Greece - Simplify or Die!

Much has been made recently about the fact that the Greek government has signed some agreement or other with its overlords (strictly speaking its creditors...) in the European Union to supposedly become independent once again, standing on its own two feet and being able to raise money on the international markets with a level of credibility. You and the European Union would be forgiven for feeling that this signifies the end of nearly 10 years of struggling for the Greek economy, with normality and growth soon to reappear on the scene, and the long-suffering Greek people sighing with relief.

If so, both you and they would be wrong. The real Greek economy is still in tatters with little activity in any meaningful way other than tourism and the long-talked about growth nowhere in sight. Very little investment is taking place despite 'Greece being open for business' because the system there is fundamentally business unfriendly, hugely complex, expensive and frustrating to operate in. Antiquated procedures, hostile attitudes from government and a workforce that views itself as a partner in a business during good times, wanting a percentage of the profits, and a victim needing protection during the bad times.

But the biggest single problem is the inherent complexity of the system, as illustrated by the retail receipt shown in the photograph. Look at the complexity of what is a retail receipt for a single bottle of mineral water at Athens Airport and marvel at the wealth of information on there, the need to include all that on a simple till receipt which, incidentally, is not valid for reclaiming VAT despite being a legal receipt containing all possible information - for that you would need an invoice that would include your company details as well, even for a bottle of water worth .75 Euros! Hardly anything on there, incidentally, is advertising.

And this, alas, is indicative of the way most everything is handled in Greece. Instead of promoting a simple, functional system that penalises dishonesty and cheating, Greece has created a system which assumes everyone is cheating and places obstacles in their way to stop them from doing so. Every business in the country is assumed to be dishonest and made to jump through an ever more complicated series of hoops in order to establish innocence and avoid punishment; this will often take the form of fines, but may also be unofficial, i.e. 'under the table', in other words bribes. This adds to the complexity, with a wide-spread underlying system of corruption in place, allowing dishonest companies and individuals to pay their way out of trouble but leaving the honest ones in limbo. Whilst Near and Middle Eastern neighbours might not feel unduly uncomfortable operating in such a system as it may resemble their own modus operandi, western companies are taken aback and find it difficult or impossible to operate in that way. In any case it would be illegal for most western companies to function thus, leading to further complications.

This is not a post about ethics, though, but about practicalities: Greece needs investment in productive segments of its economy in order to rebuild the damage of the past decade and more. The Greek economy needs rejuvenation which can hardly come from within, as most honest companies and individuals have been taxed almost dry by successive unfair, if possibly necessary, taxes to keep the Greek state afloat. Under present conditions, though, who would want to bring good money and effort into Greece? For what? The West, having been fooled before, is not rushing in; unfortunately neither is anyone else in a meaningful way, with the possible exception of the Chinese investment in the port of Piraeus. And, please understand, there are some good, sound companies in Greece that manage to survive and thrive despite the prevailing business climate. This is not a sign that all the others are incompetent or bad, exceptions always exist; the task (the challenge, if you like) of any proper government should be to make successful, well-functioning (and, therefore, tax-paying) companies the rule. Only then will the economy be productive without needing external support, overly high taxation, alchemy - all distortions and, ultimately, destructive.

Greece needs a bold, decisive government to simplify the system and help rebuild business confidence to stimulate growth, but I somehow doubt that I will live long enough to see that. While the present mob (yes, I mean the Greek government of the day) are not only incompetent but dogmatically aligned to State interference and complexity, the alternatives - such as they are - appear feeble and, in any case, will have to face opposition, even unrest, by the leftist trade unions should they ever come to power. So will Greece choose a dishonourable death rather than productive life embracing a move forward, with simplification and positivity at its core?

To the devil with stupidity, ignorance and petty politics, this is a struggle for survival which must be won, so wake up, now!

Stop Press: a piece of wisdom from Sir Winston Churchill taken from an article on the BBC website by their economics editor Kamal Ahmed that precisely describes the value of private enterprise, quote 'Some regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot, others look on it as a cow to be milked, only few see it for what it really is, the strong and willing horse that pulls the whole cart along.'