I just returned from Athens, Greece. I went over to coach financial services business executives. As usual when I work abroad, every trip is a life chapter unto itself. The timing of this one guaranteed that one the moment I stepped off the plane.
Greece remains in the midst of a series of dramatic showdown meetings with three European sources of bailout money. The medicine is bitter but there is no easy way out. The alternative to an infusion of rescue funding is default, which would throw the country into total chaos. You do not want a country with a government on Monday and none on Tuesday.
Defaulting also would send a dagger of a message to Spain, Italy, and Portugal, none of which can balance its checkbook while juggling social upheaval. As the world watched, it was Greece’s turn to stir in the stew pot.
“To learn a lot,” I say to young people I coach, “travel the world.
“But if you really want to learn a lot about yourself, travel alone where you do not speak the language.”
English is spoken by some but does not permeate the Greek culture. I have a better chance at solving Rubik’s cube than the Greek alphabet — which is to say I have zero chance at all.
During the classroom portion of the program I was provided two interpreters, one translating English to Greek and the other handling Greek to English. They sat side by side in a clear-windowed, soundproof box near the front of the room and did a brilliant job. Language gaps were eliminated.
I was proud of my class. They tried hard throughout the program, determined individually and collectively not to waste a learning opportunity. I complimented them; their diligence was inspiring and their commitment surpassed many U. S. classes I have taught to less committed people.
The Greeks are proud people and appreciated the recognition.
Whenever I cross the Atlantic or Pacific, I arrive a couple days early to acclimate to the project’s time difference. This one was nine hours, so before moving out to Athens’ plushest suburb for the program, I hoteled for the weekend in the heart of the city center. High above was the legendary wonder of the ancient world, the Parthenon, which has overlooked the cradle of world democracy for 2,500 years from atop its perch on the Acropolis.
Angry protesters demonstrated each afternoon, denouncing inevitable austerity programs that will soon be shoved down their throats by a government held accountable and forced to pay for nearly four decades of shifty moves.
Life is not easy in Greece now — there is 20 percent unemployment overall, 50 percent among those under 25 years of age — and it is about to get a whole lot worse.
Shuttered buildings dot the streets; graffiti artists have tagged virtually every wall. A cynic would name spray paint a top seller among all consumer goods.
The emergency infusion of rescue euro currency approved yesterday will stave off total rioting and chaos but usher in a new era of austerity. What the money men (principally now influenced by the opinions of the EU’s strongest economy — Germany) are demanding is accountability and discipline.
Neither have been hallmark traits of the Greek government.
Jobs will be lost, belts tightened, and social frustration will rise. Make no mistake: millions of innocent people will be lifestyle suppressed by the greed of a relative few. There is no robust middle class in Greece now. There are rich and poor but not much in-between. In the new Greece there will be rich and more poor, with even fewer in the middle. Many will be forced to leave their homeland to find work.
As the economy has teetered, twenty percent of shops have closed, suicides are up forty percent, and optimism has been abolished in favor of pessimism. Athens is now a cash-preferred city. No one wants to pay into the system because no one trusts the system. Credit and debit card transactions create a trail. No one wants a trail, nor to pay taxes. Everywhere you go, everyone wants cash.
As the rest of the world swings toward cashless commerce, Greece is racing as fast as it can the exact opposite way. Cash is king and the underground economy — which infuses nothing into government coffers — is channeling away vital revenue.
By nature I am an optimist. My messages are designed to feed the optimism in others. We worked hard in our business class to discuss these things and made great progress. Because of that, I expect my people to lead positively through difficult times. I do not want anyone caught in the vortex of swirling collateral damage. We talked about how to guard against that in a society where negativity will surround them in loud discontent.
Greece was ruled under a military dictatorship from 1967-1974 when it emerged into a republic. It has been a rocky road ever since. Since there are no term limits, winning elections means money and power for as long as a shrewd politician can hold on. From there they can milk the system.
Even the 2004 Olympics, expected to inject an infusion of tourist money into the economy, proved a disastrous loss leader. The city of Athens dramatically overspent and the Games proved a poor investment for all but a handful of Greece’s eleven million citizens. That handful made more money than it will ever be able to count.
There are lessons for all of us to learn here about cause and effect, doing the right thing instead of the easy thing, and being accountable.
Greece is a nation of eleven million but half live in Athens, which concentrates a problem. From a logistical standpoint, the nation’s signature city must try to address the needs of the masses.
But Greece is not a manufacturer. Exports are limited. What Greece has to sell is tourism. Its variety of extraordinary, hard-to-believe historical sights are truly remarkable — a gift to the civilized world.
But tourism is a summer business and there is no summer romance to Athens. The city is hot, humid, and spraypainted with graffiti. No one shall ever confuse Paris, London, or Rome (another historical bonanza) for Athens. It is difficult to lure first-time travelers back. See the Parthenon, then what?
For many tourists, the real reason to visit Greece is to enjoy its famed Greek isles. They are fabulous, so heading to one, two, three, or four is a fun choice. But the money follows the tourists to the islands and away from Athens. But Athens is where half the Greeks live and the financial turnover is so desperately needed.
For decades the Greek government wildly overspent. Money disappeared. Billions were never accountable to the international community or its citizenry for a true “state of the union” report on how fiscally sound the government was operating. Without a system of checks and balances, money takes flight. The Greeks are living proof. Billions have leaked to cash real estate transactions in New York City, London, and elsewhere.
Social programs and greased palms kept officials in office. Perks were large, initiatives were started, people were working, and everybody borrowed money. Citizens became leveraged to their eyeballs; banks would ring people up at home and offer to lend them money for whatever they wanted.
Guess what? They took it. Now they can’t pay it back.
The lessons here are taller than you realize for the United States.
The Democrats must reign in spending. I have seen the results of too much drunken spending and it is nothing we want to experience. It is the post-party hangover the morning after a cheap liquor drunkathon.
The Republicans must invest into the system. They must pay their fair share, and the rich must pay more than their fair share.
The key is the unimpeachable balance of safeguarding the collective good. Republicans tend be separatists, not inclusionists. Democrats tend to worry more about inclusions than accountability. There is a delicate balance of both that demands bipartisan solutions.
The right answer for us is a blend of the two: smart and accountable spending with the reliable influx of no-loophole funding to meet the needs of the common good.
In this regard, what Greece teaches us today is that doing the right thing sometimes means doing the hard thing. If you don’t believe me, amble through the birthplace of democracy.
The Greeks taught the free world lessons that go back 3,000 years. They are still teaching. We need to be smart enough to learn.