Poor Greece – Rich Greeks and Romania follows…
Part 3
"How I build"
"I will build where I want, how I want. If you try to demolish my illegal home, you don't have a heart, you are not human. I want to have my own home, why is this a problem? …Why do we need to build parking lots for our cars? What does the State do about this? …Why is it bad to build some more illegal sq.m.? I have needs, I am human and I don't have lots of money. Why the State is so insensitive with my problems? When the big sharks are stealing, noone talks. And they will start implementing the law with MY case?"
(Result: Over 1,5 million illegal homes. Millions of sq.m. were illegally built everywhere, in forests too. The forests are burned mainly because of this, the State prefers letting all people being illegal than to organize future buildable areas, the idea of "do something illegal and then try to legalize it" remains the ruling one in the
country).
"How I deal with money from European Union"
In the beginning, Greece lost some years due to 0 preparation so as to absorb funds. Then we had to "speed up" so as to catch up the pace. We spent billions over billions on projects with "unidentified results" (identified as new cash deposits, expensive cars and illegal villas on islands". It took us about 15 years so as to properly maintain a flow of incoming funds.
All the major public works were planned during the '60s and '70s and were announced during the '80s. The ones that were not abandoned finally started during the '90s. Few of them finished before the Olympic Games (which costed 10 times more than the price Greeks were initially informed) and the rest of these works were delivered in the last years, or they will be delivered in the following ones until 2015.
"How I respect the State's money"
The first big number of billions lost was in the mid '80s. In the beginning of the decade the new Socialist Government of Prime minister Andreas Papandreou took over the lead, promising to change all. It really improved the society in many domains, but it also made several huge mistakes. One of them was the State's aid to many "Agricultural Co ops".
The Greek farmers tried to organize themselves into companies. Local "smecheri" stole the money and the State accepted to nationalize the whole chain. In just few years, in 90% of cases people stole as much as they could, until all these companies bankrupted or were sold to the private sector again.
The vast majority of Greeks does not respect the State and its money, people have developed a culture where they consider that the State will always have money to cover whatever, by rising the taxes against them! So they should steal anyway.
In Greek hospitals, the cost of medicine doubled in 5 years time (as if the population doubled too), tens of thousands of people receive fake "pension for disabled people" (taxi drivers receive pension for being blind) and everyone becomes innovative only when he thinks how to take a small piece of the "State's pie".
(Result: When you consider the State as your enemy, you do not respect rules or anything else. Only in the last 5 – 10 years a serious difference is visible, but only for the minority of the population).
"How I invest into real economy"
Billions of euro were spent on new factories which never actually functioned (you can see hundreds of unfinished buildings out of Athens and cities of Northern Greece. Major expenditures for training people also, on so many "projects" and "activities" which were designed with good intentions, but the famous Greek "smechers" found ways to transform them into "sources of easy money".
European Union had available funds so as to pay studies about the future, to transform the economy, adapting to the latest trends. The best scenario was that this kind of funds was spent in overpaid studies which remained in a drawer of a deputy minister. Usually Greeks were searching for solutions so as to take this money and spend it on other needs, with more "urgent and visible" results…
(Result: The country lost its poor industrial basis, while it moved to the future without strategy, not even at tourism and shipping, the top national sources of income. Whole market segments disappeared, as noone planned the future, noone thought about tomorrow).
"How I understand the agricultural production"
European Union provided Greece with a river of billions of euro for the Greek farmers. In almost all cases, the funds were supposed to be invested in changing production or in investments. Greek State gave the money to the farmers without explaining this (in the beginning) and then pretending that it did not see that almost all the funds were simply consumed to the last penny for… new cars, villas, gambling and the rest of "night's sins". Meanwhile 60 – 70% of Greek farmers eventually stopped working, they pay emigrants for this (while they practice cards or other games in the local café).
Whenever the farmers felt their "right to spend without caring about quality production" endangered, a part of them closed the streets, blackmailing the rest of the society, under the silent approval of all Governments. I talk about the same people who lived many years by producing products that noone wanted. Thousands of them were cultivating useless bad quality of fruits, they were carrying them to be counted and then these products were thrown to garbage (!), while the producers were receiving the money from Europe (payment per kilo of production), without caring about the future…
"What I want from the foreigners"
Greeks built an economy where it was very difficult for normal foreigners to enter. In Real Estate field it is still impossible. An authorization to build is considered a miracle to happen for others than Greeks. Only major foreign companies could directly enter in the country, which remained "protected" behind a wall of endless laws, changes and modifications, in the majority of market's segments. Producing in Greece became a joke, thus almost all the producers of the '70s and the '80s shifted their activity to importing the same goods from abroad. Greek State proudly kicked out an endless number of major investors, usually in favor of a local "connected" gentleman or minor clans of people.
Tomorrow:
- "What is a Real Estate investment for me"
- "We are all guilty, so noone can really complain"
- An economy built in the absolutely wrong business environment
- Poor Greece – Rich Greeks
- A lesson Romania MUST learn. If not, it will follow the same path