Romania 2010: Do we really want to reach bottom and stop falling?
Part 3
- to read part 1, click here
- to read part 2, click here
- to read part 4, click here
- to read part 5, click here
- to read part 6, click here
- to read part 7, click here
- to read part 8, click here
During the last 40 days I have been presenting parts of my prediction for the year to come in many interviews or panels I participated. While stating my opinion, I received the feedback of tens of people, who agreed or disagreed with what I think. Meanwhile the world economic crisis prepares to enter in a new phase, with different characteristics than the previous two phases we all lived during the last 15 months. After the sudden collapse and the continuous drop, we enter now to the fragile stability with some drops of recovery. But these are for the rest of the world, not Romania…
So, let me share with you what I expect to happen in Romania during 2010…
Part 3: 2010: The "Romanian plane" is falling, while
its pilots, crew and passengers enjoy the view…
The "Romanian plane" is falling… but the majority refuses to change
TAROM is a very safe company, whose frequent flyer member I am (with tens of thousands of miles). So I would not compare Romanian economy with a TAROM plane, these are too stable and their crew always very attentive to our safety and comfort. But the "Romanian plane" is falling, every day, every week, every month, every trimester. Unfortunately so far we did not see enough will, so as to stop this decline. Romanian society is like the Greek one and many others around the world. Solution must come "from someone else", using the money which "someone else will contribute". "The thieves should pay", "normal people did nothing wrong and they are not responsible for anything at all" and other similar innovative theories are spread around.
The "plane" is falling, but people on board are fighting in between… The pilots beat each other for who will keep the steer, the crew does not serve enough water or sandwiches, trying to keep some for themselves or selling them "in black" to the passengers for big prices, the passengers themselves do not seem to care that the plane is falling. They just want to have a bottle of wine and something to eat, ideally listening to some nice music and fall asleep, away from their problems. The ones who are worried and complain that the plane will crash are considered idiots, or "romantic". The vast majority prefers to blame someone else, than to search for solutions. By finding someone else responsible, they forget the plane's fall and they enjoy shooting photos of this splendid view…
"Prima Casa", a clear example
What was the society's approach towards crisis? The majority remained the same, targeting easy money by trying to trick anyone around them. Look at the most characteristic example of 2009: When "Prima Casa" programme was announced, the owners of apartments with prices around 30.000 – 35.000 euro instantly increased their asked prices to 60.000. Why? Because… "if the buyer can obtain from the bank 60.000, why not to try to empty his pockets for good?" I will agree with you that this is a mentality which does not change soon. Yes, you can find it in Greece too, maybe even worse. But in the end of the day, I do not see a lot of people in Romania (Romanians and foreigners) willing to do something so as to change, so as to improve. I do not hear anyone demanding from politicians specific results, waking them up from their everlasting battle for power. They expect someone else to solve their issues, without personal sacrifices by them.
The "bad foreigners" are responsible for all these
While the country faces so many problems, we have an ongoing blaming game. I will not mention the part of politicians, who blame themselves and fight non stop. I will also avoid the accusations I hear between different parts of society (for example the poor ones against the rich locals etc), I am not Romanian and I am not "authorized" to talk about this. I will focus on the criticism I hear about the part of society which contributed to Romania over 50 billion euro over the last 5 years, creating millions of new jobs. The foreigners! Who…
– "Stopped their investments, now that we needed them the most"
– "Redraw their money out of the country".
– "Fired people"
– "Reduced salaries"
– "Forced employees to work more without being paid extra hours"
– "Are very demanding and they almost blackmail people, as they can hire one out of 200 – 300 candidates"
– "Became critical for everything around them and they don't respect this country, where they earned tons of money"…
So, are we sure that during 2004 – 2008 we…
– Treated the investors in the proper manner, so as to encourage them to continue investing now?
– Respected their money, money which was invested in this country in tens of billions?
– Respected the ones who hired people?
– Produced the result of productivity which should represent the salaries we received by them?
– Appreciated the ones who were paying on time, giving opportunities, trying to create a better work environment?
– Had a serious approach towards work in principal, as thousands of people were changing jobs for extra 20 – 50 euro / month, or they were behaving very bad to their potential or actual employers?
– (last but not least) Made serious investors feel like home, or we just wanted their money, without being necessary to do something for our payments?
Please reply to these questions by yourselves and you will know the answers. If you will convince me that we (the millions who represent the business environment of Romania) treated foreign investors in a good way, then I will be the first one to join the club of accusations.
(tomorrow: 2010: A year full of challenges and difficult decisions for all of us)