Greece the banks didn't sink the country. The country sank the banks

The average government job pays almost three times the average private-sector job. The national railroad has annual revenues of 100 million euros against an annual wage bill of 400 million, plus 300 million euros in other expenses. The average state railroad employee earns 65,000 euros a year.

Twenty years ago, a successful businessman turned minister of finance named Stefanos Manos pointed out that it would be cheaper to put all Greece's rail passengers into taxicabs: It's still true. “We have a railroad company which is bankrupt beyond comprehension,” Manos put it to me. “And yet there isn't a single private company in Greece with that kind of average pay.”

The Greek public-school system is the site of breathtaking inefficiency: One of the lowest-ranked systems in Europe, it nonetheless employs four times as many teachers per pupil as the highest-ranked, Finland's.

“I gathered everyone from the general accounting office, and we started, like, this discovery process.” Each day, they discovered some incredible omission. A pension debt of a billion dollars every year somehow remained off the books, even though the government paid it; the hole in the pension plan for the self-employed was not the 300 million euros they had assumed but 1.1 billion euros; and so on. “At the end of each day I would say, ‘Okay, guys, is this all?' And they would say, ‘Yeah.' The next morning there would be this little hand rising in the back of the room: ‘Actually, Minister, there's this other one-hundred-to-two-hundred-million-euro gap.'”

This went on for a week. Among other things turned up were a great number of off-the-books phony job-creation programs. “The Ministry of Agriculture had created an off-the-books unit employing 270 people to digitize the photographs of Greek public lands,” he tells me. “The trouble was that none of the 270 people had any experience with digital photography. The actual professions of these people were, like, hairdressers.”

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A good article from Michael Lewis via the globe & mail. Many folks are quick to jump on the woe is Greece situation and point the blame solely at the banking industry. It's widely agreed that the banks are scum, can't argue that, but in Greece's case the overall situation seems to have perpetuated in many ways in part due to the recklessness of its government of course, but also its citizens. Where were all the people who are so vocal now when they were literally dipping their hands into the cookie jar over the past decade or two ?

Many are almost angered at the fact, now that reality has set in, by Germany's opposition to help foot the bill. It would appear because Greeks are members of the Euro other nations should and must step out up bail out their sorry asses. I saw screw them and let it blow up. Sure the contagion aspect is there and the repercussions of default could severely impact Italy, Spain and other nations. And yes the insured debt is a huge hit against other countries but the fact is, and its blatantly obvious that Greece is going down. Let it fail.

brill

reply to post by brill


People need jobs. What is wrong with their government giving them good paying jobs. People cant live on minimum wage. If we would just take half of the wealth of the rich then we could pay off every countries debts and everything would be ok.

Originally posted by tHEpROGRESSIVE
reply to post by brill

 

People need jobs. What is wrong with their government giving them good paying jobs. People cant live on minimum wage. If we would just take half of the wealth of the rich then we could pay off every countries debts and everything would be ok.

Yes people need jobs, no one would dispute that claim. The problem is the definition of good paying jobs. There's a fine line here. It's becoming clear that the jobs, specifically public sector, given to many Greeks far exceeded the practicalities of paying them. In addition some of their bloated and frankly outrageous benefits go well beyond anything that most people feel falls within reason. Look at the rail road example I noted. Those folks appear to be handsomely paid but at the cost of bankrupting the rail road system itself. What sense does that make ?

Their government certainly had a responsibility and they've failed miserably both past and present. Tax collections from one article indicated that during an election year they were abandoned to garner votes. Corruption at all levels and sure many made off like bandits at the expense of the public. For some Greeks though to sit back and actually complain that Germany should bail them.....ridiculous.

Should everyone be well paid ? I think your pay should be determined by your level of education and what skills you can offer. I'm certainly not implying that CEO's should be taking home tens of millions either, I don't agree with that but Greek public sector offerings were and are unsustainable.

brill

reply to post by tHEpROGRESSIVE

Did you even read the article? Yeah people need jobs, but they are paying for a super-inefficient system that rewards its employees,(which the public pays for) with salaries well beyond what they could make in the private sector. To top it all off they have a school system that is failing and is costing them a ton of money and their children's future. Seems on par for the way the world is going.

reply to post by brill

Twenty years ago, a successful businessman turned minister of finance named Stefanos Manos pointed out that it would be cheaper to put all Greece's rail passengers into taxicabs: It's still true. “We have a railroad company which is bankrupt beyond comprehension,” Manos put it to me. “And yet there isn't a single private company in Greece with that kind of average pay.”

So this was hi-lighted twenty years ago and this man didn't do anything about it? That is an abdication of duty in my book.

He should have ensured that the balance was restored as finance minister.

Greece were always a poor country and had remained so. Joining the E.U hasn't helped one bit. The only countries that have benefited and profited from the E.U are France and Germany. That was the plan all along I'm afraid. They have the majority of the Manufacturing jobs in Europe, the rest are merely classed as Tourist destinations.

As a finance minister, he should know very well the economic structures. And now he is blaming the PEOPLE instead of themselves - the elected, for pushing citizens down the deep hole of debt?

Why not ask him why he did not sound out the alarm long ago? Was the lure of remaining in power more PROFITABLE, in collusion with bankers and the rich elites that gain the most with the circulation of money in the economy thru legal and illegal channels to maintain the status quo than to actually resolving better salary wages for BOTH private and public sector jobs?

High time the puppet gov, the bankers and the rich elite be held accountable for the mess they made than to let them blame innocent others and get away with their riches. No more will such blindsideness be allowed with an awakened generation!

Ah the point socialism and a one euro currency
did not take into account, a country that spends
beyond its means meaning not producing
as much as they consumed.

It is not rocket science this was bound to happen
at some point.