[kitchencabinetforum] LAUREL AND HARDY TOUCH THE THIRD RAIL OF FIRING PUBLIC DRONES

The third rail in a railway is the exposed electrical conductor that carries high voltage power. Stepping on the high-voltage third rail usually results in electrocution. The use of the term in politics serves to emphasize the shock that results from raising the controversial idea, and the political death that the unaware or provocative politician would encounter as a result. Third rail issues usually only die when politicians who have proven their credentials on related matters ignore the taboo and openly challenge the controversial issue. Firing public drones is a third rail in Greece. http://venitism.blogspot.com

Society has two kinds of citizens, the workers and the drones. The drones, such as kleptocrats, eggheads, mafiosi, and clergy, rob workers. Kleptocrats constantly seek new activities without paying heed to whether the expansion is even necessary and whether it will pay off. Expansion justifies a government's existence, provides sinecures, and creates a flow of kickbacks. Many of the things for which government borrows money turn out to be pure waste.

The most brutal method to reduce the debt is the debt haircut, a bankruptcy which is reserved for basket cases like Greece. But a government bankruptcy is by no means an unusual occurrence in economic history. France declared bankruptcy eight times between 1500 and 1800, while Spain could not meet its obligations seven times in the 19th century alone.

In the early 19th century, Greece spent half of its time in bankruptcy. Eurozone countries ought to have been forewarned when they accepted the Greeks into eurozone. Greece experienced a particularly unusual bankruptcy in 1922, when then Finance Minister Petros Protopapadakis ordered all banknotes to be cut in half!

Samaras and Venizelos, Laurel and Hardy of Greek politics, will revive the labor reserve measure targeting 40,000 sinecures for eventual dismissal, determined to achieve the dozen billion euros in savings it promised Troika. The labor reserve plan will go ahead this time. Last time, it just didn't happen for political reason.

There are 800,000 public sector employees, real drones of Greek society, who think their job is to demand bribes! 40.000 is nothing. At least 400,000 must be dismissed. But the stupid Greek constitution bars firing civil servants and no political party has dared so far to directly dismiss staff in the bloated and ineffective state sector. http://venitism.blogspot.com

Reserve measure failed last year because large sections of the civil service such as doctors, nurses and teachers were excluded, many opted to retire early rather than be forced out, and some state organizations refused to cooperate by not giving data about their staff.

Official unemployment has shot up to a record 23.1 percent in a depression, with GDP seen shrinking by about 7 percent this year. The real unemployment is more than 50 percent!

Laurel and Hardy must reduce licensure and bribery of public drones. Licensure is a sign of slavery. All licenses of the kangaroo justice government of Greece should be abolished, including doctors, lawyers, and marriage. The kangaroo government of Greece licensure is an immoral exercise of force, an overly burdensome restraint on trade, a violation of the right to liberty, a mill of kickbacks. Government is a guarantor of liberty and is compatible with liberty only if its range is adequately restricted to the preservation of economic freedom.

800,000 drones demanding bribes is a freakish thing! One of the many reasons why the kangaroo government licensure is incompatible with
liberty, therefore, is because it is destructive to economic freedom. No other nation demands more licenses than the Cradle of Kleptocracy. Any Greek has the natural right to pursue any means of providing for his family, so long as in doing so he does not act fraudulently or otherwise violate the rights of others.

The kangaroo government mandated license turns the market of the Cradle of Kleptocracy upside down. It prohibits every Greek from producing in a given industry except for those who are granted the privilege of doing so by the kangaroo government, especially those who provide huge bribes to kleptocrats. The kangaroo government, in such a scenario, absorbs all individual rights unto itself and then divvies up some of those rights in any number of ways.

Under the licensing system of the kangaroo government, such as it exists today in the
Cradle of Kleptocracy, if some Greek attempts to exercise his natural right to provide for himself without the kangaroo government's nod of approval, which usually comes with bribes, that person goes to jail. Imprisonment for supporting oneself in an honest and non-fraudulent manner which does not infringe on the rights of others just doesn't seem right.

Laurel and Hardy must understand that preemptive protection is offensive in nature, and therefore, is itself a violation of natural rights. In a free society, it is only after fraud or another violation of rights takes place that the state has the right to intervene on behalf of the consumer. By means of the licensure power, the kangaroo government can permit a Greek to eat or it can condemn him to starve, unless he bribes kleptocrats. So long as the kangaroo government has the power to issue licenses to live in the Cradle of Kleptocracy, Greeks cannot claim to be free, and living without freedom is not much of a life. http://venitism.blogspot.com

The root causes of Greece's crisis are corruption, VAT, and the enormous regulatory burden that crushes the country's economy. Foreign investors have long been put off by bribes, myriad licenses, bureaucracy, and lack of clear laws. There is mistrust in entrepreneurship. Greek bureaucracy treats anyone trying to start a business as if he is guilty of something. Civil servants are throwing you into a labyrinth on purpose, in order to get bribes. The law gives them the latitude to delay you or punish you.

One of the main obstacles to more investment is the legal jumble that dictates how Greek businesses work. Even Graecokleptocrats admit the lack of clear laws and the endless requests for opinions, studies, and permits are there to give work to unionized specialists. There are whole businesses and technical offices employing engineers and experts specifically for the purpose of licensing.

Requests for bribes are not always explicit. Sometimes people quote you a price and sometimes they drop hints about the cost of things and how hard it is to get by. A civil servant might tell you that politicians come and go, but he'll be here waiting for you!

Avoiding the state is the best way to get ahead. To sidestep the maze of permits that torment many entrepreneurs, one should buy an existing business that has the licenses already in place. Graecokleptocrats create myriad stupid fuzzy laws that everybody ignores. Several interests prefer a fuzzy system they can manipulate, especially in building permits, which are a hub of corruption.

Investors are bewildered by the way tax rates and rules constantly change. The unstable system makes business planning difficult. The tax code requires such complicated book-keeping that most companies find it impossible to follow. It also requires constant visits by tax inspectors, which open the way to corruption.

The Greek depression might turn to a constructive destruction. One hopes that with the nightmare that Greece is going through at the moment, Graecokleptocrats might have a reality check and decide to change things. Let's hope Graecokleptocrats can do it, otherwise you are not going to see any investment in Greece. http://venitism.blogspot.com