Reforms are the
keys to Greece’s survival but Greek politicians are too scared of implementing
them. Most people in Greece welcome
reforms carried out by foreign experts with the exception of the privileged
groups of politicians and some public servants.
Does democracy
work in Greece? Greek parliamentarians
are freely elected; therefore, the political system cannot be classified as
undemocratic, but for the past 30 some years many dubious or contradictory laws
have been passed in the Greek parliament.
If Greek citizens think that they
have fulfilled their responsibilities by simply going to the polls, they have
made a big mistake of not having supervised their parliament’s day–to-day operations and after years of un-scrutinization, democracy in this country is in complete failure.
A summary list of
the Greek political salaries and perks exempt from austerity; minimum wage was
agreed to be reduced by 22%, from €751.39 to €586.08 http://digitaljournal.com/article/319313
Greek MPs indeed cost
taxpayers too much money
Double Pensions for
employees of the parliament, and more…
Read the last
paragraph of the above link:
“To write an article for the free edition
Free Sunday the journalist sent a letter requesting information about the
operating costs of the parliament, the cost of salaries and other costs of
deputies, the number of the administrative employees and the costs for their
salaries and about the deputies and employees salaries cutting last year. In
response, they sent him from parliament three press releases from last year
that respond only to the last question.”
The Greek president (whom
I respect) had asked to remove himself from the government’s payroll, but how
about the rest of the Greek politicians?
There is also parliamentarian’s
immunity from criminal charges.
Are there too many parliamentary
seats in the Greek parliament?
Yes, I think there is a
BIG problem of over representation on top of the problem of paying each
parliamentarian’s fat salary and benefits.
The employed people in
Greece have to feed these fat politicians, who have eaten up EU grants for
developing this nation, no wonder many middle-class families are hit by yet
another new income tax – a surtax based on GROSS income (i.e. income before any
deductions, notice this is not surtax based on tax payable like in Canada), and
this is on top of what we had paid for the property tax, and the emergency tax,
and the rising value-added tax on consumer products, and still not enough to
rescue the sovereign debt.
The following is a
comparison of the ratio (population to the number of parliamentary seats) for
some countries in and outside of the European Union, the population statistics
are based on either estimated or census figures for the latest year of a general
election (lower house) of a country (except Greece because I didn’t find the 2012
population figure).
Greek population 2011
census 10,787,690 (and is reducing because people got fed up with the
situations and are leaving the country)
Greek parliamentary
seats 300, i.e. 1 seat per 35,959 persons
German population in 2009
was 82,002,356
Elected German parliamentary
seats 622, i.e. 1 seat per 131,837 persons
France population
in 2007 was 63,645,065
Elected National
Assembly 577 seats, Senate indirectly elected 348 seats, a total of 925 seats,
i.e. 1 seat per 68,805 persons
United Kingdom population
in 2010 was 62,262,000
Elected members of the
House of Commons 650, plus 788 appointed members of the House of Lords, total seats
1438 i.e. 1 seat per 95,788 persons based on elected members or 1 seat per 43,298
persons based on a combined upper and lower chambers (notice that this figure
is still higher than Greece)
Italy population in
2008 was 59,619,290
Elected Chamber of
Deputies 630 seats, plus Senate 322 seats (of which 315 were elected inside
Italy, 6 representing abroad and 1 appointed), a total combined 952 seats, i.e.
1 seat per 62,625 persons
Spain population in
2011 was 46,152,926
Elected Congress of
Deputies 350 seats, Senate 266 seats (208 elected by popular vote, 58 appointed
by regional legislaturs), a total of 616 seats, i.e. 1 seat per 74,924 pesons
Canada population
in 2011 was 34,278,406
Elected members of
parliament 308, but if including non-elected senators the total is 413, i.e. 1
seat per 111,294 persons based on elected members, or 1 seat per 82,999 persons
based on a combined upper and lower chambers
Australia population
in 2010 was 22,342,400
House of Representatives
150 seats, Senate 76 seats of proportional representation, a combined total of
226 seats i.e. 1 seat per 98,860 persons
Portugal population in
2011 was 10,636,979
Elected Assembly of
the Republic 230 seats, i.e. 1 seat per 46,248 persons
Conclusion, Greece has the lowest population to parliamentary seat ratio of the above countries, pointing to the problem of over representation.
Sadly, by closing the
Greek parliament and inviting foreign experts to manage Greek laws and Greek
sovereign debt will make Greece more competitive and will ease some
unfair austerity bills passed by the Greek parliament.
Other interesting links:
Richard Koo’s
prescription for Greece (and Germany)
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/05/30/1022281/richard-koos-prescription-for-greece-and-germany/
Comparing sovereignty
debt charts
Greek poll
results since the last election (scroll further down the link to view a chart)
Dictionary definition
of 'siphon' has been wrong for nearly a century
It is the gravity and
not the difference in atmospheric pressure that makes siphon works as Dr.
Stephen W Hughes clarified.
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/31098/25/A_practical_example_of_a_siphon_at_work_eprint_(2).pdf
