Ship of Fools

Not that long ago I wrote about the Greek government, its handling of the economy  and its efforts to create growth again after at least a decade (more or less, depending on the numbers you choose to trust) in the doldrums. I described them, including everyone from the Prime Minister Mr. Tsipras down, quite politely I thought, as clueless. This was for the following simple reasons:

1. The financial meltdown has been borne largely by the private sector, with countless businesses being forced to close and their proprietors, usually through little fault of their own, bearing the cost - with homes being lost, mountains of debt assumed to cover not only the cost of closing down but ever-increasing taxation of one form or another, reputations and lives left in tatters.
2. Through the inept handling of the crisis, successive governments (yes, previous governments bear some of the blame but this one has proven to be a master of idiocy and ineptitude, partly because of dogmatic political affiliations) took the easy, somewhat medieval in approach, route of taxing private enterprise heavily to shore up the failing treasury, leaving both companies and most beleaguered owners perilously short of liquidity. An informed schoolkid could tell you, Mr. Tsakalotos, why this is unsustainable.
3. Growth that is real, sustainable and better than short-term can only come from the private sector, something which has been proven time and again throughout the world. This does not mean an unregulated free-for-all 'market', but it does mean that a robust, creative, FUNCTIONING private sector is needed.
4. An over-regulated, expensive to run private sector is not made more efficient and productive by more regulation, higher costs, new encumbrances. The KISS principle applies to this as to most everything in life - keep it simple, stupid! - but that, I fear, would tread on toes that are 'sacred' in one way or another.

So when ministers come out and announce their blueprint for growth which includes higher basic wages, new collective bargaining agreements and various other measures to boost employees welfare they are putting, quite literally, the cart before the horse. These things can and should, perhaps, happen (I believe the Greek labour market is already over-regulated, badly, with selective enforcement having different aims for those involved) when an economy is buzzing along happily and producing results. They should never, NEVER be imposed on an economy trying to recover from a long crisis.

Then this Minister for Employment, Social Security and Social Cohesion (itself a wonderfully b/s title), a person with an apparently excellent law degree but minuscule work experience, holds a press conference announcing all these wonderful measures and claims they are going to benefit the majority of Greeks as higher basic wages will mean more money in the actual economy being spent, meaning happy faces all around as this new money trickles down in this spending frenzy. Where the money to pay for increased salaries/taxes etc. will come from in an economy starved of liquidity, she seems strangely unconcerned. Whilst I would respectfully accept that you do not get a doctorate in Law anywhere in the world by being an idiot, no worldly experience and rigid ideological allegiances can do it for you every time.

My criticism is not about politics, though, but about practicalities - I would have been prepared to laud and salute the SYRIZA-ANEL governments of Mr. Tsipras and his cohorts if they had produced any real results out on the street, any real opportunity for growth - despite the fact that I have never been a communist support in my life. Instead, this mob is trying hard to convince me that they are, despite any education they may possess (and some actually do), absolute fools.

For Greece's sake I would love to be proven wrong.