Technology won’t cook the books
Nothing has dealt a greater blow to Greece’s reputation than the discovery by our international and European colleagues that the country had been systematically filing cooked-up data about the actual state of the economy for several years. An investigation into this scandal, followed by whatever corresponding punishments or even legal charges, becomes a necessary step the country needs to take if it wants to restore even a smidgen of its credibility. At the same time, the government also needs to get to the root of this problem and nip it in the bud. Figures are fudged because certain officials responsible for numbers, along with certain politicians who rank above them, have doggedly refused to install the technology that would record in detail the spending at every department in the state apparatus, indicate the allocation of funds and outline the commitments of the state. Investing in basic fundamental technology on every level of government is essential and would be a major step toward much-needed transparency.
