To George Papandreou.

by Capricorner

George baby, as ye shall sow so shall ye reap, says the “good book”, which you, probably, have never read, or taken seriously.

Your political ways have been amoral. You have torpedoed every move of your political opponent that would have been good for the country.

This was your idea of “opposition”.

NO to everything. Like father like son. You have lied to the nation, even recently, to win the election and become prime minister. Given the situation, it serves you right. You now have to face the consequences. You are leading (leading?) a nation that has lost its marbles and so it behooves you to help it come to its senses and move forward.

The Nation is in pain and confused, a state in which it can fall prey to the malicious intentions of some. You must therefore prevent this from happening by talking to the people. Unfortunately, for both you and the Nation, you have no credibility. In the light of this you have no option but to come out from your shell and astound the Nation with a staggering confession of the truth. This will gain attention and a substantial degree of credibility so that the Nation begins to feel less insecure, willing to consider what you say and go along with that. Truth, in this instance, means naked truth, tell it like it is, call things by their name. Explain to the people how it all came about and how the countrywill pull out of it. Tell them that :

1- Greece consumes more than it produces. It relies heavily on imports. Consequently it spends more than what it earns, by borrowing, in fact it still does. It can no longer borrow because, technically it is insolvent, so the Eurozone countries are helping Greece survive and give it time to put its house in order, not to continue its irresponsibly wasteful ways.

The country is getting a better deal than a debtor gets from a bank.

In 2009 the Government needed, in addition to the service of the National Debt, an extra 24 Billion, which it did not have, to simply function. So it borrowed, again. In May 2010 you signed the Memorandum with which the country was saved from Bankruptcy and was financed with new loans, from the Eurozone countries, to reduce its expenditures gradually, avoiding the shock from 24 Billion less. It committed to land the country softly by reducing the Budget deficit to 11 Billion in 2011 and a surplus of 2 Billion in 2013. This commitment you did not honor because you succumbed to the pressure groups and because you were incompetent.

The Greek economy can survive and prosper with increased National Production, not loans and with good financial management, no waste. No other way. This is why the Greek economy must be restructured. It will be a painful process and the Government will do everything to ease the transition to a new state of affairs for many people who will go through unemployment and, many through retraining to acquire skills which will help them earn a better living. This, however, will not be possible if the country is out of the Eurozone and the Government lacks the means. So the country should do what it must with the help of its Eurozone partners, who do not owe Greece a good living but will help it earn it. The demands of the left and its communist allies for more money to the people and no reduction in expenditures are out of touch with reality. The country is in a state of emergency and it has to comply with the requirements of the Memorandum, which you, George, and your ministers have helped the people perceive it as a document of surrender to “foreigners” and not as a road map to salvation and prosperity, which it is. The saviors of Greece expect to be repaid in full and this will become possible only if the country prospers. The Memorandum in the last analysis is a guide to prosperity. Of course it means that pressure groups will loose their influence and so they stir the people to protests.

You and your cohorts have “governed” the country for 21 of the last 36 years and are primarily responsible for this situation.

You, therefore, accept the blame for the present painful condition, together with your political opponents who simply followed your ways and still do.

2- The syndicates are doing what, with your tolerance and that of your opposition, have

always done. Demonstrations and protests of every kind which are against the benefit of the country. The Customs are not functioning and neither are the Tax authorities, thus depriving the country of millions just when they are needed the most. Their pursuits do not justify the pain to the country. This is the thinking of every group and syndicate.

Indifference to the National interest.

The country is in a state of paralysis and nothing prevents people from pursuing their demands aggressively.

- The taxis owners invade the Arrivals at Athens International Airport and prevent the Passengers from leaving, or they block the highway and prevent others from getting to the Airport. This way they press the Government to rescind from its commitment to liberalize the ownership of taxis, as part of its commitment to open up all the trades and professions to all. They even invaded the office of the secretary general of the ministry, to protest.

- Government employees occupy Government buildings and Ministries, preventing even the Ministers from going to their offices, despite the urgency of matters.

- Garbage collectors occupy the garbage collection stations and the landfill making life miserable in the cities.

All the “occupiers” receive their pay in full when they occupy, so they have nothing to loose.

- Schools are occupied by pupils, the school property is looted and vandalism turns the Schools to ruins.

- A Mayor is beaten by the employees.

- The syndicate of the Public Electricity Enterprise, the “ill famous” GENOP conducts Public policy in favor of the citizens. It refuses to have the levy, the Government is imposing on property, collected by the company as part of the electricity bill of each recipient of electricity. To this end it occupies the company’s printing facility to stop the printing of the bills.

- People wanted to invade a cinema to throw yoghurt on a minister seen in the audience.

In another instance they threw yoghurt on the vice-president of the Government.

All this violence is the result of your government’s and the opposition’s tolerance over the years. That it is getting worse by the day is the result of the fact that your government can no longer grant everybody what they want. The syndicates know no other way but pressure so by increasing the pressure they think they will bring the government to submission as has always been the case. These tactics are against the people, against the country, make life difficult for all and are in vain. The syndicate leaders know that the government no longer “can” but they persist hoping to, thus, substantiate their existence. They are fully aware that our lenders call the shots but they persist in turning against the country for the sake of their own interests. If our lenders become fed up with us and leave us to our fate, which is a return to the drachma and catastrophy, the idiotic leadership of the syndicates believes it will still have its privileges. They do not even consider that the opposite can happen in a state of chaos and anarchy that will get worse by the poverty of the people.

Your government and its opposition are responsible for this entrenched mentality, for which you apologize and promise to do all what it takes to change it. You can begin by discrediting the syndicates for never, ever, taking a stance on social issues, but exhausting their efforts on their own and only interests. You can also point out that all the “noise” is about public employees, not a word, no concern about the Private sector employees, tens of thousands of which are becoming unemployed every month.

IF you are capable of publically accepting your mistakes, owning up to them and asking people to forgive you for these in return for a commitment to serve the country, not your party, by creating a Government of technocrats who can manage in this complex and precarious environment the country is in, then George Papandreou you’ll be a" man."