This post is actually something I wrote for me. In case I forgot in years from now, and wondered what happened, I'd come back here and read what my thinking was then... I mean now. So, if you got something better to do, you don't have to stay and read further. It's probably the right thing to do. Because, if on top of this, you happen to live in Greece, and you get upset with what I'm suggesting you as well as the rest of you are doing, you might want to chase me down for my thoughts and opinions. Either way, you are not going to change your country's fortunes by beating the messenger. Or shoot him...
The question is, would the European Commission and Central Bank, primarily responsible with their policies enforced upon member states, mostly conform the wants and needs of the most powerful members and their lobbyists, allow an impoverished member of its family to default on its debt? Would they move in to force the Greeks, for instance, to restructure their debt, or will they bail them out again? By supplying fresh cash, and keep doing the bailing out until the cows come home? Who knows? In the latest developments concerning an upcoming June debt payment by Greece most member states and the Commission favor provision of the necessary financial assistance to the Greek government. With exception of Germany of course (no news there), the Netherlands (alsjemenou!), and Finland (one of EU's tiny nations decided to roar as well).
For governments in trouble there are usually two possible public debt restructuring scenarios: Either renegotiate loan maturity terms for paying back debt, and by so doing one 'buys' much needed time, or simply tell creditors to shove it and kiss their principal good-bye (parts or maybe the whole). In private business in general, restructuring could also be effected by conversion of debt to company stock. But governments are not stock holding companies; no share capital shown in the liabilities columns of their balance sheets. What they do own though is a participation through traditional stock in private companies that they (partly) nationalized and own from long time ago. They do usually own the assets of their national patrimony as well (the Acropolis and Parthenon, for instance)
What would consequently happen if Greeks decided to withhold payments to their creditors in the immediate future? You know, it happened before in the (recent) history of mankind. Who's gonna suffer then most? Simple answer: Everybody. The global Economy is like a red thread that keeps everyone connected with everyone else, the actual thread (or blood-cells) being the money stream, interlinking governments with their citizens, and the companies the latter work for. Say for instance the Greek cabinet comes out in a few days and declares: As a sovereign state, We decided and We command (I like these 'Royalty-inspired' plural forms in Central Authority public statements - they add 'weight' to the content) that We shall not pay back a diddly freakin' squat of our June 2011 debt of so many billions of sweet lovely euro's, na-na-na-na-naaaa-na! (I hope you can properly pronounce and sing the na-na-naaaa's).
First, those who'll go deep under water (big time!) are most of the large domestically operating Greek Banks. Because traditionally, it is them who keep most of their own investments placed in government "risk-free" (you bet) paper. Who can get a better spread, short term, (leading to double digit yields) that Greek Authorities are paying their bond creditors these days? You'd be a fool not to buy yourself massively in such instruments, and then think, oh what's the risk?... too bloody Big to fail! So, in a heartbeat, we'll get the entire Greek Financial system on its knees. Ouch! Their economy will collapse and common citizens in the streets will start a 'revolution' by plundering shops and stealing anything that moves in order to survive just another day. Viva la Revolución! Will give KKE's SecretaryAleka Papariga much wanted wet dreams... She already declared "Bankruptcy has begun!" Like she knew what she's talking about, that is, but that's another matter.
Is that all? Are you kidding me? It only started, mate! Remember Lehman Bros? Remember what happened to the UBS, DB, SG, BNP-Paribas, Dexia, ING, RBS, and Barclays of this world? How many governments didn't step in then, only three years ago, to bail out the failing European financial landscape because of the Lehman Bros collapse? Banks would have simply vanished from the face of the earth, like in a modern-day Souli dance, if governments hadn't intervened with our dimes and cents (that is yours and mine, lads, good and obedient tax-payers...) We now got a Whole bleeding country for crying out loud (and another three -PIS- waiting right behind) with the best part of 400B Greece's euros (half a trillion US?) public debt defaulting its debt payments. We'll all start riding bicycles again, mark my words. Welcome back to the Stone Age, folks. At least, I hope we can keep our iPads, but we still need to find ways to charge them, nevertheless.
In conclusion, despite their current bullshit, the Germans and the Dutch, and those pathetic Fins, will eventually need to step in as well, and bail out the Greeks again in a few weeks' time. Is tough Angela M. going to stop the bail-out and burry beloved Deutschland into a financial tsunami? No way! In the meantime renewed insecurity will hit the markets again, the VIX will start climbing, speculators and hedge fund managers will start shorting anything that moves, and wealthy capitalists are gonna get richer once more (remember, fortune favors the bold and wealthy). Hallelujah.
What is really happening back in Greece to solve the basic problems, in the meantime? Not much, I am afraid. Unfortunately, the problem eventually needs to be solved, in any case. The issue is, it is so bleedin' basic that the currently imposed short term remedies by the über powerful and omnipresent Troika cannot do a single thing to help the issue. On the contrary. These measures dig the country deeper and deeper, until it emerges with its thousands of beautiful islands and all up in China. Meltdown!
To tackle the problem requires character, education, long term investments, infrastructure; concepts that remain to be seen whether they'll ever become part of the modern Greek vocabulary. Success in Greece is measured by how much a dick-swinger you are with cash and wealth that either your ancestors (often illegally) sneaked away, or you done the same in your time. Mind you, the type of fiscal and otherwise corruption we witness happening in Greece for thousands of years, we also see here in our central European countries as well, incl. dear Angela's Germany. Only problem, what happens to be an exception in our geographies, is the rule back in Greece. It happens all the time. As unbelievable as it sounds, an average Greek is born, and also learns early in his/her life, to be selfish and 'efficient'. Efficiency, like in 'maximum leverage'. Receive the most by doing the least. A Greek usually knows more than anyone else about any subject, and mostly cares via all sorts of machinations about his/her own good and his/her own loved ones. Greeks don't care much about the community they live in, neither the damage they cause to the environment. Positive voices in that direction are appallingly faint! For anything average Greeks decide to do they first think "να βρούμε ένα μέσο". Meaning, let's find someone who can help get out of the 'queue', where the rest are sweating, and get on top of it. Bend the rules and get to our objective real fast, and who cares about the implications to others? 'Queue respect' is again another concept Greeks forget to add to their daily vocabulary. And in their stride to bypass the 'queues' and bend the rules they even neglect elementary characteristics of human dignity too. They typically 'κλαίγονται', in other words, they pretend to be needy, suffering of some evil, having thousands of good reasons to bypass the rules and regulations. Every Greek does that! Young or old, healthy or sick. Because they are smarter, ain't they? You bet!
They simply lack character. They saw too many role models in their life get away with murder and reach 'success'. Their experiences are flooded with examples. In a recent trip to my birthplace, Takis, a good friend from my youth, had a story of financial abuse for almost every building raised in the last 30 years, public or private, that we drove by. Greeks also love to complain about everything. If they only got at the PM's seat for a day. They'd change the world. There are as many opinions in Greece as there are Greek a-holes (pardon my French). Bitter to admit. In fact, Greeks should be taught at school to use their hands and body more than they use their tongues. If Greeks decided to learn to do that for say, 10 percent more of the time, their GDP productivity would probably improve by thirty basis points. Honest!
Look for a moment at the (otherwise beautiful) picture I posted here. It shows recent demonstrations by a new class of revolting Greeks: The Anxious! The 'Anxious' are nowadays spending time daily at the Syntagma Square 'revolting' against the government and hoping for a better future. Let's do some simple math for argument's sake. Suppose there are 15K protesters out there (actually there are many more). Assume a big chunk is part of the labor force, say 2/3s... Suppose this lot spends 5 hours a day lazying in Syntagma square and shouting, before getting bored and going home to do something useful with their lives. Like repair the house, do some real work to earn a loaf, even do some gardening, clean the neighborhood streets, do some voluntary community work (dream on), shag the spouse (still a much more productive enterprise). The simple math sez, on a day like this, the best part of 50K person-hours, or (by the Central European standards of 36 hrs a week) 30.2 person-years of equivalent labor is LOST, gone and never coming back (I considered 46 labor weeks in a year by subtracting four vacation weeks and 2 weeks of public holidays like xmas and August the 15th). At an average salary cost of 30K a year for such a laborer, and a cost markup of say 30%, the mentioned lost labor leads to, give-'n-take, 1.2M euros of GNP. So, 15K Greeks lazying on a single day at Syntagma Square, achieving nothing useful at ALL (other than increasing their blood pressure and pissing off every-body else) strips a million euros out of the Nation's GNP. This is what is known as the large numbers effect. My model is overly simplified, of course. I didn't account for instance for the physical and emotional disruption the 'anxious' herd, and the ambient noise they cause, to those who actually do want to remain productive and do useful stuff. Those who live in Greece know that my simple model, applied to the real numbers behind the current socioeconomic and political turmoil add to much more than a million lost a day. No wonder Greek debt keeps galloping with pride at the speed of sound higher and higher.
Where's the solution? I wish I knew! I might become PM one day if I did. Nor any of the fat salaried non-tax paying Brussels based Eurocrats know a diddly squat about it either, I am sure. There's no short term solution for sure. The country needs a serious shake-up from the ground up. Greece lacks the standards, the work ethics, the character. Without those, they also lack the infrastructure and business potential to build and produce, and therefore enhance their output numbers, and consequently their government's tax income. And as long they stay hooked on the Euro, their tourism income will suffer too. Pay 4.5 euros for a latte coffee? Why not? No wonder most of our tourists choose to enjoy the brilliant blue Greek waters and sun... from the other side. The Asia Minor (say modern day Turkey) coastline. But who cares. Not the rich Greeks, anyways. Many of them with loads of funds hidden in Swiss bank accounts and in Turkey/Cyprus banks, like the recent pastime dictates, they'll continue to import Cayennes, Mercs and BMW's, paying a price for those of north of 50K euros a pop! Greeks may often despise being seen as 'working' (labor is for the stupid) but they definitely know the latest fashion trends and brands, and all the tricks of the Western European and US beauty trade. Truth be told.
Do I despise them? I don't think so. I am one of them, you know, so how could I? It bleeds my heart to see them in this process of self-destruction, while they themselves remain too passive and indifferent to see and do the right thing. They wouldn't see it even if it hit them in the face. If I lived there, I'd probably be lust like them, thinking I am so right and the rest of the world is so wrong. And that "όλοι οι ξένοι μας αδικούνε".
What a mess. God protect us from the cluster-fuck of the four members of our European PIGS alliance. Inshallah.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
A million tulips in Brussels, Belgium...
If you like flowers, or at least your partner does, you can charm her/him with a visit here, at the chateau of Groot Bijgaarden, west of Brussels, just off the highway E40 to Oostende. I passed hundreds of times outside the venue in the past but never imagined the size of it, as I never visited it before in my life. This time though, the spouse was well informed (as always) and I was left in my ignorance thinking that my trip to Brussels would last as long as the planned visit to Sani for our Easter groceries: tsoureki, feta cheese, olive oil, tyropitas from the north-west of Greece, wine, lamb, and even melomakarona, and more goodies like that. Sani Imports is our Greek groceries supplier not far from the Brussels Center, at what they call the port of Brussels (yep, Brussels has got a (pathetic) port too, no comparison with Zeebrugge or Antwerp, folks).
On our way back, the spouse started her usual charming offensive, like, 'do you know how to get to Groot Bijgaarden', and 'you know there is a chateau with an open expo of thousands of tulips, they even showed on TV', etc... etc...etc... Long story short, instead of heading homewards, we ended up at the chateau ticket box to pay for our entrance fee, when deary spouse almost gave me a stroke by pretending to the cashier that we were seniors! I looked at her, ready to faint, and chuckled 'no f*cking way I am a freakin' senior'. The ticket lady, obviously a senior herself, said 'Seniors are above 60, I'm afraid... you don't look to me to be seniors, I'm afraid'. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and there we paid our regular adult tickets (nice try, my dear...), and entered the garden with a million tulips exposed along hundreds of thousands of more blossoming flowers. Obviously, I was visibly p*ssed as I was totally unprepared for that beauty and had left my serious photographic gear back home, with no other than the iPhone 4. What the heck. I'd shoot no matter what with.
It's difficult to describe the beauty, especially me who'll be the last person on earth being able to do this and keep you unbored and awake at the same time. Instead, see my shots at Flicker. Well, yes, I took these pictures with a bleedin' iPhone, believe it or not. I took about three hundred of them, of which I had to drop a few dull and unsharp shots, and quite a few with red tinted tulips, as the dynamic range of reds is pathetic on a cheap camera. Yellow and whites were descent though, with some red and orange here and there. Of course, Lightroom did the rest. There was no visit at the chateau, only the garden.
The whole thing was created by a certain Dutchman, Bakker is the name, famous for his tulip catalogs and business. He was there in person too, and the spouse enjoyed talking to him for a few minutes, while I was shooting the entrance to the chateau. Weather was great, not too sunny to force me shoot HDR, and the colors were stunning. Entrance was 10 euro for adults, 9 for seniors and maybe less for students and children. There were more foreigners than Belgians as I had heard all sorts of gibberish (Eastern Europe mainly) being spoken around me, other than our regular French and Dutch. Brussels, capital of Europe, you see...
On our way back, the spouse started her usual charming offensive, like, 'do you know how to get to Groot Bijgaarden', and 'you know there is a chateau with an open expo of thousands of tulips, they even showed on TV', etc... etc...etc... Long story short, instead of heading homewards, we ended up at the chateau ticket box to pay for our entrance fee, when deary spouse almost gave me a stroke by pretending to the cashier that we were seniors! I looked at her, ready to faint, and chuckled 'no f*cking way I am a freakin' senior'. The ticket lady, obviously a senior herself, said 'Seniors are above 60, I'm afraid... you don't look to me to be seniors, I'm afraid'. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and there we paid our regular adult tickets (nice try, my dear...), and entered the garden with a million tulips exposed along hundreds of thousands of more blossoming flowers. Obviously, I was visibly p*ssed as I was totally unprepared for that beauty and had left my serious photographic gear back home, with no other than the iPhone 4. What the heck. I'd shoot no matter what with.
It's difficult to describe the beauty, especially me who'll be the last person on earth being able to do this and keep you unbored and awake at the same time. Instead, see my shots at Flicker. Well, yes, I took these pictures with a bleedin' iPhone, believe it or not. I took about three hundred of them, of which I had to drop a few dull and unsharp shots, and quite a few with red tinted tulips, as the dynamic range of reds is pathetic on a cheap camera. Yellow and whites were descent though, with some red and orange here and there. Of course, Lightroom did the rest. There was no visit at the chateau, only the garden.
The whole thing was created by a certain Dutchman, Bakker is the name, famous for his tulip catalogs and business. He was there in person too, and the spouse enjoyed talking to him for a few minutes, while I was shooting the entrance to the chateau. Weather was great, not too sunny to force me shoot HDR, and the colors were stunning. Entrance was 10 euro for adults, 9 for seniors and maybe less for students and children. There were more foreigners than Belgians as I had heard all sorts of gibberish (Eastern Europe mainly) being spoken around me, other than our regular French and Dutch. Brussels, capital of Europe, you see...
Friday, April 8, 2011
College students
I'm blogging this out of sheer frustration. Lemme explain. I'm teaching this class you see that spans an entire semester two hours a week. It's called Innovation and Marketing, but that's just a title. I structured it to be all about the salesman's profession. That is, all you got to know to become a rather successful sales person, working for medium and large size companies including multinational corporations. It's an optional course that 1st and 2nd Master's year students are supposed to attend. We are referring to the University of Antwerp, this is.
I've been already teaching this course for the last three years, and I always had around 20 - 25 students each term. However, this year I been shocked to find 45 in the registered list. In my first session there were about 30 that showed up. Ever since less than half of them attend the course sessions; a group of about 15 guys and gals showing up no matter what. 'No matter what' includes splendid spring weather and unusually high temps for this time of the year.
Although the subject is all about sales, the class is structured around a number of sessions that are self contained... you don't have to follow session 3 to attend session 5 for instance. Maybe some subjects span over two linked sessions. That's OK. We have sessions about the sales profession (how they get paid and commissioned, how they work, plan, forecast, etc...), about Business Modeling, Target Account and Solution Selling (two known methods), Transactional Analysis (Eric Berne's human profiling theory), Selling to Government, Negotiating Skills and more like that. Pretty useful stuff, right?
Dutch is not my native language and I guess in subjects like that, having lots of English terminology, makes it pretty hard to teach these sessions non-stop for two hours... so maybe my teaching skills might be average or below, at times. Ok, fine. But if you never attended any session you won't be able to pull that as the reason for not attending, will you? This ain't an excuse for skipping sessions, kids.
In various occasions I asked those attending whether they had seen any of the subjects I teach in other classes. Each and every time they told me they hadn't. So, to most of them attending, this must be all new stuff. Why not come to class then? My students study 'commercial engineering'. In other words, pretty neat degree and quite suitable for junior management positions in any industry your heart desires. Most will end up in such jobs in say a few months after graduation. Don't they just want to learn about a few things they'll run against when they do show up at 8:30 each morning at the office? I just don't get it. Do their parents know this? Does anybody care?
I did a huge mistake. I told them that for exams I'll ask them to write a business modeling paper. So they'd never have to learn and memorize any 'theory'. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't come to class, does it? It's even a better motivator to come to class, so you'd never have to read the Powerpoints I'm posting as the session materials.
I'm about to decide how to do the final exams test and how to score them. I'm looking for advice. I don't have a names list with their portrait pictures, and I won't shoot any pictures in class of those regularly attending to know who does the right thing and who doesn't. But then, am I right to assume that those who don't attend are no good? For instance, last year during exams, I saw a dude showing up that I saw attending sessions only once in 13 weeks. He told me he was working to earn the money necessary for his studies. I couldn't check the truth of that argument but I respect those who have to fund their studies on their own. He did a great test and I gave him an above average score, but I still thought, is he really any good, or how can he get a descent degree if he never attended class? This year, at the new Academic Year reception, I saw him among my other colleagues. I'm like "WTF is this guy doin' here?!?!". A friend and colleague sighs: "He's probably on a post graduate program... I think I picked-up something like that about him". I'm like OMFG, but then, who ever said he had to attend my sessions to qualify for a PhD? So, my ego wants one thing, reality settles for another.
Between you and me, I don't like large classes, and this year's current attendance suits me fine. Students talk too much during sessions nowadays. It's very annoying. With more students in the classroom more are tempted to start surfing the net and chat with each other. So the less in a room the better for all. Problem is, I'll have to go thru all of their 45 papers and I feel shitty knowing that there have been at least 25 to 30 percent who never showed up. Or 'sent their pussycat', instead... like the Dutch saying goes...
Like I said, all advice is welcome. Especially from any of you being students, yourselves.
I've been already teaching this course for the last three years, and I always had around 20 - 25 students each term. However, this year I been shocked to find 45 in the registered list. In my first session there were about 30 that showed up. Ever since less than half of them attend the course sessions; a group of about 15 guys and gals showing up no matter what. 'No matter what' includes splendid spring weather and unusually high temps for this time of the year.
Although the subject is all about sales, the class is structured around a number of sessions that are self contained... you don't have to follow session 3 to attend session 5 for instance. Maybe some subjects span over two linked sessions. That's OK. We have sessions about the sales profession (how they get paid and commissioned, how they work, plan, forecast, etc...), about Business Modeling, Target Account and Solution Selling (two known methods), Transactional Analysis (Eric Berne's human profiling theory), Selling to Government, Negotiating Skills and more like that. Pretty useful stuff, right?
Dutch is not my native language and I guess in subjects like that, having lots of English terminology, makes it pretty hard to teach these sessions non-stop for two hours... so maybe my teaching skills might be average or below, at times. Ok, fine. But if you never attended any session you won't be able to pull that as the reason for not attending, will you? This ain't an excuse for skipping sessions, kids.
In various occasions I asked those attending whether they had seen any of the subjects I teach in other classes. Each and every time they told me they hadn't. So, to most of them attending, this must be all new stuff. Why not come to class then? My students study 'commercial engineering'. In other words, pretty neat degree and quite suitable for junior management positions in any industry your heart desires. Most will end up in such jobs in say a few months after graduation. Don't they just want to learn about a few things they'll run against when they do show up at 8:30 each morning at the office? I just don't get it. Do their parents know this? Does anybody care?
I did a huge mistake. I told them that for exams I'll ask them to write a business modeling paper. So they'd never have to learn and memorize any 'theory'. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't come to class, does it? It's even a better motivator to come to class, so you'd never have to read the Powerpoints I'm posting as the session materials.
I'm about to decide how to do the final exams test and how to score them. I'm looking for advice. I don't have a names list with their portrait pictures, and I won't shoot any pictures in class of those regularly attending to know who does the right thing and who doesn't. But then, am I right to assume that those who don't attend are no good? For instance, last year during exams, I saw a dude showing up that I saw attending sessions only once in 13 weeks. He told me he was working to earn the money necessary for his studies. I couldn't check the truth of that argument but I respect those who have to fund their studies on their own. He did a great test and I gave him an above average score, but I still thought, is he really any good, or how can he get a descent degree if he never attended class? This year, at the new Academic Year reception, I saw him among my other colleagues. I'm like "WTF is this guy doin' here?!?!". A friend and colleague sighs: "He's probably on a post graduate program... I think I picked-up something like that about him". I'm like OMFG, but then, who ever said he had to attend my sessions to qualify for a PhD? So, my ego wants one thing, reality settles for another.
Between you and me, I don't like large classes, and this year's current attendance suits me fine. Students talk too much during sessions nowadays. It's very annoying. With more students in the classroom more are tempted to start surfing the net and chat with each other. So the less in a room the better for all. Problem is, I'll have to go thru all of their 45 papers and I feel shitty knowing that there have been at least 25 to 30 percent who never showed up. Or 'sent their pussycat', instead... like the Dutch saying goes...
Like I said, all advice is welcome. Especially from any of you being students, yourselves.
Monday, February 14, 2011
About troikas and more...
Ever since Greece was bailed out by the IMF and the ECB, forcing the Greek cabinet to implement severe austerity measures, the term troika became a word of evil used by local media and politicians as a curse against Greece's creditors. In fact, what Greeks call "the troika" are the representatives of three international bodies, namely, the EC, the ECB and the IMF. All three (the troika) visit Athens during regular intervals to examine progress made in implementing austerity measures and comment upon it. The three 'wise' troika men (or teams) visit, analyse, and express 'best practice' opinions.
In their latest visit a few days ago the troika expressed consultative opinions about strategies the Greek government could employ to recover funds and pay outstanding debt via privatization and sale of government owned businesses and property. I thought they even suggested to sell some tourist property (few beaches here and there in Greece's thousands km long coastlines). What do you expect them to suggest otherwise? I mean, what else does the country have to offer? Raw materials? Gold? Oil? Seawater? Salt? There's no industry or agriculture left anyways...
Responding to troika's recommendations, and per the common Greek phrase "who faced God Almighty and hasn't been shit scared?", every newspaper and politician around jumped to point a blaming finger towards those miserable troika members and accuse them that it was not their job to interfere with Greek affairs... Makes you wonder...
Ok. Fine. Consider this: If there were no EC, ECB and IMF intervention, creditors would have stopped pumping funds back to Greece and buying Greek treasury bills at reasonable interest rates, and the country would have ceased to exist economically in a heartbeat. No more goods could be imported from abroad as there would be no cash to pay suppliers. Airplanes and busses, not to forget private cars, would come to a halt without fuel indeed. Those with donkeys and mules would be the lucky ones... No kiddin'! There would be no cash to pay for public infrastructure maintenance. Law and order? Forgetaboutit! Where's the cash to pay officers of the Law? Without fuel no heating, no electricity, no cooking. Jurassic park with only the dinosaurs missing. In addition, Greece's creditors would force all legal means available internationally to repossess their unpaid loans consumed by the Greeks. In other words, International Law would intervene to return to Greece's creditors what belongs to them, in nature or any other form possible! Not only the Elgin marbles, but the entire Parthenon would risk being moved to the Louvre or the British Museum, or even Beijing. The country would be an item of liquidation and ridicule. Apparently present day Hellenes have difficulty to either grasp the gravity of their situation or actually reconcile with the idea of national bankruptcy. Too naif to step out of their dream world and face reality? Who knows... most likely!
Troika members are simple civil servants doing their job. They are supposed to watch the Greek cabinet's management practices of a country in quasi-liquidation, and express opinions about how to improve this restructuring process. Nothing more, nothing less. Their opinion is of consultative nature, not binding in any ways. Not when they are in the middle of a reviewing process, anyway. Binding recommendations will have to carry a lot more weight and authority, and can only be forced upon the Greeks after thorough politics get played behind and in front of international scenery and debates. After their regular progress reviews, troika members will typically travel back and report their findings. Whatever populist Greek media and politicians think and publicly communicate, aiming at feeding local consumption, is totally irrelevant. In a world of 500 million EU Europeans and 6.5 billion earth-people, Greece and its ethnos (including most of us in the diaspora) is less than a rounding error! Like the joke goes, when some Chinese official asked once how many Greeks there were, and got as a response "about 11 million", he replied: "Which hotel are they stayin'?".
Compats of mine, wake up and go back to work instead of striking and burning down the house; pretending nothing will have to change, and that you can continue to preserve your lifestyle at your creditors' expense. Don't be too easily forgiving upon your guilty co-citizens, those civil servants, politicians and private businessmen (doctors on top), who brought down the nation by their abuses and corruption; think of the Chinese 'Communists', who are not afraid to literally condemn to death and execute corrupt individuals (incl. cabinet ministers), to set the example. You don't have to shoot yours dead these days if you don't want to (based on human rights grounds), but putting them behind bars for life and keeping them there (like you did with the junta colonels in the seventies), and confiscating most of what they've been stealing for years could help a lot. As incredible as it may sound, you seem to 'respect' and envy your villains instead; you often use them as role models for mimicking, because you think they are kinda cool "mangas" while continue screwing the system shamelessly. And please, start teaching your offsprings the much needed 'fairness' and 'integrity' as key virtues to build upon the foundation of your future social lives. Because without virtues, as Aristoteles taught you, you better quit the EU and join some 'funny' regimes in the third world instead, as their practices are very much reminiscent of yours...
In their latest visit a few days ago the troika expressed consultative opinions about strategies the Greek government could employ to recover funds and pay outstanding debt via privatization and sale of government owned businesses and property. I thought they even suggested to sell some tourist property (few beaches here and there in Greece's thousands km long coastlines). What do you expect them to suggest otherwise? I mean, what else does the country have to offer? Raw materials? Gold? Oil? Seawater? Salt? There's no industry or agriculture left anyways...
Responding to troika's recommendations, and per the common Greek phrase "who faced God Almighty and hasn't been shit scared?", every newspaper and politician around jumped to point a blaming finger towards those miserable troika members and accuse them that it was not their job to interfere with Greek affairs... Makes you wonder...
Ok. Fine. Consider this: If there were no EC, ECB and IMF intervention, creditors would have stopped pumping funds back to Greece and buying Greek treasury bills at reasonable interest rates, and the country would have ceased to exist economically in a heartbeat. No more goods could be imported from abroad as there would be no cash to pay suppliers. Airplanes and busses, not to forget private cars, would come to a halt without fuel indeed. Those with donkeys and mules would be the lucky ones... No kiddin'! There would be no cash to pay for public infrastructure maintenance. Law and order? Forgetaboutit! Where's the cash to pay officers of the Law? Without fuel no heating, no electricity, no cooking. Jurassic park with only the dinosaurs missing. In addition, Greece's creditors would force all legal means available internationally to repossess their unpaid loans consumed by the Greeks. In other words, International Law would intervene to return to Greece's creditors what belongs to them, in nature or any other form possible! Not only the Elgin marbles, but the entire Parthenon would risk being moved to the Louvre or the British Museum, or even Beijing. The country would be an item of liquidation and ridicule. Apparently present day Hellenes have difficulty to either grasp the gravity of their situation or actually reconcile with the idea of national bankruptcy. Too naif to step out of their dream world and face reality? Who knows... most likely!
Troika members are simple civil servants doing their job. They are supposed to watch the Greek cabinet's management practices of a country in quasi-liquidation, and express opinions about how to improve this restructuring process. Nothing more, nothing less. Their opinion is of consultative nature, not binding in any ways. Not when they are in the middle of a reviewing process, anyway. Binding recommendations will have to carry a lot more weight and authority, and can only be forced upon the Greeks after thorough politics get played behind and in front of international scenery and debates. After their regular progress reviews, troika members will typically travel back and report their findings. Whatever populist Greek media and politicians think and publicly communicate, aiming at feeding local consumption, is totally irrelevant. In a world of 500 million EU Europeans and 6.5 billion earth-people, Greece and its ethnos (including most of us in the diaspora) is less than a rounding error! Like the joke goes, when some Chinese official asked once how many Greeks there were, and got as a response "about 11 million", he replied: "Which hotel are they stayin'?".
Compats of mine, wake up and go back to work instead of striking and burning down the house; pretending nothing will have to change, and that you can continue to preserve your lifestyle at your creditors' expense. Don't be too easily forgiving upon your guilty co-citizens, those civil servants, politicians and private businessmen (doctors on top), who brought down the nation by their abuses and corruption; think of the Chinese 'Communists', who are not afraid to literally condemn to death and execute corrupt individuals (incl. cabinet ministers), to set the example. You don't have to shoot yours dead these days if you don't want to (based on human rights grounds), but putting them behind bars for life and keeping them there (like you did with the junta colonels in the seventies), and confiscating most of what they've been stealing for years could help a lot. As incredible as it may sound, you seem to 'respect' and envy your villains instead; you often use them as role models for mimicking, because you think they are kinda cool "mangas" while continue screwing the system shamelessly. And please, start teaching your offsprings the much needed 'fairness' and 'integrity' as key virtues to build upon the foundation of your future social lives. Because without virtues, as Aristoteles taught you, you better quit the EU and join some 'funny' regimes in the third world instead, as their practices are very much reminiscent of yours...
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Deleting a Facebook account... next to Mission Impossible
Read this blog for more details on termination.
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