OPINION

Unabating profligacy

Greece’s politicians are showing no intention of giving up their profligate ways despite the constraints of the crisis and even though this was the root cause that led to the country’s bankruptcy in the first place.

The most recent example of this bad habit is certain ministers’ obsession with granting permanent positions to fixed-term contract workers in the public sector, despite the objections of mayors and other officials.

Their insistence is almost impressive, given how wrong-headed and damaging their plan is.

The simple fact is that Greece will never be able to exit the crisis if such a mentality continues to prevail and continues to be tolerated, because every time a government finds that it has a little bit of cash to spare it will start handing it out in the same irresponsible manner – just as was the case decades before the crisis even started.

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