Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comopinionA Greek-American Proposition to the Greek Crisis

A Greek-American Proposition to the Greek Crisis

By John Kalafatis* – Throughout the ongoing developments regarding Greece’s predicament, I have yet to come across a thorough and logical analysis as to what brought Greece to its knees financially and a plausible solution to the problem.

Thoughtless borrowing for conspicuous consumption; a bloated, counterproductive, corrupt public sector of inconceivable proportions, as well as immorality and corruption in every branch of government (including the fourth estate).

Today, despite the billions pouring in, the country still has (and will continue to have) primarily a deficit. Why hasn’t anybody addressed this subject?
Nobody in the country is interested in nor will adhere to the austerity measures of the “mnemonium” because that will result in civil strife (can you imagine dismissing hundreds of thousands of public servants, union members of public traded companies losing their privileges, “closed professions” becoming accessible to everyone, mass media not depending on public funding, etc.)

By continuously borrowing to simply cover expenses, Greece simply undermines any remaining opportunities left for future generations. Yet even now, at the eleventh hour, there is still a solution: A capable team of politicians/technocrats who would leave behind the “bluffs” they have attempted and still do with the lenders of Greece. They should rather act in the interest of the common good and convince the EU of the genuineness of their intentions, which will be:

Public takeover of the wealth of proven embezzlers, incarceration of corrupt sworn public servants, collection of taxes, establishment of productive tax rules and regulations, and a guided attempt to educate the common Greek citizen to the advantages of taxation (the citizens are not stupid, they evade taxes because they know that if they pay, the money will end up in the pocket of every “Tzohatzopoulos” as well as the lack of implementation of penalties).

In addition, we will re-negotiate with our lenders as to how and when to achieve the necessary gradual reduction of the public sector and move towards privatizing public-traded companies. The terminated public sector employees will be transferred to the private sector, where a portion of the loans will be used to assist the creation and growth of job opportunities.

Do you think our lenders will accept such a proposition? I am certain they will. Why would they want to lose/risk losing their money? Our success serves their purpose as well.

I live in the USA and have dealings both professionally and personally with hundreds of Americans and Europeans on a daily basis. The only thing they despise is deception; they are hard negotiators, but they respect honesty, integrity, knowledge of the subject matter, and hard work.

* John Kalafatis is a Greek-American businessman born on the Greek island of Lefkada. He is the CEO and owner of Skyline Restoration.

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts