Greece is deep into a whirl of political, social and economic woes that do not seem to fade. Problems are never solved -- instead they multiply and become part of everyday life. This keeps the country into a vicious circle of poverty, political instability, social degradation and underdevelopment.
The political system in Greece is fragmented, does not work and is unable to generate new ideas to move the country out of its misery. We see a recycling of old and unproven ideas, people moving up and down within and across political parties, and core politicians elevated to leader status with no clear direction in mind for the country. New parties are formed from party dissidents with no distinct and useful deviations from the stereotype doctrine of the two main parties (PASOK and New Democracy).
The left has not changed its tune in light of the country's march to the edge and has not offered any serious and viable solutions. The communist and other, smaller parties have never managed to advance in importance in the parliament and remain stagnant in the polls. The parties seem to be concerned mostly with winning re-election and continue their reign with no remorse or consequences.
One way to get the country moving again and implement fresh, new ideas on combatting widespread corruption, gross (human and real) asset mismanagement, union gridlocks and renewed negotiations with the troika (composed of the European Central Bank, the european commission and the international monitary fund) is for the Greek premier to assemble a group of Greek technocrats, preferably living outside Greece and free from political aspirations and connections, and found a new political party. The new party will have ample time to come together and properly form by the next elections in view of the expected failure of the main parties to form a one-party government. At the same time, the much smaller parties would have an opportunity to develop, promote new ideas (here, the role of the media is crucial), be known to the wider public and become future power contenders. It is time for Greeks to vote out of office once and for all the two main parties and reduce the influence of the other parties that instigate and merely complain about everything rather than contribute to the country's welfare.
The many and compounding social problems in Greece have demoralized its people and pushed them to the brink of despair, denial, crime and social degeneration. People when asked about their and their country's future respond by saying that everything is hopeless; no one offers any help to them and certainly their politicians are doing nothing to correct the situation. Voices of reason and action still exist, but they typically run into a brick wall because the political system (with its arms such as unions and adamant supporters) either is incapable, indifferent or unwilling to act and thus problems persist and multiply. Problems such as illegal immigration, poverty, and abandoned cities still plague the country with no end in the near (or even distant) future.
One idea for initiating a change is for small groups of people everywhere to get together and take charge of issues around their community. For instance, they could get in touch with local authorities (municipality and police, for example) to organize patrols around their neighborhoods, keep them clean, safe and drug-free. In that way, little by little, slowly but steadily, neighborhoods, communities and, by extension, cities will be claimed back by its residents. The success of such initial movements would spread around the country and be replicated to other pressing issues such as poverty and environmental damage.
Finally, the severe economic problems of the country are an impediment to its development and growth. Greece was always (in my opinion) a developing (and mainly agricultural) country, but its current problems are pushing it to underdevelopment status. Policies designed by the troika and implemented by Greek politicians do not seem to work and do not contribute to the country's reversal to sustainable development. In this case, all participants are to blame, not just Greek politicians. The troika, with its leader, Germany, with its procrastinations, indecisions, and half-measure austerity policies imposed on Greece, shares a lot of the current situation. For example, the latest insistence on imposing a further reduction in wages and salaries in order to improve productivity, although necessary initially, cannot bear fruit when not allied with other countermeasures such as the breaking up of monopolies, oligopolies and other dislocations in the market.
Wage reductions are not a panacea for enhancing productivity. Prices remain stubbornly high, the working environment is depressing, work incentives (not necessarily monetary) are nonexistent, and, as a result, aggregate demand is being severely dampened. This situation cannot foster increased and new production and higher revenues for the government to put the country back to the path of development.
One idea is for consumers to seriously organize, demand better quality and rightly priced products, and establish sovereignty. Existing consumer-protection organizations are unable to combat organized interests emanating from intermediaries and retailers. A feeble movement currently under way to bypass intermediaries and slash prices needs to be done in an organized fashion in collaboration with the relevant authorizes in municipalities to avoid emergence of new corruption and exploitation of citizens. Another idea is for unemployed professionals (such as farmers, marketers, accountants and agronomists) to get together and cultivate the land and perhaps develop a new or unique hybrid seeds and secure a new market niche.
Change must come from somewhere, either from the Greek citizens or from the government. Since the latter is not a possibility, at least in the short run, it is time for every Greek to put a little stone in rebuilding this beautiful country of ours. In addition, the new government's mandate should be for the people and have the ability to renegotiate the stabilization program with its European partners on an equal basis, not as master-servant. In that way, the long-run benefits will accrue not only to Greece but also to Europe. So there is still hope for Greeks and their country.
Nikiforos T. Laopodis, Ph.D., is a finance professor at Fairfield University's Dolan school of Business.
