style) roles can only be lame duck stuff, right? 'Show-up' tasks. Talk to Ambassadors, going to receptions and events that add no value, pretending life is good! Doing what the top guy finds really boring and waste of time, right? Is Venizelos going to fulfill this Vice something role in practice? You better doubt it. With the stuff he's got on his plate to salvage Greece from the financial clusterfuck they found themselves entangled for so long, I doubt he'll even find the time to learn how to spell 'vice whatever' (or what the Greek equivalent is). So, why spend a million on something he doesn't really need? In the meantime, he's busy barking (teaching) to the rest of the country about how 'we all have a duty to save Greece...bla...bla...bla...' How about you first, you shameless moron?
Like my ol' boss Geno T. used to say... (I paraphrase): '...open up a dictionary on the entry "arrogance" and you'll find E.Venizelos picture'. Sad, but so true...
With similar incidents by members of the ruling PASOK party hitting the press and the blogosphere every hour (or is it minute?), how do we ever expect anyone on this planet to trust anybody in Greece at all, ever? Like another friend of mine, the CEO of a Greek and very successful commercial company put it today : 'Only thing that could salvage Greece right now is a full blown dictatorship, until things get back in shape'. And I would add to that... 'Chinese style, where they actually execute by firing squad those ministers who abuse their positions'. Such a God sent regime would kick-off its mission by providing lethal injections to most members of the current cabinet of PM Papandreou. That would be a really good start, wouldn't it?
UPDATE: More news surfaced yesterday about our 'incorrigible' Evangelos Venizelos. This big shot of the ruling Papandreou cabinet, who's 'engineered' to become Greece's savior from the current mess, decided to use no less than a huge 'company' (taxpayer funded) leasing vehicle , 7 series BMW, at the price of a cool 750K euros. His fat belly needs protection from terrorist bullets, you see. Whereas his peer cabinet ministers speed around the streets of the capital inside less than 1600 cc vehicles, like it was recently decided, his Excellency EV treats himself to a lavish four wheeler that even Frau Merkel gets wet dreams thinking about. As in all 'good' democracies, we are all 'equal', you see, but some of us are more 'equal' than the rest. Like I said, the age of arrogance... Hang 'em bastards high, kids! If you know what's good for you.
Actually, I could get a full time assignment whistle-blowing the wrongdoings in this country. What am I saying'? I would probably need to do overtime too, to even scratch the surface...
...to be continued
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