On reforms, riots and corruption
Public servants should consider their role in the community and should undertake to implement public policy rather than listen to the rantings of their union leaders.
The unions have politicized the public sector to the point where it no longer serves the public.
The unions should be sued for the damage they have caused to government, business and the reputation of Greece as an investment and tourist destination.
The article in Kathimerini (12/8/11) which suggests that public servants will react to the extra 30 minutes of work per day ignored the fact that many public servants never turn up and many are always absent; they are the troublemakers who have a free ride on the taxpayer. The committed public servant, the few who do attend and provide the best service possible, under the Dickensian system that prevails, will once again bear the brunt of the public wrath for their «colleagues,» the ?psifofori? (voters).
Sack the psifofori! Flush out the bludgers and the bribe takers!
Nick Geronimos
GB rioting
First of all, in today?s world, the ability to be free and disrespect the politicians? police is a rare quality. For whatever reason. It is a rare and vital quality in itself. Indispensable for progress.
Secondly, whether they protest against usury or poverty induced by usury or act in an a critical manner due to the lack of human development that the usury-based governments enact, there is very little difference.
What is paramount is converting this extremely rare quality: reaction, sensitivity, self-respect, into a system of government that buries the usury-based system and establishes a more natural one, based on respect for the environment, on non-poverty, on independent work within a society.
Marco Schanzer
Stop voting
You are all missing the point: When you have your own political leaders in the UK, Greece, Egypt, Libya, etc. abusing their powers by stealing and plundering from the public sector and never being punished for their crimes, then you will always have the people, protesters and rioters doing the same since the leaders set no example of moral behavior.
The answer: Get rid of all your corrupt politicians and stop voting for them.
Pavlos Yiannos
Getting the right policy mix
Professor Pirounakis is correct — getting the right policy mix is essential to ensure that Greece can get out of its economic doldrums, and certainly a less intrusive and more efficient state can help with that. That said, it’s hard to believe that lowering taxes should be one component of the policy recipe given how much tax evasion is already pervasive throughout Greece. And how can we trust that privatizations will help when corruption is so endemic in our society? Siemens, DPI, industrial waste scandal — all relatively recent examples of corrupt collusion between the government and corporates at the expense of Greek citizens — demonstrate how deep the problem of corruption is in our political economy. Without rooting this out, what hope do we have?
Dimitri Bertson
