Greece, EU and why we can't have nice things

[melkathi]

Mind you, there are some extremly hard working, helpful and all-around amazing people in the Greek public sector.

The problem here is that part of becomming good at one's job (for example architecture) is learning who these people are - which shouldn't take all that long - while none of the governments have ever tried to do just that. And of course neither has the "troika". A blanket verdict of cut whatever does not address the problem. City planning office in Athens maybe they should have fired 3 in 4 for not doing their job. But that 4th one, who always worked for 4 anyway, that person should not get their salary cut. Hell, give them a raise, Double their salary. You'd still be spending 50% less

[Monte Carlo]

Ah, but Melkathi although you are correct, such commonsense is derided as neoliberal bastard-think.

 

Numbers also highlights the problem. I think Spain, Italy and Greece need their own 'Mediterranean Spring' to be honest. Maybe a trading bloc. Top-down technocratic imposition of governments from Berlin Brussels won't work.

 

Edit: In fact, I think this radical idea has legs...

 

Hmmm. Let me think of a descriptor.... got it!

 

Independent, Sovereign Nation State

Edited July 18, 2015 by Monte Carlo

[Zoraptor]

Neoliberal bastard think would fire all public servants and replace them with telecommuting Cambodians and Laotians, who would then be replaced six months later when it's obvious it's a disaster because they can't speak Greek. But it saved money for the department, so the exec who came up with the idea gets a bonus...

 

The problem with tackling corruption is what it always has been, if it's systemic it's difficult to tackle because half, three quarters, ninety percent of the time the people tackling the corruption are themselves corrupt. It's a similar concept to politicians tackling the problem of them getting pay and benefit rises that far outstrip the people they're governing, it's very easy to fix if you take the matter properly out of the hands of politicians- have a plebiscite to tie it to inflation/ cpi rises or average national wage rise- but the politicians prefer their 'independent' boards that they know will award them 3x average increases and give them air travel for 10% cost for life plus a pension if they last more than nine years in the job. You also have dishonest people accusing the honest ones of corruption and a slew of other problems making it very difficult; you need a large staff to do the investigations, even with the best will in the world a fair number of them will be corrupt even if the guy at the top (who is probably appointed by the politicians) isn't.

 

There's also plenty of corruption in 'protestant' economies, it's just more codified into quid pro quo of directorships on retirement for politicians, political donations and the like rather than direct bung taking.

Edited July 18, 2015 by Zoraptor