According to Ekathimerini, Greek-owned shipping companies invested almost 10 BUSD in 2017. To repeat: that is ten billion US dollars! That amount was split roughly 50:50 between the purchase of used and new vessels. It should be noted that these are official records only. Not included would be any private deals.
By all possible measures, Greek shipowners are the leaders of the pack world-wide. And to put things into perspective: Greek shipowners last year spent an amount on new investments which is almost twice the amount which the state spent on the service of its debt!
It is quite amazing that a nation which can produce world leaders in a highly competitive global industry is unable to produce domestic leaders which can run the country successfully.
By all possible measures, Greek shipowners are the leaders of the pack world-wide. And to put things into perspective: Greek shipowners last year spent an amount on new investments which is almost twice the amount which the state spent on the service of its debt!
It is quite amazing that a nation which can produce world leaders in a highly competitive global industry is unable to produce domestic leaders which can run the country successfully.
Plato in his book the Republic is quite explicit about this. No member of the merchant class or the military class qualifies to become the Philosopher King. To produce Philosopher Kings special training and upbringing should be applied.
ReplyDeleteYou logic is the same as why a US Billionaire doesn't govern the US. Wait, I believe we can answer such question with authority. Plato was right: the merchant class is no place to find leaders to entrust the destiny of a nation. In fact it happens to be the least and worst place.
Humans live their lives in political communities and the kind of political community they live in can be conducive or detrimental to one’s happiness. To be part of poorly conceived free trade zone called the EU which centers around maximizing German trade surpluses, is NOT conducive to one's happiness. It's rather indicative of one's misery and stagnation.
ReplyDeleteNot amazing at all. Free markts produce the leaders in an industry, while domestic leaders are decided by the crowd. If the crowd expects favors the votes are not optimal, hence we produce the worst of the worst.
ReplyDeleteCheers and Happy New Year.
You just answered the question why the next chapter in Greek political history is to eliminate once and for all this incompetent political party known as New Democracy whose true name should have been the New Idiocy or the inferior CDU chapter of Merkel's friends in Greece (in other words the traitors who must be ruthlessly exterminated for the good of the country and the world).
DeleteI believe that Greece has already achieved better leadership. The two incompetent parties which created the mess shown below are no longer in government and the job of all Greeks is to make sure they stay this way.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=ds22a34krhq5p_#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=gd_mio_eur&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=country_group&idim=country:el&ifdim=country_group&tstart=789897600000&tend=1231747200000&hl=en_US&dl=en_US&ind=false
Who needs shipping magnets to lead Greece when Berlin is now down on its knees begging Greece to take more free money:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.naftemporiki.gr/story/1311432/govt-reverses-position-next-bailout-tranche-at-67-bln-after-all
Btw, if you want to experience the new prototype for the Greek tourism of the future you must visit this project and check it out. Make sure you make a prior reservation for a visit, otherwise you can't get passed through the gates:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.naftemporiki.gr/story/1311082/distinctions-for-navarino-Junior-golf-academy
Nothing strange at all. It's just that your German education lends you the wrong framework: Kultur / Volk = State / Nation = Individual / Mentality.
ReplyDeleteThe waz i see it, the enterprise is a privileged international (or even geopolitical) factor; to put it simply, everybody loves rich corporations and their magnates and bends over backwards to accommodate them, especially in tax heaven heavy Europe. On the other hand, the state is not but one of many geopolitical actors and has not other choice but to judge correctly their interrelations and position itself in what seems to be the most profitable way at the moment. This is paramount especially for small countries that constantly run the danger to render themselves a "buffer zone" or even dispensable through very close, exclusive relationships, i.e. dependencies. In this regard EZ was a disaster for Greece and a treasure-trove, a centuries old dream-fulfillment, for Franco-Germany.
Lykinos
Στο EuroWorking Group της Πέμπτης «τα πράγματα πήγαν πολύ καλά», δήλωσε ο υπουργός Οικονομικών Ευκλείδης Τσακαλώτος. Όπως τόνισε, διαπιστώθηκε ότι τα προαπαιτούμενα για το κλείσιμο της γ’ αξιολόγησης «είναι σε πολύ καλό δρόμο» και η Ελλάδα «είναι εντός στόχων και εντός του χρονοδιαγράμματος».
ReplyDeleteΜιλώντας στη Βουλή, στο πλαίσιο της συζήτησης για το πολυνομοσχέδιο με τα προαπαιτούμενα, ο υπουργός Οικονομικών ανέφερε ότι «έχουμε για πρώτη φορά ένα νομοσχέδιο που δεν έχει νέα μέτρα». Είπε επίσης ότι με το κλείσιμο της αξιολόγησης ξεκινά η συζήτηση για το χρέος και για την έξοδο στις αγορές.
«Κάθε φορά που μιλάω στην αίθουσα, δυστυχώς για την αντιπολίτευση (όχι για εμάς) τα πράγματα είναι λίγο καλύτερα από την προηγούμενη φορά», δήλωσε ο υπουργός Οικονομικών. Όπως πρόσθεσε, «τα spreads όταν μίλησα στον Προϋπολογισμό, ήταν 4,01 και τώρα είναι 3,88. Στην κατανάλωση, τα στοιχεία δείχνουν εντυπωσιακή κίνηση στην αγορά. Αυτά τα Χριστούγεννα σημειώθηκε μεγάλη βελτίωση στην κατανάλωση. Για την πραγματική οικονομία, ο δείκτης για τη μεταποίηση δείχνει αύξηση-ρεκόρ παραγγελιών».
In the EuroWorking Group on Thursday, "things went really well," Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said. As pointed out, it was found that the preconditions for the closure of the third evaluation "are on the right track" and Greece is "within and within the timetable".
Speaking to the House, in the context of the debate on the pre-requisite poll, the Finance Minister said "we have for the first time a bill that has no new measures." He also said that the end of the evaluation starts debating about debt and exit markets.
"Every time I speak in the room, unfortunately for the opposition (not for us) things are a bit better than the previous one," the Finance Minister said. As he added, "the spreads when I spoke in the Budget was 4.01 and now it's 3.88. In consumption, the figures show impressive market movement. This Christmas has seen a great improvement in consumption. For the real economy, the index for manufacturing shows record-breaking orders. "