A successful (second generation) industrialist amazed his audience by saying “I am not a businessman! I make money! I am a money engineer”.
Taking pride into the achievements in his pursuit for easy money, he told his listeners a couple stories about his (unknown) activities.
It was not important for the others to listen to detail about the dealings of the “money engineer”. Everyone knows how the wealth production mechanisms operate and develop. From the money-changers to the currency specialists of the banks, all kinds of bankers and their associates apply the “one shot business” theory.
The problem is that many industrialists and businessmen have abandoned their stated business activity and are involved in new kinds of businesses which essentially deceive the market, such as the so-called bubbles.
The Greek market has suffered and knows very well what a bubble entails.
It is obvious that Greece needs to be modernized in all development fields. That is why prudent Greeks accepted the “mandatory modernizations” ordered by the “new rich” of the West. To shorten the story, we would argue that these modernizations should have been adopted and supported by the Greek government. The changes in the pension system, labor relations, healthcare and primarily education can be decided by the government – the last one, the current one, the next one – and be pushed forward without a political cost, to the extent required by the European Union.
Instead, the state mechanisms are concerned about how they reach an agreement with the money-changers on the interest rate of the loans given to use by foreign capitalists. As if we are not all aware that the higher the interest rate, the more imperative it will be to restructure the debt in the future. The government should focus on the immediate problems and growth in the country and let the younger generations deal with money changers. You cannot get blood from a stone, irrespective of the loan’s interest rate.
Stavros P. Psycharis
Originally published in the Saturday print edition