by Capricorner
A Submarine Commander gives orders which are i m m e d i a t e l y carried out by a well trained crew, each an expert in his job. A Prime Minister suggests-asks-tells-instructs his Ministers to do, what each must do. His Ministers ? In the Greek Government a few do what they can, a few half heartedly sort of do what they think they should do and others simply ignore him. As for expertise, seldom does a Minister have any, in the Government function which he oversees.
In a Submarine everybody communicates effectively with everybody and they are all fully aware that success (and indeed survival) is the outcome of their c o n c e r t e d effort. In this Government ? Evidently there is no sense of disciplined action, of urgency, of reality. The country is in a state alike a state of war, yet the Government evidences no uniformity of thinking, of attitude, no planning, no executorial ability. Concerted effort is all but absent.
The country is assaulted constantly in more than one ways by those who have invested in its failure to survive. There is, however, no Government counter-assault in the very same ways used by the “aggressors”. The people of Greece are not well and appropriately informed about the situation and consequently they are easily influenced by those peddling fear and uncertainty, so they are prone to actions detrimental to the country’s interests, their interests in the last analysis. Example : The exodus of cash from the Banks.
The country has no option but to do what should have been done long ago. Most of its Ministers though can see no harm in doing little about it. They keep on spending and take no action to curb future expenditures. Dozens and dozens of Public Organizations must be unloaded, the number of Public employees must be reduced to relieve the Public payroll, but the Ministers of this Government display indifference to that. Many projects to inject some efficiency in Government start and move at a snail’s pace.
Some Public Corporations must be privatized wholly or partly, yet the leaders of their Employees Unions carry on as they always have. No Government Minister has publically rebuked them and publically explained why they should now adopt a new attitude, one that defers to the National interest.
The terms and conditions by which Greece must live from now on have not been observed by this Government, to the degree they should, because the Ministers fear the political backlash, the loss of votes for them. Consequently the Government has lost a great deal of credibility with the powers that be and with it bargaining power, so the country’s fortunes will be decided largely by its <saviors>.
The Prime Minister wants the implementation of the Memorandum, but his Ministers, even those who want, can not. Their lack of will and of expertise is hurting the country. The PM must act swiftly. Experts from the Private sector can competently do what politicians can not. They can communicate with the people, help them understand what has to be done and how and, thus, gain their support. They can strip naked the Unions Bosses by explaining to the people what is in their interest and why the Unions Bosses are opposed to that e.g the selling of 11% of the shares of the Public Electricity Enterprise to which its Union Bosses are vehemently opposed. This will ensure peace and speed of action. Experts from the Private sector know how to organize the work and how to motivate people and they thus get things done agreeably, expertly, swiftly, successfully. They can take over the Key Ministries for the duration of the stress effort of the country and when “mission accomplished” they can go back to the jobs they have now.
Unfortunately for Greece the PM is like a Submarine Commander with an untrained crew unaccustomed to concerted work. He seems to command a crew of experts in ineffectiveness. He has a large staff which could lecture in management schools on the subject of failure by collective disorientation. People see this and they fret and fear what is in store for them, realizing that the Government’s non compliance to the Memorandum can bring unpleasant changes to their lives, potentially catastrophy. The rise of right wing parties in the Northern part of the Euro Zone does not augur well for the future of its foolish “south”.
