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Will the U.S., Plundered by Radical Liberal Fiscal Policies, End Up Like Greece? Our Culture is Being Moved in That Direction! ----------------------------- Excerpt From "Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds" by Michael Lewis "In
just the past decade the wage bill of the Greek public sector has
doubled, in real terms -- and that number doesn't take into account the
bribes collected by public officials. The average government job pays
almost three times the average private-sector job. The national railroad
has annual revenues of 100 million euros against an annual wage bill of
400 million, plus 300 million euros in other expenses. The average
state railroad employee earns 65,000 euros a year. Twenty years ago a
successful businessman turned minister of finance named Stefanos Manos
pointed out that it would be cheaper to put all Greece's rail passengers
into taxicabs: it's still true. ... The Greek public-school system is
the site of breathtaking inefficiency: one of the lowest-ranked systems
in Europe, it nonetheless employs four times as many teachers per pupil
as the highest-ranked, Finland's. ... The retirement age for Greek jobs
classified as "arduous" is as early as 55 for men and 50 for women. As
this is also the moment when the state begins to shovel out generous
pensions, more than 600 Greek professions somehow managed to get
themselves classified as arduous: hairdressers, radio announcers,
waiters, musicians, and on and on and on. The Greek public health-care
system spends far more on supplies than the European average -- and it
is not uncommon, several Greeks tell me, to see nurses and doctors
leaving the job with their arms filled with paper towels and diapers and
whatever else they can plunder from the supply closets." *************************** |
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